THE second annual Ebubeleni Fashion Week is adding its glamour to this year’s Women’s Month celebrations as it plans to host the Ebubeleni Fashion Show on August 12 at the Boardwalk ICC in Gqeberha.
The fashion show will also be a build-up to the 12th annual Ebubeleni Festival 2023.
This programme is an initiative of Ebubeleni Festival Projects, a non-profit company established in 2019 to specifically focus on the development of the Arts, Culture and Fashion industry in Nelson Mandela Bay and the Eastern Cape.
“We aspire to contribute to the promotion of Nelson Mandela Bay’s creative diversity by increasing activity in the fashion sector of the region, creating retail demand by affording emerging designers a chance to be exposed to potential national buyers and media, creating a fashion buzz in the region, sparking the interest of outside guests to visit the city and ranking it on the World Fashion Capital list,” said project manager Busisiwe Nxele.
“The Eastern Cape has a lot of talented young fashion designers, especially those who graduate from university but get frustrated when they are not able to showcase their wares and end up leaving Nelson Mandela Bay to pursue their careers in bigger cities, like Johannesburg and Cape Town.
“We are proud that some of the designers that participated in our last fashion show gained recognition on big platforms; some are designing garments for Gqeberha the Empire telenovela’s lead artists.”
Nxele said at their first fashion show they managed to create over 80 jobs which were happily enjoyed by the sector, especially since it happened during the trying times of COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
The approach to the designers was a call to submit their recent work, including their profiles and a synopsis of what inspired their designs.
The 10 selected local designers will be given an opportunity to create a new collection and showcase them at the fashion show runway.
These designers will be judged by a panel of industry experts for a cash prize.
The first prize will be for the whole range, and the second will be for the Show-Stopper garment for the theme “Royalty – We are Africa”.
The 10 selected designers to showcase are Quza Designs by Ayanda Quza, Azato Couture by Gladys Azato, Thee King’s Inc by Thandile Ndamase, Birth Mark by Asithandile Zixesha, Mismash Designs by Nomahlubi Mashiya, Kat Lebea Designs by Katleho Lebea, Handmade by Tazleigh Swartz, Thembani Selani, Christopher Tom and Alkebulan by Sihle Champion.
There will also be a showcase from five Nelson Mandela University design students and two guest designers, House of Chilli by Namhla Fihla and Imprint South Africa by Mzukisi Mbane.
A casting audition for male and female models was held on July 15 at the Tramways building, and from the 171 models who participated, 24 multi-cultural young models were selected.
As part of developing local designers, the Fashion Week programme will include a Designers’ Workshop where local designers who did not make it will receive training by one of the top local designers, one national designer, a national retail buyer and NMU fashion design lecturer.
The designers and performers will tell a story through their clothes and the music and entertainment which will form part of a theme “Royalty – We are African”.
Attendees are also encouraged to adhere to the theme and show how they interpret “Royalty – We are African”.
Gqeberha icon and multi-award winner, Ami Faku, and Afro-Soul Singer, Zuko SA, who recently won Best Afro-Pop at the Metro FM Awards, will perform at the event.
Tickets are R500 at Webtickets, Pick ’n Pay and Boxer stores nationwide.
Doors open at 17:00 and the show starts at 18:00. Finger foods will be served.
The 2023 Ebubeleni Fashion Week is made possible by the National Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Sun Boardwalk, Mandela Bay Development Agency, Coega Development Corporation, Bluewater Bay Sunrise Hotel, Tramways Building and Ebubeleni Festival Projects NPC.
