Vlisco to present Aziza couture at Fashion Week 2006
27 Jul '06
2 min read
South African Fashion Week will be held at Johannesburg next month wherein cheaper ready-to-wear range will be launched along with Aziza label meaning 'gorgeous' in Swahili.
Vlisco, textile maker, owned by Dutch-listed Gamma Holding N.V. will begin in South Africa where booming consumer spending fuels demand for designer clothes.
Vlisco fabrics are very popular in Nigeria and Ghana bearing ranges from a lurid yellow cracked wax print with a bold florid pattern to a black material, embossed with an understated leaf pattern.
Due to invasion of cheap Chinese imports, Vlisco desires to make its own clothes in South Africa, as there is requirement for a sophisticated label with an African twist.
The company plans to thrust in the world's poorest continent into the monarchy of fashion design by launching Africa's first luxury label.
Although, it will face challenges from home designers, like Stoned Cherrie and Sun Goddess, who have put South Africa on the international fashion stage, creating traditionally influenced garments with urban periphery that represent a new and vibrant post-apartheid culture.
The fashion world is geared up for something fresh although Africa has been depicted as a continent of poverty, famine and political turmoil.
But there are hotspots like Johannesburg and Lagos that are growingfast, where designers are cynical with the western world and Africa has a new vision, a new face.
Creative Director, Dion Chang, believes that people are finally, ready to accept African brand and hopes to make it big.
Thabani Mavundla another designer stated that it featured modern tailored skirts and dresses that allowed the fabrics to speak for themselves, a world away from the fussy, traditional outfits associated with the brand.
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