The Smarteez express the randomness of the world through their random attire.
Fashion is derided for its superficial nature, its position as part of our ”throw-away culture”, its obsession with status and wealth. Yet any designer will argue, as any artist might, fashion is also a clue to the larger subconscious of a people at any given time.
At Sanlam South African Fashion Week, held last week at the Sandton Convention Centre, the catalogue of a broad South African psyche was no less evident. An array of the country’s mindsets was on display, from the most positive to the negative, whether on the ramp or expressed through the garments adorning the fashion lovers that gathered to watch the collections.
A theme coming through?
One trend analyst pointed out that ”body caging” came across strongly in many of the collections. With an emphasis on the sternum and the spine, even soft bubble dresses — inherently cocooning, protective shapes — came with thorny pleats to harden the edges, especially in collections such as Black Coffee’s, she said.
Men’s wear collections such as Thunderstorm included belt work across the body, like the bars of a cage.
Emphasis on hoods and high collars also pointed to a sense of defensiveness evident across South Africa.
Innovative collections such as Lisa Joffe’s Guillotine went as far as to inflate the sleeves, hoods, trouser legs and skirts of individual garments, creating the softest hint of a barrier between the observer and the person in the clothing.
”It parallels society,” said the analyst. ”We want to get out on to the street, out from behind our high walls, but we still carry a sense of defensiveness with us.”
The designer: struggle with prolongued absence
Amanda Laird-Cherry’s collection Complicity and Shifting Dust expressed her personal struggle with having to leave South Africa, while her husband follows a job opportunity in the United States.
Her collection expresses her doubt and sadness at the new direction her life is taking as she ”never wanted to be” one of the many white people who have fled the country, bemoaning the current South African society.
Laird-Cherry will not, however, be emigrating, nor will she be closing up shop. She will continue designing from the US and with a management team that she has been slowly strengthening over the past year, she says the production and business side of her label will remain solid.
”I am passionate about the country. I’ve built my identity and brand around South Africa,” she said.
On the positive side, Laird-Cherry said time in the US will allow her to concentrate on design exclusively as well as following up on possible export opportunities that will boost the business back home.
The buyer: industry psychology
The soft strains of commerce always underlie the symphony of creativity and design at Sanlam SA Fashion Week. The event this year was no different, as shoppers mingled with fashion lovers in the exhibition hall where designers sold their work.
Amid the shoppers are the buyers — for large retailers as well as small outlets — who scour the ramps and racks for the goods that can sell in store.
Grant Blackbeard, owner of Western Cape-based boutique stores Blackbeard & Dare, pointed out that the gap between designers’ ramp collections and their store collections is increasingly closing.
Ranges by designers such as Abigail Betz, and Sanche Frolich’s Story label, will ”do well” he said, because they are creative but translate into ”good, saleable, commercial” clothing.
”That commercial element is what is driving people,” he argued.
With years of experience in the industry Blackbeard is particularly passionate about the business side of the industry.
”We are always looking for new talent,” he said. ”But as a retailer, that comes with two things. Does the designer understand the retail supply chain and the commercial process and does the designer have capital.”
Blackbeard argued that just because a designer has commercial appeal does not mean the work is necessarily boring. He said designers with the creative flair can be ”moulded” and taught to ”balance that with retail or commercial elements”.
Finally a garment needs to be well put together — it must be ”well designed, beautifully executed and a good fit”.
For Blackbeard, labels such as Abigail Betz, Lunar by Karen Ter Morshuizen and Story achieved most or all of these standards.
Fashionable anti-fashion:
the brave, irreverent edge
In among the glamazons, wearing towering heels, carefully crafted and coordinated outfits, there were a handful of young folk, who defy this stifling elegance for a more irreverent take on fashion.
They are the Smarteez, a group of individuals in the truest sense of the word, the majority of whom hail from the harbinger of cool — Soweto.
”We express the random world we live in with our random attire,” says Floyd Avenue, one of the regular Smarteez at the gig.
Dressed in a blue-checked shirt, with denim shorts embellished with top stitching that he has added himself, a multicoloured neckerchief and what can only be described as Steve Urkel glasses, Floyd Avenue looks unutterably funky.
”We get criticism when we are divided,” said fellow Smartee, Retro, ”But together we are stronger.”
Retro is one of the few converts who comes from Pretoria.
Smarteez never wear the same look twice, they find or make clothes and don’t buy international labels unless they are sneakers, said Floyd Avenue.
The result is a dazzling array of colour, fabric and style that is an identity all its own and yet defies any kind of label.
The Smarteez have been documented by photographer Lolo Veleko and been featured in Elle magazine’s September issue.
According to Elle the pictures taken by Veleko were used in her recent exhibition in Japan, where they were spotted and snapped up by Japanese designer Kenzo.