For his Autumn/Winter 17 collection South African fashion protégé Rich Mnisi presents a project titled Xingelengele, which means bell or siren – “a collection inspired by the way we handle things as people,” says the designer.
“It all started with the idea of ‘Ngi’cela i’void’, which means ‘Please void the transaction’ - when you’re at the till in a supermarket and you decide not to go ahead with one of the items and the teller yells ‘Ngi’cela i’void’ and the manager comes rushing. It made me think of the idea of undoing, and if we had the opportunity to ‘cela i’void’ whenever we changed our minds or wanted to undo something that had happened, how many of us would jump at the opportunity and how many times would we undo.”
The story is a three-part story and it will slowly make sense as Mnisi releases the accompanying womenswear collection and all the imagery created around the pieces.
For the first part, which debuted at the Lexus South African Menswear Fashion Week, he went with a very bold palette of reds, blues and yellows. The proportions of these garments are interesting and awkward but with minimal sensibilities.
