Nataal’s catwalk highlights from GTBank Fashion Weekend 2019

ThreeAsFour
Contemporary fashion history aficionados will recognise ThreeAsFour (formerly AsFour) as the mainstays of NYC’s late 90s/early 00s downtown scene, that era when collectives like themselves and Bernadette Corporation danced on the partitioning lines of ‘fashion’ and ‘art’ with carefree abandon. For their presentation at GTBank Fashion Weekend, a re-show of their SS20 collection, they proved that their boundary-blurring approach maintains the relevance it did two decades ago. Entitled Human Plant, borrowed from the title of their first collection, the trio adopted a pragmatically literal approach, exploring the vein-like geometries of leaves, insect wings and webs. Leaf skeletons, laser cut in autumnally hued leathers, were pinned, liberally to imply a cascade of foliage, and a similarly soft-handed approach was seen in the sculptural wrap dresses in leaf-motif embroidered organza. A sterner touch was seen in the fastidious pattern cutting, yielding patchwork swimwear pieces, and exact, albeit at-ease, tailored pieces.

Tzar Studios
“I want to bring something a little more pared back to African fashion,” said Ian Audifferen, the creative director of Tzar Studios, at a trunk show held prior to the main event. And indeed, looking at the Lagosian brand’s AW19 collection, a warm-yet-sober edit of shirts, tunics and dresses of casual columnic cut, ‘pared back’ was a fitting description. Tzar Studios’ SS20 collection, however, has seen the designer dip his toes into altogether more colourful waters. Loud prints — lemons on contrasting black and white ankara fabrics; shield motifs on azure blue linen; bleached striped greens — served as the collection’s visual backbone, a bold riposte to previous work we’d seen. However, a hand well versed in cut tempered any brassy tones to the loudness, with the relaxed-yet-efficient tailoring—particularly the half-half print shirts—crying out to be worn.

Mantsho
Fresh off the back of a collaboration with H&M this summer—notably the first African designer to work with the global fashion behemoth—Pamela Mokubung’s Mantsho continued in its celebration of the elegance and vibrancy of African dressing. For SS20, she advanced her signature of evening-ready gowns in jewel-tone satins, the most impressive being a mandarin-collared floor-length emerald piece embroidered with geometric sun motifs. Unabashedly feminine elements—the layers of gathered tulle cascading to create an ombré effect; pendulous fringe hanging from midriff-brushing mini capes; bows; gathered sleeves—achieved that sought after elegance, while abstract prints offered a refracted contemporary take on what can otherwise risk reading as a stereotypically African palette.

Viviers
Lezanne Viviers’s angle for SS20 was decidedly eclectic, offering a polychrome splash to proceedings. Even in the new South African designer’s most familiar silhouette, the kimono-wrapped jumpsuit, impressive variety abounded. Fabrics translated to the form included a wasp-striped Nigerian cotton mudcloth, billowing silks printed with images of flowers grown in Lezanne Viviers’ Joburg garden, or even a chocolate version that swaps out the kimono wrap top for a panelled leather bustier. The stand out pieces, however, were those that featured intricate beading details. Either hand-stitched into floral patterns, as in the case of dainty sheer nylon dress, or applied to mirror the patterns and hues of the underlying fabric, as seen with a printed cotton wraps, this painstaking infusion of handicraft demonstrated an unmatched deftness for texture.

Studio 189
Spearheaded by actress Rosario Dawson and former Bottega Veneta executive Abrima Erwiah, Studio 189 continued to advance in its project to use luxury fashion to empower female artisans and encourage sustainable practices. To say that their SS20 collection was a celebration would be to put it lightly. Models with beaming smiles strode the runway sporting garments in a dizzying array of colourfully printed GOTS certified cottons. Deep indigos, regal purples, tie-dyed scarlets, rainbow stripes... there were even prints taken from bags of wheat flour printed onto white shirting. If the panoply of woven and batik fabrics weren’t enough to convince, embroidered details ensured that the collection read as a love letter to African craftsmanship. In terms of cut, ease and wearability were the words of the day, with flowing wide legs, ample skirts and tailoring of loosely boxy proportion favoured over technical trickery. Which, frankly, was all for the better, allowing the eye to fully focus on the depth and complexity of the prints on show.

Imane Ayissi
Eager to divert perceptions of African fashion away from wax print, Cameroon-born, Paris-based designer Imane Ayissi adopts a couturier’s approach to both his fabrics and his fabrication. For his SS20 collection, entitled Mbeuk Idourrou or ‘he or she who dresses to impress’, the designer focussed on traditional ceremonial garments: a priest’s vestments, or a wedding dress, for example. "It was about making clothes that really create an impression," explained Ayissi in the wake of his presentation, “as well as about showing the prestige of African dress, the volumes, the lengths, the fabrics, and the ways of developing the cut." Standout pieces were those that made use of raffia. The humble palm fibres trimmed hems as if they were coque feathers, and were even dyed and woven into lace, giving us a sunshine yellow shift dress, or a dust rose mid-length cape, both fringed with trails of the fabric. There were also nip-waisted kimono-wrap dresses in richly dyed Ghanaian kente fabric, balancing the boldness of the fabrics visual texture with the formal restraint of the silhouette.

“Often, when people work with raffia, as with kente, it's not necessarily done in the most refined way. If you're going to present couture, it needs to be at a certain standard,” Ayissi explained. "For a long time, Africa has existed as a slightly carnival-ish spectacle. So it's up to this new generation of designers to understand the international fashion scene. We have to make an effort to understand the existing codes, and know-how to inject something attractive into that framework, whether through colour, or cut, or whatever else. Then, we can show that Africa is capable of playing on the international stage."

Huishan Zhang
Opening the second night of the weekend’s proceedings was London-based Central Saint Martins alum Huishan Zhang, offering a series of elegant eveningwear gowns that turned to the chicly demure canon of 50s and 60s film noir. The designer didn’t need to cite Sabrina (1954), starring Audrey Hepburn, for the audience to catch the references implied by the monochrome palette and clean lines, offset by girlish ruffles. Colour, typically in pastel or navy tones, did feature, however, as an attempt to “imagine what the palette would have been if the films had been in colour.”

Familiar couture detailing featured prominently, particularly in the painstaking handbeading and sequin work that lent dresses a romantic shimmer, as well as the abundance of coque feathers that trimmed hems and seams to amplifying the collection’s air of floaty elegance. Classic as the collection may have seemed, the designer’s fabric choices implies a forward-looking sensibility that’s perhaps uncharacteristic of the designer’s chosen genre.

Lots of couture dresses are eventually quite heavy, on account of the fabrics they use, but nowadays you can use supplementary fabrics and still achieve a similar look, explained Zhang. “'We chose fabrics that are obviously classic in order to translate our vision, but we modernise them. There's a crepe fabric that doesn't wrinkle at all, for example, which is natural/synthetic blend. It was a matter of considering how a modern woman is going to travel with the clothes."

Sukeina
Entitled Miracle, Omar Salam’s ninth collection for New York-based Sukeina celebrated the “power of nine.” In a rather cryptic backstage interview, the designer told Nataal that the body of work was a testament to “the elevation that process takes in turning something ordinary into something that lies beyond the power of the eye, the fact that three multiplied by three is nine.” This mathematical approach manifested in the collection’s sculptural symmetries and geometries, seen in the indulgently dramatic silhouettes and the intricate detailing: the flamboyant plumage that puffed up around shoulders, hems and sleeves being a case in point.

The collections uncontestable highlights were the evening dresses in fluro yellow mesh, beaded and embroidered, as per the customs of Senegal’s Bassari tribe, to marry tradition with tech-y flair. In one particular look, exaggerated gigot sleeves lent an air of early Olivier Roustieng. Though perhaps the comparison’s a moot point, given the fans they have in common—Naomi Campbell’s an eager advocate of the brand.

Read our interview with Roksanda at GTBank Fashion Weekend here
Read our interview with Adeswua at GTBank Fashion Weekend here