Top designers show off resort-inspired collections at Zeitz MOCAA

It’s full glamour ahead with final preparations in full swing as the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town readies to host its first local runway show. While in Joburg this weekend it’s all about Kelly Rowland, Tems and Thebe Magugu, on the other side of Mzansi the 4th annual Cape Town Resort Collections (CTRC) will see designers from Taibo Bacar to Laduma Ngoxolo and Mzukisi Mbane parading exquisite resort-inspired collections.

Among the extraordinary artwork and scenic sights, the gallery’s corridors will also see the runway return of designers Thula Sindi and Fundudzi by Craig Jacobs. 

SMag caught-up with fashion designer and founder of CTRC, Gavin Rajah, about his new collection, debut makeup line and more:

Where did the concept for CTRC come from? 

I wanted to create a platform for designers who wanted to show but were not comfortable to show on other well-known platforms. I wanted to create something that was largely shaped by the designers themselves.

Do you have a selection process in picking the designers for CTRC?

The collections are made of designers who are already established and generally commercially successful and those who are part of the Futurewear programme. Designers such as Thula Sindi who have a good track record of commercial success and have also lent their voices to uplifting other designers with his store AfricaRise. The younger designers such as Matte Nolim are doing interesting things and are re-looking at the perception of what SA fashion is.  

Are you purposeful in your choice of the locations for each showcase? 

Our focus has always been to provide the most scenic locations and generally places that have never showed a fashion showcase before. 

Your fashion industry spans close to three decades, what have been the highs and lows?

Being able to work overseas and having the honour to have shown in Paris. And a struggle is that you constantly fighting people’s egos. There is no cohesive voice in the industry so when you are trying to put forward some kind of idea or concept that would be beneficial to the industry and then not have support because it is [fashion industry] a fragmented thing.

What inspired your latest collection that showcased last month at African Fashion Institute (AFI) in Johannesburg?

I love Johannesburg and its energy. The idea around the collection was about friendship and the kind of things that bind people – experiences. To look at it through clothing, it was about re-configuring old denim from Pick n Pay and remaking things from that. Taking different pieces of clothing and putting it back together and creating a new narrative and making pieces fit.

Your namesake make-up line, how did this tangent from your fashion line come about?

The best accessory to clothing right now is make-up. It’s something that you wear with your clothing and is essential to finishing off any look. I’ve focused on colours; nail liquors, lip shades and eye shadows, highlighter, those. Hopefully it will be a seasonal collection and it will be high fashion.