We recently picked up a disposable film camera, and took some snaps of our studio in Salt Circle Arcade in Woodstock Cape Town, where we design and create all pattens of our collections. We also went down to our factory in Maitland a few minutes away from our studio where all our products are carefully crafted and manufactured. All images were taken in March 2023.
]]>
SAN BODY SS2023 is a collection that is inspired by the San women of Southern Africa. The San (pronounced Saan), are members of various indigenous hunter gatherer cultures that are the first cultures of Southern Africa.
San Body takes us on a journey where we celebrate the beauty, integrity, and the way of living of the San people. The colours through out the collection draws inspiration form the herbs and environment of the San, ranging from buchu, turmeric, ivory tusk, mud brown to ox blood.
Oval shapes which represent the body’s of the San women are incorporated through out the collection. You can see this existing in the sleeves and continues in the knitted dresses which has the rock painting inspired outline of a San woman.
The textures and fabric range from a fine pucker weave , cotton twirl, rayon linen and acrylic wool. Our look book set is adorned with ceramics from Han Ceramics based in Cape Town South Africa, which pays homage to the clay pots the San used to cook with. The branches used in the back drop is inspired by the Huts lived in by the indigenous tribe.
Model 1 : Zintle Sigila, Model 2 : Cinara , Photographer : Gemma Shepard, Grooming : Nicola Loots, Assistant : Pamela Mlonyeni
]]>
~ Candace Redlinghus
]]>
What I do to believe in myself is really to focus on my strengths and to only speak with positivity to myself and to others when I do speak about myself. This way, I regain a mindset that makes me believe that I can really achieve anything and therefore I should just go for it."
~ Zintle Sigila
]]>
Returning to womanhood to me means returning to loving and accepting yourself. It means telling yourself that despite what you’ve been through, you are beautiful ! It means accepting your emotions and doing what ever you can to heal.”
~ Zandi Mbetshu
]]>Return To Womanhood is a collection which celebrates women in South Africa who have been victims of abuse. The collection motivates women to return to their inner safety and beauty.
The campaign includes two inspirational women from St Anne’s, a safe house in Woodstock, Cape Town. Syd West and Zandi Mbetshu. They share their story on how they regained their inner strength and reclaimed their self worth.
For more info on how to help abused women and children please contact St Anne's (021) 448-6792
Syd West from St Anne's Home
“Before coming to St Anne’s, I was in an emotionally abusive relationship for 13 years. After leaving my husband I found myself destitute and living on the street. It’s very hard for me to talk about what happened, I suppose we hear things like this everyday. When I found myself in the shoes of being raped and contracting HIV, I decided I had to be strong for my daughter and not give up.
To me a Return To Womanhood means renaissance, a rebirth. It’s been a journey where I’ve transitioned from this person who had low self esteem, to this woman who is optimistic and in love with life. I’m just grateful to have this opportunity to start over again” ~ Syd West
Photographer : Gemma Shepard
Hair & make up : Justine Norms
Hair & Make Up : Robyn Newman
Model : Zintle , Andiswa, Candace, Zandi, Syd
Agency : 20 Modelmanagment
Safe House : St Anne's Home
Shoes : Adidas
“Empowered women empower women" :
This women's month, we’re creating a cycle of giving thanks + giving back, and we're hoping to inspire an on-going movement of empowerment, woman to woman.
Our new initiative is about giving thanks to you, our amazing customer, but it’s also about giving back to our community of strong women in south africa.
We've partnered up with @lelive.africa, @bakedcollection and @blackbettydesign along with the amazing ngo @futurefemales and will be donating 5% of all our profits from our respective websites to the phakama community centre & safehouse project which supports gender based violence victims for the entire month of august – so by shopping from any of our sites you'll not only be supporting women in business, but you'll also be helping women in need.
Plus, by shopping on any of our sites you'll receive R1000 worth of vouchers to shop across all our sites – so you can support more women in business.
]]>
]]>
]]>
So while synthetic fabrics like polyester, nylon and acrylic are technically able to biodegrade, they take too long to do so and are produced with many chemicals, causing them to emit greenhouse gases such as methane into the environment. This creates damage to our environment and is not therefore sustainable; 600 years of methane emissions is definitely not desirable!
The majority of fabrics and fibres will biodegrade, whether synthetic or not. However the time it takes along with the amount of damage dealt to our environment will vary, depending largely on what fibres a fabric is made from.
]]>
When manufactured, washed and worn, synthetic clothes & textiles shed tiny plastic fibers that end up in the environment. Plastic that ends up in the environment does not biodegrade: it fragmentizes into smaller pieces. These tiny pieces, called microfibers, are smaller than 5 mm and usually not visible to the naked eye.
Sea organisms like plankton can easily mistake these tiny plastics for food. In turn, many smaller animals and fish depend on plankton as their main food source. Anything that dines on the plankton will get a dose of plastic pollution – potentially passing microfibres up the food chain. Its important that we check our care label while purchasing our clothing. Make sure you look for clothing that contain at least 70% more natural fibers to help protect our oceans.
]]>
Our female silhouettes embodies materials that are more decedent and softer such as silk and linen, whereas our male silhouettes we used materials that are stronger and more rigid like bull denim. All items are made from 100% natural fabrics , from raw silk to bull denim to Shepard skin and is therefore biodegradable.
Shoes by : Adidas South Africa
Accessories : Yellow Jewellery and Project Dyad
BTS Photographer : TK Mogotsi
]]>