Goats provided the key to Port Elizabeth student Kelly Esterhuyse's success in a competition for new designers recently.
Esterhuyse exclusively used mohair and Angora goat hide, in all her garments. Along with seven other young designers, she showcased her collection in Johannesburg on 22 September, for ELLE magazine’s New Talent Design Search, in association with Mr Price. All the entries were based on the theme, “Show us your pattern”.
Goats provided the key to Port Elizabeth student Kelly Esterhuyse's success in a competition for new designers recently.
Esterhuyse exclusively used mohair and Angora goat hide, in all her garments. Along with seven other young designers, she showcased her collection in Johannesburg on 22 September, for ELLE magazine’s New Talent Design Search, in association with Mr Price. All the entries were based on the theme, “Show us your pattern”.
Esterhuyse's range, consisting of entirely hand-knitted chunky, layered jerseys and dresses, made up of a combination of undyed mohair yarns in their natural colour and Angora goat hide, and named ‘Uliyana’ (French for Creative Spirit) made the fourth-year NMMU design student the winner of the annual fashion design talent search.
Esterhuyse said she had used mohair in her collection, because she wanted to increase the public’s awareness of this natural fibre.
“I really wanted to show how luxurious and versatile mohair is and break the misconception that it’s a scratchy, old-fashioned product,” Esterhuyse said. She hand-knitted the range herself in just three months in a skilled demonstration of the hand-knitting trend that is globally enjoying a revival.
Dion Chang, Flux Trend Founder and judge at the competition, said, “It was really refreshing to see an all-knitwear entry. It was very unusual and heart-warming to see that the fibre used was a natural and South African product. For a young designer to win this competition with a mohair knitwear item sends a powerful message that we can be successful with our own products.”
Elle magazine editor Jackie Burger says, “What makes Kelly a worthy winner is that she used an untapped textile. She looked beyond the obvious.”
Esterhuyse said, “Winning this competition is such an awesome opportunity for me, and I’d like to use this as a platform to one day start my own fashion label.”
According to Mohairweavers, Angora goats flourish in the semi-arid Karoo regions of the Eastern Cape.
"Astute farmers have learnt to breed out coarse… hair which has resulted in Cape mohair being sought all over the world," says the organisation's website (mohairweavers.co.za).
Most of the country’s 900 angora goat farmers are in the Eastern Cape, centred around Graaff-Reinet and Jansenville.
To find out more about mohair visit www.mohair.co.za
