By Farirai Dangwa
The eye for fashion and design knows no bounds in the small town of Makhanda. Elethu Kezia Ngqiyaza is a 17-year-old grade 11 learner who discovered her passion for fashion at a young age. Elethu aims to empower the youth to delve deeper into fashion because she believes it can help them figure out who they are and want to be. She says, “I wanted to empower more women based on fashion; they shouldn’t feel bad about their fashion because fashion defines who you are.”
Fashion brings light and joy into people’s lives; Elethu wants to help bring more of it out into the town and beyond. One of her earliest memories of her love for fashion and clothing was in grade 7. She saw different types of fashion in the media and her day-to-day life, which sparked something inside her that has carried her to where she is now. Elethu says, “I used to see fashion models on TV and outside, and it made me so determined to pursue fashion.” She has taken this determination and made sketches and upcycled clothing, such as jeans, into something innovative and new by making the said jeans into a two-piece. She finds more and more inspiration daily through her sketches as she says, “I just draw, do my sketches, and that opens my mind into having more ideas and visions for what I am doing and what I am going to do.”
Asked if she looks up to or is inspired by anyone within the fashion industry, she says she has a few inspirers, including David Tlale, but no one has the same ideas as her or thinks the same way as her regarding clothes. Elethu says she wants to keep people on their toes regarding her clothes because she likes making a statement with her fashion and style, so she would like people to think more about what they wear instead of just throwing things on. She says, “When it comes to fashion, you have to leave people with questions to ask you.”
Elethu shows no signs of stopping or slowing down when it comes to achieving her dream. “One thing I can promise you is that in the future, you will get something different from what we see now. You will not see the same things you see in fashion shows now, but you will see something so much different and in an African way: open-minded ideas that people won’t even think about,” she says. Elethu aims to make her own brand and take it internationally because, as she states, “I believe in myself, and I’ve got the power and the will, and as long as those things are there, I am going to make it.” A new generation of designers and innovators is emerging within Makhanda, seemingly with even more innovation and passion.
