Each week, CTCFD graduates and alumni are featured in noteworthy publications and articles both in South Africa and internationally. This week, CTCFD is proud to announce the most recent feature – alumni Anees Petersen of Young & Lazy was announced as one of 13 African Menswear Designers to Watch on leading international trend forecasting site WGSN.
Anees’ brand has been making waves in the street style scene in Cape Town since launching in 2009. HighSnobiety, in an article about Young & Lazy published in June this year explains “Petersen translates this inspiration into collections that feature sporty, lightweight materials and gender-neutral styles that align with the zeitgeist of the time”.
Since launching the brand, Anees has partnered with 2 other lifestyle designers to open an independent retail store – Corner Store, in Woodstock. Through this store, he has been featured in a number of local magazines, publications and online blogs, as well as showing collections at SA Menswear Week each season.
Most recently, Young & Lazy has been making waves internationally, with numerous features on leading fashion digital magazines and blogs, including being named ‘Ones to Watch: Cape Town’ on fashion giant i-D magazine, as well as ‘12 African Menswear Designers You Need to Know Right Now’ on international fashion blog and trend forecaster HighSnobiety.
International Features
Anees is not the only CTCFD graduate making waves on a global level, however. 2012 graduate Julia M’poko, whose menswear brand Mo’ko Elosa was also named as ‘12 African Menswear Designers You Need to Know Right Now’ on international fashion blog and trend forecaster HighSnobiety. Thoki Tafeni, who graduated from CTCFD in 2011 (and the winner of the Foschini Fastrack competition that year), is currently studying at FIDM (the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) in San Fransisco. After showcasing an incredible collection at Seattle Fashion Week in 2015, Thoki is currently chronicling her latest collection design process on her blog.
Recently, 2012 graduate Ricci JvR was nominated as one of ten finalists in the Emerging Designer Bootcamp for Phoenix Fashion Week 2016. The competition, in the form of a four month boot camp offers the designers the opportunity to gain valuable business skills as well as grow their brand through various challenges leading up to the final collection in October. Showcasing in two weeks, Ricci has been posting a number of close-ups and teasers of the new collection on her social media pages.
Lodown Magazine is a leading fashion and culture magazine, which began in Berlin in 1995. Having recently changed their name, YOUTH’s first mono-themed edition featured a locally produced photo shoot boasting four CTCFD graduates, Paige Martins’ brand OUTLINE, Amber-Rose Hennings’ brand A Seam Studios, Belinda King’s brand Orphism, and Chante Rudolph’s brand RUUD alongside a number of the county’s leading emerging designers.
Features Throughout Africa
A number of CTCFD graduates are achieving incredible success in many Southern African countries, including Easter Manasse and Tamar Machayi who live and work in Angola. After graduating, both Easter and Tamar interned with Forbes Magazine’s top ranked designer Nadir Tati, later having their work under her tutelage featured on both Vogue Portugal and Forbes Magazine.
Having started her own label COAL, Easter has been featured in many leading magazines, as well as having the opportunity to design a T-Shirt for celebrity musician Trey Songz when he toured Namibia. Easter has also designed looks for Portugese songstress Yola Semedo; the First Lady of Angola; and Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho. Most recently Easter has been chosen to show a 25 look resort collection at both New York and Los Angeles Fashion Weeks, as well as in the United Arab Emirates in the forthcoming months.
South African Features
While CTCFD is featured in multiple international platforms, their students’ work can be seen in local magazines and on numerous blogs on a monthly basis. Most notably, CTCFD provided wardrobe for Canon’s Fashion Runway Workshop. This workshop, which ran last month at the White Space in Woodstock saw alumni work in both couture and ready-to-wear being photographed by the industry’s leading photographers in various settings, platforms and poses.
August saw SKIP’s national ‘Fashion Exchange’ take place, with the likes of Amanda du-Pont, Palesa Mahlaba and Roxy Bruger wearing graduate designs by Wilton Dawson, A Seam Studios, and ODE. This national campaign is currently being featured on television, in print and online in a number of formats – be sure to look out for it!
Third year graduate Paige Martins, and her brand Outline were recently invited onto local youth show Hectic Nine-9 alongside stylist and celebrity Tracy-Lee Rosslind. Rosslind, who is an ambassador for Outline, has had Paige’s work featured locally in Glamour Magazine (‘Today I’m Wearing’), on her website, on television, and on a number of leading local blogs.
CTCFD will be holding its final Open Day on Saturday, 03 September 2016 between 10H30 & 12H00 at its campus at 7 Delaney Road, Plumstead, Cape. Be sure to come through, or visit their website for application details for 2017.
CTCFD’s Featured Alumni:
- Amber-Rose Hennings / A Seam Studios – https://www.facebook.com/aseamstudios/
- Anees Petersen / Young & Lazy – http://cornerstorecapetown.myshopify.com/
- Belinda King / Orphism – https://www.facebook.com/orphismbybelindaking/
- Chante Rudolph / RUUD – https://www.facebook.com/RUUD-1178520222212449/
- Charis Dawson / Wilton Dawson – http://www.wiltondawson.co.za
- Easter Manasse / COAL – not available at time of publishing
- Julia M’poko / Mo’ko Elosa – http://www.mokoelosa.com/
- Paige Martins / Outline – https://www.facebook.com/OUTLINEbypaigemartins/
- Rebecca Odendaal / ODE – https://www.facebook.com/odebyrebecca/
- Ricci JvR – http://www.riccijvr.com
- Tamar Machayi – not available at time of publishing
- Thoki Tafeni – http://www.thokitafeni.com/