You guessed it, Smarteez. And no, not the wonderful tiny discs of chocolate and colour; but the DIY fashion crew based in the Nuevo –Chic streets of Soweto. With a mission of challenging the portrayal of black people in fashion; Kepi Mngomezulu, Sibu Sithole, Floyd Manotana and Thabo Tsatsinyane are the epitome of the future in South African fashion.
It’s the dawn of personal expression in the JHB streets; journo Sandiso Ngubane describes this era as a time where a “youth is disgruntled by the promises of the rainbow nation and a better life for all, but is one that is taking matters into its own hands to create that life by defying definition”.
Fashion, for black youth, is a means of stating your place in a country where identity is swallowed by cultural noise. It becomes a battle to stand out in the shelves between mushroom urban wear and fly-by-night design; so, what better way to speak for the black youth than through what they know? Print. Lots and lots of print. If the dashiki had a baby with True Religion old school stonewash jeans, that baby’s name would be The Smarteez.
Their design tone is beyond the increasingly cheesy afro-chic; and bordering on social commentary that screams “THIS IS WHO WE ARE IN A PLACE THAT MAKES NO SENSE TO US”.
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