Hailing from Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape, the 25-year-old Babalwa Matiyela advises that people should invest in good quality timeless clothing, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic where most events are put on hold.

Matiyela completed her Diploma in Fashion and Textiles at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in 2019. She is also in possession of a qualification in Fine Art, which she studied prior to exploring the fashion industry.

“The initial plan was to study fashion design. I am a creative at heart, a hard worker, a goal getter and I would like to think that I am humble and very grounded,” she said.

She also describes herself as a lover of high fashion. “My taste in fashion hasn’t evolved much over the years. I have always loved, high fashion, I love the freedom of expression and the creativity/craftsmanship that embodies high fashion. The Fashion industry is expanding as we see more emerging designers getting recognised, I think we really need to push more into sustainable fashion and inclusiveness. We hold a great responsibility as creatives to be as sustainable as we can be,” she said.

Matiyela also mentioned that one of her memorable highlights of her career was when she was still a student at DUT.

“One of the greatest highlight from both my career and my recent studies has to be my final year collection winning, which was for-Most Innovative Range at the Fashion show in 2019. I pushed myself beyond my limits at that point and it paid off which got to prove that hard work really pays off,” she said

Advising people on the type of clothing they must invest in, Matiyela said: “People are now more invested in purchasing essential items, like your everyday comfy wear. As events have been banned for most of the time, fashion houses which specialise in events wear have really been struggling. I think people should invest in good quality timeless pieces of clothes and be classic. They really go a long way, it doesn’t matter if you have purchased it five years back if it’s good quality it’s good to go. We should normalise thrifting items for our closets as well as practice sustainability as much as we can,” said Matiyela.

Pictured: Babalwa Matiyela

Pictured: A model showing Matiyela’ s fashion work.

Nikiwe Sukazi