On Friday night (30 September) last week, the Durban University’s Fashion and Textiles Department held its annual Fashion Show 2016 where five overall winners as well as other winners who had won merit awards for showing excellence in their ranges were crowned.
Themed: After Earth, this year’s Show challenged 35 Fashion and Textiles students to explore their own vision of our next world through their respective fashion ranges.
Most Commercial Range on Show winner Leandi Mulder impressed judges in this category through her Restore range which explored “the use of Kintsugi art in repairing our dressed bodies after earth”.
Kintsugi (golden joinery), also known as Kintsukuroi (golden repair), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy, Kintsugi treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something to disguise. Kintsugi is said to have originated in the 15th century when a Japanese shogun broke a favourite tea bowl and sent it back to China to be fixed. But the repair job, which was done with metal staples being the standard for repair at that time, detracted from the beauty of the bowl. Disappointed, the shogun enlisted a Japanese craftsman to come up with a more aesthetically pleasing solution, and Kintsugi was thus born.
In conceptualising her range, Mulder was inspired by sustainability and used fabrics that had been recycled or donated to her to create her winning range. Clearly inspired by Kintsugi art, the range’s aesthetics and silhouette reflected a Japanese influence. “Kintsugi as a Japanese practice gives waste fabric a new life, embracing flaws while creating a new collection,” said an excited Mulder, who said she was excited to have won Most Commercial Range on Show. “I feel amazing, quiet surprised actually because I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m very happy,” she said.
– Sinegugu Ndlovu
Pictured: Most Commercial Range on Show winner Leandi Mulder with models wearing her Restore range.
Picture credit: Colourise Photography Studio
Models: Ice Models
