16 Jul 2019

African print designs took centre stage during the President’s Day Competitions fashion show held in Gaborone recently.

Showcasing as guest, Tlatlana Designs showcased beautiful sport and casual wear designs with a touch of African print on their collection of track pants, sweaters and cardigans.

Tlatlana Designs’ incorporation of the African print proved that even the trendiest fashion items can have a touch of Africa. Their creativity and originality made the designs look outstanding.

Giving a word of encouragement at the event, Grand Palm Hotel operations manager, Keletso Bogatsu said Botswana had come a long way in her journey to celebrating uniqueness and diversity through cultural practices.

Bogatsu said the President’s Day Competitions not only brought fashion designers and models together, but also brought to the same space fashion enthusiasts, industry scouts, art lovers and art collectors.

Fashion, she said was about style, clothing, hair, decoration and an individual’s behaviour and manner of doing new and interesting things adding that fashion related to one’s personality in terms of visual information.

“Fashion shows our style of choosing clothes with attitude to show the world and its people that one’s attire relates to designs, style, trends and status,” Bogatsu said. She stated that the fashion industry in the country was led by passionate and vibrant youth who contributed to the economic diversification and development of the country.

Although Botswana has made a mark in major fashion shows such as Mercedes Benz, London Fashion Week, Accra Ghana fashion week and others, Bogatsu indicated that the industry was yet to reach its limit.

She said as a country, they aspired to penetrate chain stores, runways and fashion extravaganza with local designs and styles.

Renowned local designer, Lesedi Matlapeng said there was still more that needed to be done.

Matlapeng noted that the local fashion industry was not yet where it should be but was getting there.

Matlapeng, whose designs continue to create international buzz, advised young designers to learn from established  designers.

She said they should stop depending on government assistance all the time, but rather work more on their creativity and show dedication to their work.

In addition, she said the fashion design category in the PDCs had shown improvement compared to other years.

Workmanship she said was one of the components that had improved because in the past designers did not work much on details but this year, such had improved. Ends