21 YEARS: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week

The concept of 21 YEARS draws in a contemporary millennial attitude of owning and narrating stories located in personal experiences and reflecting individual and unique histories. 21 YEARS offers an approach to reclaiming absent African fashion histories and writing into the record neglected narratives through a series of micro-history exhibitions, workshops and publications that explore, showcase and archive the history of a single event, magazine, maker, retailer, photographer, and more.

21-Years_title

IMG_3253x

IMG_3874x

21 Years_y

fullexhib_webres

21 YEARS: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week is both an exhibition of the work of selected designers who have showcased over the last twenty-one years with South African Fashion Week (SAFW), and a publication of that journey. Fashion, much like art, reflects broader political, cultural, technological and creative changes, and this seminal exhibition offers a glimpse into the innovative work of twenty-one fashion designers in post-apartheid South Africa. The exhibition and publication will facilitate a range of important and ongoing dialogues through experimental workshops, film screenings and talks, digital activations, interventions and panel discussions.

21 YEARS: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week (14 November 2018–14 January 2019) was the inaugural fashion exhibition held at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (MOCAA). The exhibition includes both street and high fashion, offering a brief insight into histories of a diverse fashioning of South African identities. Works by both established and emerging designers will feature across two galleries, with a focus on issues of re-imagination and re-presentation.