Young South African designers Nicholas Coutts and Lukhanyo Mdingi brought their most recent collaboration to South African Menswear Week 2016.
Hot off the back of their Pitti Immagine Uomo showcase in Italy, the collection was a burly, yet subdued melange of knits, tweeds and classic country finishes: a must-see for anyone trying to keep up with the best of the best in SA menswear.
Post-show we stole a few words from the excited designers to find out what’s the common thread that binds their creations together and where to next for the duo’s designs.
‘We are going to go into production with the collection, it’s going to be sold in May on Kloof Street… and then we’ll see,’ says Nicholas.
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‘We still have our own separate labels that we’re working on as well. [In this collaboration] we didn’t want to make the man look feminine, because we believe in a strong and powerful sense of masculinity, and we wanted him to look empowered and confident.’
‘At the end of the day,’ Lukhanyo continues, ‘clothes are clothes and whoever wants to wear them regardless of sex or gender will immediately feel empowered through the pieces that we created.
‘As for me and Nick, people say that there’s always an itch to collaborate again, so we’ll see about that.’