Zamaswazi Nkosi from Soweto is on the cusp of great success in fashion designing. Nkosi creates garments that are high-fashioned, couture, and African-inspired for weddings and red-carpet events.
The 30-year-old self-taught fashion designer started fashion designing in 2013 on realisation that he could no longer carry on with his soccer career because of a long-term knee injury.
“I started researching something that will make people notice my skill and something that will make me travel the world,” he said, stating that growing up, he did not have it easy as he was raised by a single unemployed parent.
He would take his sister’s clothing, fix them, and wear them. Doing so, he was not aware that a skill was developing in him that would help him into the future.
“My fashion sense started changing and my friends began noticing that my dress code had changed. My friends asked why I didn’t do fashion. I then started researching and learning more about fashion designing,” he shared.
He started attending the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, where he met Brian Lehang, a style consultant and a golfer.
“Lehang helped me with many things. He took me to the mall and subscribed me to DStv so I’d be able to watch Fashion TV. He also bought me my first industrial sewing machine and we started making collections for local fashion shows.”
Nkosi tried out for bigger platforms but was not accepted because he had no formal training, but he kept working hard to improve his skill.
“I got accepted for an SA Fashion Week menswear competition, that was the turning point in my career. I was the finalist in the competition, and from there I never looked back.”
He has also been a part of the design competition on SABC1 called RawSilk. In 2019, Nkosi was invited to a fashion show in Copenhagen, Denmark by Zindzi Mandela, the late daughter of former president Nelson Mandela.
As a self-taught designer Nkosi has faced a fair share of challenges including not having a qualification. “It is not easy to showcase on bigger platforms and it is not easy to apply for funding, I now have interns but it is hard for me to open a fashion academy because I need accreditation for that, and I have no qualifications.”
Nkosi previously dressed former Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musida and reigning Miss SA Lalela Mswane. “I have applied again this year to be a part of the designers to dress two contestants in the final top 10 and I’m still waiting for them to call me; I’m just crossing [my] fingers because the Miss SA [pageant] is a big platform.”
Nkosi hopes to become an international designer and is looking forward to one day dress local household names including DJ Black Coffee, media personality Bonang Matheba, and former Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi.
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