Young Sowetan Thando Ntuli spreads her wings in fashion

Twenty-six-year-old designer and founder of Munkus label Thando Ntuli from Soweto has launched the Thando Ntuli x Kiav x Pick n Pay Clothing collection.

The launch took place in Sandton City on Thursday.

The collection was elegantly put together with bright pink and purple as the main colours. Reminiscent of the 1990s classic look witha mix of pleated dresses, formal pants and suit jackets that could easily be mixed and matched. 

Speaking to Sunday World about her relationship with fashion, she said: “My personal story is that I have always been into anime, art and illustration in a sense.

“Growing up it was a part of me and schooling and I think my highest mark in matric was art. I was always a practical person and my family knew I would choose fashion as a path.

“When it came to choosing a career, my family rooted for me in my choice to do fashion. I went to the North West School of Design for one year and I realised that I had to work and study in the middle of nowhere, I then moved to Cape Town where I furthered my studies and graduated.

Taking it a step back, she spoke about how she discovered herself.

“Truworths was one of the shops where I took up an internship, I became a junior buyer for Truworths and went into children’s clothing with LTD Boys and I decided that corperate was not for me. I had to push myself creatively. 

“I told myself that I will not be young forever and banked on me and created the Munkus label. Munkus is a name I was given from home which means pumpkin. I wanted to relay my fashion to where I come from.”

Ntuli dug into how her brand grew and who inspired a great deal thereof.

“Munkus won some competitions and the brand grew from there. I would steal my grandmother and my mother’s items and redesign them when I was growing up. I wanted to fuse the age groups in fashion, if my grandma can wear it, so can I.”

Revealing future plans, Thando said: “We are redesigning the uniform for KFC for the entire country and neighboring countries. So, KFC workers are going to look real good.”

Her message to other black girls, Thando said: “I do not think I am more talented than anyone else, I am an ordinary girl from Orlando East.

“I took a risk and believed in myself and remained constant. Everything is spread a part by the person who gave up the last minute, and the person who continued even after falling.”

An artist who partnered with Ntuli on the collection Kiav Mitoo, 20, said: “the entire base of the range was centred around women’s month. I think pink is a great colour.” 

“The message we wanted to bring with this collection, from a personal level is that women have had issues that prevent them from expressing themselves. That was the biggest role player in using such a bold colour.

“The driving force in my art from using these loud colours was to give women a voice. I think that fashion and art have a lot of different voices that deserve to be listened to.”

 

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Shona Buhr