For the love of vintage fashion
A profile on Pretpria based fashion designers and founders of Tshwane Fashion Week.
Thato Mahlangu
One could easily say this is a case of “fashion brought us together” for the shy Esnarth Nkosi and the flamboyant Bongani Tambo.
Tambo, a Leeds IT graduate and Nkosi, quit their comfortable jobs as IT manager and as a lawyer respectively, to pursue their love for fashion.
The vintage obsessed pair met at Unisa a few years ago and after some time started dating.
Tambo, who was born in the 80s, joked about how the vintage bug caught him.
“I was raised by grandparents, and my grandfather, Geofrey Tambo, who passed away in 1992, was my fashion hero,” he said.
And so Tambo was exposed to vintage from an early age growing up in a small village in Malawi.
Nkosi studied law at Unisa.
They are proud parents to, Xolo (3) and Manqoba (1).
“We want to leave a legacy for our children,” said the power couple.
“We are doing this (designing and styling) because we want to not only showcase our talent and live our purpose but because we want to also empower other young people.
They have featured on Morning Live and on Africa Magic and been interviewed by SA FM and Tshwane FM.
In 2012, they decided to explore their talent full-time.
“We started our own vintage movement and a street vintage stall. We attracted customers, not only from South Africa but from as far as Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria and other countries,” said Tambo.
“With the support we had we thought of introducing a fashion event to give us and other young people a chance to showcase their designs on a big platform,” said a proud Nkosi.
That is how the prestige event, Retro Vintage Kolektion Fashion Week, which was attended by the who’s-who of Pretoria started.
The event showcases local and international fashion designers and is following in the footsteps of SA Fashion Week and other renowned fashion shows.
“We did not only want people to dress up in vintage clothes at the event, we also found an old venue with a rich history in Pretoria central,” said Tambo.
Nkosi said their first event was not sponsored but was a huge success because of the support it received from the media.
As they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the duo is now organising the much talked about Tshwane Fashion Week which will take place on 15 and 16 April at the Jah Dawn, near the SA Reserve Bank, in central Pretoria.
It is sponsored by 012 Central, Black Opal, Four Cousins and the Morning Star Express Hotel.
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