laduma ngxokolo: xhosa-influenced knitwear

xhosa-inspired knitwear for amakrwala by laduma ngxokolo
photo by astrid arndt with stylist maran coates

each year, the design indaba conference in capetown invites an international selection of recent design graduates
to present their work in the form of pecha kucha. among this year's delegates, was homegrown south african
laduma ngxokolo who shared his fashion collection which interprets xhosa beadwork aesthetics into a range of
men's knitwear for amakrwala.


traditional xhosa beadwork

within south africa's eastern cape xhosa communities, hundreds of boys aged between eighteen and twenty-three
attend xhosa circumcision schools for a manhood initiation ritual. after these xhosa initiates return home from the school,
they are guided through a six-month protocol. during this period, xhosa initiates are traditionally called amakrwala.
as part of this process, amakrwalas's old clothes are given away as a sign of the end of their boyhood, at which time
their parents are obliged to buy them a range of new clothing, which is meant to include high quality men's knitwear.
at current, the amakrwala obtain high quality men's knitwear from brands like pringle and lyle & scott.


beadwork details which strongly influenced ngxokolo's knitwear designs

having experienced the xhosa initian ritual himself, ngxokolo felt that there were no knitwear brands
that bore any aesthetic resemblance to xhosa traditions, and so he decided to develop a range of knit garments
specifically for amakrwala, sourcing locally for mohair and merino wool.


graphic layout of the designs and patterns

south africa produces more than 75 percent of the world's mohair, but due to a lack of sufficient textile industries
in which to convert mohair into end products, a majority of the fibres are exported. ngxokolo wanted to utilize
mohair in his knitwear as a means of indirectly contributing to the market share of local, particularly that of the
small black community farmers.


ngxokolo's line of knitwear
photo by astrid arndt with stylist maran coates

xhosa beadwork is one of the most popular decoration practices in the culture, and this became the basis
of ngxokolo's designs. the geometrically structured beadwork designs suit knitting motifs quite well.
popular xhosa beadwork motifs such as the arrow, axe, diamond and zig-zag are interpreted into his knitwear collection.
color also plays a key role in xhosa culture, and ngxokolo carefully considered a palette that is truly representative
of traditional colors. to do so, he chose light, medium and dark colors recognizable as authentic xhosa hues
achieving them through the use of pantone color chips so that he could interpret the colors of the beadwork
to get yarns dyed locally according to palette specifications.

the result is a line of sweaters in which the motifs and colors depicted, resemble the traditional style of xhosa people
wearing their beadwork.


image © of design indaba