Making the cut for real
‘Project Runway’ cherry on top for Bay designer
From graduating her honours degree in fashion design cum laude and being appointed Mohair SA’s in-house designer to being on the list of emerging creatives at the 2018 Design Indaba – all in one year – bagging a spot on the first-ever Project Runway SA is the cherry on top for Bay designer Gugu Peteni.
With designs as bold and daring as her spirit, Peteni,23, plucked up the courage to apply for what is now the most trending local fashion reality show on SA television. Mzansi Magic, Ndalo Media and 4th Street Wines held an open call for fashion designers across the country to apply for the debut competition show.
As surreal as she found it to be among the 12 chosen contestants, Peteni celebrated with pride and subsequently acknowledged that her hard work, bravado and self-belief were paying off.
“Making the cut was so exciting until a few seconds later when I was overwhelmed by nerves and started questioning whether I was really prepared to do this. From watching the US [version of the] show I’ve seen how stressful it can be,” Peteni said. The Pearson High School past pupil is the youngest designer on the show which debuted last week.Peteni applied for the competition shortly after returning from Design Indaba in Cape Town, where she showcased her Golden State of Mind and Rise ranges. Golden State of Mind is an edgy, bright yellow range which she used to redefine African beauty. The range was also modelled at NMU’s Collective Fashion show late last year when Peteni submitted it for her final-year project. She designed the Rise range as a tool to inspire and empower women to fight abuse.
“As a young female fashion designer I realised that the fashion industry was whitewashed and representation in terms of beauty was quite unfair. That was disheartening for me, so I decided to create a range that affirms black beauty and womanhood in general,” she said.
Peteni’s work threads on relevance and moves with the times. In addition, the designer is sure to add an element of empowerment, for both men and women, to each range.
“The Design Indaba was an inspiring experience. Being surrounded by so many other talented, young creatives and people who could give me honest feedback about my design concepts, was amazing.
“Even though I never went there with selling as my primary objective, I ended up selling my work to international bloggers and the event created a lot of opportunities for me,” Peteni said.
In December last year, she started what was meant to be a six-month internship with Mohair SA in Walmer. However, her talent impressed her employers into offering her her current post as the store’s in-house designer just three months into the internship.
Peteni has bigger fashion plans going forward and they do not include leaving Port Elizabeth.
“Going forward I’m building my brand and continuing to create but I’m definitely staying in PE. As the city’s young creatives we have the impression we need to go to bigger cities in order to do well, but there’s actually a huge market here.”
Project Runway SA contestants face weekly creativity, resilience, design and practical skills challenges, with one designer eliminated each week. The top three will create their own collection for a prestigious fashion event and the winner of the first season of the show will showcase at Paris Fashion Week 2019.
Watch Project Runway SA on Mzansi Magic, channel 161, on Tuesdays at 9.30pm.
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