BLUE HORIZONS: Pieces from “Taintless,” the SS16 collection from South African designer Lukhanyo Mdingi.
FROM LEFT: PAUL SAMUELS/GESTALTEN; TRAVYS OWEN/GESTALTEN
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A TALL, lean man with an impressive halo of hair stands, legs apart, wearing a louche white suit. The shoulders of his jacket are cut away to expose his bare skin, his pants are flared, and his neck is circled with pearls. Behind the model, a breeze-block wall gives way to a bright blue sky. He could be in Los Angeles. In fact, it’s Soweto, and he is wearing pieces by young South African designer Rich Mnisi. “I want my work to communicate a modern African story,” says Mnisi. “People have preconceived ideas of what true African aesthetics should be, forgetting that we live in a diverse continent with more than 2,000 tribes. I want my work to reflect what it is to be a modern man living in all this richness.”