Sindiso Khumalo debuts in Milan official calendar and goes digital

Sindiso Khumalo SS21 Womenswear Collection “Minty”

South African fashion label, Sindiso Khumalo, makes its debut in Milan and goes digital to present its Spring/Summer 2021 collection within Milan Fashion Week Women’s and Men’s Collection’s official calendar.

SINDISO KHUMALO, who was part of CNMI Milan Fashion Hub initiative, has again chosen Milan to present her collection accepting CNMI’s invitation to join a palimpsest of digital events which will parallel physical events held in Milan, as a response to international travel constraints imposed by global pandemic. On September the 24th at 17:00 CET the fashion film will be broadcast on Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana’s digital platform (www.milanofashionweek.cameramoda.it).

SINDISO KHUMALO SS21

The collection is inspired by Harriet Tubman. Harriet was born into slavery and as a child worked on the farm picking cotton. She went onto to free herself, and then returned back 13 times on the underground railroad to free over 70 slaves from the deep South, risking her life every time. Philadelphia was the place where slaves would have crossed the land into freedom and our video is shot in an area called Philadelphia in South Africa.

The collection speaks to the childhood of Harriet, named after her childhood name “Minty” and featuring beautiful hand illustrations from Cape Town artist Shakil Solanki.

The illustrations of the cotton plants that Harriet would have picked as a young girl and the Philadelphia Fleabane, which would have been the first wildflower she would have seen when entering freedom land, are all echoed in collars and in prints in the collection. Also it’s about reclaiming the land and also her childhood.

Silhouettes echo the portraits taken of Harriet, made in hand printed silk taffeta, handwoven cottons from our workshops in Burkina Faso. Hand crochet pocket details and hand embroidery details also feature, made with an initiative we have recently started with a Cape Town NGO that gets women out of exploitative sex work into safe, stable work.

In the brand’s signature style, a hidden thread links collections through our muses. As Harriet evoking details were revealed in FW20, Charlotte Maxeke, another revolutionary activist of that time, is echoed into some SS21 items, representing a nod to the next muse for our next collection.

“Speaking to the Black Live Matter Movement, this collection tells the story of a black life that lived through the most oppressive inhuman regimes and still triumphed. It’s a message of hope in the struggle. A message we all need now” – Sindiso Khumalo

The fashion film, named after Harriet’s childhood name “Minty”, tells a story of a young Harriet, walking freely in Philadelphia and reclaiming the land and her freedom. It was shot in Philadelphia, South Africa.

Film Credits
Model: Nina Henry (agency: Boss Models)
Creative Director: Sindiso Khumalo
Stylist: Githan Coopoo
Director: Jonathan Kope
Make up & Hair stylist: Suaad Jeppie (agency: One League)
Music: Gervase Gordan

Credits: © Courtesy of Aurora Lecce