BRAAMFONTEIN — When top South African designer David Tlale’s models took to the catwalk during Johannesburg Fashion Week, they were strutting where no fashion show has gone before: a bridge in the city’s notorious downtown.
Tlale’s fall/winter couture show was held Saturday on the Nelson Mandela Bridge, an iconic landmark in Johannesburg’s inner city and an area long plagued by a reputation for crime and urban decay.
The show, titled “Made in the City,” was inspired by the people who work downtown, Tlale said, and included 92 models — one for every year of Mandela’s life.
David Tlale is known in particular for his dramatic dresses with creative use of texture and shape. Sophisticated and daring designs have made him popular among South Africa's celebrity crowd. He said with this show he wants the world to see that fashion from Africa is more than just traditional African prints.
“We wanted to showcase the beauty of the city,” he said. “Perceptions need to change about what comes out of Johannesburg.”
The move is an important boost to the slow but steady revitalization of an area that slid downward into crime and neglect starting in the end days of apartheid, when white people and companies fled to the suburbs. As the inner city emptied out, it became notorious for rapes, murders, carjackings and the phenomenon of “hijacked” buildings, where criminals take control and illegally collect rent from squatter tenants.
More than two decades later, there is no quick fix to the continuing problems of downtown, but change is visible in pockets of Johannesburg’s city core that are becoming trendy arts and commercial areas. The successful Arts on Main project, for example, has seen warehouses turned into studios, galleries and creative industry offices, while nearby Main Street Life has apartments, a boutique hotel and an art-house cinema.
The area around Gandhi Square, the main bus hub, has shed its crime-filled reputation and now caters to white-collar office workers with shops, restaurants, outdoor cafes and pedestrian streets.
Last year’s soccer World Cup also provided positive attention to the inner city area of Newtown, which hosted a fan park.
“The inner city is becoming vibrant,” she said. “It’s about time that people rediscover Joburg. So many people have not taken the time to go back to the inner city.”
Tlale recently moved his fashion studio from the suburb of Parkhurst to Braamfontein, a booming area in the downtown that is attracting designers, artists and art galleries. A major Johannesburg gallery, the Brodie/Stevenson, also recently relocated from the suburbs to Braamfontein.
“It was the right time for us to move, because of the revival of the city,” Tlale said. “It’s really exciting here right now.”
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