South African designers Sun Goddess discuss harvesting traditions through Fashion

April 6, 2015
DUNIA Contributor
Posted in Fashion & Style

DUNIA Magazine recently caught up with the Fashion Designers at Johannesburg based brand Sun Goddess for an exciting interview and a quick insight into the inspiration behind their work…

DUNIA Magazine: Please tell us a bit about yourself

Sun Goddess: Sun Goddess was founded in the year 2000 and the inspiration behind was to harvest stories and images of South African traditions through fashion. Our heritage stories celebrate a regal Africa that transcends time & fashion with fashion as means of self articulation.The designs are quintessentially South African as highlighted in the rare and exquisite signature handiwork, fabrics and unique pallets, thereby defining African Luxury.

How do you stay inspired?

Sun Goddess: We are deeply inspired by the possibility of taking what has made us dream in the past and renewing it while still maintaining its fundamentals. We look at our heritage and history and put it in our context, and that continues to fuel the evolution of the Sun Goddess Luxury Lifestyle brand.

Tell us something special about your culture as South Africans

Sun Goddess: Our South African cultures have stories that are told in ancient design aesthetics that often carry the DNA of a majestic Africa, one of legends, kings and queens, gods and goddesses. These folktales when translated into fashion, are there to remind us that fashion & style can be more than just beauty or escapism. They can be employed as positive instruments geared for shaping our identity.

What are some of the challenges you have encountered as a designer and how did you overcome them.

Sun Goddess: For one when we started 15 years ago the idea of wearing South African clothing as everyday regular clothes was quite a foreign concept. People saw them as costumes to be adorned ceremoniously. We had to break down those stereotypes, which meant that access to funding was limited and so we had major resource constraints. We worked very hard to position the brand and concept by means of elevating the aesthetics without giving up, continually raising awareness. We took the clothes from obscurity of flea markets and put them in major shopping malls.

Also we understood that for us as South Africans to make it, we needed to make unique contributions to global trends.

Another challenge we faced was a shortage of skills as the fashion industry was at its infancy. We worked on the marketing and were not discouraged by the lack of resources. Today there is more awareness and the industry is growing steadily.

What excites you most about your work?

Sun Goddess: Making a unique contribution to global trends by presenting original South African aesthetics. Also the passion for preserving our cultures while changing mindsets as we elevate our aesthetics. It is also the contribution that fashion can make to our local economies.

What’s in the near future for Sun Goddess?

Sun Goddess: We have just exhibited at South African Fashion Week and are getting ready to showcase at New York Fashion Week as a means of taking the brand globally. In the next coming weeks, we look forward to designing a wadrobe for two lead characters in a local movie. This movie has a strong fashion element to it and we are excited too to be working with young talent. We will be taking on a few young designers to mentor, in order to create an incubator for fashion. We are also poised to launch our 4th fragrance following the introduction of our first two in 2006 then a 3rd one in 2013.