Mandeni fashion queen inspires with her creative designs

Mandeni entrepreneur, Philisiwe Mpili-Mkhwanazi, has turned into the queen of astonishing, colourful, African clothing designs.

It all started in 2005 when she was doing craft-work, making earrings out of recycled plastic containers, tree seeds, bags made of records and hand sewing clothes.

Although she had no formal training, she founded the Luko Design fashion house, inspired by her daughter Luko.

She said she aims to grow and develop upcoming fashion designers in her home town.

“My heart melts when young, upcoming entrepreneurs around my home town come to me and say ‘I am here because of you, you have been a great inspiration’. That makes me very happy,” said Philisiwe.

The determined young woman went on to complete a fashion course at the Cape Town College of Fashion Design (CTCFD) in 2011. Before that, she had studied pulp and paper engineering, working for the Sappi paper company for four years, resigning to further her dream of fashion designing.

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“My designs are innovative, feminine, unexpected and yet very rooted in African heritage. The garments are for the conscious and confident fashionistas,” said Philisiwe.

Her designs range from casual wear to haute couture and, to her, being a fashion designer means being creative, artistic and being able to transform people and make garments that help them grow their self confidence.

Philisiwe took second prize at the 2014 Durban business fair, was rated in the top five of future leaders awards 2014 and was a finalist in many other awards for women in business.

She also got a grant-in-aid from the National Youth Development Agency and Mandeni municipality to help her business grow. She now owns three shops in Durban, Mandeni and Richards Bay and has an online shop.

Philisiwe advises young fashion designers to have great passion, patience, love and time for fashion and fashion business and never stop learning.

The busy woman still always finds time to exercise, do aerobics and run, and also recently started doing weight training. She said it always broke her heart when she sees negative people who do not push hard enough and give up easily.

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