David Tlale celebrates 20 years of excellence in fashion with style
Fashion icon David Tlale launched a beautiful collection of garments at Melrose Arch Precinct as part of his 20-year anniversary celebration.
As a part of the 2023 Johannesburg Fashion Week, celebrated fashion designer David Tlale launched a spectacular 80-piece collection of garments in Melrose Arch Precinct on November 8.
This latest collection was released as a part of the David Tlale 20th Anniversary Celebration, and exhibited a variety of breathtaking designs made to appeal to a dynamic retail audience.
The David Tlale 20th Anniversary Celebration was symbolic to Tlale, whose mother, now deceased, would have turned 80 this year.
“It’s purely a celebration of our journey as a brand for 20 years, craftsmanship, and just putting together just beautiful pieces that people want to wear,” Tlale said after the showcase. “The concept behind these is just beauty. As long as it’s beautiful, that’s what we are selling.”
Tlale used the platform provided by the occasion to take audiences through his journey to arriving at his destiny. In his youth, Tlale had his heart set on becoming a school teacher, and, latterly, a principal. Though that all changed when he dropped out of accounting studies to follow his bliss by enrolling at the Vaal University for a qualification in fashion designing.
“I was the best student in fashion for the second, third and fourth years. Shortly after that, I became a lecturer for four and a half years at Vaal University,” Tlale shared at the showcase’s opening.
“In 2003, I entered for the Elle New Talent at the South Africa Fashion Week (SAFW), and I won that competition. That’s how the brand David Tlale was born, and brought into this country.”
For Tlale, faith, a good work ethic, hard work, and perseverance were key components in his journey to becoming a successful fashion designer.
“Fall. Rise. Fall. Rise,” Tlale encouraged.
“The biggest thing that has ever happened on my journey was that day when I made the decision to quit auditing. Without that decision, we wouldn’t be here tonight.”
The Johannesburg Fashion Week ran from November 8–11 in Northern Joburg.
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