BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
Ten years into navigating the South African fashion industry, fashion journalist, content creator and pop culture commentator Khensani Mohlatlole has become a key critical voice in Johannesburg’s fashion media landscape.
Based in Johannesburg, this creative talent has a distinctive and well-researched perspective on the fashion industry and global pop culture. From fashion journalism in publications like Twyg and Industrie Africa to video essays on South African dress histories, she approaches her work with an unfettered and exploratory spirit. Mohlatlole’s curiosity about fashion and dress histories is vividly expressed through her DIY and upcycling practices.
Khensani Mohlatlole brings a refreshing wit and humour to her multi-disciplinary approach in bridging the insights gap within African fashion. Her relatable and witty style challenges traditional fashion paradigms.
Through her DIY and upcycling practices, she explores fashion and dress histories, reshaping traditional fashion media for a curious and critical new generation of fashion enthusiasts. Her expressive and playful intelligence in style resonates well with the fashion industry’s evolving landscape, as she describes it uniquely positioned in the global fashion arena.
She has carved an original and visibly passion-driven path in the fashion industry. She honours and appreciates what she refers to as South Africa’s “unique” position in the global fashion industry: an opportunity to demonstrate a new and progressive way of “doing” fashion.
“The most rewarding thing about the industry for me is that there’s so much room for change. It’s actually kind of a blessing to have such a young or small fashion industry because it means we’re in a better position to improve on the mistakes of longer established traditions and industries while adapting what does work to suit our context.
Our country is full of innovative and passionate practitioners who are really thoughtfully bringing together their histories, cultures and diversity to foster a better fashion future,” the creative says.
Image: Instagram
