Perfect fit.
A dress that can contain all of a woman.
By Nyadzombe Nyampenza
Fashion designer Sikhanyisiwe Sebata believes that clothes do not define a woman, but can express the way she feels. Her award winning conceptualized couture gown covers the body, but unmasks the spirit.
Made out of chiffon, the dress exposes the arms and back, and has a flared skirt that sweeps the floor. Sikhanyisiwe reveals that she immersed the finished garment in wet cement. Before it was dry she painted vivid colors over the gown. The dashes of color imitate flowers thriving in the wild. Ultimately, she threw the attire on the floor, causing the bonded material to shatter into innumerable cracks. Only then did the gown embody her essence.
The garment invokes a complex femininity that is often denied, and censored. It does not yield itself to the soft fabric. Nor does it succumb to the hardening cement. In a resilient way it retains both, with remarkable grace.
[Sikhanyisiwe Sebata was winner in the Fashion Category for the PPC Imaginarium Zimbabwe 2019.]
