BONGIWE WALAZA 2011 COLLECTION

Born in Mqanduli, a small village in South Africa?s Eastern Cape province, Bongiwe grew up the daughter of a home dressmaker and learnt to make clothes from her mother's fabrics.

Bongiwe concentrated her energy on maths and psychics and upon completing her schooling studied Electrical Engineering. While working for Telkom, she began designing and making dresses for herself and soon built a loyal client base. Unhappy with the standard of quality of her dressmaking she decided to study and in 1997 enrolled at Natal Technikon.

 

Bongiwe has dressed numerous high profile personalities locally and received several accolades in the media. She has also been a product developer for Wild Silk Africa in addition to providing training for several employees of Wild Silk Africa. As a result of her innovative use of fabrics, Bongiwe also consults closely with Da Gama, for whom she is developing a product for their renowned Mandela range.

 

Bongiwe's fashion related awards span over 10 years, including showcasing and exhibiting her designs in New York, India, Las Vegas, London, Switzerland, Japan, Milan, Vietnam, Singapore, Greece, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Egypt and Singapore.