FASHION designer Lwandlekazi Zwezwe won a young designer award at the Hollywood Durban July, held at the Greyville Racecourse in Durban on Saturday, 1 July 2023.
She was among the 10 young designers and she won a bursary won R50 000, and each finalists also received R2 000 in cash.
Thabiso Ncanana from the Durban University of Technology won the second prize. He won a bursary worth R30 000 while Andile Nsele, also from the same university, came third and received a bursary worth R20 000.
Lwandlekazi said: “Winning this money is overwhelming. It means everything to me. It’s an affirmation that I am in the right direction. I will use the money as a start-up towards my fashion design career,” said Lwandlekazi.
She's doing her final year at the Pietermaritzburg School of Fashion Design. She said she has always loved fashion design and when she was a student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), she would dress and style people.
Lwandlekazi said most of her peers would convince her to pursue studies in fashion design.
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“Last year, I started my studies in fashion design. Before this, I was doing a degree in environmental science at UKZN. But I wasn’t really happy with those studies. I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” she said.
When she completed her degree, her husband encouraged her to go to a fashion school.
Lwandlekazi said the dress that made her win at the Durban July was inspired by the moon goddess.
“The dress I made was inspired by the moon goddess (Hindu religion), so this is not just a dress, but there’s s story behind it. That story is told through the fabric of the dress, the earrings and all the accessories that go with it.
"It took me a full month to make this dress. I spent three weeks on the skirt and a week on the top. I actually incorporate the Hindu story into the making of this dress,” she said.
