Images by Eunice Driver Photography/SA Fashion Week
Join us as Thando delves into the crucial role storytelling plays in shaping MUNKUS collections, the compelling journey of launching the brand, why she relates to being an 'Onyx Black' if she was and ISUZU mu-X and the distinctive blend of local and global influences that infuse her designs.
The Soweto-born creative is profoundly inspired by the generations of women and maternal figures in her life and launched her label in 2019 with a vision to raise the voice of the everyday woman through craftsmanship with garments that imbue a sense of comfort and confidence in the wearer.
1. How does storytelling serve you as your guiding creative device in shaping your fashion collection?
I think for me personally, storytelling is something that South Africans are just born with - the ability to tell stories because it's how we grew up, we told stories. When we're happy, we tell stories. We tell stories when we're sad.
We elaborate stories when we want to tell people what has happened. We change our stories- very creative with doing that- when we try to get out of something. And I think it's something that has always been at my core and being a South African designer, I want to do a good job in telling a story, whatever story that might be at the time.
But the underlying story is usually around me, around my family, around the women who have influenced me, and how that can relate to the next woman in South Africa or abroad. And I think I was just using it as a reference to make sure people can relate. I think storytelling for MUNKUS is definitely the core.
2. Could you share your journey of launching MUNKUS in 2019, and the version you had in mind for it?
2019 was the year I graduated. And back then, you have to come up with a collection for your final year so I have to kind of have the brand around that already. And I wanted to have my brand be the same thing that I envisioned d back in the day, and that happened to be MUNKUS.
I already knew it was going to be called MUNKUS. I knew that I wanted it to resemble what home meant to me. I knew that I loved colour and print and silhouette. I think it did morph into something I had an idea of, however, I don't think I would have been able to imagine how people will receive it and how much I've grown as a designer. Like, it's crazy!
The thing I always tend to do is ask myself “Am I doing enough? How can I push myself more?” I ask myself would my five-year-old self think what I'm doing is cool and amazing? And the answer to that is yes. My five-year-old self will think that the MUNKUS of today is kick ass!
3. Hailing from Soweto, how does your background and cultural heritage inform the aesthetic and storytelling aspects?
The name itself, MUNKUS, is the name I'm called by at home by those who love me, people who truly know me. It's my 'street name'. It's a name that I associate with home because home has such a big influence on my work.
And it's not only influenced in terms of storytelling and having references from, you know, how I grew up. But it is a link to the type of silhouettes that I make because it's the ones that I saw my grandmother make and I was the one who was stealing clothes out of her closet. And you know, it's crazy how when you are stealing from people's closets, you have no problem in making it your own, you have no problem in finding yourself in that piece.
So I think for me, my whole culture, my whole background definitely shines through because the whole concept of clothing came from me stealing clothing from my grandmother and my mom, and so on. And, yeah, it shows the type of styles that I choose, prints, the fabrics that I choose, it's stuff that I've seen, it's stuff that I have referenced from the ones I love.
Video by Kriek Productions/SA Fashion Week
4. What does the partnership with ISUZU mean to you?
It's always crazy partnering with brands that you interact with every day, you know. I associate the brand with storytelling - it's about building, it's going through rocky roads and it's getting through potholes.
The person I see driving a 4x4 is doing something that benefits either the community or something that benefits themselves or their family - it's a man or woman on a mission. And I feel like ISUZU is a brand that relates to MUNKUS because we are on a mission: we take on the world as if no one is looking at us.
5. If you were an ISUZU mu-X which colour would you be?
I think Onyx Black. I love black as it looks great on everyone. It looks great on me. And I think it's just a statement. It represents being proud. It's a colour that I associate with strength.
6. Your work has been featured on various platforms, including South Africa, Lagos Fashion Week. How have these experiences shaped your perspective on the global fashion landscape and influenced your designs?
It opened my eyes the moment I started travelling. Like, I love South Africa but one thing we lack is resources. And it's so hard for creatives. I can only speak for fashion creatives, but I know as a whole as well.
Our prices end up being so high because you can't buy everything in bulk. You can't compete with corporate retail, you can't make numbers for CMTs that are like 500 units, what are you going to do with 500 pieces of clothing, it's insane. So the price gets so much higher if you start buying retail, to sell retail.
What I loved seeing in Lagos, as well as Paris, and even Japan, I love the idea of making things at home, stuff being homegrown. And I think we've lost that along the way because we used to have it. We used to have like amazing manufacturing sectors, even in Cape Town as well, when you go through Salt River and so on. But they disappeared throughout time, and we never thought of bringing them back. And I think we as South Africans forget how big the fashion industry is even outside of fashion and just raw materials, and being homegrown is important.
In Japan, everyone is well-dressed. I'm talking about regular people. And I think that is because everything for them is made at home. Everything for them is made at home, they're not impacted by what's happening outside. They are doing just fine within their own rules, creating their own resources from food to clothing. So I think it really opened my eyes to want to make a change in our creative industry by making resources available, whether that's rebuilding a manufacturing structure or relearning skills and sharing those skills with the next generation with pride.
7. Bold colours, prints, and retro-inspired silhouettes define your designs. How do these elements empower women to express their most colourful and loud selves through your creations?
So for me, my bold colours are based on feelings. And I think everyone can relate to how colour has the power to show how we feel. We see this with death, we see this with weddings, we see this with our cultural clothing.
Bold colours just have ways of speaking to people. And not to say that you are boxed in, but the power of colours can really make you stand out. Each project, whether it's a story of a particular person, whether it's the influence of a person, or whether it's a community, my work tells the story through that aspect.
The whole concept is for you to feel so comfortable in yourself. Having your clothes speak for you and be an extension of you, without you having to say much is what I aim for.
8. In developing trans-seasonal collections, what challenges and opportunities do you encounter, and how do you approach the design process to ensure versatility in your pieces?
For me, it's layering. MUNKUS is built on the core of layering. And the reason I've done this is for the exact reason of closing the age gap, someone might not feel comfortable having a sleeveless top or be comfortable in weighing up an oversized jacket.
I feel like having the ability to make clothing that allows you to change it every day and fit it to what you feel like you can take on, on that particular day, is something that I've always wanted to achieve and put through my clothing.
The interchangeability speaks to balance and you know, allowing the consumer to also have an input in the clothing. Like how would you wear it today? I think incorporating both seasons in the collection is much more creative so that consumers can choose how they use the same dress differently at any given time, making more sustainable choices.
9. How do you see MUNKUS contributing to the broader narrative of South African fashion, and what role does it play in promoting cultural diversity and inclusivity?
I think for me, I'm just trying to do my part creatively. I'm trying to tell my story, and my story happens to be the South African, young, black girl from the streets of Soweto, doing something.
I think just doing my part will let the next person know that they can do this. I think it was the same for me - I saw people within my industry doing their part. And I thought to myself that I could find my place. And I think just being present and continuing to follow a dream allows the next person to see and say, “Okay, I can do this.”
10. With your strong presence in both South African and Lagos Fashion Weeks, how do you navigate the intersection of local and global influences in your designs?
As Africans, we are all connected in some way. It may be the use of colour and print and so on, the prints might be different, the colour might be different, and the silhouettes might be different, but they have creative key traits somewhere in there, where we all find ourselves or identify with the pieces, even though it's not our story. And that can be the same for our music, there's just certain sounds and certain elements that draw us all together and link us as Africans, whether it's intentional or not.
11. As someone who has achieved recognition and success at a relatively young age, what advice do you have for aspiring designers looking to make their mark in the fashion industry?
For me, just start. Because sometimes it feels like the hardest part is starting. And it is hard. But the actual test out of all of it is continuing. Because in this industry, you aren't going to make money quickly.
Not everyone's going to understand your work. You aren't going to be seen within the timeline that you want to be seen. And there's no corporate structure, where you can say “in five years I see myself doing this.” The best thing you can have is a strong mentality that's open, that's agile to that. And yeah, just be consistent whether people understand that or not. Consistency is key.
And there you have it, a captivating glimpse into the mind and creative process of Thando Ntuli. From the roots of storytelling in South Africa to the bold colours and prints defining MUNKUS, we've explored the fascinating journey of this rising star in the fashion industry.
As Thando continues to break barriers and contribute to the narrative of South African fashion, ISUZU looks forward to witnessing the evolution of MUNKUS and its impact on the broader cultural landscape.
Join ISUZU at SA Fashion Week SS24 on Friday, 19 April 2024 at Mall of Africa. Show starts at 19:00.
