Unmasking Mafikizolo’s enviable fashion sense

They are musicians and they are fashionstas. If English would permit, they would best be described as fashiomusicians.

The arguably most decorated in Africa Mafikizolo duo is known for its creative dance moves and always having good fashion sense which always complements its music style.

With the album Six Mobane, Mafikizolo pulled the 1950s look off perfectly with fur and the Cadillac theme was simply out of this world.

Even in late 1990s and early 2000s Malawians embraced what they were calling Mafikizolo design where dresses and skirts were ankle long with adorned with decks.

When the Khona music video came out, fans and music lovers were obviously glued to their televisions screens amazed by the beautiful work of art the song displayed with the different dance moves, traditional elements from cultures all over Africa and of course the colours.

Every time you meet the South African music act, you are bound to think their dress sense is something always styled for their shoot, but Theo Kgosinkwe and Nhlanhla Nciza, are fashion gods in their own style galaxies.

They blow people’s minds off as they are always getting a style upsurge when it comes to statements and blending of the African wear with English couture.

Watch with interest the Tchelete music video which features Nigeria’s Davido and you will notice that both Theo and Nhlanhla love to look good and are fashion trendsetters.

Theo in this video, blended an embroidered native African wear with a jacket, it was some wacky thinking but left a mark fashion wise.

One of the accessories that does not miss in the duo’s music videos is neck pieces. They are a must do for this duo as seemingly, they cannot just finish their dressing without one. They are the epitome of a black person and all things African.

Even when Theo and Nhlanhla met four journalists from Malawi who were sponsored by Malawian Airlines and Lake of Stars at the Cafe Rousse at Clear Water Mall in Roodepoort, Johannesburg, they two looked fashionable in their relaxed dressing.

With Theo in a pair of blue denim jeans and a matching loyal blue body suit, Nhlanhla glowed with a yellow dress, which she toned down with a blue jean top and completed her look with matching different bangles. Poising confidently and oozing comfort, they talked about their journey and love of fashion.

“Our fashion sense came hard when we did music that brought back the fashion of the 1950s and 1960s which showed that our grandfathers used to have fashion sense. They used to be so stylish.

“What we are trying to do is to revive that fashion feel. We don’t want people to come to our shows and say I have been to a Mafikizolo gig and those people were just wearing jeans, but they should be able to say these people put hard work in everything that they do. In short, we want to give people a complete package,” Theo said.

Unlike him, Nhlanhla has moved a step further and is still making a name for herself in the fashion industry. In 2008 she launched her clothing line NN Vintage. The NN are her initials. The label specialises in pants, dresses, skirts among others.

“And I make them in a way that even someone who is not from Africa would feel confident enough to buy it,” she boldly said.

She makes it a point that whichever country she visits, Nhlanhla buys fabrics and accessories that have been a bedrock of most of her dressing and label.

“I will get fabrics and accessories from Malawi. I love everything and anything about the African culture or fashion. Every single country that I have been to, Nigeria, Kenya and so forth, I have been collecting fabrics and accessories for my clothing label. 80 percent of my time I wear my label same with everything that I wear on stage and most of the things that I wear on the red carpet and functions,” she announced.

She said her mother was the motivation behind her launch of fashion label which is popular among ladies.

“My label, popular amongst ladies from other southern African countries like Botswana, Lesotho, is all about a woman who is not afraid to try fashion. I launched it because I have always loved fashion and my mother was always looking stylish and with her it wasn’t about the trending clothes but how she put her clothes together.

“So I started buying clothes from different shops and when I got home I would change it to something that will have my own personal touch and people were continuously asking about where I got my clothes so that’s my motivation honestly,” explained Nhlanhla.

While it takes her about two hours to be dressed and ready to hit the road, Theo just laughed at the question.

“Getting together the clothes doesn’t take much time but getting done the hair, makeup properly done it takes quite a while and I think for a woman, who loves fashion it takes about an hour 30 minutes for me to be to be done,” she said with a tinge of shyness.

Talking about shoes, Nhlanhla says she does not know how many pairs she owns, another question that was greeted with a laughter response from Theo.

“I don’t know how many pair of shoes I have and I am still counting. I don’t wear stilettos but I have any other shoes including pumps as well which I believe it’s a must have for any lady they are just too many,” she giggled.

But the duo is happy with the influence that it has on people either through music or not.

Said Theo: “We are excited that we are able to influence people, not only through music but also through fashion. People are having what they call as Khona shirts, others naming their kids with our names, that shows we are influential not only in South Africa and not only through music. We are and have been fashion trendsetters.”

The Mafikizolo front-man in future might start catering for the guys through fashion by starting a clothing line.