Lukhanyo Mdingi unveils A/W21-22 menswear and womenswear collection with a virtual show on Feb. 9, 2021, displayed models walking down an audience less runway, lit with flower-shaped lights. The collection tagged Coutts’ Collection was done in collaboration with the Ethical Fashion Initiative.
Coutts’ Collection is named after the South African designer, Nicholas Coutts – the designer died on July of 2020. Passing at 28, Coutts was a promising young designer that left his impact on many established platforms. Paying tribute to the young designer the Coutt’s collection presents a refined homage to the nuanced inner world of Nicholas Burnett Coutts.
According to the brand the collection was inspired by tapestries Coutts hand-wove himself.: The premise of this body of work stems from the pure spirit of love. Formidable and gifted, Nicholas’s full-bodied collections are tapestries of sublime genius and effervescence. Having had created his woven pieces solely by himself, it was this gift of hand weaving and design that he had harnessed which lead to using his time and his talent as a means of service.
In 2013 Nicholas Coutts won the ELLE Magazine Rising Star award and his work heavily incorporated woven and sustainable textiles, much like the pieces in the Coutts’ Collection.
Nicholas worked closely with Nomawethu and Nomonde from Philani, an organization based in Khayelistha, Cape Town. Philani – aims to improve health outcomes by combining skills and resources with the knowledge and resources that exist in their community. Nicholas used weaving as a medium to create and collaborate on pieces with these extraordinary women from this initiative with the intention of creating a collective that was far greater than his own self.
The Coutts collection showed elements of simplicity and modern fashion with clean and modern streetwear-type pieces. Mdingi was able to fuse artisans that sustainably sourced and craft unique textiles. According to Pitti Immagine Uomo, Mdingi’s goal is to “celebrate authentic narratives, according to a considered, sincere and mindful approach that allows achieving excellence and a timeless sensibility that is transcendent.”
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Lukhanyo Mdinigi is from Cape Town, South Africa and no stranger to New York Fashion Week. His label, established in 2015, has been shown on Vogue Italia and participated in events like the International Fashion Showcase Pitti Immagine Uomo, The British Fashion Council and NYFW.
