The address is Res144 on Anderson, central Johannesburg. The corridors on the 5th floor are long and cold. His is a corner unit. Unit 503. Sounds of Edith Piaf's La Vie En Rose are inviting. As he opens the door, he flashes a smile and leans forward to give a warm embrace. That's when you know you're welcome. Meet Lehlohonolo FashionWidower Senokoane. Editor of Previdar Online magazine.
The furniture gives away that he who exists here is an artist. The oriental scatter cushions, the mannequin dressed as a knight, the gold Alladin-style shoe ashtrays and stacks of books on fashion and human anatomy.
The smell of the burning inscense gives birth to a calmness in the atmosphere. A sense of purity and tranquility.
He dons copped camouflage pants, a tribal print knee length kaftan and a denim cut-out jacket. On his neck hangs a work of metal chaos. A filthy mess that has become known as Coco Moon. Pure artistic brilliance.
Hlony is tall. Very tall. His stature is almost intimidating but his soft voice is kind. He speaks softly & laughs loudly. We discover that we are both lovers of jazz and that immediately gets us insanely aqcuainted. We flip through music like manics. From Edith Piaf, Salief Keita & Nina Simone to Emeli Sande' & Birdy.
I sit on an intriguing piece of furniture. A half mannequin used as an otto-man. Its comfortable and sexy. I'm in love with it. As we sip on boiling hot herbal tea and puff on our cigarettes, we talk about everything. Love, fashion, music & art. We get deeper acquainted with every sip, every song change and every puff of a cigarette. It is a coming together of passionate people who are finding a securing a place in a much complicated and often messed up fashion industry that often requires casual sex, ass licking and backstabbing to remain relevant. An industry that has taught us your talent does not count for much as compared to your firm ass. However, that is a story for another day.
There is a deafening silence as I ask Hlony of his dreams and aspirations. He searches deep to find the fitting words to sort of paint this picture of his dreams in a way that even I see it almost in a way that he does. There are plans to travel Africa and bombard Paris with African influences.
Hlony studied graphics at VEGA and worked for one of the most prominent economic development companies in the country as the creative guru. Even in the midst of this promising success in this company, the fashion drum was louder than Microsoft and technical image manipulations. Away from his desk on the 1st floor on Main Street, Hlony was building a much sought after fashion profile as a freelance fashion stylist. This is what gave birth to FashionWidower.
In January this year, Hlony took the decision of following a dream. He quit his job for an industry that seldom pays what it should. He jumped on board at Previdar and in just 6 months, steered that ship to the very north of the fashion hemisphere. Previdar became known as "The Church Of Bloody Creatives".
He acquainted himself with designers, models, photographers, stylists, make-up artists and hairdressers. Artists jumped on board onto what became a shining beacon of hope for artists who were tired of the politics of getting their work into mainstream fashion magazines. Previdar was fast, free and accessible to all. For this reason, it became viral. Cyberspace had never been the same.
There are plans to turn this ship into a plane and fly it higher than ever. Its the understanding that not even the sky is the limit that keeps these artists going. Corporate industries are even taking notice.
For this man, its gone past a point of just fashion. It became a belief, a spirituality and a celebration self and spirit. It became an abstract truth that births curiosity.
Its not a cult. Its a religion
Hi there! Nice article Guru. I like the mag, It keeps accelerating in every issue.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great article indeed
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