I Wear My Culture
I Wear My Culture is a research project by Gilmore Qhawe Khumalo (Gilmore Tee), which used fashion and film to document the decorative ways, colours used, motifs, symbols, artifacts and sustainable fashion of 10 unique ethnic groups from Zimbabwe and 2 UK ethnic groups. The project which zoned into the Tonga, Nambya, Shona, Xhosa, Shangani, Ndebele, Venda, Kalanga, Khoisan, Sotho, Irish and Scottish, had 12 young fashion designers travelling to their designated tribal groups rural settings where they learnt about the groups, in turn using the knowledge gained to create 2 contemporary garments each, inspired by their findings. 22 contemporary garments were produced from the project which kicked off in 2022, with a now award-winning 65 minutes documentary filmed by Prosper Kunyetu and Creative Mice Films, an award-winning fashion film and look book shot by Val Juma Photography, being the outcome of this initiative. Zimbabwean Historian – Pathisa Nyathi and UK Fashion Heritage Designer – Dorota Stumpf, were pivotal in this research in terms of helping share knowledge and skills with the young designers, prior to them going on site for primary research and constructing garments.
