The blazing brand of a model citizen

SA designer Abigail Betz tells Janet Smith how showcasing her collections in Hong Kong and Beijing helped boost her creativity.

#Focac: Johannesburg - South African designer Abigail Betz has turned her work into a blazing young brand.

She tells Janet Smith how showcasing her collections in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guanghan illuminated her creativity...

JS: You've been called the Vera Wang of South Africa. What does this mean to you, and what's the significance of the totemic Chinese-American designer to the world of fashion?

AB: Before Vera Wang, bridal was never seen as fashion. Bridal was always bridal. She was the first person to really take bridal and make it something that had a season and a trend.

She revolutionised the wedding industry, and many designers have since followed suit. It’s not only about putting ready-to-wear on the runway. There have been some breathtaking collections since Vera Wang, but she will always remain the first.

It was very interesting for me when people started calling me South Africa’s Vera Wang. I started at the Young Designers Emporium, and I just loved beautiful dresses. Girls then started asking me to make them longer and make them white, and, being a big romantic, this felt like a natural progression for me.

At the beginning I was also doing lots of tulle, hand-dying tulle, which is something Vera Wang was doing really, really well. Before her, bridal wear was seen as white and maybe ivory.

She started bringing in reds, blacks, pinks, and we’re still doing lots of black wedding dresses and pinks, pinks, pinks. We now do very few white and ivory dresses.

JS: Although many South Africans have a sense of Chinese fashion only from budget-priced, mass-market stores and China marts, what has your experience, as a designer, been of Chinese vogue?

AB: The high-end garments are impeccable, but even at the lower-end, we’re seeing garments coming through with some beautiful quality and beautiful fabrics. The quality has really improved over the years.

As an example, many of the branded clothing, including American brands, are made up in China, and the materials, especially when there’s a use of lace, are amazing.

You may get one brand where they are making between 20 and 30 000 of the same garment, and, if you’re ordering it in those numbers, you’ll find that every single one looks exactly the same.

If there’s a hand-beaded motif that must be placed, also by hand, in the centre on the train at the bottom, it will be exactly there in every copy.

We should be inspired by this, even though, yes, as local designers we are being affected. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. Since Chinese-made garments entered our market in a big way, things have changed, but anyone who thought that meant bad quality, is wrong about that.

If you compare all the high end brands made in China, you realise that quality fashion can be very affordable, and it’s that level of work which we're trying to achieve. Why shouldn’t we also be selling our stuff in New York?

JS: Your own work is synonymous with the use of exquisite fabrics, and very careful, detailed trims. For example, you create the most unusual bird-cage veils. Have you learned anything in these areas from China?

AB: China is the most incredible place. In terms of what it presents for designers, you’ll battle to find more lovely fabrics anywhere else. When I was there, I could see all those possibilities.

You can source a lot of silks in mainland China. There’s also a lot of handmade work which I’ve put in my shop in Rosebank. It’s that kind of product which has had a ripple effect in South Africa.

There is a bit of a language barrier, especially in mainland China, but we had a translator, which makes it a lot easier. Online is otherwise the right way to do it. The delivery times from China, and the quality, are excellent.

JS: How did the initial invitation for you to show your work in China happen? Did it take you by surprise?

AB: Yes, it did. We were showcasing at Lucilla Booysen’s SA Fashion Week with a first collection where everything was in pure silk. There was a big bridalwear line with that , and we were chosen to go over to China as part of the South African and Chinese celebration of our trade relations. It was an incredible experience.

The vastness of the country is overwhelming... how many people are living there and how they use space. I suppose what really struck me was how the country was just a well-oiled machine, with everyone working towards a common goal – to grow that country, which is exactly what has happened over a relatively short space of time

As an example, we were showing one night at Hong Kong’s Shangri-La Ballroom, which is a five star hall which is let out per hour. This was as part of their fashion week.

Here, in South Africa, when you’re doing a production on that scale, it takes a few days to set up.. ramps, lighting. In Hong Kong, we literally had one hour, and what blew my mind was that an army of people came into the ballroom, everybody had a function – one lights, one carpets and so on – and everything was done beautifully. Nothing was shortcut.

JS: What can we learn from the way Chinese designers work and create? And how much of an influence do you think their work has had on you and designers in other parts of the world?

AB: If you look at fashion through the ages, you’ll find Chinese influences have been consistent.

The most well-known would be the Mandarin collars and the Chinese brocades. These are used by designers around the world, and it’s about how we reinvent them and make them new.

I’m fascinated by Asian cultures. I find that very inspiring. Even as far back as my final collection at Technikon, I was using those influences in my couture collection.

Honestly, whenever I travel, after a couple of weeks, I say, it’s been wonderful but I want to go home. Hong Kong, for instance, was not like that for me. I thought, let’s get the kids on the plane and go.

It’s a spiritual connection, and that took me by surprise.

THE STAR