THE SMARTEEZ
TEXT
PHOTOGRAPHY
ALEX KING
CHRIS SAUNDERS
A creat ive revolut ion is taking ro ot in S oweto, le d by young S out h Afr icans like fashion crew The Sm arte e z who refus e to b e b eholden to t he p ast .
T
ucked away in the back streets
South Africa boasts eleven official languages) and
Braamfontein coffee shop. “Our parents are
of Soweto lies a small, cluttered
security forces rolled in with dogs, armoured cars
very submissive people. They were made to feel
studio. The walls are plastered
and bullets. What became known as the Soweto
inferior and they wanted to pass that down to
with tabloid posters pulled from
Uprising led to the deaths of 176 people (some
our generation: this is how you do things, this
walls around Johannesburg, with
estimates are much higher). International outcry
is how you don’t. We’re breaking through those
headlines like ‘Frozen Chicken Train Wreck’,
resulted in economic and cultural sanctions,
barriers. We are all equal. We need to take pride
‘Graveyard Harvest Time’ and ‘Goat in Sex
which in many ways marked the beginning of the
in who we are and where we are, and that needs
Scandal’. Fabric with bright colours and bold
end of Apartheid, but resistance – and repression
to start with supporting each other.”
patterns is stacked neatly in one corner and
– continued well into the ’90s.
Through regular TV appearances, a starring
littered around the room. It’s home to Floyd
Floyd was eight when Nelson Mandela
role in the remarkable SA art and music
Avenue, Kepi Mngomezulu, Sibu Sithole and
became president in the first free elections in
documentary Shield and Spear, and a growing
Thabo Tsatsinyane, four menswear designers
1994. For his parents, Soweto is the spiritual
stream of commissions, collaborations and
who, as fashion collective The Smarteez, have
home of the black freedom struggle but after two
international hype, the crew are fast becoming
brought township street style to the catwalk.
decades of democracy the area is reinventing
a symbol of Soweto’s creative rise. “We’ve inspired
South Africa is experiencing a creative
itself as a creative powerhouse. For some of
the next generation to push forward and just
revolution right now, and some of the freshest
the older generation – who vividly remember
open the envelope,” Floyd explains. When British
ideas and most inspiring people are coming out of
the brutality of Apartheid – the flamboyant
designer Ozwald Boateng, who’s dressed stars
former townships like Soweto. The Smarteez are
fashion experiments of The Smarteez can be
like Jamie Foxx and Laurence Fishburne, rolled
the best-dressed stars in this exciting new wave of
hard to swallow. Floyd’s vintage-inspired pieces
through Jozi, he called them up for a shoot, and as
art, music, photography and fashion. They create
reference the past to comment on social issues
we go to press Sibu is in the Big Brother SA house.
technicolor couture for the first post-Apartheid
and he remembers the bitter outcry when he
Today Soweto is buzzing. “People have gotten
‘Rainbow Generation’ and are determined to take
repurposed the colonialist’s safari pith helmet.
comfortable in their own skin, they’re not afraid
full advantage of their freedom in the new South
“We come from this conservative community
anymore,” Floyd explains. “That’s the change I’ve
Africa by defiantly refusing any constraints on
of black people and we are doing things that
seen most. Kids in Soweto are dreaming big.” But
their self-expression.
are out of the norm – the way we dress, the way
this revolution is only just getting started. “A lot
“We were these young black boys with a lot of
we think, the way we present ourselves,” Floyd
of creatives are coming out of the townships now
energy, going against prejudice and negativity,”
explains. “We got sworn at a lot in the beginning.
and they’re just turning it up,” he explains. He’s
Floyd explains. “We were defying stigmas, just
Being called a moffie [slang for effeminate man].
particularly inspired by fellow Sowetans, BLK
trying to make something out of ourselves.”
‘What the fuck are you wearing? What’s your
JKS; performance art ensemble The Brother
After hanging out as friends, they first officially
fucking problem? You guys are an embarrassment
Moves On; I See A Different You, a photography
hooked up to win a French Institute best-dressed
to black people! Your ancestors must be rolling
trio capturing the new face of creative Africa;
crew competition in 2008 where the organiser
in their graves!’”
and artist Athi-Patra Ruga, from Cape Town.
christened them The Smarteez. “Chocolate on
The Smarteez have taken an uncompromising
Floyd is angry that high levels of poverty,
the inside, smooth and brightly coloured on
stance. As Sibu told Dazed and Confused in 2010:
unemployment, inequality and poor living
the outside,” says Floyd, playfully. They’re now
“I was born into the free world. And some people
conditions mean that too many black South
household names but when they first swaggered
accuse me of taking my freedom for granted. But
Africans still face an uphill battle to pursue
on the scene, they created a storm: Who were
to that I say fuck you! It’s my freedom to take
their dreams, but he’s optimistic about the
these immaculately dressed, larger-than-life
for granted.”
shape of things to come. “A lot of beautiful stuff
straight guys sporting skirts and colonialist steez?
Floyd acknowledges past sacrifices but argues
is happening, a lot of cross-pollination and a lot
Just a generation ago, their story would have
it’s important to push forward. His generation
of progress,” he explains. “Sometimes I wish I
been impossible. Under Apartheid, Soweto was
is in a different place. “We don’t really have
could just step into the future to see what South
an impoverished ‘blacks only’ township. In June
that hate or divide between us, you know?” he
Africa has become when I’m sixty or seventy. In
1976, students protested against a government
explains, pointing out the multi-racial staff
thirty or forty years I want to come back and live
decision to teach only Afrikaans in schools (today
and customers surrounding him in the smart
my life again.”
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