REVIEW: Laani Raani at Cape Town Fashion Week!
Laani Raani delivers a sustainably chic collection at Cape Town Fashion Week
Discover Laani Raani's latest covetable collection at Cape Town Fashion Week
“Sustainability is more than just fashion; it is about how we love, how we embrace our environment, and how we take responsibility for what we wear... I think in an African context, we have always been sustainable in many ways.”
These were the words of 2021’s AFI’s (African Fashion International) Fastrack Designer of the Year Award winner, Shamyra Moodley, in an interview with African Fashion International prior to her debut at Cape Town Fashion Week. Moodley founded her label, Laani Raani, on the key tenet of conscious production and consumption that is so vital in today’s age of fashion. She has successfully used off-cuts and donated clothing, reviving them into new works of wearable art.
Laani Raani’s Cape Town Fashion Week collection layered earthy, muted tones of brown, purple and green, as well as and diverse textures, creating unconventional depth and shape in youthful, energetic pieces.
Moodley’s attention to texture, colour and print made for versatile and expertly styled ensembles. Her experimentation in this regard produced shirts and sweaters with panels of picturesque embroidery. Standout pieces included an impressive high-collared, crimson cape, with cleverly cut arm slots, as well as a purple mid-length strapless dress, with brown leather detailing applied to the chest and skirt. The show came to a climactic end with a cape-dress, with a choppy skirt layered in shades of brown and green.
It is often said that Africa is one or two trend cycles behind the Western fashion landscape. However, this year’s designer offering at Cape Town Fashion Week 2023 called this into question, with designers exhibiting a keen awareness and embrace of global trends and conversations.
Priding itself on its practice of upcycling and mending, Laani Raani seeks to educate consumers on how they wear, care for, and give regenerative life to their clothes. Following against the soundtrack of a Bollywood-esque soundtrack, Laani Raani’s show brought pure energy and fearlessness to the second set of shows at Cape Town Fashion Week.
From her AFI Fastrack victory, to showcasing in Abu Dhabi and Barbados, to her powerful showing at Cape Town Fashion Week 2023, Laani Raani’s trajectory thus far is nothing short of thrilling.