SAFW SS22 COLLECTIONS | MICHAEL LUDWIG STUDIO | THE CRUZ COLLECTIVE

Sipho Mbuto is a fashion designer and creative director of the eponymous label he launched in 2018, aged 26. He studied Fashion Design at Durban University of Technology. The label produces menswear main line collections positioned as unisex because his brand’s identity is centred around the strength of individuality and not on sex, sexual orientation, societal order, or other normative pressures. Mbuto’s design aesthetic draws its essence from the playful imaginative tales of craftsmanship that explores freedom of self-expression. Reflecting both the past and the present, and with the influence of architectural structures and abstract arts, his work is characterized by strength and clever combination of functionality and monochromatic detail. Believing that aesthetics and sustainability should go hand in hand, and that a beautiful garment should not destroy our planet, the brand follows an ethical approach that corresponds with their personal attitude to design, nature and living things. In 2021, Sipho attended the Polimoda Fashion School in Florence, Italy for the Fashion Bridges mentorship programme, culminating in his showcasing at Milano Fashion Week. Sipho Mbuto won the Best Menswear Range Award and the Gideon Merit Award and was a finalist for the SA Fashion Week Student Competition in 2017 and SA Fashion Week Scouting Menswear Competition in association with GQ and MINI. He has work with University of Kwazulu Natal as a costume designer for Drama and Cultural studi