Thembinkosi Khumalo, Sunday Life Reporter
FASHION is slowly becoming more of what you make it rather than what is trending.
Back in the days, people used to follow a certain trend for instance, the all-white and colour blocking epochs among others.
Almost every young person and even the elderly would die to fit into those line of trends.
Nowadays, anyone can make clothing out of anything.
Who would have thought that there will come a time where anyone would think of making a dress out of balloons?
Her name is Valerie Dadisai Manyati a fashion designer, stylist and model from Bulawayo.
It was at the age of 14 when she was doing her secondary education when she discovered her fondness of fashion designing.
This brewed the zest in her to also attend classes at a designing school where she learnt part of her basic sewing skills.
In an interview with Sunday Life Valerie said, “It was my late grandmother who played a pivotal role in my passion for designing.
She bought me a domestic sewing machine, paid for my designing classes, motivated me and also helped me.
l started watching Paris TV back then in the days being inspired by Valentino’s designs that is when I said, someday l want to be like him.
l also loved how Cat Mosse used to walk because apparently people used to say we walked the same so she inspired me as well as Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton and Tyra Banks.
“I did a lot of hand sewing from home using needles.
Sometimes l could stroll with the handmade dresses from point A to B and I would not mind.
Even now, l still cut and make designs with my hand.
l love it that way and l feel so comfortable and inspired.
It is then later on where I do the last touch ups and stitches using a machine.”
She said her modelling aspirations were at peak when she saw a poster of Recochert Modelling Agency where they needed models for a fashion show.
“l went there trained for almost two weeks but unfortunately the show was short-lived.
However, just because I had a serious drive for being a model, I joined Fingers Modelling Agency which later became my second home and that is where I got an opportunity to meet the award-winning model and former Mrs Tourism Zimbabwe Samantha Tshuma.
I almost lost hope when I contested and never made it through in the Miss Teen Bulawayo and Miss Bulawayo.
l later moved to South Africa to another designing school to sharpen my designing skills,” she said.
With all the knowledge that she had consumed locally and outside the country about designing, she started to come up with seemingly out of the world designs as some would say.
However, there is one that became a show stopper at one of the leisure spots in Bulawayo recently, made of balloons.
“I thought of making a dress out of balloons when I was organising a joint birthday for myself and my son in February.
l did not know how l was going to do it, so l thought l was going to stitch them on the dress but l pictured it and that it would not work because the needle will blow them, then l thought of opening holes and tie them and, already l could imagine it being amazing.
“As l was making holes for the designs and blowing the balloons, my six-year-old son found it fun and he blew most of the balloons as l was doing the designing.
When I was done with it, then I tried it on and it gave me a jovial mood.
I wore the dress on my birthday that was partly celebrated at a local leisure spot and it caught the attention of so many people and I felt like a celebrity as I saw a lot of people taking videos and pictures with me.”