One youth making a difference

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For a young fashion designer from Makhado Park in Louis Trichardt, Mygirl Ramunenyiwa, the textures of different fabrics, nylons and sewing machine needles are just another kind of language, which she uses to communicate with her soul.

“Working on my sewing machine is kind of spiritual to me,” she said. “I approach this work of mine with great passion and love. I believe that my passion has helped me open my own company, Mygirl's Creations, where we specialise in fashion designs to suit the client's requirements. We are innovative, though!”

The 28-year-old fashion designer, who was born at Tshiozwi village in the Sinthumule area, told Limpopo Mirror that she first encountered fashion design at the tender age of 12 when her mother was doing a short course in dressmaking design.

“I would tag along to her school and play around with her sewing machine while she was busy,” she said. “I did this even though I didn't know how to operate it. Later she taught me how to put beads on plain fabric and we would sell them to people. Today, my mom is my biggest supporter.”

Mygirl, however, had to forge her own path in the fashion world. Before that, she studied and graduated with a qualification in office management and technology from the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein.

“I came back home in 2010 and started studying through Unisa, where I had registered for a course in marketing,” she said. “I passed my N6 and later received a diploma in 2015. I graduated in fashion design from Vhembe FET.”

In between her studies, she has worked for two different fashion designers in Vhembe just to accumulate more work-related experience. “I make different designs, but mostly I specialise in ladies wear,” she said. “I love making dresses and maphepha hats.”

Mygirl is one of many young businesspeople in Vhembe district who have benefited from business exposure during the Youth Shine Business Expo that was hosted by VCC Music at the Makhado Information Centre earlier this year.

“Fashion Design is all about being creative. You also have to be good at drawing and be able to express your ideas in sketches, and you must also have good colour combination,” she stated.

She can be reached on 071 439 0719 and her Facebook page (Mygirl Hatu Ramunenyiwa).

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.