At a time when the global fashion industry continues its reckoning with environmental and social impact issues, Confections x Collections at Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, offers a compelling counter narrative. Now in its fourth edition, the Cape Town showcase has quietly positioned itself as one of the continent’s most considered platforms for sustainable African fashion, privileging process, provenance and purpose.
Set within the gardens of the 126 year old hotel in Cape Town, the three day gathering brought together designers, artisans and cultural leaders committed to slow fashion and responsible making. This year’s theme, Our Homecoming, framed sustainability as a return to values that have long underpinned African design traditions. Handwork, community and material honesty took precedence, reminding guests that sustainability is deeply embedded in how the continent has always created.
The showcase unfolded in three carefully paced acts, each exploring a different dimension of sustainable practice, and each paired with a bespoke culinary moment drawn from Mount Nelson’s famed Afternoon Tea. Together, fashion and food told a unified story of craftsmanship and mindful consumption.
The opening act, Soil, marked Confections x Collections’ first exploration of East African design through Yoshita 1967 by Anil Padia. Trained in Paris and grounded in his Indo Kenyan heritage, Padia’s work places artisanship at its core. Garments adorned with hand crocheted glass mirrors and silver bells carried both visual impact and ethical intention, celebrating the hands behind each piece rather than obscuring them. Movement and sound became metaphors for living craft, reinforcing the idea that sustainability begins with visibility and respect for makers.
Soil continued with Johannesburg based slow fashion label C O N N A D E by Shelley Mokoena, whose collection Hand in Hand offered a distinctly African interpretation of sustainable design. Architectural silhouettes and fluid fabrics reflected a practice rooted in material experimentation and longevity. For Mokoena, sustainability is not a trend but a way of being, informed by African spiritual and cultural relationships to texture, form and reuse. Her work demonstrated how restraint and innovation can coexist, producing garments designed to endure beyond seasons.
The second act, Threads, turned attention to the often unseen labour of garment making. UNI FORM by Luke Radloff presented a collection that foregrounded emotional tailoring and the physical toll of slow production. Tailored pieces were constructed from hand spun thread, emphasising time, skill and patience in an era dominated by speed. A live weaving installation by Tivane Mavuma of Barrydale Hand Weavers transformed process into performance, while a soundscape by Muneyi deepened the sensory experience. The message was clear. Sustainability is inseparable from the human effort embedded in every garment.
Hand spun thread and emotional tailoring revealed the slow, labour intensive process behind each considered garment. Images: Candice Bodington of Niné Creatives
The final act, Awakening, brought the showcase to a close with MAXHOSA AFRICA by Laduma Ngxokolo, whose Spring Summer 25/26 collection Izipho Zabadala, A Gift to the Ancestors, exemplified cultural sustainability. Through bold knitwear and intricate beadwork, Ngxokolo reimagined Xhosa heritage as a living system rather than a static reference. By evolving traditional forms for contemporary audiences, the brand demonstrated how sustainability also means preserving knowledge, symbolism and identity for future generations.
Throughout the programme, Mount Nelson’s culinary team reinforced the sustainable narrative. Executive Sous Chef Vicky Gurovich and Sous Chef Matthew Paulsen crafted confections aligned with each act, echoing the principles of seasonality, restraint and thoughtful sourcing. The pairing of fashion and food underscored a shared philosophy. True luxury is intentional, measured and deeply rooted in context.
Beyond the runway, Confections x Collections reflects Mount Nelson’s broader commitment to responsible luxury and cultural stewardship. With future initiatives including the opening of the Thebe Magugu Suite in 2026, the hotel continues to invest in meaningful creative partnerships that centre African design, ethical production and long term value.
In an industry increasingly defined by overproduction and excess, Confections x Collections offers a quieter, more powerful proposition. One that positions African fashion not at the margins of the sustainability conversation, but at its forefront. At Mount Nelson, sustainable fashion was at once framed as a continuation of practices that have endured for generations.
