There is a village in the western cape of South Africa called Philadelphia. It is a world away from the American city of the same name, but the two places are inextricably linked. They share a horrific history of slavery, segregation, and a fight for freedom and respect that still exists today. Sindiso Khumalo, who was born and raised in Durban and now resides in Cape Town, highlights this distinction in her moving spring 2021 collection.
The 2020 LVMH Prize finalist photographed her soft, pilgrim collar and print-bedecked frocks and beautifully tailored jackets and trousers in the idyllic landscape of Philadelphia, South Africa, anchoring the pastoral, pastel-hued narrative in the life of Harriet Tubman (The collection is called “Minty,” which was Tubman’s nickname as a child.) Specifically, Khumalo cites the fact that Tubman led over 70 slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad, which was a route that traveled from the south to the north. Philadelphia was the place in which slaves would finally cross to freedom.
Khumalo collaborated with local Cape Town artist Shakil Solanki on a series of prints that depict cotton and a type of wildflower called “Philadelphia Fleabane.” As Khumalo explained, these garments are about honoring Tubman by imagining her today “reclaiming her life and her childhood.” The collection, according to Khumalo, is also of course meant to speak to the inexcusable hatred and violence that Black women still face around the world today. As the designer notes, “we have to look at historical events and figures in order to understand our present.” She continues, “violence against Black women has been in existence since Harriet Tubman’s time and still exists today with Uyinene Mrwetyana in South Africa, Breonna Taylor in America, and the young girls from Nigeria who were stolen by Boko Haram.”