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Unusual store is a curiosity

FOR the likes of me who are accustomed to seeing clothes in beautiful stores hanging on rails, seeing them in a store that has brick walls and a red floor displayed in soft drink fridges, crates and shopping trolleys was a cultural shock.

When you visit Thulare Monareng's Fashion Collage Deli in Cape Town's Long Street, you are greeted by this rather unusual, but refreshing spectacle.

The store, which opened in March, is Afrocentric and targets the young and the creative.

It stocks a variety of local labels, including Monareng's eponymous label and a local Rastafari-made label called Intsangu, local underwear brand Undercova, Kenyan designer Liz Ogumbo's vibrant dresses, Shirt & Co's shirts and French designer Clare Cane's dresses.

"My label is a fashion expression that speaks a new language of fusion and confidence and is a valiant affirmation of the changing world. It is the fine art of balance - a word that defines part of what a woman is and the driving force behind my design.

"I draw my inspiration from indigenous cultures and I reinterpret traditional dress in a contemporary way," Monareng says.

She adds that the mélange of cultures makes her brand accessible to anyone looking for the latest in modern, edgy fashion design.

Her future plan is to serve coffee and tea in a little kitchenette and to turn the courtyard at the back into a Japanese garden. She also dreams of hosting fashion shows, art exhibitions and live music in the store .

"This is a delicatessen of fashion. I want this place to be a space for innovative ideas and concepts," the Soweto-born designer says.

Monareng spent her childhood in Swaziland and Johannesburg before being selected for the American Field Service Programme, which allowed her to complete high school in the US.

She says her life experiences and international exposure was very helpful in conceiving the concept for her store.

She graduated at Xavier University in New Orleans with a BA in political science. She continued her studies in Belgium, pursuing a Master's in public administration and management. She also interned with Belgian fashion designer Walter van Bierendonck.

Monareng then moved to New York to manage the Novo Art Gallery in Manhattan while studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she earned a degree in fashion buying and merchandising.

She returned to South Africa and later moved to Cape Town to work as a designer and stylist for e.tv's Backstage.

A year later she created the Thulare Monareng label and presented her first runway collection for SA Fashion Week, which retailed at the Space. She was also awarded the Most Innovative Designer Award at the Cape Town Fashion Festival in 2002.

Her store attracts many curious tourists and local fashionistas.

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