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Young SA designer to showcase in Ghana

Up-and-coming South African fashion designer Bonolo Mataboge is set to showcase her latest collection in Ghana.

The 20-year-old designing talent behind the breakout label AfriBlossom will showcase during Mercedes Benz African Fashion Festival 2015, taking place in Accra, between May 28 to 31.

Bonolo reveals that the inspiration behind the collection she is showing in Ghana revolves around a geometric dress; she calls "The triangle dress". She also cites that the collection also borrows from Asian aesthetic, so we can expect to see a lot of kimono-inspired silhouettes.

"I'm sick of people saying that big girls don't know how to dress. We do know how to dress. It's just a bit more challenging with the options we have out there...” Bonolo explains.

"I actually think of all the different body shapes. I try to cater for everybody, because I know all these girls with different body shapes."

Her biggest career hurdle so far came last year when a guy she considered a mentor stole her work. However, she has decided to move forward and soldier on with the new collection.

Bonolo will next showcase at the Africa Fashion Show in Geneva, Switzerland.

She is planning to open her first store in Johannesburg and hope to open another one, preferable in Cape Town, in the near future. She wishes by the age of 25 to start working on her fashion degree from her dream institute Parsons School of Fashion in New York.

As far as dressing prolific women, Bonolo says comedienne/TV personality Tumi Morake and acclaimed poet Lebo Mashile are on top of her list.

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