What do wine and bespoke tailored suits have in common? The time and dedication it took to make them. That’s the thinking of designer and tailor Ole Ledimo of the House of Ole.  

“What fascinates me the most about wine is the process.

"I think I appreciate the labour of love. One can cheat and do a quick job for money but the making sure that behind the scenes where no one can see you, you still put in the best for people to consume. For me that’s amazing and I can sort of relate to that.”  

A self-confessed wine enthusiast, Ledimo has collaborated with Drostdy Hof for the launch of their dry red wine blend named Drostdy Hof Tribute.

Ledimo has dressed some of  SA’s top celebrities, GQ best dressed man 2009, and was also judge and producer of SABC 1 Rawsilk.  

Ledimo designed bespoke blazers for the influencers associated with the launch, he says the blazers were inspired by the bottle.

“The colours in the pattern and on the bottle influenced the bespoke lining and navy colour of the blazer and the shape of the bottle spoke to the fitted-cut. I was also really inspired by the character of the content creators involved in the campaign – they’re go-getters, sophisticated and like to stand out in life.”

The wine is also touted as a wine for celebration and paying tribute to a person and Ledimo said that the person he’d dedicate the bottle to would be his late father, Selotswe "Tizza" Ledimo, a bearded man who was known for his sharp intelligence and his sharp attires.   

“My father was such a good dresser, you know when I go back home and I meet some of the people that grew up with my father, the first thing they will say is 'yo wena, the way you dress, is like your father'.

"He was such a good dresser that when people see me and what I’m doing with fashion, they are not surprised.”

Ledimo's business has been operational since 2002. He is currently based in Randburg.

His greatest wish is to have bespoke tailoring being taken more seriously in SA.

“I wish schools would take it seriously because we don’t have enough schools that train tailors, we have fashion design schools but not tailoring. So I wish to inspire learning institutions and upcoming designer wannabes to consider tailoring as a career because it’s big in Europe; its a big industry and it’s not going anywhere.”

Tailoring is based on fabric mainly cottons, wools and other natural fabrics, and is also very dependent on how one cuts, fuses and structures the garment.

“When designing sometimes a mistake can end up being part of the design, with tailoring you can add your creativity but there are certain things you can’t cheat on.”