My work is a love letter to the world — Sylvester Falata

Lira’s go-to fashion designer Sylvester Falata has traded stitching up ladylike silhouettes for painting as he steps into his latest career as a visual artist.   

Falata has dressed Lira at many significant stages in her career – most memorably when the Feel Good hit-maker walked the red carpet as a nominee at the BET Awards in Los Angeles in 2012, looking ravishing in a beaded red number.

Throughout his 18-year fashion journey, the 39-year-old Mahikeng native, under his bespoke label Sylvester Falata Atelier, has dressed other well-known women, from Miss SA pageant queens to A-list celebs on red carpets.

“I’ve always created art, I just never shared it, and until recently, I never considered it as a career option,” Falata says of his creative expression that he previously kept private. 

“In 2020, during the pandemic, I started sharing my art as a creative outlet, to keep myself busy and motivated because no-one was going anywhere. As I began to share it, I soon sold two pieces. Something was happening – there was interest in my artwork, and I could make a career out of it.”

Before long, Falata signed with a French artists’ agency that introduced his art to an international audience.   

“It was crazy that this was all happening at a time when we were under lockdown and there was not that much movement. The pandemic was a blessing in that I got to perfect my craft and focus on creating more fluidity in my art,” he says.

Falata’s fashion journey began when he switched from an intended career in law to pursue fashion design two weeks before the start of the new academic year.

“I visited a design school [the North West School of Design] for the fun of it, and I fell in love with the environment and the people. I thought I would take a gap year [from law] and do this to pass the time,” he says.

“In my first year, I was a finalist for the Vukani Young Designer Search competition in 2005. I then met my mentor, ex-Ethiopian supermodel Anna Getaneh and later Madagascar-born designer Eric Raisina.

Falata launched his eponymous label in 2010.   

Recently, as creative director, he has worked with local brands Africa Your Time Is Now, Tshepo Jeans and Standard Bank corporate wear. 

Falata’s experience in fashion deeply influences his creative process.    

“In my art, I play with proportions so one can see the fashion discipline subconsciously through my work. I love the use of texture and colour, which I credit to my fashion experience,” he says.

“I use acrylic on paper or canvas. It dries quickly, so I don’t have time to overthink and get in the way of the work. I believe my work flows through me; it doesn’t come from me.” 

For his latest exhibition, Falata explores themes of faith and unity.   

“It’s titled Manyeloi a Lesedi, which means Angels of Light. It borrows from Maya Angelou’s prose ‘I come as one, but I stand as ten-thousand’. I wanted to interrogate and meditate on the idea of faith and what it means to different people. Ultimately conveying the message that faith unifies us in love,” Falata says.

“The main inspiration behind my work is Maya Angelou’s prose. It serves as a reminder that we never walk alone, and one can see this with the repetitions in my work.

“My work is a love letter to the world; I’m intentional about it being optimistic and being a voice of reassurance to hold onto hope and keep it alive because we need those reminders when everything turns upside down in our worlds.”

Falata’s exhibition is at the Arthur Dlamini Studio at 44 Stanley, Braamfontein Werf, Johannesburg, until the end of June.