Sewing her way through her matric year and sewing most of her clothes while at university with a sewing machine she received on her 21st birthday is Sadie Bosworth Smith who has proven that sheer passion and dedication can turn one’s dreams into reality.
Bosworth Smith, who turned her hobby into a career, was the proud recipient of the Dean’s Merit Award for academic excellence and graduated cum laude for her National Diploma in Fashion and Textiles qualification during DUT’s Faculty of Arts and Design graduation ceremony on Tuesday, 21 April 2015, at the Fred Crookes Sports Centre, DUT Steve Biko Campus.
“I am really thrilled to have been given this award. It means a lot to be given recognition. It was a hard decision to study fashion as an older student and to make a career direction change but it is wonderful to feel that it was definitely the right call,” she Bosworth Smith excitedly.
The 2015 Emma Smith Art Scholarship Award nominee is no stranger to winning local and national awards. She has been a recipient of the Young Designer Award at the 2014 Vodacom Durban July and was nominated for the Africa Fashion International Young Designer Fasttrack Competition.
“Clothing and accessories have always been of great interest to me. They are not only an expression of personal identity but can also function as art in the everyday. I am a very curious person and am always interested in learning new skills and information. I have studied psychology for the past few years and I feel that this is hugely beneficial as it provides an insight into and understanding of people’s behavior; something that I feel is essential in fashion,” she said.
The self-employed business owner of Sadie Bosworth Clothing also finds time to lecture Fashion Design to the first, second and third year students as well as Illustration to third years at the Design School South Africa.
In terms of fashion, her inspiration came from her sister and her aunt whilst growing up. She loved the fact that her mother could always make clothing and always wanted to learn how to do it herself. “My aunt and grandmother have also always been beautifully dressed women who loved good clothes and I used to spend hours looking at my aunt’s Vogue magazines when I was little and was always given free rein to dress up in all her clothes. I am very inspired by international designers like Alexander McQueen and John Galliano who are true creative geniuses. I don’t know how they create such beautiful garments,” she said.
The first time she became inspired by textiles and fabrics began when she used to go with her mother to the fabric stores where they sold the colourful wax prints and isishweshwe fabric that she used to make their clothes from.
“I want to continue designing collections as well as bespoke garments for clients. At the moment, I sell the clothing I make at the iHeart market and online. I have been making garments for private clients and am currently working on two wedding dresses and made four matric dance dresses earlier in the year,” she said.
In terms of her fashion range she created for the fashion competitions, she looked for beauty in dark places, both within one’s self and the things around people. “I took inspiration from jellyfish and mushrooms and the way they are dangerous, grotesque and also very beautiful. I used a soft mushroom colour palette and worked in soft fabrics. I designed a formal wear collection that I wanted to be more conceptual than wearable. To play up the concept, I deconstructed the garments and added cotton waste as a trim to create a whimsical ethereal feel,” she said.
Bosworth Smith is currently taking part in this year’s Durban Fashion Fair Mentorship Programme and is definitely considering studying further in the future. “I am looking into doing a course at St Martin’s in London if I can get a scholarship. I think it would be an amazing experience and a huge learning curve.
I also want to complete my research psychology Master’s thesis which is a narrative study on clothing and identity and the nuanced role it plays in the daily construction of identity,” she said.
– Waheeda Peters
Pictured: Sadie Bosworth Smith proudly walks across the graduation stage after while being confered with her National Diploma in Fashion and Textiles cum laude. She also received the Dean’s Merit Award for academic excellence
