WAKE

Last week Sunday I spent the day at Maboneng and had the amazing opportunity to speak to designers Pieter and Carla of WAKE.

The pair has been great friends who have known each other since childhood and even had the great opportunity of attending the Fashion School LISOF together. Although they're currently taking on the Fashion industry together; it was Pieter who started WAKE in February Last year, 2013. Then later on this year Carla came on board and they've been working together building WAKE into the brand that it is today.

Pieter had been styling for a while before he started WAKE and was inspired by wanting to get his own point of view across instead of working around other people’s vision. The name for the brand was inspired by his heritage; Pieter is of Irish decent and it was his Irish heritage which inspired the name of the brand.  In the Irish culture they believe that they go to a WAKE instead of a Funeral. They believe in celebrating the lives of those who have moved on as it is the new beginning of the soul into its second transition and that is how the name WAKE came around.

Most of their designs are inspired by things rather than people, ranging from cool animal prints to music, however music being one of the prominent influencers of their designs. Since the beginning of Wake, Pieter is always thinking of new ideas hence he sees WAKE as a platform to live out his creativity. Most ideas for designs start when Pieter listens to music which then become stories. Even though they’ve got very interesting stories to tell which are interpreted through their garments; Pieter and Carla don't think of themselves as artists; however they would love to work with visual artists as they believe that the combination of both fashion and art would only result in beautiful pieces. Especially since Carla thought of a future in visual art, before even thinking of a career in fashion. Therefore if the opportunity had to present itself, they would work with visual artists to bring together the combination of two different points of views.

The stories which are interpreted through their garments are also represented in their photo-shoots; Pieter’s styling background helps him come up with the concepts; since everything is visual, they look for a specific model who  will help them bring their vision to life and a model who embodies the look and passion of WAKE. Especially since it is through their pieces that they promote a certain lifestyle as they design for a person who sees something in their garments which they would like to portray. To avoid being stagnated in their photo-shoots, they work with different photographers as they believe that you need to work with different people.

Carla and Pieter don’t like shopping much mainly because most of the items they want aren’t easily available as they have very big ideas, therefore they only shop for basic items and wear their own designs, however they would love to invade Lady Gagas’ closet mainly for the shoes and wigs. Pieter and Carla both believe that a leather jacket is a necessity as it adds a bit of edge to any look and for the winter season oversized jerseys are good too especially if you’re going for more of a Grunge look. And when Pieter isn’t working you will find him relaxing with his family as he is very family orientated.

Even though the South African fashion industry is still growing and progressing, they believe that its moving in the right direction. And as our fashion industry is still growing Carla and Pieter look at other designers and brands as just different point of views instead of competitors, as every designer and creative all bring across their own vision.

 

Looking back they would’ve started their brand much later as they would’ve preferred to gain some experience and learn through the eyes of a different designer as well as having the opportunity to make mistakes. Therefore they advise anyone who wants to get into the fashion industry to gain experience from anywhere, whether it’s working at a magazine or doing make up, it is best to build your name before your brand. The future is only brighter for Pieter and Carla as they’ll be opening a shop soon and they hope that within the next five years they will become more successful and have the opportunity to do other things.

To keep up to date with the latest from WAKE and what Pieter and Carla get up too, you can check out their website @ www.wake-us.co.za. You can e-mail them too using the following address itsawakeworld@gmail.com or just call them; 084 206 5334. However if you wish to keep up with them via social networks you can catch up with them on Instagram and Twitter @itsawakeworld. But you can also keep up with Minc.Ink to get all the latest. 

Happy Shopping Guys
XoXo