(the collective) Fashion Show

On Saturday, 24 October 2026, Nelson Mandela University's Department of Visual Arts (Fashion & Textile) presents (the collective) - an evening runway show at the historic Tramways Building in South End, Gqeberha, closing out the department's academic year by putting two cohorts of design students in front of a live public audience.

Second-year fashion students open the evening with early-stage collections, marking many of their first experiences on a public runway. The main programme then belongs to NMU's final-year (third-year) design students, whose collections are the culmination of three years of design, pattern-making and garment construction training. For these graduating designers, the runway is more than a showcase: it forms part of their formal assessment, examined by the department as a core degree requirement. Every look has been conceived, drafted and constructed under academic scrutiny, making (the collective) as much an examination milestone as a public celebration of young talent.

The evening carries extra weight with a special appearance by Laduma Ngxokolo, founder and creative director of MAXHOSA AFRICA - the Xhosa-heritage knitwear label whose work has reached runways and audiences from Johannesburg to Paris and New York. Ngxokolo is himself a graduate of Nelson Mandela University's textile and fashion design programme, and his return to campus is both an endorsement of the department's next generation and a vivid reminder of where a Nelson Mandela Bay design education can lead.

(the collective) is open to the public and the department is encouraging Nelson Mandela Bay residents and visitors alike to come out in support of these young creatives as they prepare to enter South Africa's fashion and creative industries. It's a chance to see the city's design future up close, staged in one of Gqeberha's most distinctive heritage event spaces.

Doors open at 19h00. Seating is unreserved. Early bird tickets are R250, with regular tickets at R350, available through Open Tickets.