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What’s next for Apricity’s Rachel Mia, winner of Twyg’s 2024 Student Award

by | Dec 23, 2024

It was Rachel Mia’s grandmother who gifted her the love of handicraft. Ma Joy taught her to knit, a skill Rachel grew up watching her use to create baby clothing for donation to hospitals. After completing her job shadowing at Cape Town College of Fashion Design (CTCFD) in high school, Rachel knew she wanted to pursue fashion full-time.

The young designer has just completed her fourth year at CTCFD, culminating her studies by winning the Student Award at the 2024 Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards. “I want to thank Twyg for providing a platform for students because sometimes we feel like we don’t have much of an impact,” she says. “I feel full of gratitude. This is just the best way to end my student journey.”

Photo by Ryan Govender and Indigo Ravens

As part of her prize, Rachel won a Husqvarna embroidery machine, which she plans to use alongside her hand embroidery practice.

Though her career is young, Rachel’s creative direction for her brand Apricity is clear: mixing traditional craftsmanship with modern silhouettes and experimental textiles. Her final collection was inspired by her grandmother paying homage to the matriarch in her 90th year through handcrafted details and cotton garments—Ma Joy’s favoured fabric in her own wardrobe. It featured classic-cut trousers with bold contrast top-stitching, a crisply tailored jacket with frayed hems, a crocheted vest paired with smocked gingham shorts, and Apricity logos punch-needled throughout.

Rachel’s previous collections have also incorporated interesting fabric manipulation. Her third-year show was a patchwork of textiles, prints and finishes, including pieces made by repurposing window banners from The Fix. “The goal for that collection was to show how we can take things that you wouldn’t necessarily think of using and turn it into something that could be considered as wearable art,” she says. It earned her the CTCFD Runway Award for Best Collection on Show and saw her named the winner of The Fix Designer Showcase.

Photo by Ryan Govender and Indigo Ravens

Learning about how big companies produce clothing and a visit to a factory made Rachel realise the importance of sustainable practices. She incorporates slow fashion principles into her work by making most items herself, upcycling fabrics, and using labour-intensive techniques like knitting, crocheting and punch-needling.

Now that her studies are complete, Rachel plans to focus on her two brands: Apricity and her crochet business, Crochet by Rach. She’s also interested in building her portfolio to explore fashion styling more. Ultimately, she dreams of owning a store of her own and seeing her brand flourish. “I would like my brand to go really far. As far as it can go,” she says. “My main goal is to tell my story, and to share my experience of how I cope with life through garments and fashion.”

 

  • Main image features Rachel Mia’s third-year collection. Photo by Ryan Govender and Indigo Ravens
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