What started out as a passion for beautiful clothes, consciously constructed for living in with great fit and balanced proportions is as important today as it was back in the 80’s when I first began to design clothes for the modern and fashion-hungry South African woman. 

As South Africa started to change with its newfound democratic freedom in the 90’s, so too did the women of South Africa, wearing their fashion ‘loud and proud’ with a distinctive flair that encouraged designers like me to find inspiration in every little move that they made. I have experienced most of my best fashion moments in the streets of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and even in some of the more rural South African settings which I have visited over the years. My work has been equally informed by professional training and creative inspiration. My years spent at NATAL TECH (now DUT) ensure that I have the technical know-how to bring my concepts to market.

I find inspiration in my surroundings every day, and often draw on memories of my childhood days as well. Some of these include my first pair of boots made from wet look leather (not unlike the boots that the drum majorettes would wear at parades when I was a kid) and the beautiful scarlet Chanel-like suit which my Mum sometimes wore to work.

My working life and my personal life are not separate, but co-exist, not always peacefully, side by side. I’ve had to make it work and have struck an almost uneasy balance between the two which somehow has assisted me in the process of designing for others, who I’m sure also seek to strike the balance between career and life.

Fashion is not inanimate. Clothes live and breathe, they embody movement and define feelings. Designing them is more than a job, it’s a vocation, something I trained for, and as I look back on three decades of COLLEEN EITZEN, I recall many of my designs with a healthy dose of humility mixed with pride.