May 3, 20203 min read

Phoenix Rising - The Capsule Collectiv

Updated: Aug 31, 2020

Drawn from her ‘Phoenix Rising’ project, the Phoenix Rising collective is a representation of Liz Ogumbo’s journey in the business of fashion highlighting elements of her previous iconic collections including Rekebisha, Safari and DeniMania and her latest focus on upcycling fashion.

Since its conceptualisation in 2007, Liz Ogumbo’s Fashion Brand is a clothing brand that specialises in offering the global market fashion that exemplifies our lifestyles in an eco-friendly manner, while enhancing our individual expression. Moving forward, her intention is to highlight a fashion story that combines artistic, practical, eco-friendly and social purposes today.

In her same sentiment of “Drop the seasons and get with the reasons,” due to the dirty nature of the fashion industry, she has taken a leap out of the laborious time spent constantly designing for endless seasons and instead, identified and highlighted select pieces that represent the every-day fashion-savvy through timeless, season-free fashion.

The Phoenix Rising capsule collective offers the consumer a capsule wardrobe that only features the most essential or influential pieces from Liz Ogumbo’s previous collections featuring sets of inter-changeable staples. With every piece versatile; easy to style in several ways with different tops/bottoms to achieve different looks, these staples are wearable throughout different seasons of your everyday lifestyle.

“Style is not about quantity, it’s about quality. Every day you consume fashion, you have an opportunity to consume consciously and smarter.

This capsule collectiv explores wardrobe versatility using a friendly styling clash as she Juxtaposes stripes, monochromatic textures, animal-prints and polka dots styled with heavily textured tribal prints representing the heart of inexpressible chic.

But wait a minute! What's fashion without wine?

Fashion is like the 'ying' of my other love affair with 'yang,' the wine. I always wondered how life would without wine until it was taken away from me like it was not too long ago during the ridiculous South Africa alcohol ban in the hardest time to be alive during this Covid-19 Lockdown. Suddenly, my appreciation for wine was heightened to a whole other level.

During the production of these fashion stories through my photo and video shoots, my intention is to integrate every element of anything and everything that compliments the shoot and drives us to the desired end-result; and thats exactly where the wine fits in as a lifestyle connector.

While I flirt with a variety of different hints of prints, textures & tints, the collaboration of these prints bring to life one-of-a-kind ‘juxtaposition’ appeal through my unique styling detail.

High-Waisted slim tailored pants and shorts, collared-shirts, tie-neck blouses, mini to maxi skirts and dresses, Victorian-inspired bralettes for the day-to-day dames, classic fitted well-tailored jackets and intricate hand-beaded body-Jewelry, textures through fun prints and volumetric & abstract form all make this collection worth looking forward to.

As if the textures are not enough, this capsule collective employs a few colours such as teal burgundy, green, purple, black & white, purple, green and gold undertones through embroidery and hand-beaded detail.

Liz’s clothing is recognised for its whimsical flair, with touches of both elegance and playfulness through influences from her music and African culture. Her jackets and bag linings often feature her album lyrics and despite her meticulous detail, her fashion brand still retails for less than her competitors.

With a vision to be the African leader in bringing economically, socially and environmentally sustainable African fashion to the world while empowering African Communities, her brand chore guiding values include Integrity, Eco-friendly, Community development, Development, Sustainability, Empowerment, Women, UBUNTU, Style innovation, Standing out and Self-expression.

“I believe less is more when you ooze confidence, hence I have minimised fuss and accented the beauty of our individuality. My philosophy through what we wear is that every day should be celebrated as an opportunity to make your mark.”

“Wear it!”