Rich Mnisi, the brand with the exorbitantly priced clothes, has once again exposed a lot of homophobes on social media with his latest post which saw him wearing skirts. The fashion designer always seeks to push the boundaries and whilst doing so, causes a frenzy on the net. We love to see it.
The fashion icon in his own right re-writes the rules and excels in that. Rich Mnisi went quiet for a while on social media but when he came back, he topped the trends list all because he posted pictures of himself rocking skirts. It is without a doubt that he got killer legs.
Tweeps have weighed in on the designer opting to wear a skirt, saying he is setting a bad example to children. One of the comments from a Twitter user went like this, "I'm not here to spread the hate on Rich Mnisi and I'm curious about the children what they learning on Rich Mnisi?"
Another part of social media calls out homophobes for discrediting Rich Mnisi's fashion choice as skirts and dresses are worn by men from various cultures in South Africa.
"Homophobia is so irrational. Historically we've never really gendered clothing in our traditional attires in the same way the recent West has. So skirts, dresses, wraps etc were never exclusive to women. So why would children be in crisis because Rich Mnisi has a skirt on?" one tweep argued.
Homophobia is so irrational. Historically we've never really gendered clothing in our traditional attires in the same way the recent West has. So skirts, dresses, wraps etc were never exclusive to women. So why would children be in crisis because Rich Mnisi has a skirt on? pic.twitter.com/lf3yzquDWD
If anything, Rich Mnisi is making skirts fashionable and not boxing them to just being a cultural attire for men.
Another tweep argued that pants do not make men more masculine, in the same way, skirts do not make men less masculine.
"Black men are upset that Rich Mnisi wore a skirt as if their traditional wear isn't wraps, skirts and dresses. Pants are a western concept brought to you because they think your cultural attire is barbaric. Wearing pants doesn't make you more manly, it's just material."
Pants are not an African concept, and they do not define your masculinity. If wearing a piece of material held together by a thread makes you more manly, then the problem is you, not the clothing.
This is not the first time Rich Mnisi has caused a stir on social media. Earlier this year, he introduced his signature Xibelani skirt which costed a whopping R60 000. A Xibelani skirt is mostly worn by Tsonga women from the Limpopo province in northern South Africa. Sarah Langa modelling in Hiya Kaya 21 Rich Mnisi website Somizi showed support to Rich Mnisi when he bough the skirt. It's Somgaga after all so his pockets were not hit hard at all. "MNISI IS RICH.....RICH IS MNISI," he chanted whilst everyone else was hating.
R2000 Face mask
Who exactly is Rich Mnisi's target market? This questions constantly gets brought up on social media every time Mnisi unveils a collection. Last year he trended after revealing face masks worth R2000.
These were from his collection called ALKEBULAN, meaning "mother of mankind" - an ancient name of Africa.
"The Azania face mask range is an extension to the Rich Mnisi ALKEBULAN collection which we launched earlier last year before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The wearing of masks are a preventive measure and a new standard to how we need to live moving forward," the designer said at the time.Sarah Langa modelling Rich Mnisi's face mask Image cred: @sarahlanga Read next: Langa's Shock Exit From Gomora
