Ruberto Scholtz Rising Above The Drama, Depression and Controversy

He’s one of Namibia’s most booked fashion designers right now and even though he is still relatively new to the industry, Ruberto Scholtz is a trailblazer whose work has earned him respect and admiration among fashion enthusiasts in Namibia and beyond.

Despite being an emerging designer, Scholtz has probably been surrounded by the most controversy. Even when we met for the interview, it emerged that the young designer is embroiled in yet another social media storm – this time involving three girls he dressed for their matric farewells. The word on social media is that these girls were dressed in the same dresses and it seems that they were not too pleased to find out that their looks were less than exclusive. Clearing things up from his side, however, Scholtz insisted that all three knew that they had no exclusive claim to the dress, saying he had made that clear in consultations with them.

“Clients need to understand that if you come to a designer with a Pinterest design, that means that you are essentially stealing from somewhere else and you don’t own it. And if you don’t want anyone to wear something that a designer makes for you, either order a custom-made garment from me (that will be my own design) or make it clear from the beginning that you don’t want anyone else to wear that dress,” he said. He mentioned legal contracts or written requests as ways of making sure that cases like these are reduced.

This is not the first time Scholtz’s work has come under scrutiny. His famous ‘Venom’ collection had a lot of people offering commentary about his choice of fabric which had been used in other designers’ work. So too did his debut collection feature dresses that resembled those by other designers. The most notable of these cases was at the 2017 Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs) when Bonang wore a ‘Venom’ dress, only for it to emerge that another person wore a similar dress to the same event.

“I feel like this dress is my controversial dress for the year,” Scholtz said of the three similar pink dresses. He is consulting a legal adviser to deal with the situation and find a way forward.

“Last year, I learned that it takes so much more than talent to run a business in fashion,” he said. This is something he needed to learn because different areas require attention. “My mistake was wanting to do everything myself. I had a phobia of letting people into my space. I’m not going to mention names but these people take your ingredients and go make the same thing over and over,” he said, refusing to divulge more information.

One thing that Scholtz wants people to understand is that he still has a long way to go in his journey as a designer. “People don’t understand that I’m still a student. I’m fragile and very new in this industry, and I’ve set the bar so high for myself that sometimes I don’t know how to control it any more,” he said. Social media, he said, has been a tough platform to navigate with all his naivety. It has even gone so far as to affect his mental health.

“I can say right now that last year I went through depression because of the weight that people put on me. They want to tarnish my name so much that they forget I’m just a young guy trying to make a living.”

With his latest work consisting more of evening gowns and elaborate wedding dresses that feature a lot of hand-beading and attention to detail, the young designer admits that he is going in the direction of couture. “Couture is one of the paths that I want to take but I’m not going to go in depth with it because I feel like people here are not willing to pay too much for couture as it’s very expensive,” he said. While he’s yet to complete the single module he has left at the College of the Arts (Cota) where he was studying, he does hope to take on short courses to help him improve his skills. For now though, he’s working hard to learn with each dress he makes, become better and learn from his mistakes.

One thing that this young designer is doing well these days is wedding dresses. Since making the first one, he has gone on to dress many brides and the best thing about it, he said, is the reaction of the brides once they wear his dresses. “Making brides tear up has been a goal for me and it’s such a pleasure to see my brides having a crying moment. That is the most beautiful thing,” he said.

One of his most famous brides was Gina Jeanz whom he dressed for her beautiful wedding earlier this year. “Gina and I have known each other as creatives for a long time so when it came to making her that dress, she gave me creative control because as a creative herself, she understood what it meant for me to have freedom through my creative process,” he said. He enjoyed the experience immensely.

“It was such a pleasure for me to dress her and to be honest, she was one of the easiest clients I have ever worked with.” The feeling seems to have been mutual as the Cape Town-based model and producer captioned a photo of her in the classy Ruberto Scholtz gown saying; “To my friend

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