Ruberto Scholtz The Man Behind The Designs

It’s not every day you see Namibian designs strutting down the streets of Los Angeles. But that’s a dream that came true for young Namibian designer Ruberto Scholtz.

Recently ‘Katutura’ premiered at the Pan-African Film Festival and one of the stars of the film Tjuna Kauapirura was spotted in a beautiful green dress designed by our very own Ruberto.

Having a beautiful star wearing your designs is a great opportunity for any designer and it is certainly a significant moment in Ruberto’s career.

“I was proud of myself, I won’t lie. I know my sleepless nights and sacrifices weren’t in vain,” he said.

However, success never happens overnight and as Ruberto mentioned, sleepless nights were always going to be part of the deal. Although he currently resides in the capital, Ruberto is from the coast.

He was born in Swakopmund, but it was in the small town of Arandis that he started and completed his school career.

Ruberto is part of a big family. With a whopping 11 siblings, he feels grateful for the support he receives from his family.

“If there’s one thing I’m the happiest about is that my family has always been behind me since childhood. I would always tell them my dreams and they allowed me to chase them,” he said.

Among his many siblings are Ruberto’s sisters who were a huge inspiration to him as a child.

“Growing up in a house filled with ladies, I would sit and stare as they would get dressed and was amazed at what clothes did to them,” he said.

“Apart from that, drawing was also my biggest love. I still remember clearly, I was in Grade 2 and one day I came home and found a magazine on the table. I think it was a Huisgenoot. I scanned through it and came across fashion illustrations and as soon as I saw that, I was hooked. Ever since then I knew this is what I wanted to do and I’m still not looking back. I get this question a lot and I always think back to the day I opened that magazine.”

It seems like it was fate waiting on the table for Ruberto when he came home that day and thanks to the person who left the magazine on the table, we have a very special designer in our midst.

When we see those beautiful designs draped onto those models, the thought may cross our minds as to what inspired this masterpiece. Ruberto says there’s not one specific thing that inspires him, it could be anything at any given moment.

“I like to think that I live in the moment. I tend to get inspired by the most odd stuff, for instance it can be a song, if there’s a certain beat, lyric or attitude to it. It feeds me and I create images in my head and from those images, I bring designs to life,” Ruberto said.

I always heard that the most wonderful ideas pop up late at night but I never thought it was true. However for Ruberto, this is definitely the case as his ideas often come to him after midnight.

Fashion is predominantly a women’s world, however this does not faze Ruberto.

“I don’t really think it’s a challenge being a male designer. Yes, there are still taboos that men should not do what woman do, but it does not bother me.”

For now, this bright young designer is exactly where he should be, doing what feeds his passion and makes him happy. So what’s next on the cards for him?

“I have a childhood belief that if you air stuff, somehow it gets jinxed. But you’ll see it once it happens.

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