Ruberto Sholtz slays traditional chic dress

RENOWNED fashion designer Ruberto Sholtz, known for his exquisite taste in fashion and dressing A-List personalities in attire to die for, has now gone one up.

The detail-oriented designer impressed a client by making his first Ohorokova yozonde, which is a traditional dress worn mainly by Ovaherero women at funerals, weddings and nowadays, occasionally.

It is a Victorian-style dress, and Herero women protect its identity fiercely, especially the ‘otjikaiva’ (headdress), which complements the dress.

This Victorian-era tradition is still strong among the Herero women of Namibia, who are extremely proud of its legacy.

The extensive crinoline ensemble worn over several petticoats incorporates a bodice that buttons up close to the neck, long sleeves and a shawl worn over the shoulders. German wives of missionaries and colonialists, who first came to Namibia in the 1900s, introduced the design of this dress.

Sholtz, who has dressed personalities such as South Africa’s Bonang Matheba, says the wedding dress was the most challenging dress he had ever made in his career.

“This dress alone gave me a taste of what it feels like to make traditional dresses. So, I am definitely up for more challenges. The production itself took about 10 months. A lot of maths went into making it, especially to get all the pipes to stand the way they did,” says Sholtz, adding that he implemented a lot of structure in the dress.

“Hours and hours of hand, meaning the embellishments were hand-worked one by one,” he says.

Even though Sholtz is his own creation, he says he had to stick to cultural boundaries.

“I think the most important thing was that I tried to stick, as much as possible, to the cultural boundaries on Ovaherero dresses and no one felt like I overstepped it. This is because some Herero do not appreciate cultural appropriation, which was the case in 2018 when two designers wore the headpiece without the dress. So far, I have just received positive feedback and appreciation on the dress,” he says.

Commending Sholtz on the dress, fashion designer Mcbright Kavari, who has modernised the ohorokova in the past, says fashion is not static and should evolve.

“I must say Ruberto outdid himself. I love the fabric it’s perfect, worn with the otjikaiva. Speaking on appropriation, it was totally fine to relax the design a little because this was not a typical Herero wedding at the village but a modern wedding at the coast, so the dress represented the occasion and celebration really well. Fashion is not static, after all,” he said.

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