Vanya Mangaliso, the Sun Goddess Afrochic designer, redefined African fashion

News24

06-07-2025

Some would argue that in 2000, the fields to sow the seeds of dreams – when the fashion label Sun Goddess was born – were fertile for any seed to grow and that all it took was innovation and hard work for success to be realised.
For Vanya and her husband, Thando Mangaliso, the Sun Goddess label came at a time when Afrocentric sentiment and expression were fast becoming part of our daily lives as we celebrated our democratic freedom.
The year 2000 was the second year of president Thabo Mbeki's first term of office, when his programmes such as Vuku'zenzele gave rise to an unprecedented public sentiment that sought to promote African excellence on the global stage.
Back then everyone was proud to recite Mbeki's speech, I am an African, that celebrated Africanness and heritage with pride as the winds of his African renaissance blew through the country.
On fashion runways, Sun Goddess was sharing the spotlight with labels and designers including Loxion Kulcha, Stoned Cherrie, Darkie, Craig Native, Maya Prass, Julian, Bongiwe Walaza, Clive Rundle, Coleen Eitzen, Palse Homme, Gavin Rajah, Thula Sindi, Ephymol and Lee Shubert.
David Tlale, who scooped the Elle Young Talent award in 2003, soon joined to also become a familiar label during SA Fashion Week.
The Mangalisos have always been a mainstay on the SA Fashion Week stage and would remain so with their participation in this year's Spring/Summer instalment in April before Vanya's death on 26 June.
What defined Sun Goddess, and labels such as Stoned Cherrie and Bongiwe Walaza, was their insistence on inserting their vision of elevating African fabrics and aesthetics into the luxury fashion space.
They took the baton from previous pioneers including Nandipha Madikiza, Sister Bucks and Sonwabile Ndamase and succeeded on the world stage. The label loudly and boldly proclaimed that African fashion was about reclaiming our identity and exporting South Africa's cultural excellence to the world.
The Vanya and Thando duo had the audacity to re-evaluate the worth of African fashion and did not ask for anyone's permission. It was in how they valued their labour and in the prices they charged for their goods.
While detractors complained bitterly about the expensive prices of their items, Vanya's Rosebank store soon became a go-to for parliamentarians for state of the nation address outfits.
Successful businesspeople and a burgeoning middle class relied on them to lead the fashion stakes for weddings and important corporate events.
The Mount Ayliff-born Vanya told of the humble beginnings of their label when she and her husband started selling skirts from the boot of their car.
Their heritage line, elevating the Xhosa umbaco fabrics and pipings, inspired Vanya to question the absence in South African fashion of any expressions of our heritage.
She told reporters how, when she grew up as an only child, she always admired her mother's elegant wearing of umbaco. Armed with a Bachelor of Social Sciences from UCT, she started her career in Transnet's logistics division that offered her the opportunity to travel to several countries in the continent.
She said the idea to start Sun Goddess as a formidable heritage fashion brand germinated then when she noticed how people from other African countries were proud to wear their own traditional fashion.
When I would get off an aeroplane in Nigeria, I would know I was in Nigeria because of their traditional wear. But in South Africa it was not always the case, because fashion did not exist as we know it today.
Vanya Mangaliso in an interview with Forbes
The explosion of their fashion label saw the duo open four more stores nationwide, including in Cape Town and Durban, to add to their flagship Rosebank store. Back then, all the important functions and events advised guests to wear either black tie or traditional wear. This resulted in a surge of traffic into their stores as everyone tried to own a Sun Goddess outfit.
The label carved a space as a luxury heritage fashion brand. This is how their website describes their fashion business ethos.
The idea is to harvest stories and images of South African traditions through fashion. Our brand is rooted in heritage stories that celebrate a regal Africa transcending time and fashion.
Vanya Mangaliso
At their best, Sun Goddess used to employ more than 150 staff nationwide. The award-winning label showed at various international runways on four of the seven continents, including London Fashion Week and Singapore Fashion Week. In 2006 they won the South African Designer/Retailer of the Year. The label also ventured into various production of accessories, including bags and sunglasses.
The German newspaper, The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, once referred to their label as Afro Gucci, which stuck with international fashion writers who used it liberally to describe the luxury of the intricate beadings and the opulence of the labour-intensive garments.
Notable personalities who wore the label included R&B singer Goapele, actress Gabrielle Union and actor Dr John Kani, and they regularly collaborated with singer Ringo Madlingozi throughout his career.
By 2009, however they had to take a decision to close three stores, as their downsizing journey began. This was due to lack of planning and capacity to manage their fast-growing expansion.
Even though they tried to diversify, adding fragrances and headgear collections, the label's journey continued to experience a seesaw in fortunes with various highs and lows.
Reports say the duo lost a massive amount of money when their perfume stocks of Goddess and Kumkani were lost in a flooding incident at their Rosebank store.
Vanya, the petite and feisty designer was the label's creative director, always the confident spokesperson for the brand. Her husband, the quiet muscle behind their retail concepts, as well as partner and father to their four children.
To live their brand, they would often coordinate outfits when appearing at events.
Oupa Bopape / Gallo Images
Vanya had a beautiful smile as big and blinding as the sun. She rarely stepped out of her home without a doek or fashionable fedora, honouring the traditional custom of covering your head to communicate respect.
In the past decade, the label was no longer as prominent on runaway events, even though they were always a staple at the SA Fashion Week.
There has been speculation in recent years about the couple's surviving stores and studios struggling to reach the highs seen in the early 2000s. Their physical stores remain at Nelson Mandela Square, The Palace of the Lost City and their studio in Constitutional Hill, Braamfontein.
As many businesses saw the need to pivot to e-commerce, to move with the times and adapt to consumer spending after the Covid-19 pandemic, Sun Goddess' survival tactic was to launch and focus on their online store.
Instagram
Instagram
Instagram
A look at the main collection highlighted on their online store reveals in many ways a label still trapped in that early 2000s bubble of umbaco skirts and tops with piping details or animal print designs with regal maxi skirts and dresses.
The designs have not evolved past 2010 to capture a younger audience who respond to a different fashion revolution.
Perhaps it is deliberate to entrench their space as a heritage fashion brand. After all, this is what led the Sun Goddess label to be appreciated by older customers still trapped in the nostalgia of Mbeki's African renaissance era.
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This year, the label turned 25 and they again showcased their Spring/Summer Langa Lethu collection at the SA Fashion Week this past April.
Their collection showed a promise of new things to come in a largely sky-blue line they said was inspired by coastal waters and spiritual baptism.
Even though they stayed true to their heritage, it offered glimpses of luring younger buyers with designs of shorter dresses and skirts, dainty materials and other dresses revealing bare shoulders.
Was it one of the last times Vanya received a standing ovation from the audience?
In her cream platform shoes, a zebra print midi-dress with batwing sleeves incorporating umbaco piping, she walked ahead of her husband, showing gratitude for doing what she loved with her hands clasped together in front of her chest, as if in prayer.
Thando, in a black structured suit, followed behind pointing at his wife as if to acknowledge that she was the brains behind the garments or the real star of their Sun Goddess show.
The last collection the label posted on their Facebook page, the Mandulo Winter Collection, also featured elements of shorter hemlines and the blend of more romantic materials with animal prints dominating the aesthetic.
At the SA Fashion Week in April, Vanya's face was gaunt, but she appeared happy, hiding her battle against cancer, which the public was unaware of.
The fashion community learnt of Vanya's death when her label's Instagram page announced last Thursday that the style maverick, who was born on 14 March 1972, died peacefully in her home on 26 June at the age of 53. Her husband of more than 25 years later shared that she had finally succumbed to cancer.
Today is the saddest day of my life. My Minty lost her battle with cancer and passed away in my arms yesterday afternoon.
Thando Mangaliso
Vanya was buried on Saturday, 5 July in a private funeral whose service started at Rosebank Union Church. Her final resting place is the Heroes Acre at Westpark Cemetery. She is survived by her husband and four children: daughter Limani and sons Kwindla, Kwantu and Kumkani.