His love affair with  fashion began way back when, as a little boy he would sit and watch his mom, a popular dressmaker at the time turn an ordinary piece of fabric into something of such great beauty that he knew, the magical world of fashion would be for him. Watching the Miss South Africa pageant and the Durban July and Miss World pageants as a little boy were a delight for the aspirant designer, he would look at the fashion and think ‘wow’ not realizing that someday it would be his fashions that would make viewers go ‘wow’

 

With more than a decade in the fashion industry, Haroun Hansrot has become a name synonymous with decadent design, flowing fabrics and exquisite fusion of East meets West. Featured on tv shows such as Top Billing and Eastern Mosaic, the softly spoken designer, remains modest and approachable throughout it all.

 

When he had completed school Haroun enrolled for a degree in Psychology but within the first year, he entered and won a fashion design competition, first prize of which was a 1 year bursary. And so began the fairytale.  After the initial year, a chance meeting with an Italian embassy employee resulted in Haroun being offered a 1 semester Italian government bursary to study fashion design. Each semester as he topped the class again and again his bursary was extended resulting in Haroun spending 4 years in Italy. He embraced Italian culture and design and was deeply inspired and influenced by the different regions, from Rome to Perugia to Florence, Haroun made Italy his home.

 

On his return to South Africa, he quickly became a popular choice for a piece of ‘fabulicious’. His garments were exciting and innovative and of course with the success of his designs it wasn’t long before the accolades began rolling in.

The structure of Haroun’s designs remain influenced by his stay in Italy, the attention to detail, the handwork and fabric. He is very big on ‘3D’ fashion that ‘talks to you’ there must be movement, the silhouette should be simple and attention should be paid to proportion and contouring. All beading is done by hand and he spends lots of time in India, sourcing new fabrics and beadwork. He traveled with fellow designer and good friend David Tlale to India once, and now even David is hooked.

Haroun’s favourite colour, like his fashion inspiration, Valentino, is red. He says you will often find traces of red in most of his work.

 

For the past four years Haroun has been the official scout for Miss SA in KZN, he has judged and designed for Miss South Africa.

His involvement with Julia Morley’s Miss World, has been extensive where he has both designed for the finalists and judged the Top Model and the Top Swimwear model for two consecutive years.

Showcases at Mauritius Fashion Week/Italy/India and Germany have been received to critical acclaim. And Haroun has even had the honour and pleasure of showing his designs on the same show as some of fashions biggest names, like Versace and Roberto Cavalli.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I asked Haroun why he came back to South Africa and more importantly, to Durban as I am pretty sure he would have become an even bigger success had he stayed abroad and his answer was simple: Apart from the fact that there is no place like home, Durban simply has a charm all of its own. Though he does admit that for new designers Durban is a difficult place to become established in. He gives credit to Vaneshree Singh who was the mastermind of the original Durban Fashion Week, this was a catalyst for many local designers and certainly opened many doors.

 

Through all the success and awards Haroun remains humble and quietly goes about doing his bit to give back. He has been involved in various mentorships like “Saris For Good Karma” , He runs a program for HIV positive women, giving them an opportunity to earn money from beading. He has a training program for young designers, and also offers free ‘rail space’ at his studio, simply called ‘75’ in Durban. He says the greatest challenge for young designers is having a place to work, do consults and fittings and he offers his studio freely. You will often find him conducting fashion workshops for women and really getting involved in the community in so many different ways.

 

 

“Harouns Colour Picks” – For Spring expect to see lots of pinks and lilacs, His Spring Collection is aptly titled “50 Shades of Lilac”

And for winter – It will be grey, grey and more grey

 

Haroun is heavily involved with the SAIFTA’s this year which is due to take place on the 6th September. An ititiative which is “By Durban, For Durban” and will mark the first time that an event of this nature will ever occur. Where the like of SA tv stars from shows such as Isidingo and Generations will share the same platform as such beloved Bollywood stars as Priyanka Chopra and Saif Ali Khan.

 

I am sure Haroun Hansrot, this man of many colours, will continue to the colour the world bright with his innovative creations for many a year to come.