by Mandy de Waal (@mandyldewaal) If there’s anything that Malibongwe Tyilo’s story should teach you, it is that being from a small town shouldn’t deter you from breaking into a highly contested market usually dominated by trendy ‘city slickers’. In this interview, Tyilo speaks about Skattie and its impact.
“Many of South Africa’s creative minds come from small towns, villages and townships,” Tyilo points out, and explains: “Many of the people who come to the city, and push and move things, are not born in the city. They are here for a specific reason and with specific goals. So my own journey is not an exception to the rule; it could possibly be the rule.”
Tyilo trained in fashion design and landed a job with a major clothing retailer, but soon found himself becoming creatively frustrated. “I loved my job,” he says, “but my choices at work were governed by market forces: what would sell, what wouldn’t.” His boredom was the media and fashion world’s gain. The co-founder of Thatskattie.com started the now fabulously famous blog because he wanted to share the creativity of his context and have a space to create without being weighed down by what he calls “market forces”.
Founded in 2010 with trends analyst and fashion writer, Sandiso Ngubane, the original blog was called “Skattie What Are You Wearing?” Quality and careful content curation has always been Skattie’s hallmark and, because of this, friends and fashionistas readily shared posts.
Quality is its own reward because people quickly started taking notice of the blog and, in 2011, Tyilo was awarded the Marie Claire Prix d’Excellence Best Fashion Blogger award. Tyilo is now fêted by SA’s fashion cognoscenti. Former Elle editor, Jackie Burger, named Tyilo as her choice for Most Inspiring Man in SA, and he was selected as one of the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans in 2013.
While the blog itself doesn’t make any money, Tyilo says Skattie has opened new vistas to its co-founders. Skattie was appointed the sole media partner for Africa for the Hyères Fashion and Photography Festival, and Tyilo travels to the town of Hyères in the south of France every year to cover the event.
Mandy de Waal: Who are you and how do you think? How would you describe yourself?
Malibongwe Tyilo: That’s a tricky one to answer — I’ve always been terrible at describing myself. I’m fascinated by creative output. I love people; I love observing people. I love the social dance that we do around each other; I love the mechanics of human interaction.
MdW: What was the toughest part of starting up Skattie?
MT: It was probably balancing a very demanding job as a fashion buyer with trying to attend and cover numerous events. Often I’d get to bed in the early hours of the morning, only to have be at work a couple of hours later.
MdW: Is quality an important part of the blog’s growth?
MT: Absolutely. Both Sandiso and I are absolute believers in the importance of original local content. Sandiso studied journalism and has worked across many magazines and newspapers. He is also a stickler for quality journalism and will not let a thing slip.
In addition to quality, I think what helps us grow is our genuine love for the local fashion and art scene. Part of what drives us is that there is just not enough coverage. We want to be able to cover fashion as though it was the most important news of the day, because for us it is. A part of me is also pretty sure that had I not joined forces with Sandiso, the blog would have fizzled away. There’s a lot to be said for forming partnerships.
MdW: Has your life changed since Skattie?
MT: So much. The main thing of course is the career thing — that I was able to shift from fashion-buying to journalism. I’ve also learnt a lot about myself from that transition, about taking risks, about believing in oneself, trusting in the process, and about the way the universe, the world and society help us when we make a decision, or take that leap of faith.
MdW: What is style — how do you define it?
MT: I am much less-focused on my style than I am on the style that surrounds me. Mine changes a lot depending on what fits.
MdW: What are your future hopes and dreams?
MT: We want to grow Skattie to be the go-to place for news about fashion on the continent. We also want to grow SKATTIE CELEBRATES into a space that invites artists and designers to create the kinds of work they might not be able to create in their more commercial endeavours.
MdW: Your biggest learnings?
MT: The biggest is probably access — access is the main currency in getting things done. When one doesn’t have stacks of money, it’s really important to know how to gain and use access, especially access to resources.
Mandy de Waal is a writer based in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, as well as contributing editor to MarkLives.com through her monthly “Africa Dispatches” column. Follow her on Twitter at @mandyldewaal or email her at MandyLdeWaal [@] gmail.com.
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