Watching his mother and grandmother doing needle work made Orapeleng Modutle realise he had a passion for fashion design at the tender age of nine years.
Modutle has dressed international and local celebrities like TV personality and radio presenters Bonang Matheba, TV personality and presenter Nomzamo Mbatha, Minnie Dlamini, award-winning actress Terry Pheto, popular musician Kelly Khumalo and former Miss SA Bokang Montjane among many others.
The 28-year-old Kimberley-born fashion designer, left his home town for his studies in 2010 at Tshwane University of Technology.
However, Modutle said fashion design had never been something that he had planned to study. “I actually was crazy about being an actor. I wanted to do it so bad because I loved being on the stage but things turned around for the better after I had realised exactly what I am destined to do.”
He said he encountered a classmate who used to do a lot of drawing during his matric year. He competed with his sketches for fun but that was his actual light to realising the depth of his passion.
Before Modutle ultimately turned his eye to fashion, he tried a few other things that made him realise his passion. “I used to be a hairdresser back in high school but I abandoned it and never wanted to turn it into a career,” he said.
It was also during his matric year where Modutle said he had started researching the fashion design field.
