Women Breaking through the Glass Ceiling

Break the Bias - Members of IDSA celebrating International Women's Day with Vanessa Gounden at her flagship store at The Firs in Rosebank

10 March 2022

Breaking the glass ceiling is how Vanessa Gounden describes her life’s journey. As a woman born in apartheid South Africa, whose laws discriminated against people of colour, she saw her family lose their home and means of income during the forced removals of the oppressive Group Areas Act.

It is these events that shaped her activism and inspired the ideals of equal rights and freedom from oppression, especially for women. Her dedication and commitment spurred her career as a civil servant in the new democratic administration of former President Nelson Mandela.  Having served in the private and public sectors, her entrepreneurial drive led her to launch her own couture brand.

Jennifer Cheng (l) presenting Vanessa Gounden with a gift. Pictured right is Caelyn Gounden, Marketing Director

In keeping with this year’s theme for International Women’s Day which is ‘Break the Bias’ Jennifer Cheng of the Singapore High Commission in South Africa organised and hosted the International Diplomatic Spouses Association (IDSA) at the Vanessa Gounden flagship store at The Firs in Rosebank, to share in Vanessa’s inspirational story.

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Vanessa Gounden is the Creative director and the inspiration behind the brand’s artistry. Her goal, she explained, was to create wearable art and launched her luxury womenswear brand in London in 2011, where she opened her first store in 2015. Her initial range included a Jacaranda print, which has a direct link to the Jacaranda trees that line the streets of the city of Pretoria, also known as the Jacaranda city. The vibrant purple blossoms of the trees have become a tourist attraction. Tourists and locals gather every year to capture the multiple hues of the Jacarandas in full bloom. This design gave her brand ‘talkability’ as Vanessa refers to it.

VG Atelier in Cape Town is where the magic happens. This investment in local manufacturing serves as encouragement and is a much needed confidence boost for the home-grown clothing and textile industry. Luxurious fabrics are meticulously sourced for her garments which she proudly suggests are timeless and become classic and wearable regardless of the fashion season. The experience brought to mind Miranda Priestly’s admonition in the movie The Devil wears Prada, “….Halston, Lagerfeld, de la Renta. And what they did, what they created was far greater than art because you live your life in it.”

The event was an inspiration to everyone and to women in particular on this day that acknowledged the female gender in the midst of bespoke haute couture. It portrayed beauty in all its aspects; passion, confidence, dedication, and an unwavering belief in one’s own ability.

A Pemjee