A Look Into Dorcas Mutombo’s Journey Into Fashion

Dorcas Mutombo is a fashion designer based in Cape Town. She was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and raised in South Africa after moving during her childhood. She completed her schooling in Stellenbosch and went on to study fashion design, where she also specialised in knitwear during her advanced diploma. Alongside fashion, she has recently expanded into photography and is currently studying entrepreneurship.

Dorcas Mutombo. All images courtesy of Dorcas Mutombo

For Dorcas, fashion was never something she stumbled into. It feels, in her telling, like something that was already there long before she had language for it. “I think my journey began from birth,” she says. “I was named after Dorcas in the Bible, who used to make clothes, so I feel like it was embedded in me before I even chose it.”

She remembers deciding she wanted to study fashion when she was around eleven. Her parents were surprised, but she was certain. A few years later, the family moved to South Africa, and her direction didn’t shift. She went on to complete four years of fashion studies, a diploma and an advanced diploma, specialising in knitwear.

Her ready to wear clothing brand that she founded in 2019, Emelia D, began taking shape during those years. It didn’t arrive as a sudden launch, but as something that slowly grew through school, small production runs, and selling at markets. With time, the business expanded, and so did the weight of it.

“When you’re running everything yourself, you become everything, from the person making coffee to the CEO,” she says. “You’re thinking about production, finances, markets, stock levels. It’s constant pressure.”

That kind of responsibility, held alone for long periods, eventually began to affect her creatively. She describes a stretch of time where she could no longer access her ideas in the way she used to.

“I didn’t even realise I was in a creative block at first. But when I tried to design, nothing felt original. Everything I was making felt like something I had already seen. It didn’t feel fresh anymore.”

What followed was not a single breakdown point, but a slow accumulation of pressure — financial strain, production demands, and the constant need to keep the business moving. At some stage, she stepped away from the market environment she had been working in, and began to reassess what she was building and how she was building it.

What helped her move forward wasn’t a structured breakthrough, but a shift in environment and support.

“A conversation with a friend helped. He told me he would support me before even seeing a collection. That gave me the confidence to start again. I also left a market that wasn’t working for me, which gave me the time I needed to focus.”

Bupola was born after nearly two years of creative silence. It started in an ordinary moment, driving on the N1, when she saw flowers and something opened up again.

“I started imagining the collection immediately, even the show format, the colours, the sequencing of looks, before I had made anything.”

At its core, Bupola is about peace. The word comes from Tshiluba, a language from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and means peace. “There’s so much chaos in the world, but everyone is looking for the same thing. Peace,” she says. “That’s what this collection is about.”

The floral language of the collection reflects that intention. “The flowers represent joy, like being in a garden.”

But Bupola is not only conceptual. It is also emotional. It holds a version of her that she describes as different from the person who entered the creative block, slower, clearer, and more connected to herself again.

The runway show that presented Bupola was entirely self-driven. At one point, she had considered presenting through it SA Fashion Week, but when the direction didn’t align with her work, she chose to build her own show.

She is careful to acknowledge that it was not a solo act in isolation. A group of people helped bring it to life, from styling support, planning and production.

On the day of the show, she wasn’t fully prepared for what it would feel like to see people actually arrive.

“At around just before four, someone told me people were downstairs,” she says. “I looked outside and there were people I had never met who had bought tickets. I didn’t even know what I expected, but seeing them changed everything.”

What stayed with her wasn’t only the runway itself, but the fact that it existed because she insisted on making it exist. She describes the outcome with clarity: “For something I planned entirely myself, I’m incredibly proud. It turned out exactly how I wanted.”

Within the show, specific garments carried the weight of her journey.

“The orange knitted dress was the first knitted piece I designed for the brand in 2023. It had a strong response, so I knew it had to be part of the show.”

Other looks traced key milestones. “The corduroy piece was one of my best-selling designs, so it was important to include it. And the opening look came from a sub-collection I created in 2019 while I was still studying.”

Together, they formed a narrative of the brand’s past.

The green dress, by contrast, introduced a different energy. “I wanted something light and flowing to break the intensity of the florals. It’s simple, but still expressive, something you can style in different ways.”

The most labour-intensive piece was the red floral look, a continuation of an earlier defining work.

“It’s a tribute to a coat I made in 2019, where I hand-sewed over a thousand flowers,” she says. “That piece really shaped my career, it was featured in magazines and led to award recognition.”

Recreating that level of detail came with its own demands. “We worked on that dress and jacket for months. Everyone helped, my family, friends, interns. We only finished it the day before the show.”

Knitwear remains one of the most defining parts of her practice, not as a stylistic choice alone, but as something she had to actively claim and teach herself.

In her studies, knitwear wasn’t offered as a formal specialization. So she went looking for it elsewhere, spending four months in a factory environment learning the process hands-on, and eventually building an entire collection through that experience.

That decision also became part of her academic work, including her thesis on knitwear, wool, and the mohair industry.

Behind all of this is a family structure that remains deeply present in her life and work. Her parents, in particular, have been consistent support systems, not only emotionally, but practically.

“My dad used to take me to the market every weekend,” she says. “They’ve always been very supportive.”

They’ve also shaped how she approaches business. “My dad always says: read every contract carefully, never rush into signing anything. And if you do something, do it well. My mom taught me to be sharp with numbers, I’m very precise when it comes to money.”

Her father also insists on order, something she finds both grounding and challenging in a creative life.

Right now, her focus is firmly on the next stage: South African Fashion Week.

“I’m excited to be showcasing there for the first time, especially entering the menswear scouting competition,” she says. “It feels like a big step, not just for exposure in South Africa, but globally.”

Looking ahead, her priorities are clear.

“After Fashion Week, I want to continue refining the brand from the inside out,” she says. “I’m studying entrepreneurship, marketing, and advertising, so I can position the brand properly.”

The goal is not just visibility, but sustainability. “I want to build something stable, financially and creatively, for myself and for the people I work with. And I want more people to know the brand, to connect with it, and to grow with it.”