Impeccably dressed and blessed with an outgoing extrovert personality, South African Kwanele Nomoyi has become a familiar and enthusiastic presence at Irish fashion events with a style that sets him apart from the crowd. He works as a retail market lead in Google by day, shaping strategy for luxury brands, but also co-owns a company called CNW Events attending and recording (with a photographer) his take on openings, previews, celebrations, fashion shows and music gigs to create interesting content.
Very driven and meticulous, Nomoyi attributes an obsession with fashion to his mother Clara, a nurse, who brought him up after his father’s death and the collapse of the family business in Port Elizabeth.
“My name means we are enough,” he explains when we meet in the Google headquarters in Barrow Street, Dublin. “I am technically my dad’s 16th child, the last born, but after his death, from the age of nine to 18 it was just Mum and me. I was so different to all my siblings. I have always been very chatty and outspoken and she made great efforts to try and raise an effervescent, hyperactive and bold child – she was committed to doing it all the way. But she did not spare the rod. She was very strict, very religious, a Methodist.”
He remembers never being allowed to wear pyjamas outside to play with his friends or to feed the dog, and even today he replicates the way in which she arranges her wardrobe.
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“Every Sunday we would iron the clothes for the week. I still do that. My mother’s wardrobe and mine now are always sorted by occasion. On the left, special occasion clothes, and across the middle everyday wear and on the right traditional attire for thanksgiving ceremonies, church uniform and work uniform.”
He arranges all his looks for the week – a different one for each day. He says his winter clothes, coats, jackets, seasonal wools and cashmeres are now in storage at a facility he uses for the purpose.
When it comes to appearance, he says: “I believe that you should always try to look like a better version of yourself when you present yourself to the world. You also want to make sure that the clothes will last.
“I’d describe my style as classic – I have always been so expressive, but it is important that cut and style are timeless and not trend driven. I like the idea of looking cool, but also that a picture taken five years ago still looks clean and fresh today.”
A graduate of Tshwane University in Pretoria with a degree in graphic design and visual communication, Nomoyi worked in digital marketing in South African for 10 years. After Covid he wanted to get out and explore “cool stuff in other countries” and was offered a job in Dublin. “Where’s that?” he remembers thinking and then, “Let’s give it a whirl. All I knew about Ireland was the four-leaf clover, the Dunnes Stores connection and how Ireland has a good relationship with South Africa.”
He arrived in April 2020 and says he was immediately struck by the friendliness he encountered – in the taxi from the airport, in the bank, in Tesco in Sandymount. “I was blown away – and what keeps me going are Irish people.”
Another unforgettable early experience in the city was crossing the Ha’penny Bridge “when a large group of white people were coming towards me – I had a panic attack because I was not used to living in a country as a minority. My move to Ireland has been life changing ... when you are black, queer and bad,” he grins, gesturing flamboyantly.
Today he is wearing a smart light-coloured Italian wool blend double-breasted suit by Luigi Bianchi with a Louis Copeland shirt and tie.
“When I started to work and could buy my own clothes, I learned how clothes are made – and knowing that had a deep impact and made me realise I needed to move away from fast fashion. I need to be conscious when I buy of building a solid base.”
Favourite shops include Louis Copeland in Pembroke Street, Icicle in Grafton Street, with accessories, some menswear and fragrance from Brown Thomas, “and I go to Kildare Village once every two to three months”. He hates logos if they are part of the design “because it is not timeless, but sunglasses are a huge part of me – I get most in Brown Thomas”.
Dark colours, he argues, look less worn, whereas loud prints attract attention and deflect from the shape and cut of a garment. For his first Irish wedding, on the Aran Islands, he wore a made-to-measure cream pinstripe suit by Louis Copeland with brown shoes, tie and a white fedora. With Levis, he will wear a Ralph Lauren jacket.
At the recent VIP Style Awards, he cut a dash in a dramatic flowing gold and black robe from Nigerian designer Maye Tobs – a modern interpretation of the agbada, a traditional Yoruba garment sourced through Irish-based platform @umojalinn – worn with YSL suede boots, Gucci eyewear and a sheer organza shirt.
As for his views on Irish men, he feels they dress for utility and comfort and not for expression. “There is still a way to go to express their identity through dress, using your style as a form of expression. Their attitude is that dressing flamboyantly means you are dressing gay. But more men are embracing fashion and accessories to express themselves. It does not degrade your masculinity but elevates it and shows that you are comfortable in who you are.”
He has also observed that colours worn to work here are generally limited to brown, navy and black.
“Why is no one trying to look different? It’s been explained to me as being about notions. You don’t want to look like you have notions, that you are too big for your station. But I would argue that dressing well is respecting the relationship you have with yourself. And that’s how I see myself,” Nomoyi says, flashing a wide smile.
