She recently turned heads at the Grammy Awards in a Gert-Johan Coetzee dress when she won Best Global Performance for their song Bayethe with Zakes Bantwini and Wouter Kellerman. Gert tells ZiMoja that the brown beaded dress worn by singer and songwriter Nomcebo Zikode took a solid three weeks of crafting and carefully putting the masterpiece together with selected fabrics inspired by Africa and the Zulu culture. "We didn't have a lot of time to put the dress together. So, it was quite a stressful three weeks of paying attention to detail,' he says. Nomcebo gave him full creative freedom to play around. "It's always nice to collaborate with people, but what was so nice in working with Nomcebo is she gave me full creative reign to do what I wanted,' he says. "She just wanted to look beautiful and that is what I specialise in. As a designer, I wanted to make an iconic Grammys dress that is going to go down in the history of South Africa, that we see on the carpet and we are proud of because it represents us as a nation, her as a musician and me as a designer.'

THE INSPIRATION

Nomcebo's dress was inspired by his latest collection titled Following the Sun. "I think it's really important for people to follow their own sun and their light. It was a great inspiration to pull from,' he says.

THE FABRICS 

The fabrics Gert used were quite special. "I had a piece of vintage beaded silk which is from the 1950s. It is so beautiful, sparkly, and incredibly fragile. I wanted to use that fabric because it is usual. So, the whole dress is made from that as a base and it splashed into beautiful ostrich feathers and rooster tale feather, with hints of blues mixed with the brown,' he says. He thought it a beautiful juxtaposition to combine the unusual textures of the fabric and colour to pair with the browns. "The ostrich feathers are a nod to South Africa because we are so well known for our ostrich feathers that we export worldwide, so it was appropriate for us to show off our beautiful local materials.'

THE DETAIL

"The dress was then ordained and beaded with the different selection of Zulu beads,' he says. "I then mixed these with beautiful bronzes, brown pearl, and caramel colours to bring across that proudly South African mix but in a modern and updated way that can be presented on an international stage,' Gert adds.

THE COLOUR COLOURS

 I wanted to use brown because I was led by the vintage piece of fabric which was the foundation of the dress. I wanted to take it towards more caramel tomes ad make it multi-tone to represent the soil of Africa. We have got such a rich heritage and soil, that has grown so many greats and I was sure they were going to take the Grammy. I missed it with the tones of greys and blue to mix it with the nature and soil of Africa.'

THE VALUE OF THE DRESS

 "It is a handmade dress that makes it very special. It took about six of my top artisans, and crafts people and three weeks to make. So, you can imagine the value and those costs add up. We did not spare any costs, we went full on the gas with glamour,' Gert concludes.