Skhothane
South African township subculture flaunting expensive Italian suits, designer label wear, and conspicuous-consumption dance battles.
- Palette
- yellow lime magenta cobalt white tan
- Signature garments
- Carvela leather loafers Carducci suit Pringle of Scotland sweaters Rossi shoes Ralph Lauren shirts Italian designer belts
- Canonical brands
- Carvela Carducci Pringle of Scotland Rossi Polo Ralph Lauren Daniel Hechter
About
Skhothane (sometimes Izikhothane) is a South African township youth subculture that emerged in Johannesburg's East Rand in the late 2000s and went viral around 2012. The look hinges on conspicuous, often expensive consumption — bright Italian designer brands like Carvela shoes, Carducci suits, Pringle of Scotland sweaters, Rossi loafers, and Ralph Lauren — worn in vivid colour-co-ordinated outfits that refuse all subtlety. Battles between crews involve dance-offs in which participants destroy expensive items (burning banknotes, tearing up clothes, pouring out alcohol) to demonstrate that wealth means nothing to them. The phenomenon was hugely controversial in South Africa, with media coverage condemning waste and elders deploring it; sociologists have read it as a deliberate post-apartheid statement of refusal by Black youth raised to revere status objects their parents could never afford. Skhothane styling has been documented by photographer Chris Saunders and continues in muted form across Joburg's townships.
Not Swenkas — Skhothane is louder, younger, and built on conspicuous destruction; Swenkas centres on quiet pageantry and reverence for the suit.
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