Oratile Pitjo – a man of many hats

As a social media influencer with 20.3k followers on Instagram, photographer and Afro Dandy, the 23-year-old engineering student Oratile Pitjo seeks to pay tribute to his history by telling stories through his fashion.

It’s a beautiful sunlit morning and Oratile Pitjo (23) sits down on a concrete bench outside of the Wilcocks building on the Stellenbosch University (SU) campus. The sun rays beam through the old oak trees and brightens the Ou Hoofgebou to an even whiter shade of white. Oratile adjusts his watch, fiddles with his tie and smiles with confidence at those in passing, admiring his style.

“Oratile means love,” he says proudly as he tells the story of the identity he has created for himself. “My real name is actually Nkopodi Isaac Pitjo, but I feel like I should have had the opportunity to choose my name myself.

The final year engineering student tells of his origins “deep in the rural areas of Limpopo” and how his father, a lover and fan of the Afro Dandy movement, “pushed him into this kind of life”. At first, he saw the movement through the eyes of a young naive child, but since moving to Stellenbosch in 2014 he has met people like Tony Maake and Zola Msizi (Oratile’s Dandy brothers), who have changed his vision dramatically.

“I have learned that the movement governs you in certain styles and principles,” he says while stroking his blue double-breasted coat.

The word “Dandy” is often understood as a man who is concerned with looking stylish and fashionable. The Oxford dictionary even defines the term as an “excellent thing of its kind”. It refers to the origins of the word by linking it to the 18th century term “Jack-a-dandy” which referred to a “conceited fellow”.

Andrea Nagel published a moving piece on the Drum style, a product of the 1950’s (or the so-called Drum era), on the Design Indaba Website in 2002. In this piece, Nagel described the monthly Drum issues of the 50’s to have reflected a “unique character of a decade that occupied a crucial place in South African history”.

“The look related specifically to the urbanising black workforce that was starting to form its own unique culture,” she writes. “Youths took the urbanising environment for granted and began to form a culture based on American style.”

According to her, the Drum magazine showed storytelling through fashion:

The magazine created an impression of glamour and excitement, and Sophiatown was a synthesis of the squalid and the tinselled, the sordid and the  heroic, the destructive and the creative, which constituted the peculiar character of  township life. All this was reflected in the fashion.

For Oratile, this version of the history of Afro Dandyism is also true to an extent. “Afro Dandyism [has] a broad definition,” he says with respect to the movement. “To me, it gained momentum when our forefathers visited places and came back wanting to match a certain style.”

These “certain styles” mostly refer to the Black Dandy movement, found in the United States of America. Oratile argues that Dandyism should not be linked to one location only as “there are a lot of people and a lot of movements within Dandyism.”

Oratile also believes that Afro Dandyism is a tribute to the Drum era and the general South African milieu of the 1950s and 60s.

Back in the day they used to deal with a number of issues and I feel that we still face issues today, because we are still governed by the same principles even though we find ourselves in different times,” he says as he adjusts the rings on his right hand. “We definitely get some of our inspiration from them.

He describes himself as an open-minded, innovative person. For him, the “Ora” (as he refers to himself) he created, is “funny, talented, well-dressed and well-groomed” – the characteristics of any young and aspiring Dandy man.

To him, his way of thinking about the movement is a progressive and systematic change that has shaped him into the man he is today.

“When I started with this thing, it was mostly because of my father’s influence,” he says. “Only when I really started to do my research on Afro Dandyism, I realised that this is actually what I really want.

“When I met Tony [Maake], [another influential Dandy in the Western Cape], he introduced me to a lot of things,” Oratile says enthusiastically as he speaks about the culture, which guides his character today.

There is more to the Dandy world than what I used to think. Being an Afro Dandy is not about the aesthetics, it’s about the lifestyle.

Zola Msizi, Afro Dandy and member of the Afro Dandy Social Club, confirmed this viewpoint during an interview with MatieMedia journalist Vonani Ngomana in September 2017 when he said that Afro Dandyism is not about looking good, but about living a certain lifestyle. “It is not a part-time thing, it’s a full-time thing,” he added.

According to Oratile, being an Afro Dandy is not about wearing a certain suit or owning a specific piece of clothing. “It is important for people to know that it is a culture,” he says. “Dandies want to look clean and show their well-mannered principles.”

Oratile on Dandyism and his affinity to the movement. VIDEO: Grethe Bestbier, Lauren Dold, Nell Hofmeyr, Kelly-Jane Turner.

Besides the fact that Dandyism should not be limited to physical products, Oratile also believes that the movement should not be limited to men only. He claims that Afro Dandyism does not have a gender. All dandies are creatives and they should be given equal platforms to educate one another.

“There is definitely a space for women to be dandies,” he says with an inviting grin. “Afro Dandyism is not about clothing – it is a voice for the marginalised. It’s storytelling. Women should also be able to express what they are going through through the way they dress.”

Being a dandy man or women enables you – you just have the confidence. You have the ‘sauce’; you have the ‘juice’. You are not afraid to walk anywhere. Walking on the streets and seeing the way people look at you makes you feel confident. Seeing the way people look at you while you are nicely dressed makes you feel respected.

The most important part of the whole movement to Oratile, is the fact that the Afro Dandies can give a voice to the marginalised. It can free those who need to express themselves. It can give back to the community.

Most of the Dandies involved with the Afro Dandy Social Club choose to buy their suits from street vendors in marginalised communities.

“Most of the blazers I have were bought for no more than R45 and people don’t believe me,” Oratile says. “Dandyism is supposed to offer people a lifestyle, and what you can or cannot afford should not determine your association with the movement.

He recently teamed up with the Paarl-based optometry store Hello Bril after their search for a brand ambassador. His association with the brand is based on research, which proved to him that the company gives back to the needy.

“Last year they gave UV protected sunglasses to car guards,” he says. “It’s something they [car guards] would never be able to buy themselves. Afro Dandyism should be about restoring dignity,” he adds.

Being an Afro Dandy should not be expensive, Oratile reckons. “I can buy a suit for R45 and still look the same as a Dandy who bought his suit from a reputable tailor or his jewelry from a famous jeweler.”

Today, some of Ora’s favourite clothing pieces a jacket he got from his father – the man who, at first, “pushed him into the Dandy lifestyle”.

The morning sun rays change to a bright afternoon heat and the Ou Hoofgebou is turning into a blinding white. Ora picks up his bag of outfits and strides off with confidence about not only his outfit, but his future.

– Grethe Bestbier, Lauren Dold, Nell Hofmeyr, Kelly-Jane Turner, Jana Wentzel.