Ten days ago at the Arise Africa Fashion Awards, South African designer Heni was presented with the award for Most Promising Designer of the Year. And while we celebrated with him, there was a general sense of relief, as deep down many of us feared that the work of this young Joburg designer was going to pass unacknowledged.

It is widely recognised that Heni Este Hijzen is one of South Africa's most talented young designers. His attention to detail, construction and powerful narrative is very accomplished.

His ability to infuse his work with personality and drama, whilst staying sympathetic to the beauty of the wearer is admirable.

His desire to take on criticism and grow and improve is tangible and his hunger to be the best is palpable.

Had to earn his place first

So why did this award come as a bit of a pleasant surprise? Well, it all began shortly after Heni's triumphant winter collection, which he showed at Audi Joburg Fashion Week.

Certainly the standout designer of those shows, Heni was already eager to move on to the next challenge. And this was clearly to pit himself against the very best that the continent had to offer. Arise Africa Fashion Week was the next critical step on his journey to achieving the profile and recognition that he craves.

But he had to earn his place there. Despite the early indications that he was in, Heni soon found himself in the position of having to justify why he should be there.

Of course, this is an example of jolly good curatorship — all designers should be justifying their place in order to ensure the best of the best at the shows. However, Heni had to work a bit harder than most of the slated designers.

Drawing his inspiration from some of the greats — Dior, Galliano and Westwood — Heni's aesthetic is very European. In order to earn his place at Arise Africa Fashion Week, Heni had to commit to an altogether different point of view. He had to prove that just being born, learning and living on this continent was enough to justify his place as an African designer, and that he had in him, the ability to communicate an African aesthetic through the craft of fashion.

'Threw himself at the challenge'

Without arguing the merits of this position, Heni threw himself into this challenge. The biggest obstacle to overcome was how he was going to ensure he stayed true to the Heni brand without compromise — whilst at the same time, taking it in a totally new direction.

Over the period of the four months that he prepared for this show, Heni changed his course several times, most dramatically in the third month when he shifted from a tropical narrative to one that celebrated and inhabited the plains of Africa.

The discipline of really interrogating his own experience of being an African was a core part of this process. He wanted to keep his international frame of reference, whilst communicating his pride in embracing his African origins. He wanted to maintain the accessibility and personality of his previous collections — always with a cheeky sense of humour and love of women — but wanted to also reference a softer, more organic part of our history, specifically the '70s.

And most importantly for Heni, he wanted his audience to love it. Not just for the sake of his own ego, but because he wanted them to love it enough to buy it. This is the point at which Heni will not compromise.

His label is a business and, as such, it must be economically viable. In order to achieve this, he needs the platform and recognition of the shows for marketing, but he still needs to ensure that his collection speaks to his potential clients as garments that they would love to wear.

The agony (and expense) of showing a collection can only be justified in this context. And Heni is one of those designers that unquestionably goes through agony to ensure that everything that is sent out is perfect.

'Mediocrity is totally unacceptable'

The concept of mediocrity is totally unacceptable to him, and the desire to be taken seriously by the media, buyers, other designers and clients burns in him slightly maniacally.

And so it was in this context that Heni's summer collection for 09/10 was shown at Arise Africa Fashion Week, and nominated for three awards at the Arise Africa Fashion Awards, winning the one for Most Promising Designer of the Year.

While Heni had sent out his first three looks totally in black, signature pieces to the max, the rest of his collection was soft and fluid and beautifully crafted and finished.

The irony is that the first three looks garnered the most international praise, but it was the African narrative that won him his award.

This challenge — to take a part of himself and re-examine it and present it to us in a way that is uncomfortable at first, but triumphant in execution — is his true success story.

It indicates several positive things about the designer, not least of all that he can surprise us and confront his own area of design safety. That he can bravely face his critics with a new and untested aesthetic. That he can dare to stand up to the naysayers and still live his dream. It is these things that will ensure his longevity and success.

Having garnered the validation that he needs to fuel his creative fire, Heni has many more goals to achieve. As a proud South African, he continues to seek out areas for growth and improvement and he hopes one day to open his own store in Sandton, just yards from his most recent fashion triumph.

I look forward to seeing what comes next for Heni. If he takes the lessons he learned at Arise Africa Fashion Week and applies them to the next collection, I have no doubt that we will be in for more surprises and delights and for that, I cannot wait.

For more information on Robyn and other stories of Heni, go to: http://styleguidecapetown.blogspot.com