Teeming with excellent sartorial ideas, Decorum Stylists’ Pat Mokgatle is one for bespoke tailoring. This year they were flaunting a redefinition of their spring/summer ’24 apparel at the Paris Fashion Week. As they say, he’s just getting started and there’s no telling what else he has up his sleeve, but he’s hinting at the Milan runways.
Standing tall among today’s most eminent sartorialists, Mphahlela (alias Pat Mokgatle CA(SA)) is doubtless a walking billboard for careful tailoring. As though by design, he’s also a walking billboard for Decorum Stylists, who’ve come in for quite a loud endorsement from various quarters, including GQ, the New York Times and Vogue.
As it happens, Pat is the founder of Decorum Stylists, working in concert with his attorney wife, Rethabile Cupcake Mokgatle.
‘When it comes to suits, he wears them well. On a high level, his work is exceptional. I love the suited garments on ladies − it’s a different feel from what we are used to seeing,’ said eminent South African designer Mimi Nkangane of Spunk Clothing about Mokgatle.
We meet in Illovo, Johannesburg, on the heels of his first outing at the venerated Paris Fashion Week. Decorum Stylists shot the works with their Afrika Borwa ya Rona collection, which featured a slew of fantastic models, including real estate entrepreneur TT Mbha.
With little time for niceties, I tail him across the expansive lobby at BDO Johannesburg, panting for anecdotes from the most fashionable city. Pat plies his trade as a business development director, and he looks it in an olive-green power suit. Naturally, it’s one of Decorum Stylists’ profoundly sartorial ensembles.
‘It’s a very simplistic bespoke work suit,’ he chuckles. ‘I believe that I’m a walking advert, so I need to wear my brand very proud.
‘When you build a brand is not an on-and-off gig. If you come to the atelier on a Saturday you’ll find me in a full suit. I respect my clients that much … You’ll find me on a Saturday in a mall in a suit. Because that’s what I believe in.
‘If you believe in it so much, and you work on it, it won’t become a fluke when the brand makes it because it’s something you lived.’
The din of the lobby behind us, we fetch up in one of the boardrooms and Pat is a happy camper, reliving the highlights of the Paris Fashion Week.
PARIS FASHION WEEK
‘This was the first time we showcased overseas as our debut range on a runway,’ he says. ‘The reception from the audience was absolutely mind-blowing and remarkable. Having put together bold colours when the world is going neutral with quiet luxury, we gave the spring/summer ’24 a redefinition.’
He was moved by the professionalism of Fashion Week Studio, he says. ‘The brilliant anecdotes from the Paris Fashion Week were the level of professionalism exhibited by the team from Fashion Week Studio to the international models, the make-up team, and our South African celebrity TT Mbha who closed the Decorum show for us. The experience was out of this world. We met David Beckham and as a Man United FC van, it was amazing.’
Sharp and blessed with the gift of the gab, Pat is a creature of good education and discipline as well as determination. Getting into Wits, he read accounting before joining BDO, who funded his studies.
He signed on in 2008, at the age of 17, rising through the ranks to head up Business Development for Audit, Tax and Advisory at BDO Johannesburg.
In 2016 he launched Decorum Stylists on the strength of his lived experience as a trainee accountant. ‘The brand stemmed from having been a trainee accountant that was always in a shirt and tie, while my fellow trainees did not give the CA(SA) traineeship the level of sophistication it deserved,’ he says.
‘So therein came the brain wave – I started selling ties, accessories, socks, pocket squares and tie pins that elevated the level of class and sophistication among accountants.
‘The name “Decorum” means behaviour in keeping with good taste and propriety. That’s exactly what we wanted to build: a brand that sees professionals as aspirational individuals. The brand evolved from selling ties to making bespoke suits over the years and we are looking at launching its brand-new formal shoe range in 2024.’
INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
In 2017, Pat and Rethabile travelled to Florence, Italy, making their international debut of His & Hers suits at Pitti Uomo, regarded as the world’s most important platform for men’s clothing and accessory collections and for launching new projects in men’s fashion.
Critics have deemed Pitti Uomo as the sole international trade fair for menswear, calling it ‘the most important event for menswear designers and brands to showcase their latest clothing and accessory collections’.
‘Upon arrival, we unveiled the concept of the first Decorum His & Hers suits, which were identical Prince of Wales notch lapel suits with matching accessories,’ Pat would later tell ASA magazine.
By his and Rethabile’s own account, they challenged the status quo and dismantled gender stereotypes while winning the hearts of the international market.
‘This was a remarkable moment given that we had been following Pitti Uomo from 2014 and walking down the Fortezza Da Basso in our Prince of Wales’ His and Hers suits was a moment that stays ingrained in our memories forever,’ he says. ‘Pitti Uomo got Decorum opening doors with key Italian fabric suppliers while affording us an international reach to clients and brand collaborations.’
In the ensuing days, the pair had the press beating a path to their door, getting coverage from a raft of media outlets, including Vogue, GQ France, GQ Mexico, GQ Taiwan, the New York Times, Man of Many, W magazine, Glamour Italy, The Impression, The Streets magazine, Getty Images and Fashionista.
BRIGHT PROSPECTS
CAs(SA) are well placed to get into entrepreneurship, he says.
‘As clichédas it may sound, start even though it’s not perfect. When we started this business it was not perfect. CAs want everything perfect, but unfortunately with entrepreneurship until you put your foot in the water, you won’t know if you can or can’t swim.
‘If you got the idea, just do it. You will improve as you do it. Don’t wait for it to be perfect.’
Going forward, he relishes the prospect of an outing at the Milan Fashion Week, among other things. He also thinks about doing trunk shows and getting into different markets.
‘We’re looking at doing Milan next year,’ he says. ‘We are hard at work building the brand from strength to strength, looking to actually create a factory now. Also, I’d love to get into the trunk shows where we fly into Paris and do measurements with top-end guys, then come back home and start exporting our goods.
‘Next year we’re probably looking at launching our Decorum shoes. I’m currently wearing a pair that I’ve been testing out for an entire year. I have to make sure that I’m comfortable. So I’ve had them for a year and I’m comfortable in the shoes.’
Author
Mpho Tshikhudo
