by Barbara Cole
Durban - Celebrations will continue on Monday for the Vodacom Durban July Young Designer Award winner, Leona Pillay, as she returns to her studies at the School of Fashion in Pietermaritzburg.
Having beaten about 80 other hopefuls to take the coveted title on the Greyville racecourse fashion stage in between the races on Saturday, the 21-year-old Pillay was congratulated by her husband Jerome, and said “it finally sank in” that she had won when she returned home and the rest of her family congratulated her.
A second and final-year design student at the School of Fashion, she will be back in the classroom on Monday, where she knows the congratulations will continue.
“This win has shown me my capability. To be the No 1 means I have the potential to do a lot,” she said, adding that she would wait to see if any doors opened in the wake of her success.
“I would like to see how far this win goes. Otherwise, I will be looking at starting my own business when I finish my studies at the end of the year,” she said.
For starters, winning the award will take her to New York and to New York Fashion Week, which were prizes, among a host of others, for taking the title.
Pillay based her navy and beige winning design on the queen of spades, who is seated next to the king of spades, explaining that “behind every successful man is a successful woman.”
Durban-based designer Kimosha Ganas, 30, who quit being a corporate banker to follow her passion as a designer, proved she has what it takes by winning the Fashion Challenge with her futuristic-inspired outfit with diamond-shaped prints.
“I am really excited. I am still building my fashion-designing reputation and portfolio, and this win will get my name out there,” she beamed.
Designer Madelain Clark took home the top prize for winning the Gold Circle Classic Racewear for women, while Martin Steenkamp won the male category.
Pregasen Govender won Gold Circle’s Most Striking Couple competition and Zandile Masondo took the prize in the Exceptional Race Day Hat or Fascinator competition.
Durban model boss Warren Morck, owner of Glamour-SA Models, who has relaunched his dress-designing career, entered competitions with his designs and then showed off a range of his resort and evening wear in the Durban Tourism hospitality marquee.
Two of his models, sisters Maxine and Alex Moray, were at the race day event, along with their mother Michelle, whose wedding dress was designed by Morck in 1991.
Maxine wore a Morck outfit for the day, while her sister was the model used by Ganas.
The designs by a local supermarket chef, Mamantsoe Mokoatle, stood out in the crowd with horses on her hat and that of her boyfriend, Sboniso Maphonga.
Her bag boasted a beaded horse’s head at one end and a tail at the other. She made their matching outfits in just two days.
There were plenty in the crowd who kept to the Leader of the Pack theme, and there were several ties that featured playing cards.