When you have two Fashion Weeks quite close together, it’s interesting to compare them.
In February, there was relative newcomer Joburg Fashion Week, organised by Africa Fashion International chaired by Precious Moloi-Motsepe, the wife of billionaire Patrice Motsepe.
It was big, very glitzy, had multiple iconic venues in the city and lots of celebrities, local and from The Bold and the Beautiful. It wasn’t without problems, however, not least being the two-hour delay to David Tlale’s show on Nelson Mandela Bridge.
Then this past weekend, we had SA Fashion Week, the original showcase organised by the much respected Lucilla Booyzen, who recently received a Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year award for this endeavour.
The show, which has launched and furthered the careers of many noteworthy local designers, has become smaller and more business focused since losing Sanlam as its title sponsor and is now aimed primarily at boutique buyers and the media. But it has kept a devoted following.
This year it was held in “the spectacular glass cube on top of the freshly refurbished” Shine Studios in Braamfontein which, while offering great views across the city, was still unfinished.
The main gripe of showgoers was the temporary scaffolding that bridged the lounging area and the catwalk. It proved to be an impediment for one of the media members in a wheelchair and Espresso presenter Liesl van der Westhuizen, who was in crutches after her recent accident.
Fashionistas in figure-hugging outfits and vertiginous heels who wanted to be fed and watered slowly braved their way across the dodgy skywalk, made perilous by a gap between it and the building. It was either that or make the long haul downstairs – the lifts weren’t working – cross the lobby to walk up yet another flight of stairs to the lounge.
It couldn’t be helped, as the interiors of the building weren’t completed yet. Organisers injected a little humour by having little posters on the stairs that read “46 more steps to go” or “You’ve just lost 300 calories”.
The showgoers, though, really appreciated the punctuality, the food and drink and the care taken of them.
There were several Tweets about the skywalk, celebrities posted pictures of themselves on Twitter, and remarked on the panoramic views.
As at any fashion week, there were good collections and poor collections, and naturally there were bouquets and brickbats from the twitterers.
What really surprised people following the SAFW hashtag, however, was the particularly discordant note introduced by designer Abigail Betz, who we’ve always thought of as a serene sophisticate who produces impeccable garments.
“AFI RULES!!! After being at SA Fashion Week, I repeat: AFI KICKS ASS!!!” she yelled on Twitter.
What was making her so unhappy?
We looked at her profile and it was the venue (“Still voting on it,” she said, followed by “Front row at SAFW… Not that amazing. And the dodgy skywalk with the massive gap?? Hmm…#deathbybridge”).
She also carped about the early start of one show (“reverse punctuality”) and posted several pictures of designer Reginald Molamu’s Reggiestar collection with sarcastic comments (“Really?”, “SAFW standards” and “People praising obesity. #southafricanfashionweek”).
Later she tweeted: “Cellulite. In white bikinis. On ramp.” and “And there runs @ELLEmagazineSA… I would run too. But my heels are super. #sigh.”
Gosh. It was relentless. Not one positive thing to say although, according to a later statement she issued, she did like a handful of collections.
Afterwards Milisuthando Bongela wrote succintly on her fashion blog, Miss Milli B (www.missmillib.blogspot.com):
“One thing that wasn’t cool about that night, though, was sitting across from Abigail Betz, who was saying some deeply inappropriate and tactless things on Twitter about the shows and SA Fashion Week. For someone whose brand exudes class and sophistication, her attitude and tweets were an #epicfail and reeked of the dustbins that are collecting all over Joburg as a result of the garbage collectors’ stayaway.”
We think many people nodded their heads at that observation. We did.
But Betz couldn’t let sleeping snarks lie. She immediately posted a statement in response to Miss Milli B, inviting her to the Abigail Betz “house of couture” where “we pride ourselves in bringing forth the highest quality of art and fashion within the realm of couture as well as the ready-to-wear fashion industry within South Africa and beyond”. Jeez.
She wrote: “…We have great coffee. We have taste, class and we are opinionated. We work hard. We judge the lack of exceptional quality because we create exceptional quality.
“I am a person of high standards and values, and although I do not in any way respect your blatant attack, I will not remove your right to freedom of speech and would therefore rather take the first step towards healthy conversation. I have no need whatsoever to explain myself to you, seeing as you obviously do not believe in freedom of speech, but would still offer a portion of my time towards this conversation – I believe in education.”
Couldn’t be more patronising if she tried, could she? And someone’s opinion of your opinion is suddenly an attack on freedom of speech?
Betz went on to express her disappointment with the organisation, the venue and the marketing of SAFW. It all fell below the standards of her “art”.
She also said she “highly disappointed” at the work shown at SAFW, especially by “the young talent”.
But, she conceded later in the statement, she had thoroughly enjoyed the work of Terrence Bray, Colleen Eitzen, Black Coffee (designer Jacques van der Watt) and Clive Rundle.
Betz also responded to criticism from twitterers who took issue with her obesity comments, some of them accusing her of racism and one calling for a boycott of her clothes.
“…During more than one of the shows on the opening night, certain persona’s (sic) were placed on ramp (to the delight of the organizers and certain audience members) whom in my opinion were unhealthily overweight and would be considered obese.
“It is to be made clear at this point that I in no way aim at insulting anyone, but it is factually clear in South Africa and in the international community that obesity is just as unhealthy as anorexia (which has been publically critisized (sic) ample times in the past within the fashion industry) and thus should in no way be celebrated by any designer or entity that ascociates themselves with the fashion industry.”
Betz noted in her statement that she had showcased with SA Fashion Week 15 times and made the move to Joburg Fashion Week only in 2010.
You can read her full statement at www.ifashion.co.za under the heading, “Everyone is entitled to an opinion”.
We agree, everyone IS entitled to an opinion but we couldn’t help feeling her tweets were over the top. They seemed like a slap in the face to Lucilla Booyzen, whose contribution to the South African fashion industry is, as yet, unrivalled.
And criticise the clothes and slipping standards of the models by all means, but don’t rail at Reginald Molamu for using obese models, when you’ve said not a word about David Tlale doing the same at the Fashion Week at which you showed.
It was all so ungracious.
And hypocritical, as this later exchange on Twitter shows.
@Enigmeg
@abigailbetz And do you cater for curvy ladies? Hmmm?
@abigailbetz
@Enigmeg Yes we do :-) Healthy full figured ladies welcome
As you can see, Twitter has changed the way Fashion Weeks are covered. Tweeps know immediately who was there, wearing what, with whom and what they felt about the clothes.
It’s fun to hear the candid and immediate views of showgoers, just as long as they are even-handed and don’t leave a sour taste in the mouth.
We like both the Joburg and SA Fashion Weeks – we appreciate their differences – so we trust they will both continue to fire up fashion fans for years to come. There is room for both. We just wish more sponsors would venture in to help them to launch emerging designers.
Returning to SA Fashion Week generally, yes, there were collections as poorly conceived and constructed as that dodgy skywalk, but there were also fabulous collections which we mustn’t forget in the midst of the social networking fracas.
Highlights included the designs of Black Coffee, Amanda Laird Cherry, Christopher Strong, Urban Goddess, Rubicon, Clive Rundle, Joel Janse van Vuuren, Gugulam, Naked Ape, Terrence Bray and Colleen Eitzen.
We’ll be featuring some of their summer gear in Verve in coming weeks. - The Star