Mary Corrigall
Joburg might not be pegged as a fashion capital in the same vein as Milan, Paris or New York, but it does boast its own Fashion Kapitol, an inner city garment district which formed one of the inner city venues where the Joburg Fashion Week played out this week.
Devotees of Africa Fashion International’s (AFI) events are more accustomed to enjoying ramp action from the comfort of the Sandton Convention Centre, nevertheless they flocked to venues around the city to view the collections of established designers such as Suzaan Heyns, Malcom Kluk CGDT, Errol Arendz, Bongiwe Walaza, Stiaan Louw and David Tlale.
The change of venue did not, however, detract from the level of affluence and opulence that has come to characterise AFI’s events.
A string of VVIPs such as Thobeka Madiba Zuma, one of President Jacob Zuma’s many wives, Danny Jordaan and his wife, Mathew and Sonia Booth and Bokang Montjane, the reigning Miss South Africa were all there. Guests who attended Kluk CGDT’s show, which was staged at Joburg’s historical Randclub, weren’t exactly slumming it either as they sipped on brandy and nibbled on dainty pink-sugar coated pastries, while feasting their eyes on a collection of garments fashioned from silks, satins and embroidered fabrics that summoned the extravagance of Christian Lacroix and boasted Tibetan-cum-Moroccan detailing with flashes of hot colours.
Heyns also caused a stir with her “fashion surgery” collection, which included “bandage” garments and intricate clothing items, embellished with a glut of details, that were inspired by the convoluted shapes of the interior of the body.
But, of course, as with every AFI offering, it was David Tlale’s show that formed the climax of the four-day fashion extravaganza, which was planned for the Nelson Mandela Bridge.
Not only did he wow the crowds with a draw-dropping collection consisting of a staggering 92 garments ranging from ready-to-wear to couture, accessorised with a new collection of bags and jewellery, but onlookers were thrilled to spot American soapie star Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, who stars in the popular soapie the Bold and the Beautiful, striding down the ramp among a host of other celebrity models.
Thrilled by the inner-city adventures that the JFW team had cunningly plotted out, many of the fashionistas concluded, however, that the city was the real star of the show.
n Read Sunday Life next week for Mary Corrigall’s full length report on Joburg Fashion Week