Colour, stripes, black, white, reworked denims, revealing dresses - these were the first tastes of what was to come at the Nokia Cape Town Fashion Week.
Young Designers Emporium (YDE) kicked off the show in style yesterday, showcasing designers like Craig Port, CX, Phenomena and X&O.
Running alongside the fashion shows will be a series of workshops for student designers, to pass on business skills.
The Fashion Eye Planning for the Future Workshops will be held every morning, under the theme "Where Creativity Meets Business Savvy".
The workshops are being run by Pursuit magazine, which has been on the market for 14 years and was re-launched at the beginning of the year.
Editor Nikki Johnston said the magazine looked after fashion, clothing and textile businesses in South Africa.
"We wanted to give back to the industry. Students are our future fashion industry," she said.
Students were encouraged to have a "sharp-business intellect" and not to be afraid of branding themselves and marketing themselves as a business, said Johnston.
Fashion designers, fashion design students and business owners are attending the workshops. The students hail from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Bellville and Cape Town campuses), Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town, Design Academy of Fashion, Elizabeth Galoway, and Intec.
Second-year student from CPUT Deidre Cruywagen, said: "The main reason why I attended the workshops was to find out how to start up and run a business."
Another second-year CPUT student, Chanelle Pearce, said: " I wanted to know how young designers get out there and get promoted."
The Cape Town Fashion Council, comprising local designers, clothing and textile manufacturers, tertiary institutions, media and governmental bodies, was set up in November.
Among the designers on the council are Malcolm Kluk, Tasleem Bulbulia of Funeka and Robyn Lidskey of Ruby, who are all showing their lines this week.
The media industry is represented by Jackie Burger, editor of Elle. Grant Blackbeard, CEO of Blackbeard and Dare, represents the retail sector.
Bryan Ramkilawan, a design lecturer at CPUT (Bellville), said: "My part in the council is to create a platform for young designers. A lot of them want their own label so we want to encourage them.
"These workshops are an advantage to students, because they are getting involved".
Tasleem Bulbulia, owner of the label Funeka, stressed that fashion was a business.
"It is a business and a business first, design comes second," she said.
"Design is important but it's just the cherry on top."
The industry was not as rosy as it seemed as a student, she said, and was also highly competitive because local designers were competing with imported goods.