Meticulous attention to detail must be paid to create a memorable event, writes Nontando Mposo
The South African Menswear Week (SAMW), when Africa’s best menswear designers present their spring and summer collections over four days at the Cape Town Stadium, started on Wednesday.
While the limelight often shines on the designers, models and the fashionistas, there is a production team that works tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure each show is flawless.
It is not just the clothes that make a fashion show memorable – much thought goes into staging an event, such as the right music, styling, props and the co-ordination of models, to create an experience that will communicate each designer’s aesthetics.
The work begins with a consultation between the fashion show producer and designer, says production director Deon Redman of Deon Redman Creative Production.
“The designer’s vision informs the choice of model, the styling, hair and make-up, music selection as well as the production design. The focus is always on bringing that vision to life in the venue, evoking the tone and feeling of the collection so that the audience understands the concept behind the garments,” he said.
“Then there is the back end of fittings and rehearsals to ensure that the show is seamless. My job is to oversee and direct all these aspects so that it looks effortless.
“If everything has been well planned and thought through, it all comes together to create a moment that hopefully resonates with the audience,” Redman says.
Durban-born Redman, a former model, started producing shows by default.
“I just kind of jumped into it. I started with a showcase in Durban called the Durban Designer Collections with a ramp laid out in the middle of the city pool. My first fashion week show I worked in was for designer Craig Native.
“After I moved to London things really took off. I was fortunate enough to work with and learn from a number of top international production companies, lighting directors and designers. Since then I have worked in 36 cities around the world on various fashion week shows and fashion-related events,” he says.
A great show producer is someone with a broad knowledge base of not only fashion, but also of the technical elements of the industry, such as lighting, sound, stage and set design, says Redman.
“Also keep abreast of most aspects of creative industries, from art to history.
“It will allow you to work from an informed point of view,” he adds.
“The key is being able to understand and translate a designer’s vision into their live show. Whether the production is simple and minimal, or on a grander scale with a large complicated set and production design, the key is to transport the audience into the designer’s mind, to create a coherent context of the collection they are seeing.”
As head of production for SAMW, Jennifer Deiner, who also heads up the Group of Creatives (GRP/cr8/) worldwide, says it’s about taking the designer’s brief and transforming the space and experience into something magical for the audience by using sets, music, lighting and choreography to match the designer’s vision and collection.
“While we need to make it great to watch, we always need to remember the shows are done for the media and photos so that the designers can sell their garments,” says Deiner.
The Group of Creatives production company, based in Cape Town, produces fashion weeks in Africa and Europe, including the Lagos Fashion and Design Week, Swahili Fashion Week, Africa Fashion Week Nigeria, Africa Fashion Week London and the Durban Fashion Fair.
“I love the challenge of creating new and exciting experiences for each show… building on what we have done the previous season to elevate the platform.
“We are fortunate to work on a number of high profile fashion weeks from Lagos to London, and with each one being so vastly different it is always a pleasure to work on,” says Deiner, who is senior producer for London Fashion Week.
Fifty selected designers will showcase their collections in the fourth instalment of the menswear focused fashion week, the only one in Africa.
“Each season brings a new memorable moment.
“However, I will never forget the first time the lights came up at the first SA Menswear Week.
“Two years of planning had suddenly begun and here we are four seasons later as the go-to platform in Africa.
“It has grown more than we ever thought possible,” says Deiner.
● SA Menswear Week is currently on. For the full designer line-up, visit www.menswearweek.co.za