Durban - The African Art Centre, which focuses on the development and progress of local artists and crafters, will team up with Durban fashion designer Bianca Warren for a Winter Fashion Show on Wednesday June 25.
The show will be held at 5.30pm at the Florida Road precinct and consist of the latest the centre’s crafters have to offer, complemented by Warren’s chic ready-to-wear collection.
While the centre has for many years worked to provide sustainable income for KwaZulu-Natal’s unemployed artists and crafters – among them rural women, the HIV/Aids affected, disabled and unemployed – the evening is a light-hearted fashion soirée aimed at drawing locals into the centre’s shop, which also stocks fine art, baskets, beadwork, embroidered fabric, wooden animals and more.
It has garnered quite a reputation for taking local arts and crafts to the next level in design.
Director Sharon Crampton has struck a fine balance by enlisting the support of Warren.
The uMhlanga designer and businesswoman (she has a national footprint at a young age and owns two stores north of Durban) demonstrates just how the average working woman can incorporate hand-made craft pieces into her look while remaining professional.
Well-made beaded jewellery can have the same high-end appeal as tailored or custom-made garments, which many of us fail to recognise.
So you don’t have to be “artsy” to love your local.
To find out more call 031 312 3804.
Note that many of the crafted pieces are one-offs and therefore prices vary. - The Mercury
Models: Zime and Sarah from ICE Models
Locations: Bianca Warren Signature Store at The Square and The Square Boutique Hotel
Jewellery: African Art Centre
Garments, bags, shoes: Bianca Warren
Makeup: Kezia Myatt from Lindsay Nixon Studio
Text and pictures: Omeshnie Naidoo