As the week post Joburg Fashion Week ends; the drama of its logistical faux pas, VIP cordoned off areas, failed PR stunts, air kisses and designer collections; start to become a faint memory. Names that have been rolling off our tongues with effortless ease for the past week go back to their design studios (and the back of our minds), only to be resurrected by one of the million other fashion weeks throughout the year.
With only a few lucky designers managing to remain in the forefront of the fashion world minds, but more importantly in the mind of consumers, as a result of their relative retail success and consummate support from the press, one has to wonder after all the drinks, canapé’s, location fee negotiations, model fees, fabric and time spent, does fashion week, any fashion week in this country have any relevance? Who gets the most out of it? Are the designer’s businesses showing some sort of growth as a direct result of fashion week? Or, have we, as a copy-cat society decided that the western world’s model, is the only way forward and that for a designer to have any sort of repute they need to show at a ‘fashion week?’
I don’t know the answer, I’m just asking the question (don’t you just hate those people?), but I am on an expedition to find out. I have sent out some emails to some designers to ask for their feedback, because they are after all the people who should come out on top at the end of it all right?
However, whilst I wait for those answers, I do have faith in the growth of and the faith that South African consumers have in the South African fashion industry, when I see initiatives like: #WearSouthAfricanFriday, promoted tiresomely by Milisuthando Bongela and Fashion Friday’s brought to you by Twenty Two, which starts next week Friday.
A celebration of South African fashion design, art & music, Fashion Friday’s will take place every month and feature not just the amazing designers at Twenty Two, but a host of guest fashion designers from across the country.
Promising to be a wonderful evening, the first Fashion Friday’s also features Capsule’s “Rock Me Again” fashion photography exhibition, where designers Adriaan Kuiters, Blasoen, Christopher Strong, Clive Rundle, Rachel de Mardt, reworked by Stefania Morland, Rosenwerth, Take Care, The Summit and UNkNOWN ave taken on the creative challenge of giving old clothes and discarded fabrics new form and new life.
P.S: Don’t forget to wear something locally designed or produced & show your love for SA fashion!!
