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Welcome to the second AFI newsletter. This edition finds the AFI team still on a high from an enormously successful Audi Joburg Fashion Week. The event was our first with new Creative Director Deon Redman, and Deon’s impact was immediately noticeable in the new, cleaner look and feel, not to mention our renewed focus on letting the garments do their own talking.
Read all about Deon’s influence, as well as our report back on the event, below. Further points of interest include a competition to win the new JJ Schoeman Parfum and the hugely exciting new initiative with SABC 3, to name but a few.
Our focus now shifts towards MTN Durban Fashion Week, taking place at SunCoast Casino from 25 – 28 June 2008. Watch this space for more information… Enjoy our newsletter, and please write back with any comment or suggestions you may have on the newsletter itself, or AFI’s activities – we encourage all feedback.
Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe
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AUDI JOBURG FASHION WEEK REVIEWED
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Audi Joburg Fashion Week - took place in Sandton over 4 days from March 5 to 8, 2008. Audience members were treated to sixteen fashion shows featuring some of South Africa’s best established and up & coming fashion designers.
Some highlights of the week included Marianne Fassler’s collection inspired by the artwork of Marlene Dumas, the New Generations Show that featured Frans Kies, Abigail Keats, Audrey Mokhari and Thembisile Mazibuko – new graduates that simply took the media by storm.
Stalwarts Kluk CGdT delivered a party inspired collection and Sun Goddess presented a much more seasoned collection showing the new direction of the label’s designs. Relatively new designer Tlale showed why he was the recent Stars of Mzansi Fashion Award winner – a superb collection showing his imagination and skill.
Nkhensani Nkosi, founder and creative director of Stoned Cherrie said that they experienced "the highest turnover to date, the weekend after Audi Joburg Fashion Week proving that the media exposure gained during the week drew traffic into their store".
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David Tlale |
Stoned Cherrie |
New Generations |
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Thula Sindi
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Viyella
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JJ Schoeman
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Sun Goddess
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Kluk CGDT
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Siphakeme Ndlovo & Mosewamosa
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Marianne Fassler
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Craig Jacobs
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Maya Prass
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Audi Collections -
Trigger
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Audi Collections -
La Perla
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Audi Collections -
Gavin Rajah
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Ifa Lethu
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Machere
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Mzanzi Designers
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When Marianne Fassler’s gnomic designs, modelled by 5-year-old girls in pink gumboots, hit the catwalk to the sounds of the Afrikaans song “Suikerbossie”, I was delighted. Could a fashion show really be this much fun?
Kanina Foss, The Star.
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BUYERS REGISTRATION
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Buyers can register here to receive the latest information on designers and the AFI Fashion Weeks.
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WWW.VOGUE.COM |
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Look out this month for South Africa designers on vogue.com. The online portal presents the autumn/winter collections of AJFW designers including Stoned Cherrie, David Tlale, Ifa Lethu and Maya Prass.
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SPONSOR NEWS - L'OREAL
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L’Oreal Paris is very proud to be the official cosmetics partner for the various Fashion Weeks. The partnership is an obvious one as L’Oreal Paris is a fashion forward cosmetics brand, always on trend with the latest looks and make-up trends on the international catwalks. We are honoured to be involved with the showcasing of some of the hottest design talent in South Africa, which we believe can be stacked up against any of the international talent that is featured in the other international fashion weeks where L’Oreal Paris is the cosmetics partner.
Mandy Austin-Roche
Marketing Manager - L'Oreal Paris
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L’Oreal Professionnel and the Mizani professional hair care brand represent fashion, innovation and technology in the hair care industry. Working with SA’s top designers, models and production team during Audi Joburg fashion week allowed L’Oreal Professionnel and Mizani to push the boundaries of hair styling. The technical set-up and overall design was of the highest standard, which made our jobs easier. L’Oreal Professionnel and Mizani spent four days behind the stage of Audi Joburg’s Fashion Week, experiencing the energy and buzz of fashion empires in the making. We are looking forward to doing this again.
Maria Pretorius, Marketing Manager
L'Oreal Professionnel South Africa
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DEON REDMAN IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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What from your wealth of international experience have you tried to impress on AFI events?
Primarily, my objective was to sharpen the fashion focus, have a sense of design permeate all aspects of the event - from the actual physical spaces through to the marketing collateral. A signature that ran through all aspects. It was also a matter of simplifying all aspects, bringing them down to the essentials and ensuring that those elements where treated as they would be anywhere else in the world. |
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This meant a simpler, more focused show space, with a key focus placed on the clothing. Good quality, specifically designed lighting, quality finishes, and for this past season, a horseshoe ramp configuration which not only created an exciting live dynamic in the space, but again re-enforced the idea of the clothing as the primary focus of the event.
What influenced your design and concept for AJFW?
There were several influences. Firstly the season itself - autumn/winter. That meant lighting that accentuated shape, texture, silhouette, and had a slightly cooler quality to it. Also, I took into account the specific atmosphere of Joburg as a city, its unique brand of urban sophistication. Black was used as the venue's base colour, which meant that the ramp and ramp entrances where the only areas of white in the venue - onto that, the only colour came from the clothes themselves. This followed through to the media lounge and designers suites. Again, black as a base colour with recessed lighting, contemporary clean lines, a feeling of all aspects been specifically designed as part of the overall, which they were. In these areas too, the clothing, which appeared 'suspended' between plains of light from the specifically designed rails - remained the focal point. We were also fortunate that Audi, our headline sponsor, is a brand driven by design. This philosophy was a perfect fit for our approach to the event. Even their colour palette - black white and red - fit in perfectly with our direction.
What were the success of AJFW for you?
That's simple. After every show, the thing most people talked about was the clothing. I've maintained that if all other aspects were correctly executed, the designer's work - the collection - would emerge as the star. It was great to have that result achieved.
AJFW saw the introduction of the designer suites – can you elaborate on how these worked?
The designer suites are designated areas available to designers showing where they can interact directly with attending press and buyers. It provides direct contact with the collection after the show - essentially giving the designer a mini on-site office to display clothing, network and conduct business. AJFW saw the introduction of these suites which have proved very successful and promise to be a regular feature at fashion weeks going forward. |
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AJFW saw the introduction of the designer suites – can you elaborate on how these worked?
The designer suites are designated areas available to designers showing where they can interact directly with attending press and buyers. It provides direct contact with the collection after the show - essentially giving the designer a mini on-site office to display clothing, network and conduct business. AJFW saw the introduction of these suites which have proved very successful and promise to be a regular feature at fashion weeks going forward. |
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DIARY '08 |
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