Ask anyone in the front row on Saturday night and they'll tell you Clive Rundle is a genius.

Jaws dropped like a Mexican wave as he presented one of his most innovative and, ironically, commercial collections to date.

Created by recycling his old collections (archive, what archive?), Rundle sent models down the runway in skin-tight lace bloomers, cut up tweed jackets refashioned into corsets and backless silk parachute dresses.

Vintage hats piled three atop each other and bright orange paper eyebrows complemented the sublime collection of lace, tweed, and silk.

Glamorous global dream

Equally intriguing were idiosyncratic colour combinations of regal purple, yellow, and rust with shots of red and cobalt.

Yes, there were 'style wars' elements like garment bags transformed to coats and jackets, but there really was nothing unfinished about this collection, from the rows of up to twenty buttons that were beautifully covered in complementary silk, to the amazingly cut bias skirts and floaty evening dresses, everything was considered with a humour, and technical understanding mildly reminiscent of Galliano greatness.

Lately there's been an element of the post-apocalyptical about Rundle's work. If his last collection made the models look like girls from a fantasy Manga underworld, this collection made them look like post-romantic angels parachuted in from a glamorous global dream. Bravo.

Truly refreshing!

Other collections noteworthy from the last night of Sanlam SA Fashion Week included the 5fm and Lisof presentation. Although we weren't given the individual names of the designers, there were some very interesting elements on display.

Of particular note was the denim treatment. After four days of seeing pretty prairie dresses and fifties cocktail frocks, to see a skirt made from heavy dip-dyed or rather bucket-bleached denim was truly refreshing!

Painterly techniques and ethno referencing have been everywhere for the past couple of seasons. To reinterpret these in a completely new way was great and incredibly relevant.

The final show of the week, Terrance Bray saw boys strutting in brightly coloured shorts, t-shirts and striped shirts with the occasional swimming trunk all paying (possibly unintentional) homage to the ubiquitous group of Fashion Week Smarteez — brightly coloured anti-emo Soweto boys and girls.

Girls wore pretty cotton tops and full skirts. Cotton summer dresses, the odd harem pant (the half harem men's short was a great piece) and a floral maxi were also shown.

But as the collection started drawing to a close, Bray sent out what can only be described as flower girls — dresses made of the lightest white cotton petals with delicate floral embroidery. An appropriate end to a week where blooms flourished in almost every collection.

Until next year.