R3,000 free @ Prestige Casino!
Property Search
Cars Online
Maps And Directions
Accommodation specials
Check the Travel Guide
Work money smarter
Wine of the Week
Life Insurance Quote
Online Dating
Insurance Powered by AA
Business Directory
Mobile Business Directory
Go shopping!
Henrie's Recipes
Price your home 
Fashion Week fever hits Cape
Staff Reporter
Posted Fri, 30 May 2003
This August, Cape Town will officially join the ranks of the world's fashion capitals when the city hosts its first dedicated fashion week.
The Nederburg Cape Town Fashion Week, taking place from August 20-24 at the newly constructed International Convention Centre, will see some of South Africa's hottest designers showcasing their Spring/Summer 2003/4 Collections.
Fashion Week will feature a range of daily shows presenting 22 designers in all, and will culminate in the Nederburg SA Designer Collections VIP gala event.
A newly introduced designer exhibition will also be taking place, at the same venue, from 10am to 10pm, at which style hungry visitors can browse and purchase designer and leading brand labels at exhibition-only prices. Exhibition tickets are R30 each and available at the door.
Tickets are also available for the Nederburg SA Designer Collections, the finale featuring the best of all participating designers and as well as international guest designers Gianfranco Ferre Couture, SAGA Furs and Chanel Haute Couture. Shows take place at 3pm on Saturday, August 23 and at 12.30pm on Sunday, August 24. Tickets are R100 available from Computicket.
Additional attractions during Cape Town Fashion Week include the Young Designers Bursary and the De Beers Shining Light Award.
|
"The event is dedicated to developing the fashion industry in South Africa by nurturing talent and exposing South African designers to an international audience," says Gavin Rajah, Fashion Week convener.
"Until recently, the local industry lacked cohesion and vision. Fashion week is about providing the vision to give meaningful expression to a uniquely South African identity. The country needed a realisation that fashion is more than conceptualising and rendering a range of garments. It is about articulating a response to a whole range of influences in the environment and the way we position ourselves in that environment," explains Rajah.
This philosophy extends to developing and educating young designers through the Young Designers Bursary, thereby ensuring the continued success and growth of the local industry.
Ten finalists will be selected from 31 fashion schools around the country, each showing one garment at a dedicated show. Winners receive bursaries of R15 000, R10 000 and R5 000 respectively, but more importantly they receive professional feedback and critique as well as the experience of showing their designs on a world class stage.
The combination of emerging and established designers adds an aspirational element to the show by rewarding new talent and recognising the established greats.
Commenting on the inclusion of an industry exhibition to complement the collections on show, Fashion Week co-convener Paul Jackson says: "We realise that the majority of South African's experience of fashion comes through retail brands, with Haute Couture the reserve of a few. The exhibition will broaden the scope of Fashion Week to appeal to a wider audience with the inclusion of retail brands, bringing fashion to the people."
"The Cape Town Fashion Week provides an ideal platform on which to present global fashion with a multi-cultural slant as only a country as diverse as South Africa can provide," adds Rajah.
For more on The Nederburg Cape Town Fashion Week, visit the official website: www.capetownfashionweek.com
|
