Friday, March 26, 2010

Fragility and Fun at Fashion Week Opening

SA Fashion Week kicked off last night at the beautiful Turbine Hall in Newtown, Johannesburg sans the "random" folk as the new strategy is to have only media, buyers and clients invited by designers at the shows.
Yours truly got to witness Amanda Laird Cherry's Summer collection from the frontrow and I'd be lying if I said I was impressed. The clothes are beautiful but I feel like the collection is nothing new from Amanda. The soft materials and colours that a tell a story of sensitivity and fragility felt all too familiar.
Speaking of sensitivity and fragility, Guilottine's "Sweetness of Terror" had a somewhat daring fragility, with black garments, gold leggings, gold pins in the hair of the models. At the start of the show models came out with lamps and glow in the dark wiring fused into their hair, giving a feel of haunted sleep.
To the contrary, Superella put on a circus... literally.
The first face on that show came out with baloons, a gold party hat and gold glitter sneakers, bouncing about the ramp, doing summersaults and smiling at the audience. There are never any real life models at Superella shows, just average individuals that defy the culture of size zero models, but I guess that wouldn't speak to her taget market in any case.
All in all, the mix of fragility and fun at the opening day of SA Fashion Week Summer Collections 2010 has left me with a desire to go back and see if there is any reinvention and/or directionin the collections to be presented until Saturday this coming weekend when the event draws to a close. R Jay K, whom I last year thought lacked direction in the true sense of the word are showing tonight. I'm hoping to see growth in the duo's talent. Will keep you updated...

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