Unfolding as a start-studded day exclusive to Woolworths, SA Fashion Week began the spring-summer 2018 collections on Tuesday (10 April 2018) in Sandton City.
As per tradition for the past few seasons, SA Fashion Week has runway collections alongside trade shows which are a fashion buyer’s dream and a great inspiration for those pursuing a career in fashion. As Woolworths got absolute attention for the night, in two shows we saw multi fashion brands under the retailer. It was a variety of local and international brands which share a competitive floor in its major stores.
Focusing on local: Collections from Rich Mnisi, Thebe Magugu and Sindiso Khumalo were very much a continuation from the last collections. We saw signatures we’ve come to associate with the designers. Then we got introduced to Wanda Lephoto as a newly added designer who checked all the boxes and is now an even greater interest. He started in 2016 and showed at London Fashion Week in collaboration with Tank magazine and Merge. Through a concept he describes as “collaborative otherness” he brings about subcultures very familiar in the South African context, yet meeting the global streetwear requirements.
From the contrasts of velvet against chiffon pleats appearing as separates but with the essentials that hold a garment together and the red trousers with a supersized belt adornment from Thebe Magugu; the men in wide brimmed hats, zebra striped skirts and velvet turtlenecks from Rich Mnisi; to the nude and alluring patterns over shirt dresses and pullovers from Sindiso Khumalo, Woolworths also brought a few in-house collections with Re: denim products reimagined by the designers.
Woolworths and SA Fashion Week reworked the fashion show and mass retail system. In the fabric of this engagement, is the growth of the fashion industry of which now has growing appetite for local brands. Though we may not know every single detail that goes into the functions of such a coming together of brands and businesses, the framework alone shows that it is working.
