South African Fashion Week SS19

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If you know me, you’d know that I have a love-hate relationship with Fashion Week. On one hand I care too much and on the other, I just don’t care enough.

I love the runway! The Fashion! The Creativity! The Expression of Art! Every detail coming together to create magic on the catwalk is not only intriguing to me, but creatively re-realize what we are capable of.

What I don’t like is the entitlement that people feel they have because they’re in attendance. Literally, every person there, is there because they are serving some sort of purpose, or gaining some kind of exposure.

The designers who are showcasing are granted a platform to express their art. The media are there to show the world and create hype. The socialites are there to create ‘relevance’ for the event and the consumers are there to support and invest in the ideas being created. We all fit into a system, everyone of equal importance and nobody realizing the relevance of the other. But it is a perfect little dance of creatives coming together.

This season, I tried to TRY a little harder, tried to make more effort to feel great and to create better quality content. I collaborated with an amazing photographer/ videographer, Dawit Tecklay as well as Aqeeda Domingo. Took another Bonafide team mate along as well, Boipelo and together we decided to attend two days instead of the full four days. The Bonafide Team was strong and ready to conquer SAFW.

There was a huge protest march in the CBD which left us only a little time to get ready once we finally got home. We had a makeup artist Lavish by Fayrola who made us feel like Kardashians. We quickly threw something on and headed off to the Sandton City Rooftop.

Once we arrived, the first show had just gone in and we could take a few moments to settle in and met with our photographers, who immediately started shooting. It was a little bit of a blur, as we were so rushed the first day but the shows were amazing! I still cannot get over how perfectly everything comes together to showcase a collection. Ran into a bunch of familiar faces and also hit up the Trade Center where we could chat to a few of the designers and network for a bit.

The second evening was a lot more fun, we were in better spirits, better clothes and a whole lot less anxious. The photos came out better and boy! did we take photos! I love when photographers take initiative and clearly are passionate about their craft, it truly shows in their work.