Renaissance Men SA: #FASHIONWEEK: Day 1 of Durban Fashion Fair 2014

The Durban Fashion Fair 2014 fashion week recently happened in, well, Durban. Thanks to the eThekwini Municipality and other partners, the event once again brought to the fore designers of great talent and creativity. Our Johannesburg Contributing Editor, Brian Lehang, was on site to check out the fashions personally. Here’s what he thought of the menswear designers from Day 1 of Durban Fashion Fair 2014.

“Freddy Designz put together a small, tailored menswear collection. Primary colours for the collection were black and white, incorporated as solid blocks and as prints. Freddy Designz worked towards showcasing an African aesthetic, and complemented the collection with Zulu accessories.”

Freddy Designz photographed by Simon Deiner/SDR Photo

“House of St. Luke is a regular to Durban Fashion Fair and their return each year comes with a proof of a strong home collection. One of the best highlights from their menswear was the use of brave, bold prints paired with crisp white shirts. Bringing a type of clean and simple collection with an edge.”

House of St. Luke photographed by Simon Deiner/SDR Photo

“DFF Collective designer, Jimmy Jazz put together a very festive collection. Gold and glitter and glossy blazers. There was a great introduction of pleather detailing on the shirts and trousers. The colour palette was soft and his work showed great potential to push menswear to the next level.”

DFF Designer - Jimmy Jazz photographed by Simon Deiner/SDR Photo

“DFF Collective designer, Tempracha created a mostly subdued collection using mostly black with lighter tones here and there. The collection has good looks that can easily move from day into evening. A traditionalist guy would enjoy the small edgy details in the collection like the zipper details on jackets and the leather panel inserts.”

DFF Designer - Tempracha photographed by Simon Deiner/SDR Photo

“Africa Collections designer, Abrantie the Gentleman took what one would consider as traditional African royalty and made it contemporary for the modern man. Bold and masculine the collection contained a great number of prints used in daring ways.”