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| Waterfall Park, Mall of Africa - Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Joburg 2017's backdrop |
African
Fashion International in association with Mercedes-Benz hosted us at Mall of
Africa for Jozi’s and arguably the country’s most anticipated fashion week. Since
it was the spring summer collection and the weather was starting to warm up,
some had already packed away all the heavy clothes. Some even had their summery
ensembles ready for this eagerly awaited fashion week, but then the cold front
gave us big slap saying “not so fast”. While we were trying by all means to stay
warm even though some of us were in suitable layers for the occasion, patience
was tested with shows running an hour late. Nevertheless the colds and delays,
it was business as usual and we came, we saw and we saluted. Here’s what went
down on the runway this season.
DAVID TLALE
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
Celebrating
his 15 years in the business of fashion and as an internationally known brand
he paid tribute to the Mercedes-Benz by hosting his runway show inside the
German automobile’s showroom. The order of the day was the grey pinstripe,
which is synonymous with fall season. David’s style of fashion and tailoring has
always be unconventional and futuristic and we can testify that his style has
influenced a lot of young aspiring designers. Continuing to break boundaries
using this grey pinstriped, he maneuvered the fabric from creating the light
summery shirt to the breathable unlined jackets. Then with the “pink” cherry on
top he added soft silks with exotic prints to complete the summery look.
FABIANI
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
Whilst
still celebrating Women’s Month, Fabiani gave us a pleasant surprise by
showcasing an unprecedented women’s wear range. The Fabiani ladies looked
classy chic and confident on the runway with beautiful floral prints. On the
menswear side, it was the simple and sophisticated “007” red-carpet ready
affairs. Arie gave the modern man the smart way of dressing up for big occasions
without trying too hard to impress with all the unnecessary accessories. He
kept it classic and timeless, so smart it can be worn on your big wedding day
and repeated on the red carpet without even noticing.
NAROK NYC
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
One
of the international designers that graced us with trendy fashion and out of
the box style was Narok from New York City. “Illustrating Canvas” he also
twisted the formalities of menswear by pairing tuxedo suits with sandals.
Regardless of his unorthodox styling, the tailoring on the tux was on-point. He
went with the 2-on-1 double breasted jackets giving the gents an opportunity to
button the jacket and not get criticized by the “sprezzaturas”. He summerized his collection by setting a new
trend of pairing unusually colourful trenches with shorts and sandals.
SAMUEL MOSALA
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
One
of the interns by David Tlale and in my opinion, the only subtle collection of
all the interns. David’s pieces are not for any Tom Dick & Harry, but seeing
Samuel’s collection I could already see the future of David Tlale brand being prêt-à-porter
and accessible in major departmental stores. Mosala’s collection is young;
dynamic and practical. Young in a way that it’s not formal but smart; dynamic
in a sense that the pieces can be swopped and changed anyway anyhow; and
practical that they can be worn for any occasions and still stand out. The
blues hues blended so beautifully making the whole collection peaceful yet
powerful.
SCALO
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
We
are moving away from a season that trapped us into wearing jackets and layers.
Sello gave us a display of being formal without a jacket not the most powerful
accessory (necktie) of all time. In fact he’s saying there won’t be no need for
it thanks to the comeback of the band collar shirt. All we need is to be
colourful and confident and embrace what I call sartorial simplicity in the
making. Looking at that green jumpsuit with a shawl lapel, it was minimal but
still had its fair share of dandyism. I was never a fan of these trendy
jumpsuits but I could definitely rock this one.
SHERIA NGOWI
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
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| Image courtesy of AFI. |
Continuing
with the uncustomary sartorial look was another international designer from
Tanzania with his individualistic collection. Bending rules of sartorialism but
still looking dapper, he took a calculated risk of doing the unusual. We saw
the both the collarless and the lapel free jacket with the untucked dress shirt
but still looked clean. He extended the bend collar trend on his shirts and of
course the styling was effortlessly elegant with no accessories expect the
trendy slip-ons.
Another
thrilling week of fast-forward fashion trends came and gone and left us with
memories and inspirations for changing or adding new items in our wardrobes.
Fashion is as good as a buffet, there’ll always be something for everyone. What
and how we consume it will always differ from one to another.
Until
next time…
Suitably
Yours
#menswear #mbfwj17 #springsummer17
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