Lucilla Booyzen, South Africa's Fashion Icon!

Lucilla Booyzen, (top L) Founder/Director, Sanlam SA Fashion Week is a fashion icon that can be used in the same sentence as Vivienne Westwood, Coco Chanel and Donna Karan. They are all remarkable in their own right. Booyzen together with the city of Sandton City, South Africa, made news by delivering the first ever fashion parade that brought the collections to the public away from the exclusive invite-only norm of Fashion Week. According to Sandton City, Marketing Manager, Karen Elson, "everyone was invited". Runway Productions together with Sandton City produced the fashion parade where 100 models made their mark on the 1kilometer (0.6 miles) catwalk in Johannesburg (October 24 - 26). The featured 7 designers were Jo Borkett; Julian; Marion and Lindie; Black Coffee; Jenni Button; Stoned Cherrie and Ephymol who were selected by Booyzen. If New York, London or Paris produced this concept, I wonder what area of space they will use as the 0.6 miles to catwalk paradise? Images: (L) Lucilla Booyzen: Robert Hamlin & (R) Sandton City Fashion Parade: Peter Morey

SSAFW Lands International Appeal!

(L) Cosmetic Artist, Marnee Simon Photo:Abbe Foreman
(R) SSAFW Artist, Annette Dannhauser Photo: Johnny Sims
Los Angeles, CA: May 30, 2008. By Veronica Viljoen SSAFW (Sanlam South Africa Fashion Week) now in its 12th year perked the interest of Philadelphia, Cosmetic Magician, Marnee Simon, when Simon noticed the SSAFW Five Roses visual by Artist, Annette Dannhauser, on FashionEdge7. Added interest to Dannhauser’s Five Roses visual came from Photographer, Red Baklava, San Antonio, Texas. Then, Actress, Natasha Nova, expressed interest in wearing the “Marilyn Wrap” by SSAFW Designer, Colleen Eitzen to an event while at Cannes International Film Festival in Nice, France. In the meantime, Lucilla Booyzen, Founder and Director, SSAFW, shared with me how well SSAFW Fall 2008 was received in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. SSAFW continues to be noticed abroad.
SSAFW-Photos: Ivan Naude (C) Photo:Red Baklava

Fall 2008: Los Angeles & Johannesburg

By Veronica Viljoen























(L) Amanda L Cherry/JHB
(R) Monarchy Collection/LA

Fall 2008 continues to be
interesting and captivating as
I review collections for my blog.

Some of the memorable odes for this season in my book is the return of the multi talented, design guru Ms Vivienne Westwood to London Fashion Week; the insane decision of Giorgio Armani to ban New York Times, Fashion Critic, Cathy Horyn from his showing; the "carousel" set design that Chanel used and then what this entry is about: how well South Africa's premiere fashion event, Sanlam SA Fashion Week (SSAFW) compares to my adopted home, Los Angeles Fashion Week, namely Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios.
(L) Alan Del Rosario/LA
(R) Colleen Eitzen/JHB












































(L) Fal Guni & Shane Peacock/LA
(R) Abigail Betz/JHB

With this segment, I will let the pictures speak for themselves as I have placed images from Los Angeles and Johannesburg side by side for your review. In keeping with my comparison in design talent, if I ever had the opportunity, I would select Amanda Laird Cherry, Black Coffee, Colleen Eitzen and Lunar as the 4 fashion designers from SSAFW to show during Market Week at the California Market Center in Los Angeles for Spring/Summer 2008. When I inquired from Lucilla Booyzen, Founder and Director, Sanlam SA Fashion Week, the same question, Booyzen added, "in my opinion, Ruby, Lunar, Terence Bray and Tiaan Nagel will make my selection list".

Enjoy the comparison within the six images that I selected.
It's a wrap! Till my next post, Veronica.

Photos:
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios
Sanlam SA Fashion Week


Links:
http://www.californiamarketcenter.com/ - California Market Center
http://www.mbfashionweek.com/ - Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
http://www.sanlamsafashionweek.co.za/ - Sanlam SA Fashion Week