DAVID TLALE WOWS AFRICA FASHION WEEK
South African designer David Tlale wowed fashionistas with a spectacular midnight show on the opening day of Africa Fashion week in Sandton Joburg.
The show featured opera singer Sibongile Mngoma accompanied by a full orchestra and included more than 50 elaborate menswear and womenswear designs gracing the runway to a packed house of around a thousand people.
The openly gay Tlale has been acclaimed as one of the country’s leading fashion designers and his new collection, inspired by the Emperor Butterfly, offered a palette of pinks, peaches, shimmering greens and yellows, white and black.
“Well, we did it! So amazing,” said an ecstatic Tlale after the show. He has previously shown his work at New York and Paris Fashion Weeks.
Audience members included celebrities such as singer Tamara Dey, trends guru Dion Chang, television host Gerry Rantseli, Bafana Bafana footballer Matthew Booth (whose wife Sonia was one of the models) and singer K’naan of Wave Your Flag fame.
Africa Fashion Week runs at the Sandton Convention Centre until Saturday.
….. That’s fashion?! As Oscar Wilde said, “Fashion is an ugliness so intolerable that we have to change every six months” And by God, he was right.
This collection is one of the most refreshing I’ve seen from a South African designer. Kudos well deserved!