South African Fashion Week goes back to its roots

One of the exhibition rooms that will be used for this year's shows

Finally – some soul food for the hungry souls who’ve been dying of pangs from a dearth of the art from fashion in the last couple of years. It’s offisiyaaal – SA Fashion Week’s Winter 2011 collections are going to be held at Joburg’s Arts on Main from 29 September – 2 October 2010. This year’s audiences are much smaller and exclusive for the right reasons – because yes it’s about the business – but we’ve decided to converse with other creative disciplines (and disciples) by tapping into the stuff that makes most lovers of fashion happy: art. SAFW is collabing with the galleries at Arts on Main which are The Goodman Gallery, David Krut, Bailey Seippel Gallery and The Nirox Gallery. How? The galleries will be hosting a selection of cross-over works that explore the relationship between fashion and art while Arts on Main will host a series of events such as workshops, pop up theatres and light instillations in this regard.


The small but hearty surroundings of Arts on Main

In addition to that, some of the country’s most revered artists including Mbongeni Buthelezi (if you’re in Jhb and happen to drive past the new Gautrain Hotel on Rivonia – that blindingly beautiful black and white wall art is his made purely from plastic bags and garb) and Kim Lieberman will be hosting instillations and workshops exploring the conversation between fashion and art and collaborating with fashion designers like Lunar, Lissa Jaffe and Superella.

Top: Black Coffee AW 2009 Collection. Bottom: Lunar AW 2009 Collection

Lest we forget boys and girls, the designers who are going to be revealing their new Winter 2011 collections include new kid on the block Christopher Strong, Black Coffee, Clive Rundle, Amanda Laird Cherry, Sober, Vesselina Pentcheva, Loxion Kulca by Ole Ledimo and Thunderstorm amongst others. And in in the spirit of keeping it in the family – The Malva Concept Store, which is but 100m from Arts on Main at the trendy Main Street Life, will make its debut on the SAFW platform as it introduces South Africa’s top media, creatives and select clients to the designers it houses in its emporium.

Top: Elle New Talent 2009 Winner Marlize Malan's AW 2009 Collection. Bottom: Marie Claire Prix Award Winners Loxion Kulca's AW 2009 Collection.

Keep your eyes and ears peeled for backstate footage, interviews and photographs of all these events in the next couple of weeks leading up to the big days! I’ll be tweeting and facebooking like cray cray so follow me here:

Twitter: @safashionweek
Facebook: look for South African Fashion Week

Images: Cally Marshall and Ivan Naude