May 2009

Maponya Mall, Soweto

The date has been set, the venue has been confirmed and the nationwide search for the 13 finalists is over. It is time to choose the winners in the 15th annual Vukani Fashion Awards. Top South African and international designers will gather at Maponya Mall this May to celebrate great African fashion to the Soweto community and to also assist in highlighting the strides that have been taken and achieved in the African fashion front - through the Annual Vukani Fashion Awards.

South African Fashion Designers Agency (SAFDA), which runs Annual Vukani Fashion Awards and the chief judge of the Annual Reds African Fashion Designers Awards (RAFDA) which take place in Ghana, Tanzania, Botswana, Lusaka, Kenya, to mention but a few and also a participant in Mozambique Fashion Weeks, Swaziland Fashion Week, Cape Town, Jo'burg and Durban fashion weeks, has announced that the 15th Annual Vukani Fashion Awards will be a three-day showcase of the local 13 finalist and continents' leading up and coming designers from 27 to 30 May 2009 at the Maponya Mall.

The Vukani Fashion Awards is an annual event put together by SAFDA, the South African Fashion Designers Agency. It involves a national industry search for the latest up & coming designers who are looking to turn professional and provides an exciting opportunity for emerging young designers who have been in the industry for a short while and who need to take their careers up a notch.

"I am passionate about improving indigenous fashion in the South and African Diaspora", says Sonwabile Ndamase, Executive President of SAFDA and founder of the Annual Vukani Fashion Awards. "And I am passionate about these awards", he adds. "The awards stimulate the creation of innovative fashion that reflects the cultures of our country, while exposing and promoting great South African talent. And, of course, it offers fantastic training, education and career possibilities to promising South African designers."

Already African influences are being seen in international collections, a trend, which global fashion consultant Claire Hamilton of WGSN New York believes is only going to grow. "Tribal or ethnic prints have been popular on the runways for several seasons and right now the "African" aesthetic - defined especially by textile patterns, or beadwork - is very appealing."

The fashion industry is being forced to restructure itself to meet the challenges it faces due to the global economic crisis. The Italian fashion industry has asked for help from the government. The Indian government is introducing an export incentive for its textile sector and even China is facing difficulty in its clothing and fashion industry sector. However, putting aside the rhetoric of saving jobs and how import the creative industry is for development the South African government seems to be doing nothing for the clothing, textile and fashion sector. Trade experts and economists have responded to the government's response to the economic crisis as being futile.

This does not spell gloom for our fashion sector. What it presents is opportunities for establish designers to take heed of what is taking place globally and adapt their business strategies accordingly. For students of fashion this is an ideal opportunity for them to watch how establish designers are coping, what restructuring they are doing and to learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately, South Africa's fashion industry still seems to be focused on the "glamour" of fashion.

Talk shops on how designers should adapt are just that if nothing is implemented. Lessons from the history of fashion are an important tool for students of fashion. As fashion is a continual cycle so is history.

"As a mall that serves the Soweto community, we understand what this initiative means for up and coming fashion designers, to be able to propel the ideology of accessibility is exactly the message Maponya Mall was built, says Palesa Mzizi Marketing Manager of Maponya Mall.

For more information about the event and the general public can visit www.maponyamall.co.za. Or visit www.vukanifashionawards.co.za.

For information regarding featured designers, interviews with designers, organisers and event spokespersons, event details and media accreditation, please contact Palesa Mzizi on 011 938 4448/ palesa@maponyamall.co.za.