Mercedes Benz Award for Fashion 2009

I attended the above mentioned event on Thursday evening with my friend Riaan in tow. It was all in honor of the winners and participants of the 2009 Mercedes Benz Award for Fashion. It was only appropriate that the event was held at the Century City Mercedes Benz Showroom, seeing as Quality, Fashion and Lifestyle are all elements of a Mercedes owner. Well hopefully.

The garments arrived back from Germany where they have been stationed for some time at the Daimler Contemporary House Huth in Berlin.



The intimate event had us steered to the front window where the participants designs were lined up for viewing. Stiaan Louw and his gang of black were downstairs where I snapped up this photo of the chain-vest which took 3 weeks to finish!



The rest of Stiaan's garments can be viewed here.



I met up with Stiaan's muse and friend Morne' for a chat in the above picture and my friend Riaan checks out some of the other garmets below.









Participants included David Tlale, Abigail Betz, Darkie, Mantsho, Craig Native and Maya Prass. Thanks to Stiaan for the Invite!

All Access - Stiaan Louw Feature

Last Friday Mnet's "All Access" showcased an interview with menswear great Stiaan Louw. I was invited along to give my own opinions of Stiaan's work. Included in the interview, Morne Visagie (who modeled in Louw's "Design Indaba" show last year) and studio-mate and fellow designer Maya Prass.

The insert is embedded below for your viewing:

Stiaan Louw at the 2010 Design Indaba

Seated in the front row I was fortunate to witness Stiaan Louw's latest collection at the 2010 Design Indaba. Fellow blogger Robyn Cooke and I were seeing it all for the first time, so as you can imagine we had no idea what to expect.

"I saw a light" by Bat for Lashes played softly and elegantly as the show opened. It played hand in hand to the unveiling of a new Stiaan Louw. A less complicated and organic rebirth, if you will. And not only does it extend to his design which in itself is so fresh and new, but he used cotton, viscose, cotton twills and viscose knits which are all natural fabrics too.



Thankfully his show was choreographed beautifully to allow us, his fashion voyeurs a better chance to catch the details. Such as these cotton spandex tracksuit pants, which double up as jeans!





And this jacket which has the most original collar detailing which I have now dubbed "The Bunny Collar". The stand is slightly higher than with traditional shirt collars and the fall smaller. It's fantastic!





You may also recognize Morne' who modeled these overlay shirts. Die hards will see that this is a trademark of Stiaan Louw's designs of allowing you to change the colour. The one shirt slots over the other!



Success! A show that genuinely excited me on a local front. I truly believe Stiaan is a step ahead of his peers and I can only look forward to seeing more of what he has to offer our country.