Fashion TV series Project Runway has landed in South Africa, so to speak. Friday night was the big reveal of the resident judges, mentor and the 12 contestants at the lavish Palazzo Hotel.
Media personality, style icon and businesswoman Noni Gasa, together with fashion design virtuoso Rahim Rawjee, will be on the chairs to decide the fate of the 12 contestants on the show.
Fashion designer extraordinaire Gert-Johan Coetzee will be mentoring the contestants, who will be competing with each other to create clothes with different themes at a certain period. That’s the American version, that is.
We were told this one in South Africa will have an Mzansi flair.
The organisers have remained mum on who the host is.
In the panel discussion, both Rawjee and Gasa gave us a glimpse of the kind of judges they are going to be and what they expect from the designers, as well as why this is the right time for the show to make its debut on our shores.
“In terms of South Africa and socio-economics, we’ve talked about the zeitgeist, we’ve talked about things that are happening in the world right now,” said Rawjee.
“I think that fashion is an art form and this platform is really to speak to a lot of people and have an opportunity to convey a message.
“It’s not just about what’s the next colour for the season, what’s the next trend. Obviously those are just by- products, you all look at that.
“But today in South Africa the words that come to my mind are collaboration, diversity and plurality. We all know that we need to have a point of view. It’s amazing to be able to have this platform,” said Rawjee.
“Project Runway is long overdue. Clearly it’s not for a lack of talent in this country, and we have a lot of that as you see with several young designers competing at the fashion weeks and all these initiatives that are grooming South African talent.
“There is always an over-subscription of talented people, so context obviously leads the content, and we have a very unique context.
“We are a diverse culture and expression. This show will certainly encourage all the contestants to bring a nuanced expression to the South African version and that’s pretty exciting,” added Gasa.
Other A-listers at the event were actress Fezokuhle Zulu and businesswoman Khanyi Dhlomo.
The Sunday Independent