Colour trumps black… KLuK CGDT trumps Arise Fashion Week…
For several seasons now colour has been treated a bit like fashion critics’ Crazy Old Aunt in many respects, always invited to the family reunion but tolerated rather than welcomed and definitely not to be taken seriously… Nudes and muted tones and signature black have been the “beloved” colours of Front Rows, local and international. I for my part love a bit of bright colour – with my complexion I have to be pretty darn selective in how I wear it but nevertheless I do love it… Nothing says happiness quite like sunshine yellow, or sexy seriousness quite like a robust red or cool sophistication like a cobalt blue… What I mean is simply that colour speaks to emotion and so this season we should all be wearing our hearts on our sleeves, not in the proverbial sense but in the fashion sense.
More than one of my fellow local fashion bloggers have mentioned the colour trend happening all over red carpets and runways so I was delighted when this little gem of a newsletter by the boys at Kluk landed in my inbox… The photographer is Shanna Jones and she’s nailed these gorgeous shots, not to mention Melissa’s hair which screams references to the retro-look dos seen in the Fendi Eyewear campaigns and on the runways of Louis Vuitton’s S/S 2011…
And the jewels! Oh my, the jewels by Fabrizio Giannone from Europa Art are absolutely exquisite. If you click on the link then you can have a look at more work by this talented male designer and you can even more fun using the google chrome translator to read up on him in broken English! Either way I am filled by the desire to go out and buy myself a neckpiece right now. Opals hold a bit of a special place in my heart for their subtle brilliance, not to mention that a neckpiece would look beautiful with my gran’s opal ring! And did you know there are two variants of Opal – the most common form is a mineraloid and the rarer version is the precious stone.
However, I diverge the most impressive part of the campaign is not the photography or the make-up and hair or even the jewellery – it’s the beautiful clothing. My favourite pieces are the facet brocade collarless coat, and the faux fur gilet, citrine bodysuit, the amber wool pallazzo pants, gold leather wrap belt and the turquoise Fabrizio Giannone cuffs. I heart it. I heart it very, very much! Hope you heart this gorgeous fashion campaign too and remember if you don a bit of colour this winter you’ll not only brighten your mood, you’ll strike the perfect style note too 
But don’t listen to me, take your cue from Christiaan himself who’s donning a pair of fantastic turquoise veld skoonne to receive his African Designer of the year award. Yes’, it’s true: congrats to Christiaan and Malcolm for winning the ARISE Fashion Week 2011, African Designers of the Year Award – LOOOOONG overdue so well done, well done, well done!
