fashion | mbfwafrica: the aimee song experience

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this past week brought mercedes benz fashion week africa to melrose arch, johannesburg, and even though i couldn’t actually attend any of the shows due to it being my matric finals (5 down, 8 to go – yeeee!), when Sunglass Hut announced that they were bringing world renowned fashion blogger Aimee Song (and her sister, Dani) to south africa for the shows, i knew that i had to make a plan to attend.

so, through the never ending grace of Sunglass Hut & Raya Rossi from The Visual Journal , i was so happy to get the opportunity to meet miss Aimee Song in the flesh, see the AFI FastTrack show and enjoy the Sunglass Hut VVIP lifestyle – and omg, could i get used to that. free drinks, free food, free photobooth pics in some unfortunately not-so-free sunnies and an overall nice vibe was the order of the day and i was beyond blessed to experience it with my friend Khensani from OhKenzo.

meeting aimee

the day began with our arrival at melrose arch: Kenzo and i met up at the Sunglass Hut lounge, and with our VVIP yellow bracelets in-tow, we helped ourselves to some passion fruits and lemonades while we waited for Wedaad. just as i got my drink, though, Wedaad came rushing in and told us that Aimee is at Tashas and we could quickly squeeze in a meet & greet before the show. when we met Aimee, she was so polite, so nice and smiley – she complimented us with words that i’ll probably get tattooed on my thigh and she was just being such a nice person. it was great because when we met up with her again in the lounge, she was so willing to take silly photos at the Instastation and it was great to encounter such a well known person who didn’t have diva tendencies towards the little guys (figuratively, of course, i’m like a giant).

it was so refreshing because i got invited to Talya Goldberg and <a href="http://www.fancypants.tgether viagra 100mg achat.co.za/” onclick=”__gaTracker(‘send’, ‘event’, ‘outbound-article’, ‘http://www.fancypants.tgether.co.za/’, ‘Amy Scheepers’);”>Amy Scheepers‘ BBlog Class the previous day, and as much as i rushed to get there – seeing as i did just write my maths paper 1 final – i actually missed the class but got to meet up with the other bloggers at the end, such as LoubiLovers, The Fashion Freckle and Emma-Jane Nation. i only glimpsed Aimee and i waved as she was leaving and it was so great that she remembered me on saturday!

afi fasttrack

jessica ross | naazneen kagee | rich mnisi | tuelo nguyuza

as part of the competition i won with Raya, Kenzo and i got tickets to see the AFI Fasttrack show and we saw the collections of the amazing designers Jessica Ross, Naazneen Kagee, Rich Mnisi and Tuelo Nguyuza. these were some of my favourite looks from the designers – i really enjoyed Jessica Ross’ collection that was a white and gold masterpiece of structure and architectural influences, and i really enjoyed this two-piece – i wanted to literally take it off the runway. it looked so comfortable and stylish at the same time.

Naazneen’s collection had this beautiful cape/coat that i am so obsessed with at the moment. the collection also had this urban-cool-viva-la-crop-top-with-sweatpants look, as well as this red/black/white floral theme too. Tuelo Nguyuza’s collection started with this, as i described it, ‘models emerging from hell to show you how it’s done’ scene and all i wanted was to be taller and thinner so i could join their clique and just look super intimidating in their salmon and orange attires. i loved Tuelo’s elongated baseball jacket!

and finally, the winner of the AFI Fasttrack, Rich Mnisi’s collection was the epitome of sports luxe cool. the models came out in these incredible grey, black, brown and gold printed pieces, kitted out with sports paraphernalia and trainers. their final walk was a run up and down the runway which really brought home the sports theme, and the beautifully crafted pieces totally show why he deserved to win.

after the show

overall, it was an absolutely incredible day and i am so grateful to Raya Rossi and the wonderful people at Sunglass Hut for making it possible!