Tim Cohen
6 August 2007
Johannesburg — IT's not the most momentous issue on the corporate calendar, but it's the most entertaining and glamorous.
South African Fashion Week takes place this month and so does Johannesburg Fashion Week, both held more or less at the same venue and at the same time.
There has long been debate about whether SA should have two fashion weeks, and in the beginning the debate was rather bitchy but frivolous. It was about handbags at dawn and a rather funny debate about whether Johannesburg or Cape Town was the natural venue for fashion.
But it's rapidly turning nasty. African Fashion International (AFI), formerly known as Leisureworx, has the advantage of a huge media house, Naspers, and one of SA's most glam black empowerment exponents -- Patrice Motsepe -- and his wife Precious Moloi-Motsepe, the chairwoman of AFI.
The AFI show runs from August 22- 25 at Mandela Square in Sandton. Just a few days later, the Sanlam South African Fashion Week (SSAFW) opens across the road at the Sandton Convention Centre.
SSAFW has the advantage of a long and successful history as well as a dutiful and assiduous approach to the underpinnings of the industry that don't tend to get much of the limelight.
It's not an accident that the timing is so close, and AFI's initiative is obviously an attempt to trump the national event.
Behind the scenes, AFI has adopted an aggressive approach to trying to lure designers away from the SSAFW in order to boost its show, which might be described as the aspiring contender.
What was once a rather frolicsome debate in which fashion won has turned into a scrappy battle -- characterised by backstabbing -- in which confusion reigns. The biggest loser is the South African industry, already beset by huge problems of global competitiveness .
It's hard to distinguish fact from fiction in this debate, but on some accounts, Motsepe's role in this process has been, shall we say, out of the '80's power-dressing style.
Brand SA deserves better.
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