Last night I spruced up in my ancient Miyake black & white smoking & forked out 200€ with high expectations for the evening’s défilé. Here follows a blow by blow account.
The Westin is truly magnificent, almost to the point where it overwhelmed, or vampirized the event – the intended hero of the evening.
The food, wines and service were impeccable, as was the accueil by the hostesses.
The guests were of Rodeo Drive elegance.
We saw some dazzling creations modeled by heart-stopping beauties.
From then on it went downhill:
– there was no programme on the dining tables identifying the designers, neither were they announced as the models came on stage. I have been to more defilés in all 4 corners of the planet than I have had hot dinners – this was the first that I went away not knowing the name of any one designer. Which is a crying shame.
– a minor irritation was the round tables, each with a name which nobody understood, making it difficult to to see the floor. Surely at a défilé the attention of everybody should be riveted on the, yes, the défilé. The défilé and the dinner must be organized at different moments of the soirée.
– the lovely singer, Tiffany went entirely unannounced – which is simply not very elegant.
– the evening lacked intimacy, conviviality and importantly the opportunity to chat with the unannounced designers.
The primary objective of a défilé is to bring the designer and her or his creations to the attention of buyers, the fashion & beauty media, major luxury Companies & fashion houses, influential fashionistas… this is even more vital for young, little known designers, for whom a défilé is a work intensive, high cost investment.
This, regrettably was not the case and I very much fear that the event will go unnoticed by the media, including, as with the recent Black Fashion Week, even by the french daily edition of Fashion Mag.
We all know that African designers & models are shunned, to the point of outright, shameful racism by the Fashion establishment. This makes it even more important that every event should have a clearly defined commercial objective.
Last evening’s défilé presented some absolutely gorgeous, beautifully crafted frocks – which cry for the attention of the Fashion establishment.
Goodness knows, it ain’t easy, but I do believe that all the afro-chic, aesthetic-ethical actors must re-calibrate their strategy to provoke cost effective attention where it really matters – a subject for serious analysis and discussion in the coming months.
To quote Oscar Wilde, « I never offend unintentionally » and I do hope that by playing the devil’s advocate I will provoke a lively discussion, because we owe it to the super-creative designers & beautiful models to break down the barriers. And to Frock against Racism.
TIME 4 AFRICA 