EMERGING designers will battle it out for the Best Designer of Year 2022 Award at a fashion show to be held in Maseru from May 27 to 28.
society
May 4, 2022
KABELO MASOABI
3 min read
Best fashion designer awards are here
The reigning Miss Lesotho, Tiisetso Seliane (seated) to participate in the fashion exhibition
Story highlights
More business opportunities open up
The show, a deliberate strategy to ensure success of fashion designers and exhibitors
The King Moshoeshoe International Fashion Show, which will run concurrently with the long-awaited Mr & Miss Culture Lesotho beauty pageant grand finale, is purposed to give designers a maximum exposure to the market.
Operations director at Film Sector Groundbreakers (FSG) Aubrey Silinyana said the fashion show was initiated in 2019 as one of the activities that should be celebrated in remembrance of the 17th century Basotho legendary King Moshoeshoe I.
“It’s also scheduled to be part of the much-awaited seven-day long King Moshoeshoe Film Festival which will be launched in March 2023,” he told Metro News in an interview.
“The show is a deliberate strategy to ensure that fashion designers and exhibitors both attain maximum exposure of their brands and fashion garments and expand their client base thus creating more opportunities for their business to generate revenue,” Silinyana said.
He said the show had a comprehensive programme for two kinds of fashion designers: emerging designers and experienced designers. The runway showcase of the two groups will take place on different days. Thus, emerging designers will showcase on May 27 and the experienced ones the following day.
The fashion show will be staged alongside the Mr & Miss Culture Lesotho beauty pageant.
“The intention is to connect fashion designers and exhibitors with many followers on the King Moshoeshoe Film Festival Facebook page,” Silinyana said.
The two-day show will kick off with separate master classes by three fashion experts who hail from South Africa and Eswatini. They will be sharing their extensive knowledge in the sector, empowering both emerging fashion designers and models to understand the dynamics of the fashion sector.
A young dynamic multi award-winning fashion and shoe designer from the Eastern Cape Province, Luyolo Dlikilili popularly known as “Bau” will also attend the event.
Dlikilili is also the chief executive officer of Bau Instyle CC established in 2009.
In the line-up is also Lindiwe Gigaba, a master in fashion design, visual arts, events conception and management, coaching and mentoring.
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From Eswatini will be Mbalenhle Kimberley Manana, founder and chief executive of Top Models Eswatini, a modelling agency launched in 2010.
“We also invite people from around the world to come and visit the Kingdom of Lesotho to experience its unique landscape and rich culture,” said Silinyana.
He added that FSG management was committed to ensuring that fashion designers who did not live in Maseru found it easy and affordable to sort out their travel and accommodation preparations.
“We are adequately staffed to facilitate travel arrangements such as polymerase chain reaction (pcr) tests, crossing of the Maseru border, air or bus travel and collections from Ladybrand or airport in Maseru,” he said.
He said the other great news was the tour scheduled for the whole day on May 29 to visit Maletsunyane Falls in Semonkong. The beautiful and majestic 192-metre-high waterfall is Lesotho’s number one tourist attraction, located near the rural town of Semonkong.
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