Canal Walk shopping centre hosted a 4 day “Rock the Runway” celebration from 7 – 11 Sep.

The idea was to get young talent from five of Cape Town’s schools to each produce a fashion show at Canal Walk to raise school funds.  Then the main event would be a showcase of couture collections by top Cape Town Designers presented by Elegance Fabrics, Cape Town Designer Paul van Zyl and Canal Walk.

I went to go check out this Couture Summer 2011 Collection show on Saturday eve.  You could buy tickets to the seated area, but the really cool thing was that it was also open to the public, you just had to be willing to stand – but there was plenty of space with a good view of the action.  That’s what we opted for.

The show took place in Canal Walk’s main exhibition area, close to the food court:

A view from above... Pretty impressive, isn't it?

I’m actually one of those people who usually rushes through Canal Walk – totally focused on my “to do” list.  I never take a slow stroll to take it all in.  Hell I barely ever lift my head…  if I did, I think I would have noticed all the cool detail high above the store fronts:

Seriously, has that stuff been there all along?

The show opened with a special segment where all the featured designers got to present some designs to show off the latest summer fabrics available from Elegance Fabrics.   I didn’t catch all of it, was fiddling with my camera  (sorry, it’s new OK… and I haven’t read the manual yet! haha) – but some of the Hip Hop ideas were pretty interesting:

Apologies for some of the shaky images to come.  It was pretty hard taking decent shots because those models move to bloody fast…

The real couture show kicked off with a collection by Hendrik Vermeulen:

Must say, not sure where the hell that white poofy thing would be appropriate. You wouldn’t even be able to have a drink all night!

Next up was Stefania Morland:

Loved the fun & flirty details to her range – it was very pretty.  Then we had Robyn Roberts:

I thought most of her stuff would be too “old” for me.  But I did love that short, shimmery number.  It had a super low back which made it very sexy.  And then I also thought that last wedding dress was also quite pretty.

Next up was Hip Hop – but this time with their couture stuff:

I didn’t really love anything in that range…  not my style at all.  Then it was time for Cindy Bam:

Some very dramatic gowns in that collection.  But where do people still wear dresses like those these days?  Even if the event invite says “black tie” – Cape Town girls simply rock out a short coctail dress.  Hmmmm.

Next up was Rosenwerth:

Beautiful gowns.  But loved the cute feather head pieces even more!  Then we had Jacques Lagrange Couture:

His stuff was a bit OTT for me personally, but at least it was creative.  That red glitter dress however was a total mess – doesn’t it remind you of a bad Christmas party outfit?

Next we had Umbra:

Loved the bright colours and also how every dress seemed like it had been perfectly molded to the model’s body.  I love a perfect fit.

Then we had Kobus Dippenaar:

Loved the crazy hats! Also his attention to detail was impeccable.  From a creativity perspective, I enjoyed his range the best.

Next up was Paul van Zyl:

I’ve always been a HUGE fan of Paul van Zyl.  But I must admit, this collection did not blow me away.  I wouldn’t really want to wear any of those pieces.

Then we saw the all-in-black collection of Francois Rall:

Now I love black just as much as the next girl.  And there were some really nice pieces in that collection.  But I couldn’t help feeling that there was nothing new or exciting about it.  A bit blah unfortunately.

Lastly we had Jenni Button:

The only thing I really loved in that collection was that short, partly sheer, sequenced dress.  Unfortunately it didn’t photograph too well.  Trust me, it looked much better in person.  Would only be able to rock that if I had a killer tan though…

So there you go boys & girls – now you’ve seen what some of the best Cape Town designers had up their sleeves.   I actually really enjoyed the show.  Was far more extravagant than I had expected.  To be totally honest – my expectations were super low… like as low as you could imagine… I wasn’t feeling too great (had a cold) and therefore I didn’t really feel like doing anything too hectic, so this just sounded like the perfect alternative to simply vegetating on my couch.

I’m glad I did manage to drag myself off of my couch in the end.  The show has now inspired me to jazz up my summer party wardrobe quite a bit.

xxx