Fornarina, with the lobby of the Upper East Side Hotel in Woodstock as their catwalk, launched not only their latest range but in doing so announced the South African arrival of their brand. Excited guests arrived to be welcomed by Burlesque dancers and clowns dressed in theme to the latest Alice in Wonderland movie. Guests were encouraged to do the same but in classic Cape Town style few did.
I went along with Dylan Jack who gussied up in a green frill-front 70's inspired shirt and polka dot bow-tie. Clearly he got the memo. You may remember him (although he since then peroxided his hair) from the Fair Lady "Style Intern" reality show from earlier this year. Today he works as production assistant for AFI Cape Town Fashion week which commenced this evening. More about that later.
Models, sportsmen and local personalities busied the VIP section which seemed to comprise of 70% of the attendees. We got straight into the usual networking one does at these events and before long a fashion show began. "Alice" in full burlesque attire, stripped and then ran off to be replaced by another stripping character, this time the Cheshire cat. The men suddenly found themselves intrigued by the show. Models strutted to the familiar sounds of Stefani and GaGa and ten minutes later it was all over.
Jeannie D from the lifestyle shows Top Billing and Top Travel played hostess and surprised me when they had chosen me as Best-Dressed male of the evening. You can see my reaction above. It was Jeannie who then swore it wasn't fixed because the judges didn't know I was "Man of the Cloth". Chloe in the yellow bow (above) won Best-Female, so Congrats to her!
