Empire week of fashion coming soon
Spira Tlhankane | Friday January 19, 2018 15:56
Perhaps after a few selfies you get to your seat, as your eyes lock onto the runway.
Suddenly the lights dim, the music starts to play from the speakers and you know you are in for glamour as the first model catwalks her way towards snapping photographers.
Yes! Summer is officially here, so are the Fashion Weeks. A Fashion Week is an industry fashion event for consumers, designers, models, photojournalists and many more.
It is usually made up of fashion shows and presentations where top designers showcase their latest collections.
Gaborone city is already lively with startling street styles and the buzz that comes with the summer season and it is the perfect time for Fashion Weeks.
But not just yet: most fashion weeks start around March and April and so is Empire Fashion Week down that schedule. The Empire BW a fashion house that has four main branches of modelling, photography, clothing and event management, will host the fashion week.
Arts & Culture turned to fashion industry expert and director of Empire, King Dintwe about his newest concept, Empire Fashion Week.
Dintwe said the fashion week would kick-off with a two-day model search from March 3-4, 2018 at Sky Lounge followed by a boot camp for the entire month. He said the fashion week would start on April 5 with an official launch and a fashion exhibition under the theme ‘business in fashion’ will follow.
Dintwe, who has been operating The Empire BW for the past five years, was quick to highlight that it will be followed by the first fashion show that will feature upcoming and established designers.
With each day known for a different style, Dintwe said this day of the fashion week is more hippie, street style and smart casual that are targeted for the youth.
“Then the following day, which will be Day 3, will be The Empire’s fifth anniversary gala & fashion show, which is aimed at our corporates. This day will be dedicated to our guests wearing high fashion gowns and suits.
“This part of the fashion week is the day where we want to celebrate fashion in style, with the gala followed by the closing of the fashion week,” he explained.
Dintwe said for the past three years they have been hosting a model search and bootcamp where they sign new models and take them through their programme, and finally have them compete at the annual Final Runway Fashion show.
“Last year, we had our final runway fashion show sold out and our winter fashion show 2.0 sold out too. Seeing our success rate, we decided to host the first ever Empire Fashion Week,” he said.
Dintwe also explained that it made sense to have such a prestigious event in Botswana as fashion weeks are hosted all over the world around March and April with famous fashion weeks being Milan, London, Paris and New York fashion weeks.
“This would be a great way to celebrate with the rest of the world, so we decided to call our fashion week Empire Fashion Week to celebrate our five years in the fashion industry and the contributions to it,” he said.
Explaining why the fashion show matters, Dintwe said the whole aim is to unite the fashion industry from make up artists to designers and aspiring models, bloggers and photographers.
He said in the end this would create a platform for them to showcase their talent and expose their business to new potential markets.
Some designers showcase in the same events every year, so The Empire Fashion Week might as well be the perfect new event to jump on.