Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Own Fashion Week’s runway
With the Style36 online store, buying high fashion has never been easier – or more fun, writes REBECCA JACKMAN
IN WHAT PROMISES to be a leap into the future for the South African fashion industry, designer Jenny le Roux has joined forces with online fashion store Style36 to offer fashionistas a first at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Cape Town – the chance to buy garments off the runway in “real time”.
Le Roux, renowned local designer and the force behind the brand Habits, is working with Style36 to offer five looks.
Not only will it be possible to order the outfits from the site on the night of the show on Thursday, they’ll also be delivered to you right there at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
With prices ranging from R899 to R4 500, if you’re not one of those people keen on making on-the-spot choices, the items will still be available on Style36 for a week after the show.
Style36 public relations and media coordinator Giselle Esau said the site was growing fast and was on track to becoming the country’s number-one online store.
For Fashion Week, it wanted to come up with a concept that had never been done before.
And the idea promises that the “whole occasion is going to be a lot of fun”, Le Roux said.
“When people want the garments they’ve seen on the ramp, they want them now.”
Esau agreed: “Why can’t people shop the runway?
“We’re bringing items that people want so badly, bringing them exclusively to the people, and giving them what they want.”
If you see it, and you want to own it, you can get it there and then, Esau said.
Their offerings on the ramp during this week’s fashion spectacular, which starts on Thursday and runs till next Saturday, will include Habits’ classic wear-anywhere designs, combined with bright, amazing and new designs.
And Le Roux was excited because she said Fashion Week forced designers out of their comfort zones, with no chance of taking the safe route.
“It makes me do things I’d never do, but it will sell.”
Now in her seventies, Le Roux says her clothes appeal to women aged anywhere between 18 and 80.
Her view is that every woman should own a really good pair of jeans, a couple of seriously good white shirts (one in the wash, one on the body), and a little black dress.
She reveals her wardrobe contains mostly black and white, with flashes of colourful scarves – and her upcoming line reflects her love of monochrome.
Le Roux led the field in online fashion in South Africa, starting a website for Habits 11 years ago, so it seems entirely fitting that she’s again stepping into the future.
She believes online shopping should be accessible and embraced, because it allows busy people to shop and try on clothes in the comfort of their homes. And if the item doesn’t work, a courier service simply picks it up and returns it.
“I really think that you have to go onwards and upwards. You have to notice this change in how people shop.
“You’ve got to keep thinking of new ideas, and fashion is about new ideas.
“We’ve got to promote the fact that you can buy online because South Africans have taken to it very slowly.
“We have to have South Africa knowing that it works.”
But this new frontier isn’t the only one Le Roux and her staff at Habits are tackling in the run-up to Fashion Week. They’re also preparing to launch a new, magazine-style website, which is due for completion at the end of the month. All the more reason to go online.
To view the looks on offer from “runway to real-time”, go to www.Style36.co.za. The looks will be loaded on Thursday evening, and will be available on the site for one week.
After that all items will be available at www.habits.co.za or instore.