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Midwest Fashion Week stages CONNEXIONS in Johannesburg – A First for South Africa

MyPR: Midwest Fashion Week stages CONNEXIONS in Johannesburg – A First for South Africa:

Midwest Fashion Week Photo: Connextions

Midwest Fashion Week announced its upcoming CONNEXIONS fashion event online last week with a virtual media event. Midwest Fashion Week is dedicated to empowering creativity and the expression of individuality and has created this new platform to allow designers from South Africa and the diaspora to showcase their brands.
CONNEXIONS was launched to global lifestyle and fashion media, at a virtual event hosted by Jen Su, style and entertainment reporter who is now U.S. based. The inaugural event, CONNEXIONS is inspired by the founder of Midwest Fashion Week and fashion designer for Catou, Berny Martin. Midwest fashion Week’s emphasis is on empowering creativity through a strong, supportive fashion community. The CONNEXIONS initiative seeks to grow the already established fashion community beyond the Midwest and open up markets for designers based in other parts of the world through a series of regional events.
“I am encouraged by how we can work together to make new connections.

This inspiration was ignited by my trips to South Africa and how the culture there can be an asset to this region in the USA. Fashion is becoming more and more the found source of global economic development and South Africa has a lot of potential,” says Berny Martin, founder of Midwest Fashion Week.

It was announced at the launch that the CONNEXIONS event will take place in Johannesburg on the 25th of September, and will be hosted by Lionel Moise, ABC News Anchor & Emmy Award Winning Journalist. Moise will travel to South Africa to host this curated event featuring some of South Africa’s best creative designers. The date was carefully selected to coincide with Heritage Day in South Africa.

“This is a first for South Africa as this event will be bespoke and focused on a small group of designers across product lines alongside art. The designers will get a chance to bring their brand vision to life outside of the conventional runway presentation,” says Odysseus Shirindza who is the curator for the event.

The showcase will be hosted at Gallery MOMO, a premium art gallery space in Parktown North, Johannesburg. The showcase will be curated with art, speaking to the concept of CONNEXIONS, and showcasing artists from South Africa and the diaspora. Participating designers will be allocated a space to creatively display their signature designs in the form of a static installation, as well as live models. The day will culminate in a spectacular live fashion show highlighting the collections of each of the participating designers.

Due to Covid-19 regulations, the event will be accessible to a select few at the venue, by invitation only, with a virtual component to allow for a broader audience to tune in at a later date.

“The objective of the CONNEXIONS showcase is to facilitate new dialogue between the Midwest region of the U.S. with South Africa. I am hopeful that the new dialogue will spark conversations around economic development and growth between the two regions in the mix of the new global economic developments,” adds Martin.

Some of the confirmed designers include; Berny Martin – Catou, Odysseus Shirindza – Arnreuby, Reggie Xaba – Ifele, Nokwanda Ngcobo – 8thWandah, Heather Marie Designs, Inga Gubeka – Inga Atelier. More designers will be revealed leading up to the event

“The event’s ultimate goal is to provide a platform for those interested in different aspects of design to interact with designers. We would like to see fashion and art enthusiasts from all spectrums attend the show,” concludes Shirindza.

#MFWCONNEXIONS_JHB

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Have you tried: Travelling to South Africa?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? In 1964 the Johannesburg Botanical Garden was established in the suburb of Emmarentia. The Emmarentia Dam forms part of the Garden. The Garden is best known for its roses.

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The Wilds: A Sanctuary of Stone and Steel

The Wilds was officially opened to the public in 1938, carved out of the rocky “koppies” (hills) of the Witwatersrand. Unlike the manicured lawns of the city’s more traditional parks, The Wilds was designed to showcase South Africa’s botanical heritage. It is a vertical garden of sorts, featuring steep stone paths that wind through forests of yellowwood trees, proteas, and ancient cycads. At its highest point, the reserve offers one of the most spectacular views of the Johannesburg skyline, where the brutalist towers of Hillbrow seem to rise directly out of the prehistoric-looking vegetation.

However, like many of Johannesburg’s public spaces, The Wilds fell into a period of deep neglect during the late 1990s and early 2000s. As crime rates rose and the city’s maintenance budgets shifted, the reserve became overgrown and was perceived as a “no-go zone.” The waterfalls stopped running, the stone paths crumbled, and the once-vibrant greenhouse became a skeletal ruin. For nearly two decades, this incredible piece of real estate sat largely abandoned, used only by a few brave locals and the occasional film crew looking for a “wilderness” setting within city limits.