Sloppy planning dulls a perfect fashion show

You don’t just wake up and stage an award winning fashion extravaganza; this is the honest advice for organisers of the fashion show category of the President’s Day celebrations competition.

Mind you, a fashion show is not just about the clothes or designers showcasing on that particular day. A fashion show requires correct lighting, mood, stage and sound. And the most important aspects of a fashion show are the concept and the runway.

On Friday evening, fashion lovers, supporters of the local arts as well as a select number of Batswana and other nations headed to Independence Avenue for the highly anticipated fashion segment of the President’s Day competition only to confront a sloppy job.

The idea to close off the Independence Avenue was a great one, but the execution of making the event a memorable evening proved deficient on the logistics side. One would’ve hoped for a futuristic set-up given that this was not the first time the fashion show was being held here.After all, Botswana is celebrating her Golden Jubilee, and an evening like this could have been used to set the bar for Botswana 50 years from today.

But lo and behold, the runway where the models were supposed to strut in their heels was too ordinary. There were no elevated seats or an arrangement for spectators to have a better view of the runway. This meant that anyone not seated on the front row missed all the action. Another eyesore was how entry to the event was strictly by invite, yet there was a dozen or so spectators who were without seats. In some instances, organisers had to remove some guests from their seats especially those who work for the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture in order to make way for other guests.

The organisation notwithstanding, the pieces on display are a testimony that local designers and dress makers could soon be catching up to the rest of the world. From Francistown, Letlhakeng, Gantsi, Kasane and Ramotswa, the regional winners in both categories truly deserved a place in the finals. Models were also given an opportunity to showcase their talent on the runway with the winner for both male and female categories walking away with P10 000.

Besides the fashion show, the spectators were treated to a magnificent display of talent by some of the country’s finest acts including BK Proctor, Juju Boy with his stimulating song, Motho o bolaa motho, and Sethunya Maele who had a mixed bag of what any great show should encompass. Proctor took his performance a notch higher when he surprised the spectators by featuring Vee in one of his songs.