Couture, cocktails = cool combinations

Mainstay Classic Cocktails. (Image: Dummett & Co)

An online competition ran from February to April, providing the perfect platform to launch the extension of its ready-to-drink classic cocktail line. The designers' brief was to create a silhouette that best represented a new cocktail variant (Mojito, Strawberry Daiquiri, Pina Colada, On The Beach, Mango Daiquiri and Cranberry Cosmo) - incentivising fashion-loving female South Africans to vote for, endorse and stand the chance of winning one of the three garments.

"The exposure that Tatum Kelly, Ryan Jarvis and Jordyn Pollock received was exponential. Over three months, just over 22,000 Facebook fans began following the Summer Cocktails news. The campaign website, total entries, and unique visitors, was a great success," says Kurt Hermanus, South Africa brand manager for the Mainstay Portfolio.

The winning entrants Kate Arnold (21) from Port Elizabeth, Elsabe Ros (22) from Pretoria and Darian Van Coller (19) from Harrismith, will spend a weekend at the end of July in a series of fittings with the designers, time at a spa and a dinner at The Grand Café & Beach in Granger Bay, before returning home.

International trend

Fashion enthusiasts' obsession with mingling drinks and a stroll along the catwalk is by no means something new and popular watering holes in New York have been quick to take advantage. New York's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in February witnessed the creation of fashion-inspired cocktails, ranging from the Empire Hotel's Avant-garde-tini (coconut rum, pineapple juice, lemon juice and Turbinado syrup), to the Pencil Skirt (vodka, cucumber, lemon juice and soda) and the Little Black Dress (tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice, agave nectar and soda) served by the Morgans Hotel Group's Mondrian Soho, and the Hudson Hotel in Manhattan.

Back Row L-R: Sholto Sims (Distell SA Category Manager – Whisky, White Spirits & Liquers), Kurt Hermanus (Distell SA Brand Manager: Mainstay Portfolio) & Clare Jacobs (Distell SA Junior Brand Manager: Mainstay Portfolio) Front Row L-R: Darian Van Coller (winner), Elsabe Ros (winner) & Kate Arnold (winner). (Image: Dummett & Co)

"Through fashion, we are adding texture and colour to the overall brand experience; but more than that, it is having a positive impact on finding, recognising and nurturing young, home-grown talent and showing them that the world is truly their oyster ... or in our lingo, island."

Designing talent

Graduating from FEDISA with BA in Fashion Design, Pollock reveals that she is working towards launching her women's-wear label, Harlo, in July. She adds that the value that brands can play in developing a promising young career in fashion is invaluable. "The campaign has enabled me to launch myself as a brand. It is sad to see that these days, the public does not seem to have much faith in young designers; our inexperience counts against us, but this campaign has given me a wonderful public platform to display my talents and I am proud to represent young South African designers. "

Jarvis is a fine artist who also hails from Cape Town and his artistic flair has gone far beyond just canvas, paper or paint. Mentored by leading tattoo artist, Fabian Gunthel, of Young Guns in Observatory, he is now focusing his attention on designing for the 'human canvas', as he puts it. Not to be outdone, Tatum Kelly, the third designer for the campaign and former fashion design head of FEDISA, recently launched her fashion label, Paper Dolls.