FAD designer of the year announced

Karen Brumfield (Foschini Buying executive); Tawny Reynolds (winner of FAD 2008); Rachel Leen wearing the winning dress (Foschini footwear merchandiser); Abigail Bisogno (Foschini Managing Director); Hlubi Mboya (MC for the evening, and Isidingo actress).

click to enlarge

With actress Hlubi Mboya (known as Nandipha on Isidingo) as MC for the event, the evening was energetic, light-hearted and loads of fun.

The six finalists (all from Cape Town) made it to the end of the competition, beating fashion design students from across the country, for the chance to show their creations in a mini-fashion show setting. The designs were modelled by members of the Foschini business who were picked by virtue of their roles in Retail Fashion. This was done in order to raise awareness of such career options as buying, planning and merchandising among fashion design students.

The competition, now in its seventh year, gives students the opportunity to design reality fashion. This includes a sketching competition for first-year students with financial need (won by Zenobia Rasper of Cape Peninsula university of Technology), as well as a sketching competition for second-year students (won by Cleo Droomer of The Cape Town College of Fashion Design), each with a R20 000 bursary prize. As the overall winner, Reynolds walked away with a R20 000 cash prize.

“Foschini believes in not just being the leader in picking the cream of the crop of South African design talent, but also being part of the nurturing and grooming process,” said Abigail Bisogno, managing director of Foschini.

This competition is hugely endorsed by designer Craig Native, who is part of the judging panel on an annual basis, and is well known for designing street wear for the fashion savvy girl and guy.

MC Hlubi Mboya

The dress that took second place was designed by Lara Klawikowski (Cape Town College of Fashion Design) who won a R5 000 cash prize; and third place went to Andrea Albertyn (Cape Town College of Fashion Design) who received a R3 000 cash prize. The three runners up each received R1 000 worth of Foschini shopping vouchers, and all six finalists also received the latest Nokia N78 handset.

The winning dress by Tawny Reynolds will soon be seen in selected Foschini stores as a once-off limited edition garment.