audi joburg fashion week day 1: house of machere

ABOUT THE BRAND: curiously, there's entirely too little info. on the Machere brand online, which is rather disappointing. however, from the very little we were able track down, Machere Pooe is the mastermind behind the brand, she's South African, and her work has been shown on many-a-stage, including at audi joburg fashion week 2009.

ABOUT THE SHOW//WHAT WE LOVED: Machere presented several ultrafemme pieces, complete with bows, metallics, and simple silhouettes, punctuated with playful fascinators. her color palette ranged from black to bronze and purple, among others, and a particular highlight was a green dress with elephants stamped all over it - a clever way to include africa without resorting to african print. we especially loved that her pieces were uncluttered and to-the-point without compromising on style and design. nothing avant-garde or earth-shattering here, but one gets the feeling that wasn't the point -- sometimes, easy truly does it.

SUGGESTIONS: although there was some consistency and cohesiveness, this collection was also rather schizophrenic. a clearer artistic direction/theme would've helped some and may be well worth bearing in mind for future shows. the fascinators were a welcome inclusion for some pieces but we also found them distracting for other looks. perhaps a more subdued range of colors would've done the trick.

xo

photos courtesy of SDR Photo

p.s. please stay tuned for more updates throughout the weekend. we'll switch back and forth b/ween the highlights from the best shows from audi joburg fashion week and our regularly scheduled 'programming' :-) thanks for reading and loving shopliquorice!