Things that pop up in the night
Kisua store has a trick for getting the stars in and the word out: give them free stuff
SUPERSTAR Beyoncé Knowles is a fan and, clearly, so are the throng of Joburg’s fashion crew, celebs and high-flyers who showed up at the Kisua pop-up store opening this week.
The online luxury African fashion brand is taking up residence at Melrose Arch for the next two months and announced this in cutting-edge style, with a cunning idea. They allowed guests to pick a piece from their collection, wear it for the evening and then . . . take it home. Bonus!
So effective was this manoeuvre that we overheard model and footballer’s wife Sonia Booth tell a fellow guest how she’d been sure to arrive early so she could pick her piece. That was smart on her part, as the line to the gifting suite grew and grew while other guests gathered for the party downstairs.
It must have been a costly exercise but surely worth it as the Kisua kit popped up in everyone’s Instagrams — and it also meant instant brand ambassadors sporting the product on Joburg’s social scene.
Obviously, the pieces famously donned by Queen Bey proved popular, including the Daria coat, which Zuraida Jardine turned up in. She wanted more than one Beyoncé, though, as we spotted husband Josh Lindbergh, he of theatre family royalty, frantically searching for the teeniest Mombasa sweater (also seen on the famous singer), for his wife.
This must be one of the only functions on record where it was OK to be caught in the same outfit as someone else.
So much so, that after a couple of Martini Rosso shots on the rocks, it was suddenly totally de rigueur for guys and girls alike to be modelling Kisua’s denim jumpsuit.
Admittedly, the ever-stylish Marie Claire editor Aspasia Karras had actually arrived at the function in her onesie, but in the blink of an eye she was joined by the likes of Carlton Hair’s David Gillson and Real Goboza producer Sydney Makgwe in those denim duds.
Other guests who hobnobbed and nibbled on canapés included Sunrise anchor Penny Lebyane, who arrived in a royal-blue pantsuit; singer Loyiso Bala; model and presenter Sinazo Yolwa; and lovebirds Jonathan Boyton-Lee and Jay Anstey. Even latecomer Umlilo actress Nomzamo Mbatha got in on the fashion action.
And as if free designer garb was not enough, the Ghanaian entrepreneur and founder of Kisua, Samuel Mensah, opened the brand’s residency with a R5 000 online voucher giveaway. “I’ve been told not to call this a raffle because it cheapens the brand,” he said charmingly.
We can assure you Mr Mensah, it would take a lot more than a poor choice of words to do that.