Stirling pupil takes title at design event

A STIRLING High School pupil walked away with top honours at the Da Gama Interschools Fashion Design competition held last night at the Guild Theatre.

The event saw 29 pupils from Stirling, Unathi High School and Clarendon Girls’ High School showcase their creations in front of an enthusiastic audience.

The designers had to come up with two outfits – trendy and evening wear – and were supplied with Da Gama fabrics provided by Jacksons. The 29 designers are all consumer studies pupils, with clothing design part of the curriculum.

Grade 10 pupil Lise Siebert, 16, won overall for her two designs. For the trendy wear, Lise designed an orange and blue mid-length dress that had a diamond shape cut out on the midriff, with black straps and a dramatic bow tie at the back.

For the evening wear she chose classic blue shweshwe print mixed with red print and white stripes to create a voluminous mullet (different hem lines) ballgown with pop-out sleeves.

“For the first outfit (trendy), I was inspired by the French look,” she said. “It was initially just a plain dress, then I added a bow and hat to finish the look off.

“For the evening wear I wanted something really dramatic and it came out exactly how I imagined,” said Lise, adding she was looking forward to a career in graphic design one day.

Some of the designers chose to use professional models provided by Dee M Fashion Promotions to show off their designs, while others opted to model their own creations.

Entertainment was provided by the Stirling Acapella vocal group and a dance performance by East London’s Natalie Engelbrecht and Robin Castle.

Prizes for the designers included cash prizes, vouchers and a modelling contract. Dee Vogel, one of the organisers, said the event had been a huge success and she was astounded by the high standards of the finished products. —