The South African Music Awards (capsule look)

Before doing my review on what transpired at the SAMAs - post coming later - I thought I would shed (my) light on the 2 outfits which are causing quite a stir.

Palesa Mokobung's outfit for Thandiswa Mazwai .Jamakazi's dress for Camagwini

Okay - I will agree that both outfits standout but from a fashion point of view, I think the message portrayed goes deeper!

Loved Thandiswa Mazwai's outfit's silhouette. It is sharp and edgy but the fabric was a let down! Imagine the whole outfit in taupe Duchess Silk with Sharp mono-coloured (or a derivative of the taupe; darker or lighter) wings and pale nude-coloured beading. I will agree that the material would've been inappropriate for Thandiswa's proportions, but I have a big problem with her material choice. Palesa is a seasoned fashion designer who is celebrated in certain fashion circles for her "African woman" take on most of her designs - and perhaps she should've not spared on the material.

This silhouette is on the pulse of haute couture fashion and the execution was fantastic, not too many designer pull off shoulder pieces well (not mentioning any names but please look at most of SA fashion week garments; great ideas, poor execution) well done to Palesa! The accessories are not necessary with such a strong piece!And her headgear is amazing! that was the highlight of her entire outfit!

Camagwini's outfit needed a very long time to digest... But when I did, I realised a rather strange message portrayed by this garment. None of it, with the exception of the hat and pumps perhaps, was a mistake. It is the perfect celebration of the first ten years of the 21st century! This garment, albeit poorly, defines the identity of the '00s:

-The early years of the 21st century was the silver-alien obsessed fashion nation (and these seem to be seeping back into our wardrobes) where tin-foil-like material was all the rage! Even I dipped into this by going all out with silver jeans, silver turtle necks, silver, silver, silver!

-Mid '00s, we saw a lot of side-draping from numerous fashion brands which, in essence, created huge pockets (not forgetting tulip dresses which create a similar silhouette) and this gross exaggeration of this in the outfit above celebrates this little detail.

- '08 and '09 saw the reintroduction of the Balmain label with strong shoulders: sharp, exaggerated which opened the floodgates for the shoulder construction. Sylvester Falata and Suzaan Heyns are some of the local designers who played around with shoulder pieces and executed them quite well... okay, perhaps some better than others, but well nonetheless!

In short - these horrible pieces say a lot about the designers. Being familiar with both the singers music, I think the marriage of the designer's and the musicians was beautiful (all four perambulate on the precinct of the norm). A little hard to grasp at first, but future classics (okay, took it too far with that one)!

Pics source: Thandiswa Mazwai and Camagwini (from the SAMAs offcial Facebook-page), pocket draping (http://www.oneboutique.co.uk/)