Ordinarily, a fashion show lasts about as long as a GP visit, a brisk stroll around the block or the time it takes for the ice in your cocktail to melt. Not so for Gert-Johan Coetzee, who put on a fashion event so theatrical it needed an intermission.
Unsurprising, considering that over the past two decades this is someone who has built a reputation as local fashion’s ultimate showman. Or as my colleague Aspasia Karras whispered in my ear as we sat in the front row of his latest presentation, a burlesque show packed with heart-stopping theatrics: “He can dress a showgirl.”
We were in a place that is rarely a GPS pin in high society circles — Cresta shopping centre in Randburg (more specifically, the old Barnyard theatre now reincarnated as The Cirk).
Here’s hoping to see the showman, not only his show-stopping threads, on the runway again soon.
Titled “behind the crimson door” (also the name of the theatre’s burlesque show), the fashion bit opened with model Connie More in a daring two-piece featuring a cascade of leaf-like appliqué, then moved on to shades of red seemingly poured over sculptural gowns.
Coetzee’s spring-summer 2027 collection marked day 1 of this year’s South African Fashion Week (SAFW), which has returned in full force after a short pause.
Among the guests were SAFW convenor Lucilla Booyzen and veteran stylist Felipe Mazibuko, who had a hand in many of the designer collections on show at the main fashion week venue, the newly opened state-of-the-art production studio VRtuosus in Hyde Park, a considerably more fashionista-favoured zone.
Pouting for the cameras was media personality Kim Jayde (wearing Gert, of course), while inside the theatre were besties Marika Opperman and Sherinne Winderley.
I had a short chat with Deborah Darling, who is grey-haired proof that the fashion industry’s ageist aesthetic can still be made to yield — the 64-year-old content creator walked in her first fashion show (for designer Hugo Fleur in Cape Town) 11 years ago.
And if you wanted an example of what Aspasia meant when she referred to Gert’s flair for the showgirl look, cast your eyes on rapper and TV personality Nadia Nakai’s dramatic gown, which featured strings of jewelled beads over the bust and an ultralong train.
“He told me he had an outfit picked out for me, I went there, and I picked it up [without trying it on] because I trust him,” explained the artist often called by the moniker Bragga.
Also turning up in shimmering Gert was actress Pearl Thusi, who accessorised her look with a cute Karl Lagerfeld bag.
This being a fashion show, there wasn’t much in the way of canapés (unless you count the ice-cream bar, where you could customise your own handheld treat with different toppings).
And as for the man of the hour? Having recently revealed in this newspaper that he had been diagnosed with a rare brain tumour, which was successfully removed during a 12-hour operation, the designer has not appeared in public as he makes his recovery. Hence, no bow at the end of the show for all of us to applaud.
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Gert. Here’s hoping to see the showman, not only his show-stopping threads, on the runway again soon.
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