Riding the Wave

Set against the backdrop of Durban’s warm Indian Ocean, with pulsating white-horse waves, KwaZulu-Natal fashion design college lecturers gathered at a stunning rooftop venue to hear – for the first time – the theme for the 2024 Hollywoodbets Durban July.

This year’s theme ‘Ride the Wave’, was presented in a specially crafted video broadcast that was aired to a selection of top KZN fashion design lecturers, whose students will be competing for the 2024 HDJ Young Designer Award competition.

Just as the excitement increases in the run-up to July 6^th and Durban’s iconic Hollywoodbets Durban July, so the poem begins: “A wave builds like the arched neck of a horse with a free-flowing mane.” Then it was the turn of well-known South African fashion designer and doyen of the industry, ‘Durban’s own homegrown talent’ Kathrin Kidger who took to the stage and provided further inspiration.

“Imagine if you will, the scene painted by the lines of this year’s inspiration. This imagery transports us to a realm where natures’ forces collide, where the rhythm of the waves mirrors the pulsating energy of racing thoroughbreds.”

“But,” Kidger warned, “beneath this surface beauty lies a deeper narrative – one that celebrates the untamed spirit of the ocean and the majestic elegance of the horse. In crafting our fashion narrative for the Hollywoodbets Durban July, we are called to delve beyond the superficial and embrace the profound connection between land and sea.”

She urged KwaZulu-Natal’s fashion lecturers and mentors to communicate to their students the importance of avoiding clichés in their interpretation of the theme and instead encouraged strong storytelling, authenticity, creativity and elegance.

Explore textures and fabrics, think of billowing skirts that mimic the swell of the wave, or fluid form-fitting dresses that ripple like water in motion, fabrics must cascade like waterfalls and the ocean’s palette must inspire colours, she urged.

Kidger is an integral part of the Hollywoodbets Durban July team. She was introduced to the audience by Gold Circle Events and Marketing Executive Stephen Marshall, who described her as the essence of home-grown talent, with designs that showcase the rich diversity of South African culture. He paid tribute to her unwavering commitment to push the limits of design and said her work inspires the next generation of fashion designers.

Speaking about the importance of the fashion experience as part of the Durban July, Marshall said there are many levels and many platforms where this plays out. He mentioned the cash prizes, the Hollywood Foundation bursaries, vouchers, the fashion show platforms and professional photo shoots. All of which provide exposure for the Young Designers, Durban Fashion Fair Rising Stars and the Invited Designers.

“It is a mutually-beneficial relationship, for as much as we, as organisers, put on this platform for the fashion industry with the three tiers through which designers can progress and launch their careers – the event draws a lot of benefit from the creations and the quality of what our fashion industry puts on display,” he said.

Marshall added that in 2023 the Hollywoodbets Durban July delivered R967 million worth of value to the event and its sponsors, merely through the associated social media exposure. It contributed R613 million to the city’s GDP through direct and indirect spend around the event.

He said fashion is the thread that brings the event together, and this year’s theme can be interpreted in many different ways, such as waves of sound, of emotion or even of colour.

“This pre-launch allows us to bring in our fashion partners, to give the lecturers of the design colleges an insight into the theme and provides them the time to present to their students who will create their designs for our Young Designer Award panel of judges.”

Vuyi Ngobese, PRO for the Hollywood Foundation, said in 2024 the organisation has supported students with full cost bursaries to the value of R18 million.

She announced the foundation’s prizes for the top three spots in the 2024 Hollywoodbets Durban July Young Designer Award would be a R50 000 bursary for first prize, R30 000 bursary for second and R20 000 bursary for third place. Durban Fashion Fair, Gold Circle, Schweppes and Gateway Theatre of Shopping would be supplementing the bursaries with significant additions to the prizes.

“I am very proud to tell you that last year our top three students all obtained a 100% pass mark, exceeding our required levels of achievement,” said Ngobese.

DUT fashion lecturers Kiara Gounder and Nomonde Peter both said this year’s theme would require a lot of work and research.

Fezile Mdletshe, founder of Fezile Fashion Skills Academy, said she would be exploring the untapped potential of tourism as it relates to the ocean, while also being very conscious of the need for sustainability.

Fashion lecturer Hlengiwe Gumede, said she would be exploiting the mysterious quality of the ocean as humanity only encounters five percent of what appears on the surface.

With the theme now revealed, it remains to be seen what magic and creativity the fashion students can conjure up and put on display at “Africa’s Greatest Horseracing and Social Event” on July 6^th.