South African Fashion Week (SA Fashion Week) will be hosted in Johannesburg’s Melrose Arch Precinct in September this year.

The country’s premier designer fashion platform will be moving into its new home for the Autumn/Winter ‘25 Collections from 26th to 28th September 2024, says director, Lucilla Booyzen.

This year’s event will adopt a dynamic new format that will combine runway shows staged in an intriguing “never-used-before” space in Melrose Arch, with a line-up of lifestyle and brand activations throughout the precinct.

“SA Fashion Week’s vision over the past 27 years has been to explore sustainable business models that can leverage fashion’s economic and social influence for the benefit of all the stakeholders involved,” says Booyzen. “We are delighted to be partnering with one of the city’s most exciting lifestyle precincts, in one of its most historical areas, to develop yet another such mutually beneficial venture.”

Whilst the collaboration with SA Fashion Week will be a first for Melrose Arch, the precinct has staged several high-profile fashion events in the past, most notably the Paris Elle Collections featuring top international designers.

“A precinct focused on unique urban design is a superb backdrop for SA Fashion Week’s equally unique designer signatures,” says Managing Director at Melrose Arch, Natalie Stewart. “We are a premium lifestyle destination that is ideally positioned to enhance the SA Fashion Week experience with our diverse selection of eateries, retail stores, hotels and lifestyle offerings, all in the safety of a professionally managed, secure environment.”

“SA Fashion Week’s continuous commitment to sustainability and responsible fashion production also dovetails well with our own commitment to place, people and the planet at the core of what we do with our ongoing focus on sustainable practice,” says Stewart.

“Everything from the sense of community to the cobbled pavements connecting the open-air environment from one node to the next, makes this playground for the cosmopolitan the perfect host for an event focused on the future of sustainable fashion,” says Melrose Arch’s Marketing Manager, Khanyi Moyo.

“The double volume basement parking, where the shows will take place, is safe and spacious enough to build the iconic runway and to create an edgy and eclectic environment for the SA Fashion Week experience without any disruptions to the precinct’s daily operations,” says Moyo.

“From embracing the timeless European feel of Melrose Arch, to redefining the face and future of mixed-use precincts, the collaboration between SA Fashion Week and Melrose Arch makes commercial and creative sense, as there is no other mixed-use precinct that reflects the vibrancy and dynamism of Melrose Arch on local soil,” according to Moyo.

The upcoming SA Fashion Week will include an extensive programme of events designed to encourage widespread engagement on social platforms.

“We want to make it easy for South African consumers to share in all the excitement and participate in the conversation,” Booyzen says.

Melrose Arch joins South African Fashion Week’s prestigious line-up of partners comprising of Cruz Vodka, Mr Price, Isuzu and L’Oréal.