THE Next Development Academy in Port Elizabeth recently held an outdoor fashion show in the northern areas where young people displayed their beauty and courage.
The fashion show was the first of its kind to be held in this area to create awareness for human rights.
The academy was founded and is currently directed by Amber Blommetjie and Viv Gardner.
Blommetjie said, “Since opening our doors, we have provided opportunities, platforms and exposure to our young people in the fashion industry.
“We also realised the northern areas had never had an outdoor fashion show before and we wanted to be the first to bring that opportunity to the area.”
The fashion show showcased collections from various local designers, including Shandré Michaels Designs, Ndimi Collections and Akeba Organic Jewellery Designs.
“Our MC was Adrian Pillay, who is Mr Eastern Cape and Mr Mzanzi. We had artists from Ashley Stone Studio Productions, who perform nationally under that entertainment label. The fashion show saw performances from Ceano, Tarryn, Tylo, Gino and Ashley,” said Blommetjie.
While giving exposure to the young designers, the event has also raised awareness about congenital heart disease, one of the conditions affecting beneficiaries of Heart of Hope.
The academy is a youth development academy and modelling agency, which opened its doors in November 2017, with only nine models. They have since grown to 75 young people under their label with the youngest being four years old.
“Since we are all about development, we have always wanted to create platforms and exposure under our brand for local people, not necessarily only our young people, but also designers. The whole idea was to bring it to our people at affordable entry prices,” Blommetjie said.
Their vision is to equip young people with skills, confidence, self esteem and to change their perspective on life.
Blommetjie added, “Modelling is the main area; however throughout running this, my partner and I discovered that there’s diverse talent among our young people such as dancing and singing.
“We have also learnt that they lack exposure opportunities for their talent, which is why we decided to infuse those two areas because our vision was to develop, expose and create opportunities for our young people and their talents.”
According to Blommetjie, the fashion show was a huge success and the support from the area was indescribable.
“People from all walks of life showed up because this was something different for them.
“We have hosted prior fashion events, but this was the first outdoor show. We appreciated the support and will definitely have many more outdoor fashion shows in the Bay,” Blommetjie said.
