Zimpapers Logo

Arts Reporter

Organisers of the second edition for the local fashion awards dubbed Style Icon Zimbabwe Awards (SIZA) have announced that this year the show will be held in October at a venue to be announced in July.

The awards are meant to honour Zimbabweans in the fashion industry both locally, regionally and internationally.

Last year, the inaugural event was held at Rainbow Towers under the theme – “Starlight – I am fashion” and saw fashion icons, celebrities, musicians, designers and retailers, among others being honoured.

Some of the winners included model Tino Chinyani, Hillary Makaya, Zarguesia, Ivhu Tribe, Mutsa Mwale, Passion Java, Misred, Queen Vee, Tocky Vibes, Arthur Evans, Natalie Mhandu, Victoria Manase Samsara, Joyce Chimanye and Patrick Mavros.

In an interview with The Herald Arts, SIZA founder member and director Lillian Madyara, affectionately known as Hollywood Lee in the fashion circles, said they had started preparations for the awards.

Although the awards show last year was held in February, the month locally associated with big awards such as the National Art Merit Awards, this year they have shifted to a later date.

“We are hosting the second edition in October and already we are in talks with some of our sponsors and stakeholders,” said Madyara.

“This year it is going to be bigger and better. We are going to have regional and international guests. I can’t share much details as this is still in pre-arrangement with our event planner and team.”

Madyara said they had engaged the Fashion Council of Zimbabwe (FCoZ) who will assist with this year’s nomination list.

“Last year, it was the SIZA board which worked on the nomination list and as we are growing we have engaged FCoZ to help us this year,” she said. “We are going to sit down with them to map the way forward.” 

Madyara, an award winning fashion stylist, said they had also worked on improving the gongs.

“Yes, as our first edition we tried our best to acknowledge those in the fashion industry with the limited resources we had,” she said. “As always, the showbiz is under scrutiny and we are not immune to that.

“Last year saw some people criticising our gongs, of which they did not understand the meaning behind the idea. We are working on improving that as some creatives have offered to improve the model.” 

Madyara said a roadmap will be announced mid-June on how the show will proceed.