All gowned up and ready to party

THE SA Music Awards would be nothing without fabulous frocks, and the glitz and glamour of the yellow carpet.

But two dresses stole this year's show held at Sun City at the weekend - one worn by Afro-pop star Siphokazi Maranqana and the other by Flash Republic lead singer Tamara Dey.

Maranqana graced the stage in an enormous creation by design house Strange Love that consisted of 65 metres of parachute silk.

Designer Ziemek Pater said dressing the tall, slender Maranqana was easy because she had the figure and the height that was necessary to carry off such a dress.

"We wanted to be different and yet stick to our organic theme, so we made her a big dress that is actually two dresses in one - an under-dress complemented by a top skirt made of 65 metres of parachute silk," Pater said.

"The skirt took a week to make and the under-dress three days," he said, adding that the entire outfit cost him R12000 to put together.

Other couturiers, such as David Tlale, Thula Sindi, Abigail Betz, Jeff of Jeff International, Malcom Kluk, Diamond Face Couture and Hip Hop, all had had glamorous outfits on the yellow carpet. But only one simple little black number is getting the attention of European fashion magazines.

Dey's black minidress, covered in Swarovski crystals, was created for her by Swedish label Tiger of Sweden and flown into the country. Her frock is valued at R40000.

The manager of the brand in Africa, Nitsa Comninos-Rose, said the dress was an original and was lent to Dey for the event.

"We loaned it to Tamara and it will be flown back to Sweden and then on to Europe to feature in many international fashion magazines including Italian Vogue," Comninos-Rose said.