Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International Fashion Film Festival @ Johannesburg, South Africa

Hi Guys,

It was a great pleasure to receive the VIP invite to the most exclusive Fashion Film Festival sponsored by none other than Mercedes-Benz. It was a night full of luxury and awesomeness, right from the venue to the drinks and food, big screen HiSense Ultra HD LED TV's and the ultra-luxurious Mercedes Benz Cars.

Airbus Helicopter hangars at Grand Central airport never looked so beautiful ever than it was looking on that night of 4th Sep 2014. The who's who of Johannesburg were all present with donning their best dresses specially made for this celebration to fashion. All the fashionistas, designers, celebrities and VIP’s including Shashi Naidoo, Lalla Hirayama, Tarina Patel, Angela Deh, Michaella Russel and Peta Eggierth-Symes were part of this big event. The glamorous and irrepressible Bailey Schneider, dressed in stunning coral Fundudzi dress by Craig Jacobs was the host and MC of the evening.

This big night happened only because of the idea from Adrian Lazarus who not only is the Founder of the Mercedes-Benz Bokeh International Fashion Film Festival but totally believes in bringing the upcoming talent to reach international heights by virtue of their fashion oriented movies. 

The night surpassed the actual two day event that was held in Cape Town earlier this year where all the participating movies were showcased to reach the final top 10 winners in several categories by elite judges and experts in this industry. The award winning fashion films from the Cape Town event were screened in a half an hour visual extravaganza and I really loved all of them. With the right camera and clothing, you can create wonders and even win USD 5000 for the same to invest in more camera accessories. 

Selvin Govender, Divisional Director, Product and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz Cars was present on this occasion and was very happy with the response from the Johannesburg elite. He mentioned, "The Fashion Film genre is a new visual phenomenon that is sweeping the fashion film industry worldwide and we feel this event is neatly aligned to our brand and our customers' lifestyle of fashion and style".

Five selected designers from the Cape Town Fashion Council had the opportunity to present their designs to the admiration of everyone present. They included Craig Jacobs, founder of the Fundudzi label; Eleni Labrou who recently unveiled her latest range at the AFI Fastrack show at Mercedes-Benz Cape Town Fashion Week; the inimitable and innovative Tzvi Karp and Joel Janse van Vuuren, who is known for his colourful, feminine creations. I saw people taking out their mobile phones to capture all the various designers dresses on display. They had a very nice way to present their dresses with models circling the whole arena and stopping for a while on a pedestal to take photographs by everyone.

The event could not have happened without the additional sponsors including Fashion-One TV, MAC cosmetics, HiSense TV, Luxury Brands, GHD Hair care, TRUTHCoffee, Ashbourne wines, Ginger Grouse, San Pelligrino, Chambourd and ProteaHotels Fire & Ice.

Finally, in the end the credits was kind of Hollywood movie or Broadway musical style as a high tempo Primi Piatti dance troupe came up with a flashmob kind of experience to turn up the heat and made ‘Work is love made visible’ a reality, by offering up piping hot pizza slices to the guests, who were delighted to oblige too. Lalla Hirayama even won the best dressed women present on the occasion and walked away with a great HiSense Phablet.

Everything in this event was well planned and coordinated to Six Sigma standards or even more.  I really loved taking photographs using my #MissionSamsung NX300 camera and models did oblige and held that pose for me to successfully take their photographs. Thanks to everyone for making me a part of this historical event and also blessing all of us with goodies bag (Glamour, GQ & Mercedes-Benz magazines, chocolate & gift vouchers) at the end of the event.

Check out my facebook album for more photographs. Follow Bokeh FFF on facebook and twitter.

Cheers!!!

Contact me for your product's review on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway or email - thelifesway@gmail.com