Lucilla Booyzen

Lucilla Booyzen – Director of the South African Fashion Week Lucilla has a teaching background and was born and raised in Pretoria. Lucilla established the SA Fashion Week (SAFW) in 1997 – launching as the only fashion hub of its kind on the continent, with a focus on elevating fashion into an industry that plays a meaningful role in the South African economy. She initiated the Fashion Fusion Programme - working with over a 1000 crafters in 9 provinces fusing craft and fashion design. In 2010 she received the Shoprite/Checkers woman of the year award and in 2012 Lucilla was the winner of the clothing & textiles sector of CEO magazine’s most influential women in business and government award. She also initiated the firs SAFW Pop Up Shop for Designers, creating income streams for the designers. Through the SAFW partnership with Edgars she established the firs SAFW EDGARS DESIGNER CAPSULE COLLECTION - a store within a store concept for SA designers. In 2012, Lucilla initiated an agency called The Fashion Agent, a wholesale platform that connects South African Designer Collections to boutiques. 2013 the Runway Online store was initiated by Lucilla Booyzen – yet another avenue for the designers to create and income and build their businesses. 2013 also saw the first formal educational programme called “21 Steps to Retail” 10 young designers from KZN were taken through all the steps from design, Inspiration, editing the Collection through to pricing, registering their businesses, planning and retail. Lucilla’s mission after 19 years is still job creation through building the Creative Fashion Design Industry in SA – her strength is development and her vision is to build the Creative Fashion Design Industry into an Industry that can play a meaningful role in the South African Economy.