#mark gooding

Here are the esteemed judges who will select the TOP 30 Entries from the Competition and decide who will be the man to be CSquared's TOPSWAG Style Icon 2013 Groomed by L'Oréal Men Expert:

Arthur Malan - Fashion Editor at GQ Magazine

Kuli Roberts - Celebrity, Presenter and TV Personality

Mark Gooding - Head of Brand at House of Monatic

Kay Matseba - Head of Group Products at L'Oréal South Africa

Wayne Govender - Designer at CSquared

Judging Process

This high profile judging panel will carefully select the TOP 30 #TOPSWAG entrants to progress to the LIVE Public voting stage and will be flown to the #TOPSWAG top 30 announcement event in Johannesburg on 5th October 2013 where PUBLIC voting will be open.

From there the #TOPSWAG top 30 will have 30 days to share, campaign, rally and gain the public's votes until a TOP 3 is apparent by 6th November 2013

The TOP 3 will then walk in the CSquared SS 2013 Resort Collection Fashion Show in Cape Town on the 6th November 2013, at this event the winner of CSquared #TOPSWAG Style Icon Search 2013 Groomed by L'Oréal Men Expert will be chosen and announced.

Released 30.07.2012

Csquared Menswear is South Africa’s most cutting-edge formal wear brand worn by celebrities and bold, stylin’ IT-guys. Ten years ago Csquared revolutionized South African men’s fashion by introducing slim fit garments, sharp Italian tailoring and ready-to-wear menswear that continues to enthrall and dominate the Fashion Week runways.

On Friday 27 July 2012, Csquared ignited the catwalk with vivid colors, prints, and an array of innovative silhouettes that will define Summer 2012 Menswear. Every piece in the collection was created to evoke the true spirit of summer in the sun.

The Cut & Silhouette:The highlight of the collection was the architectural innovation of the summer suit. The re-working of the traditional pants and jacket proportions added a fresh “slouchy-tailored” edge to your wardrobe this Summer ‘12!

Color: The Csquared 2012 Mediterranean Resort Collection lit up the runway with electric colours; parrot greens, oranges and highlighter yellow contrasted with sea blue and green to turquoise, terracotta, raspberry, lemon and pistachio.

This was a move away from the usual greys, as the collection is tastefully awash with statement color in the form of acid and pastel brights. Each look in the collection was created to transport you to the intoxicating red volcanic beaches of Santorini to the seductive sunshine and emerald forests of the Amalfi Coast.

Trends: Keeping with the laid-back but glamorous resort feel of collection, some of the top trends that Csquared showed were: Mediterranean Neutrals, Big Blue (Think Riviera Chic), The Exotic Printed Shirt and Luxe-Sport Formal, perfect for jet-set men who enjoy Cote D’Azur yacht parties.

When asked about the collection, Csquared Menswear Designer, Wayne Govender commented, “Our designs were inspired by people who want to stick out of the crowd, be a little more different, trendier and fashion forward. The theme is about collaborating bold, bright colours and prints with modern and classic tailoring, which creates not only a fascinating catwalk but also exciting new garments that are both accessible and wearable.”  

Csquared is excited to announce that the Csquared 2012 Mediterranean Resort Collection will be available for online purchase in September 2012, on the soon to be launched menswear-only online shopping and style destination ThirtySixMan. ThirtySixMan will offer the style and fashion-conscious South African man a carefully chosen selection of items from an assortment of brands and local designers including Csquared.

When interviewed after the show, Head of ThirtySixMan, Neil Doveton said “Congratulations to Wayne Govender, whose enthusiasm is definitely paving a bright future for Csquared. The show on Friday night at Cape Town’s glam-spot The Reserve delighted its audience with a dynamic Summer 2013 collection. Vibrant colour and bold checks made a statement and there is no doubt that any man wearing Csquared this summer, will be turning heads. I am very pleased to announce that a selection of the collection will be available to purchase from ThirtySixMan soon.”

House of Monatic Head of Brands, Mark Gooding commented, “We were very excited to showcase Csquared in such a unique environment at The Reserve. We were overwhelmed with the turnout for our 10 year anniversary and apologies for to the late comers who were literally left out in the cold!  Csquared has always stood out from the crowd, and unlike other designer labels, we showcase what we sell. I love the edited summer collection chosen by Neil Doveton and his team for the ThirtySixMan online store which I believe will sell quicker than “Lady Gaga” tickets when the site goes live with Csquared the range in September!”

  The highly buzzed about fashion show and after party was attended by celebrities, TV personalities, fashion heavy-weights and the movers and shakers of the South Africa social media zeitgeist.

Guests were greeted at the door with a chilled bottle of Peroni and treated to a surprise performance by musician Stoan Seate. Celebrities spotted at the Csquared show and after party included Actor and Viyella Heritage ambassador Tumisho Masha, singer Chad Saaiman and former Miss South Africa Cindy Nell among others.

Csquared #TOPSWAG Style Icon 2012 Winner Mvelo Ncube also walked the runway before a decadent red, black and gold Charly’s Bakery cake was bought out, flanked by showstopping models, in honour of Csquared’s 10th Anniversary. 

Csquared is stocked at premier Stuttafords and Markham stores nationwide as well as a range of top-tier boutiques and online destinations.

Summer 2012 - Rediscover your Mediterranean side.

<END>

Useful Links

CsquaredTwitter, CsquaredFanpage, CsquaredBlog, CsquaredWebsite.

For any queries regarding Csquared please contact:

Marketing Coordinator:

Pamela James

Pjames@monatic.>co.za

  Distributed By:

Chido Samkange

[email protected]>

Account Manager:

Sianna Wu

Sianna@>socialwoo.co.za

Images: 

Today's #TOPSWAG Style Diary comes from one the Csquared Menswear Topswag Style Icon Search Finalist Omphile Molefe. Omphile came in a little late into the competition but he got the ladies going with his smile and good lookss but we will let him tell you about his journey to TOPSWAG3 Finalist...

"Keep your feet firmly on the ground as you reach for the stars", Sisa Hewena - Ace Nzimande on Isidingo

As a young teenager, fresh out of high school, I always envisioned myself being active some way or another in the media world. Although as my life went by, I took a different direction, focusing more of my attention to the world of finance, up until a life changing opportunity came knocking by... 

The date was January, 12th the year 2012, when one Otsile Mabyane tagged me in on a picture in which he requested that I should like his picture and the Csquared Menswear Facebook page itself to get my vote to count.

  Days went past thereafter only finding myself left wondering what is it that Otsile had really asked me to do, so thus I went back to his tagged picture, scrolled below it, clicked on Csquared and voila, the terms and conditions stipulating the competition were right there n front of me.

After reading them, I naturally entered on the 18th Jan 2012, a new entrant with only one goal in mind at the time - to get that 30k grand prize of Csquared Menswear apparel.

The beginning of the end had just started, days gone past and sleepless nights to follow of hard work, dedication, interaction and that last piece of building & sustaining, rewarding relationships with our would be "guiders" to the ultimate prize. The plan had been set in motion and it was left to me to strategize and achieve this goal best by running a more interpersonal campaign, trying to involve all those that I could engage with to just simply follow the steps to ever increase all the votes that I needed.

A rigorous campaign was now in effect, a personal - Csquared TOPSWAG support group was created, the votes came flooding in, I received a whole lot of feedback from young, inquisitive minds wanting to know what this campaign was all about. All they wanted to do was to help as much as they could...

The weekend went past, the campaign was still hot and heavy, intensified at best with one man - Lucky Seloro - leading the votes enormously at that point with 450 votes plus, he was the bench mark to beat, it was never going to be easy to garner 600 votes + as this gentleman had opened up a vastly, wide gap that through hard work and more interaction with my friends, their friends, ouma's and oupa's, auntie's and uncle's, cheesboys and cheesgirls, cats and dogs - in the proverbial hip hop sense - I could see this figure rise...I pushed and pushed and pushed, LUCKY didn't budge, as his votes continued to grow still in numbers...

After a long day at the office, driving back home, I received a call which immediately caused me to pull off on the side of the road just to listen attentively to this. 

"Hi. Is this Omfeelay Molayfee speaking"..."Yes," I replied... a host of a question and answer session followed through, being made aware in the process that I may receive the elusive call to board the plane to Cape Town as part of the TOP5, pending all other votes being considered of course

I stayed calm and could only wait for that call .

I got the call that my place in the Csquared TOPSWAG TOP5 was confirmed. 

Elated at best from the information at hand, it only dawned to me that this was no hoax and wasn't what I had perceived it to be initially - just a fun filled competition that I possibly will not see myself even make it especially due to the late entry. The rules of this game were changed, I could not share this information with anybody, as I had to wait for Csquared to officially announce the TOP 5. Was this a dream come true about to realized? 

Thursday 26, 2012 - The dream was about to be realized as I left Pretoria at 08:30 am for OR Tambo International. Arrived at 09:10. I called Dully Mokotedi, and met up with him at the check in point. The first member of Csquared TOP5 to have acquainted myself with.

We were running late at the time, Mvelo Ncube, called to find out about our whereabouts. We assured them that we'll be boarding with them soon, nothing was gonna break the TOP5 apart - this stemmed the start of a great friendship as we headed for the Mother City, hitting it off with Lucky, Thabo, Mvelo and Dully on the way there.

Upon arrival at 12:30, we headed for the House of Monatic where we got to meet the inspirational team behind Csquared - Mark Gooding (Head of brands at House of Monatic), Sianna Wu of SocialWOO, Lipalesa 'Didi' Kolane - Marketing at House of Monatic, Chido Samkange of SocialWOO and Wayne the new Csquared designer.

We had an introductory session with Sianna and Mark, whilst Wayne got the fittings sorted. Each of the TOP5 got the opportunity to choose their own attire for the fashion show which took place at Trinity, where Analogue Nits was also taking place that very evening. 

After the fittings and selections were made, at about 14:30 - 15:00, we then went to Trinity for rehearsals with Jan Malan - Producer/Director/Choreographer of Face of Africa to get the proper guidance and teachings to make a fashion show successful.

The preparations were set and now we awaited to grace the stage with the Boss models, who were showcasing Csquared's new fashion range.

We left Trinity at about 18:00 to continue forth with our VVIP treatment as we checked in at The Protea Hotel North Wharf. We freshened up, went for supper and off we went to Trinity for the fashion show/ Analogue Nites.

The fashion show went extremely well, especially for the Csquared TOPSWAG 5 all eloquently dressed in high end style, class, fashionably colour blocking when all together we were.

The evening was drawn to a close when the TOPSWAG3 was announced with photoshoots to follow, as well as being graced with exceptional performances from AKA, Khuli Chana and Kabelo.

The rest of the evening was of a great party with A list celebrities, with drinks flowing, great SWAG5 company, what more could have one asked for. 

Friday 27, 2012 - we closed off our visit to Cape Town with a relaxing visit to the Beach, endless partying that evening and a sad return flight back home on Saturday the 28th.

Thank you Csquared Menswear for presenting us with such a great opportunity that we could only dream of. A great bunch we were in the TOP5, that immediately were responsive to one another and fun filled, happy times together.

Despite the end result in the coming weeks, we remember that we are friends of Csquared and have come this far together.

Sisa Hewena put it rightly when he said, "Keep your feet firmly on the ground when you reach for the stars." The eventual winner should keep these words into mind as this is going to be one heck of a life changing experience!!!

We wish Omphile all the best and remember he still need your votes to win Csquared Menswear Style Icon Search 2012.

Stay Stylin’

Csquared