Style Awards: Break out the Sunday best

17 November 2016 - 10:40 By Andrea Nagel

On a glittering midsummer night, in a city not so far away, the princes and princesses of the land will come to be judged ''most stylish" of them all. Idols, glamour pusses, fairy godmothers, kings of business and a queen or two will arrive on Sunday night at Johannesburg's version of the Oscars - the annual SA Style Awards - decked out in their finest red-carpet frocks and suits to sip champagne and check each other out.But, according to founder Jill Grogor, the style awards is more than a celebration of fashion. ''It's the identification and celebration of innate individual style, fashioned into a source of inspiration for the youth," she says.The awards are now in their 19th year and in that time have honoured people as diverse as songstress Lira, Bollywood actress Tarina Patel, TV presenter Jonathan Boynton-Lee and our former public protector Thuli Madonsela.Grogor says the awards are dedicated to finding and celebrating South Africa's trendsetters who create a benchmark for excellence in their specific career paths.''We choose people who are recognised for their unique style footprint and our selection is representative of both the stalwarts in their respective fields, and young people making their mark," she says.So who's made the stylish cut this year?MANTHE RIBANE: Most Innovative Style Whether she's dressed head to toe in red for the opening of Maboneng's Cosmopolitan Hotel, or in netting for Black Coffee's fashion launch, Soweto-born performance artist Ribane makes waves wherever she goes. Coco Chanel said: ''In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different." Ribane stays ahead of the pack, releasing her first album last year and forming a creative agency, Dear Ribane Creative Collective, with her siblings this year. She was recently selected as one of the four amazing women in the world to watch by iD magazine.NOMZAMO MBATHA, Most Stylish Performing Artist in Film or TVGorgeous actress and model Mbatha rose to fame after her award-winning performance in the film Tell Me Sweet Something. She graced our small screens in Isibaya and Umlilo and won Drum magazine's rising star award in 2013. She lives by Reshma Saujani's words: ''Teach girls bravery, not perfection."LADUMA NGXOKOLO, Most Stylish Designer Interior or Fashion Laduma Ngxokolo is one of Africa's finest and most innovative fashion designers. He's also a cultural icon and an entrepreneur extraordinaire.He has created a global fashion brand - Maxhosa by Laduma - that's captured the hearts of fashion lovers like Beyonce, who raved about his designs, which are sold in London, Paris, Milan, New York, Berlin, Amsterdam, Oslo, Japan and Johannesburg...

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