Lucilla Booyzen has won one of the Shoprite/Checkers Women of the Year awards. Let me tell you my experience of Lucilla. I don't think that I have ever met someone so intensely passionate about the development of fashion in SA. A groundbreaker, entrepreneur, visionary and tireless worker, Lucilla is singularly responsible for a number of designers' career launches. She does not just provide these designers with an opportunity to showcase their collections, she really cares about their success, and for this alone, the award is well deserved.
All fashion media are frustrated by the multitude of fashion weeks that take place in our country. I have been well quoted broadly on this subject. Everyone, including Lucilla herself, knows that we really want no more than two or three a year in SA and that this can only happen through collaboration between Lucilla and Dr Precious Moloi Motsepe. They each have strengths and they each need to respect the achievements and power of the other.
But today is Lucilla's day and I take my hat off to her, say a heartfelt congratulations and believe this is richly deserved and can only be good for the industry both she and I care so much about. Mazeltov.