The funny thing about the fashion elite is that while they are supposed to be spearheading each seaso's style revolution, they all seem to dress the same, year on year. For the men, it's polo-necked shirts and jackets, funky, thick-framed glasses and spiked hair; for the women, skimpy black shirts over black pants or jeans and spiked stiletto heels.

I had the opportunity to observe this phenomenon outside one of the shows at Cape Fashion Week. Having been totally unable to locate the international press briefing room, my fellow journalists and I milled around swigging champagne and waiting for doors to a showing of the Gavin Rajah collection to be thrown open.