Joburg’s most stylish came out in droves to celebrate the 21st SA Style Awards last night.

The theme of the night was Met Gala and attendees arrived in their various interpretations of it.

Amongst the well dressed of the night were: former Miss SA Vanessa Carreira- Coutroulis who wowed in a silk Gert Johan Coetzee dress with a racy slit and Basetsana Kumalo brought the sparkle and shine to the event in a sequined Gavin Rajah gown.  

 Dineo Moeketsi and her rapper boyfriend Solo made a well-matched pair in Quiteria and George. The two were awarded the most stylish couple.

 The award winner for The Next Best Thing: Social Media, Kefilwe Mabote was a pearl encrusted vision in a dress inspired by The Great Gatsby.  

 Fan favourite Thembisa Mdoda was cuteness personified in a tiered ensemble topped off with a giant bow.  Her dress was designed by Theodora Zulu who also designed her Ndebele inspired outfit for the Mzansi Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards. 

 “Met Gala to me means taking risks, it means doing something you wouldn’t ordinarily do on the red carpet it literally means stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something absolutely avant-garde and you might just surprise yourself.” Mdoda explained.

 Black Coffee and Candice Swanepoel were honoured in absentia as they had commitments abroad.

 We spotted Luthando ‘LootLove’ Shosha the recipient of the most Innovative Style award looking regal in a white Rubicon gown. Her date for the night was her boyfriend, rapper Reason, who complimented her in an all-black outfit.  

 Shosha explained her chosen look for the night.

 “I think the mood is right; it’s white, bright and fun. I look like a bride because it’s my night, I won. So I think I’m allowed to look like a bride, I look like a winner,” she said.

 “The whole thing about it was to step out of the normal, everybody expects me to be cool and street and tomboyish. So why not be elegant and princess(y), just like whimsical and so much fun? That was the whole thought process behind tonight’s look.”

Shosha dedicated her award to ‘all the girls that didn’t fit in’. She later elaborated that she has always been the girl that never fit in.

 “Every single time I’ve been the odd one out. I’ve either been too tall or too thin, or too light, or too boyish or too this, or too that. As hard as it was, it taught me how much more I love myself,” she said.

 And what does innovative style mean to the MTV Base presenter and Metro FM DJ?

 “It means I can break boundaries and fit into anything. If you think about it, it makes me a mannequin.  I can rock anything and everything, so innovation means you can always do it better, you can always do it cooler, you can always do it cleaner and you can always do it classier,” she added.

The night of style ended in the early hours of the morning on the Sandton San Deck.