Chris Viljoen leaves Elle for Sarie
Written by ifashion
After four years working closely with Jackie Burger as Fashion Director of Elle SA, Chris Viljoen moves to Sarie
With more than 16 years’ experience in both the magazine and fashion retail industries, Chris has built a reputation for his dynamic, forward-looking approach to fashion, while remaining perfectly accessible to his market. Over the years his contribution to fashion in SA has been acknowledged with a string of awards, amongst others two Picas and three Mondis.
After a youthful stint in London as fashion shop-assistant, Chris started his career in Johannesburg as freelance-stylist for magazines and advertising clients. One of his very first styling jobs was for SARIE in 1996. He went on to become fashion editor at De Kat, Indigo and Tribute, before joining the launch-team of FHM in 2000 as fashion director and later editing FHM Collections, a definitive yearly fashion supplement for men. In 2006 he ventured into the corporate world as senior fashion consultant for Truworths, but was lured back to magazines in 2007 when he joined Elle SA as fashion director while also consulting for Woolworths.
“I absolutely adore fashion and love sharing this passion with women. It’s very exciting to be able to do it in Afrikaans with SARIE again after all these years. The runways of Paris and New York feel so far removed from our lives, however these trends do influence what we wear. It’s my mission to decode fashion and to provide modern Afrikaans speaking women with wardrobe-solutions for their busy, diverse lives,” says Chris, “while still having a bit of fashion-fun”.
Michélle van Breda, SARIE’S editor says: “Bringing Chris back into the SARIE fold is very exciting for me as our working relationship goes back to my days as beauty editor and shooting covers. From first-hand experience I know he understands women, and particularly Afrikaans-speaking women, who are just waiting to be swept away by the exciting, but very real world of fashion. They deserve his brand of fashion inspiration, and I, for one, simply can’t wait!”
Chris will head up SARIE’s new extended fashion department, which includes current SARIE fashion editor, Amaria Carstens and will expand the current SARIE fashion offering, including a stronger online presence.
Source: http://www.ifashion.co.za/
