SA gets new glossy fashion mag

Cape Town – The fashion world and their friends - together with a gaggle of the Mother City's beautiful young things – came out on Thursday to sip champagne and share party gossip at the launch of South Africa's new high-gloss glamour magazine, ANA, at Cape Town's One & Only hotel.

The first issue of ANA features 24-year-old Dhesha Jeram on the cover.

The cover girl unveiled the issue at the event and was dripping in designer couture.

ANA, named after an Egyptian princess who lived a life of bejeweled luxury, will be a new bi-monthly title and is targeting South Africa's "fashion forward crowd – men and women who read international titles," said editor Cyril Naicker.

Raise the bar

Esa Ismail is the managing director of ANA, a self-published title, and he said the aim is to make a splash in the local industry with this "contemporary fresh magazine".

He said the aim of ANA is to "raise the bar" of fashion and personal styling in South Africa.

A unique and revolutionary addition is that ANA comes with ANA Couture – a personal styling service with Gizelle Baumgart as director, who will be on-call for local and international visitors who require a personal styling service at the drop of the hat and have the money to spend on getting the best.

ANA is elegance

"In the eyes of ANA all women are beautiful and desirable," said Jeram.

"In the eyes of ANA all women deserve to be treated like royalty. ANA is elegance, poise and the graceful woman."

The launch issue of 104 pages is already packed with adverts for designer brands but Ismail hinted that starting a new magazine isn't easy, noting "a ridiculous consumption of caffeine" was necessary leading up to the launch.

"The world is changing. With this publication we're communicating a continental flair. ANA is symbolic of all women who've fought their battles and overcome them and those fighting who haven't yet succeeded," he said.

Thinus Ferreira is a TV and media expert. Read his blog here.