IN CONVO - with Leigh-Anne Williams - Luminance, Hyde Park Corner, Johannesburg

What do you get when you put two fashionistas and a fabulous presenter together in one of the trendiest stores in Johannesburg? A great chat about fashion and the most magnificent ‘imaginary shopping’ experience…

Leigh-Anne is best-known as one of our fresh, early morning faces on Expresso. She is also a regular voice on Good Hope FM. She is one of the few personalities who easily crosses between the two platforms and does both with ease and a great sense of humour. We experienced this from the moment Leigh-Anne swept into Luminance. She was effortlessly casual in skinny black jeans, a white vest and a chunky, over-sized knitted coat. A burst of colour in the form of a neon clutch added girlish glamour to her look. We launched into conversation from the moment Leigh-Anne arrived. After ordering a latte, Leigh-Anne told us a bit about herself and we shared some of our fashion insights with each other.

Leigh-Anne Williams spoke to us about her career and her love of fashion; once the chit-chat was done, we took a trip through Luminance in Hyde Park Corner to have a few Carrie Bradshaw moments – it felt like Leigh-Anne was taking us through her closet, and what a wonderful closet it was.

On Leigh-Anne’s list of confidence boosters, she mentioned the following: a daring red lip (she called this her antidote to any insecurities), smoky black eye make-up (at any time of the day, especially the early morning shoots) and killer heels (for the leg-lengthening and butt-tightening effect). Let’s not forget another important secret – fake lashes to accentuate her eyes. Take it from us, Leigh-Anne’s beauty and fashion tips are certainly working for her. Even when dressed down, she has a definite presence and the eye automatically travels towards her. She shared that she loves dressing up for events, especially when working with a designer who understands her body. She has found this designer in Kobus Dippenaar, one of her favourite local designers. Leigh-Anne expressed that he knows precisely how to tailor a dress to suit her silhouette perfectly and this gives her an extra boost of confidence required for red-carpet events.

We finished our coffees and eagerly moved into the rest of the store to see what great designer labels and trendy apparel awaited us. Leigh-Anne described her fashion sense as a cross between Kim Kardashian with the free-spirited sexiness of Beyoncé’s alter ego, Sasha Fierce. We could see that Leigh-Anne could easily move between different style moods: from gravitating towards a metallic bronze leather jacket, she then swooned at the sight of a Monaco blue cocktail dress. Commenting on the exquisite Roland Mouret dress, Leigh-Anne said: ‘I love it but it’s so difficult for me to buy something like this because I could only really wear it once. Once I’ve been seen in it, it would be difficult for me to wear it again.’ We can completely relate; deciding what to wear and attempting not to repeat an outfit is the bane of our existence too.

 Leigh-Anne’s definite fashion love affair had to be with the great range of shoes in the store. Brands such as Sergio Rossi, Alexander McQueen and Manolo Blahnik are available at Luminance.  Alan tried to tempt Leigh-Anne into his love for juxtaposing colours with a fantastical pair of Manolos: blue with pink fringe detail. Leigh-Anne instead veered towards the more understated but sexy pair of Sergio Rossi gold and black heels with animal print detail. This seemed to be a theme as the next pair was a show-stopping pair of black heels with gold serpentine detail. Leigh-Anne boldly stated that if a woman were wearing these, she need wear nothing else. Not forgetting a pair of killer black boots that were certainly not made for walking. One thing was certain: this girl loves her shoes, could we expect anything less from a confident, stylish woman on the go?

 We were having such a great time, Leigh-Anne almost forgot that she was due at that night's taping of Strictly Come Dancing. Sadly, this was just as we were about to move off to the fitting rooms in our attempt to find matching dresses!