Tart Clothing designer Cari Stephenson with her models on the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Cape Town runway.

Bright neon colours, pleats and pastels are the undisputed themes for spring/summer 2012, as evidenced by the jaw-droppingly beautiful outfits at the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Cape Town, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from July 25 to 28, 2012.

From Hip Hop’s African Goddess dresses to Spero Villioti Resorts’s unusual swimsuit wedding dress, it’s clear that the coming warmer seasons are all about being fun, carefree and flirtatious.

Tart Clothing’s Cari Stephenson truly impressed me with her versatile collection. Her Is Ja T-shirts are a chic representation of the quintessential proudly Capetonian attitude we all have, while her evening-wear dresses are a must-have!

“The Tart show is filled with spectacular vibrant colour, which is great because summer is going to be exactly that," says Joy du Preez of Poetry about Cari’s new designs.

In the video below, Cari shares her thoughts on her collection and just why she adores the Mother City so much:

More images from the different collections below: 

Tart Clothing's Is Ja T-shirts take their inspiration from iconic Cape Town destinations and slang.

Wearable, sexy and glamorous, Tart Clothing's eveningwear dresses are a definite must-have!

Hip Hop's eveningwear is flirtatious and carefree.

Spero Villioti's showstopper wedding dress-inspired swimsuit.

Emerging designer Ruald Rheeder more than held his own against the established creative maestros with his wearable creations.

The men’s line was a brilliant mix of textures and bold colours, but I adored his new women’s collection, especially this breathtaking little number: