Jackie Burger’s Salon 58

PHOTOS Micky Hoyle PRODUCTION Sumien Brink WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo


Jackie Burger’s new venture, Salon 58, is a testament to her love of art, design and all things French.

When we meet Jackie at her new office at the PJ Olivier Art Centre in Stellenbosch, it’s a week before the official launch of Salon 58. It’s a very different environment to that of her former position as editor of Elle magazine in the Cape Town CBD. Yet here, in this town some 50km from the Mother City, nestled among vineyards and mountains, surrounded by carefully chosen, exquisite furniture, it’s hard to imagine more fitting surroundings for the next stage in this fashion doyenne’s journey.

“One of the first shows I attended when I started working for Elle as fashion director,” says Jackie, “was a Dries van Noten show in Paris. It was at the Sorbonne, and I remember walking, after the ostentatious shows at the carousel, into more humble surroundings. I just fell in love with the principle of design being hosted in an arts and culture environment.”

The PJ Olivier Art Centre is housed in a building that dates from 1905 – it’s one of Stellenbosch’s historical beauties and has been declared a national monument. The centre’s primary purpose is to offer art education to local learners from grades 1 to 12 and to adults.

Jackie’s office, situated in what was previously a music room, celebrates all things French. There are armchairs reminiscent of 18th-century French furniture and shelves filled with books on fashion and art. Jackie’s small chinoiserie-style desk, dark brown with a touch of washed-out blue, was once pillarbox red. “I asked artist Nelia de Wet to rework it,” Jackie says. “I told her blue is a very special colour for me, and she gave it the antique feel.”

The neutral upholstery on her armchair appears at first glance to be inside out, the seams and fraying visible, much like the first mock-up garment a designer creates on a mannequin. “I want almost everything to represent a garment. This is old Italian linen; I wanted to have that kind of blank canvas.“

A week later, at the launch soirée for Salon 58, Jackie’s eye for detail and organic yet keen sense of curation is on display. An installation by designer Nicholas Coutts greets guests as they come up the stairs: His hand-woven scarves are presented on plinths like the artworks they are. Across the hall, a collection of vintage kimonos curated by Karen Ter Morshuizen are displayed on easels. Drotsky, designer Elaine du Plessis’ new label, treats guests to a fashion show. At every turn, the decor and fashion live in harmony with the art centre.

“Besides the one-on-ones I will offer, one of the main purposes of the salon is to host these soirées,” says Jackie. “It’s like taking magazine content and presenting it in an experiential format by giving women a chance to meet the designers, and the designers a chance to meet the women.”

Jackie says a visit to Coco Chanel’s Parisian salon served as inspiration for Salon 58. And here, in this place, we can’t help but feel as though we are experiencing a most exquisite French magazine, reinvented in a totally South African way.

For more information, visit salon58.co.za.

To book your spot at Jackie Burger’s “Noir” or “Lovely” soirées on 20 June and 15 August 2015 respectively, visit webtickets.co.za. In celebration of Women’s Month, this Salon 58 soirée will focus on the upliftment of women, celebrating being a woman and collaborating with an all-women team of creatives and collaborators – for women, and brought to you by women.