Disconnecting Failure from your Worth: An Interview with Body Lovin’ Series Founder, Bianca Rasmussen

brought to your by your editors, Ash Allard & Steff Malherbe

event photographs taken by Louise Sweigers

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Splayed out on a picnic blanket, we meet Bianca Rasmussen in Greenpoint Park and spend the first ten minutes admiring her jewellery (and she gives us all the plugs). Bianca is cool, incredibly fashionable and a lovely, calming presence. Carefully choosing her words to string perfect sentences together, Bianca is a walking pearl of wisdom. 

Rasmussen moved from Durban to Cape Town seven years ago, taking a leap into South Africa’s creative hub. Choosing to major in production and direction, Bianca’s dream was to participate in and organise plays and musicals. However, after some time, Bianca realised that she felt trapped within a specific artistic medium. 

Bianca has always found herself immersed in multiple forms of art; it is this longing for the electric nature of charged artistic spaces, buzzing with a hundred different mediums, that she found the inspiration for her runway shows. She “found the events that make [her] joyous”, finding a home within a space filled with art, dance, fashion, music and life. This discovery encouraged Rasmussen to create and launch the famous Body Lovin’ Series, Cape Town’s first inclusive collaborative runway show. Along with her life coaching, this is Bianca’s calling. 

On the Body Lovin' Brand, Bianca says: 

Our byline with that brand has always been “The Body Loving Series is passionate about people finding their purpose”. We focus a lot on getting to know yourself and, emotionally, what that looks like. I think why I lean into the creative side so much because there is something about art, witnessing art, being a part of art that, even if you aren’t in a creative field, there is so much joy to be found there, and there is so much being to be found there. There is so much of you in that, no matter who you are. And so I lean into it because, even if you are just witnessing it as an accountant who is passionate about being an accountant, you can find so much meaning in your life by just experiencing that joy and being part of a room and witnessing art for what it is.

We originally discovered Bianca through our admiration of her epic interdisciplinary fashion shows. The idea for these was born a few years ago when she watched a runway show in Cape Town and left feeling uninspired: The models all looked the same, moving identically against plain white backdrops. While she appreciated the show’s beauty for what it was, it didn’t excite her. Bianca wondered, “How do I take what I have just seen and put my own spin on it? How do I get art, dance and fashion into one space?” 

She started working and put her own spin on it she did. In December 2023, Bianca led her first-ever runway show. Five phenomenal local designers showcased their clothes, a plethora of dancers and models took over the stage, and art filled the walls. Even though she felt completely out of her depth, Bianca was carried through by the confidence and support of the creatives around her. “Artists are amazing”, she gushes when reflecting on the collaborators from the debut show. Everyone was prepared to help, professional artists assisting budding artists. It was a lot of hard work, but it paid off. 

Then, in February 2024, Bianca put on her second runway show, welcoming many familiar and new faces onboard. To say that the show, which was held at the Outlore Base, excelled would be an understatement. Bianca managed to create a space bursting with talent, appreciation, and support, with a line of eager attendees waiting to join the celebration. 

Bianca’s approach to her runway shows is incredibly unique and refreshing. Accessibility, Bianca says, has “always been the goal.” The Body Lovin’ Series features models who do not fit the stereotypical mould but instead depict “the world as we see it (...) A fashion show that represents the world we walk around in.” Rasmussen promises that, despite already providing a free show, there will always be open chairs and spaces for people who wander in from outside. 

The intention of the show will always be accessible, inclusive, ethical and local.

To emphasise its South African roots, Bianca tells us that all international brands will always be depicted as “in collaboration”; she has created an electric space that will remain inherently South African, showcasing the spectacular talent our country has to offer on the global stage. 

Without meaning to, Bianca gives us some of the best advice we have ever heard in our lives. Hearing the origin of the Body Lovin’ Series, we found many similarities to our own journey with Low Alt. There were many instances where Bianca was daunted by her creation. She discovered that her biggest challenge and realisation was the need to “disconnect failure from [her] worth”, something everyone, in particular artists, struggle with. In a subjective industry, where people will unfollow or even say no, Bianca elaborates, one must recognise that all those small moments of rejection have nothing to do with your worth. “It is just a brand”, Bianca says were her own words of motivation to herself. 

Bianca is planning to host her next show towards the end of 2024. When asked what she would want to change, she replied: 

I want to make it bigger, I always want to make it bigger. We have been so squashed at both ones to the point where people were waiting outside... I just want so much more space now. In a perfect world, where I get a sponsor, I would love to do it on a massive scale… Either way though, it is happening and if it doesn’t happen on a large scale it will happen at the outlore base where we have had the other two. It is always epic there. Other than that, the designers and artists will change, because they always do. We want to bring as many new people as possible. Honestly, I wouldn’t change much, I love the way it is run. The show will never be conventional, it will never be in a gorgeous conventional runway space. There is nothing wrong with that, but that isn’t our show.