boys who love fashion amuse me…

So, the other day I was listening to Big Sean’s “Get’cha some,” and as I danced to “Fresh, fresh like I'm wrapped in plastic. Polo, Louis to Gucci, like that's one fresh jacket,” I thought about how much free publicity -what I like to refer to as ‘old money’ designer labels: like Fendi, Louis Vuitton and the like - are getting from hip hop.

In 1986, when Run DMC announced at the beginning of their song: “my Adidas walk through concert doors,” who knew that decades later Louis Vuitton would have collaborated with metrosexual rapper Kanye West on a sneaker collection and that rappers like Fashawn would be writing entire songs (Buyer’s Guide) dedicated to looking fresh?
Yeah, I said it. Kanye West is a metrosexual…. Remember the South Park episode with the fish sticks?

Anyways, this post was to acknowledge Big Sean’s good looks and fresh style…
People, who know me, know I like rappers.

Kisses

with love from russia

Whilst scouring the internet for styling references for a job that Leeroy Jason and I are pitching for, I found this shoot from Harper's Bazaar Russia.Everybody loves Chloe, and her her inimitable style. I love the ways she mixes and matches patterns foreign to each other like a peace deal.

Images from www.magxone.com

hello elle

nice pink elephant... where'd you buy it?

It has just come to my attention that I barely buy anything new anymore.My colleagues always ask me where I get things, and my answer is always: "thrift store, charity sale, hospice or my mother's wardrobe."
I think that's what inspired my affinity for the old which you will see if you buy the August issue of Elle and check me out on page 138. I just want more items that remind me of my mother's old clothing and accessories.
With that said, I don't want colour copies of the old, because original and worn is so much better to me. And this is the exact same sentiment I have when it comes to mass produced brogues for women. I would love to own a pair of brogues and the only reason I don't own a pair is because I want men's brogues, not patent leather, or lumo pink 'girly brogues.



I struggle to buy new things that look vintage. The whole thing just seems and feels odd to me, and when I buy something that is new-old, I almost never pay as much attention to it as the R15 blouse I purchased at Bounty Hunter or the cheap cheap heels I found at The Hospice.



For instance, at the moment I am on the hunt for a lace dress. There are thousands of lace dresses that I could buy off the rails at YDE, but I don't want them. I want an old old lace dress, not a new-old lace dress. So, if anyone reading this has seen and old-old lace dress, let me know. My wardrobe simply can not live without it anymore...

fashion weak photography by Simon Deiner

Abigail Betz

Everyone I know and everyone who knows me knows I love Fashion Week, or should I rather say Fashion Week(s). For those four days, of whichever fashion week is on, I am completely inaccessible to anyone. Friends talk about how I’ve neglected them, my boyfriend knows he’ll have more time for Playstation 3 and my parents know that I certainly won’t be coming to visit that weekend.

My love for fashion week began with the sketches I’d make during my school holidays of the dresses I had seen in magazines from the ramp. FTV nurtured this love, by affording me the chance to see what was on the runway without having to watch a video online with a tiresomely slow internet connection. I fell really hard and head over heels, the year I experienced my first ever fashion week, when I took leave whilst working at an animation studio; to go to what was then Sanlam SA Fashion Week.

Kluk

Having never been to any event solely dedicated to fashion, I found myself wanting to experience fashion week every year. I was completely enamoured with everything, the ramp, the models, the editors who’s faces I knew from the magazines. Having never, even to this day, been to one of the big fashion weeks – Milan, Paris, New York, I believed that our one a million fashion weeks was the ultimate fashion event.

A lot has changed since the day I bought my tickets to fashion week. Jaded, I am indifferent to the gift bags and don’t care much about what I wear for those four days. Which if you knew me at the height of my fashion week madness, is very sad to hear and note. Perhaps it is because I no longer work at a magazine, or that there have been so many fashion weeks for me to attend. Or maybe the article in the July issue of Elle Magazine, resonating my thoughts and the thoughts of many others regarding fashion weeks in South Africa planted a seed of negativity in me, whatever the reason, when the 30th of June came around, I found myself uninspired to make my way to the Sandton Convention Centre.

Uninspired I still managed to get dressed in a cream blouse, grey high waisted pleated peg leg pants and vintage pumps to go and watch Heni’s show at 19:30, only to discover that the 18:00 show hadn’t gone on yet when I arrived at 19:20. Surely running and hour and a half behind schedule was unacceptable and further to that expecting people to stay until midnight to watch David Tlale’s show initially marketed to start at 21:30 was inconsiderate?

David Tlale

I know that internationally there are stories of globally reputed fashion weeks and internationally renowned designers like Marc Jacobs running behind schedule. And I have experienced time delays at fashion week on numerous accounts, but to put it mildly I honestly thought that AFI was taking the piss with this one.

Looking around I was amazed as people simply shrugged their shoulders at the delays and continued to sip on the over-priced glasses of wine, as they waited for the shows to be called. Are we really all condoning King David’s ridiculous indiscretion? Is it okay for things at fashion week to be so terribly disorganised?

I reckon if I were drunk, not tipsy, I would have had a little bit more patience for this complete disregard for people’s time. Speaking to one of my friend’s who works at a very prominent fashion magazine I could see the sheer irritation in her face as she told me that she had been at the convention centre since 15:00. Further to that she had a shoot the following day at 08:00, but had to stay till the end because this was part of the job and she was a professional.

Organisation’s that host fashion week have one job to do: provide (in the opening words of the Elle article) a “platform for designers to showcase their vision for the season ahead.” This platform needs to be professional and well run, so that the financial spend incurred by a designer in putting together a collection is not lost amongst rumours of disorganisation and bad public relations.

Designers stand under the umbrella of a fashion week and as a result of this, it is the organisation putting together a fashion week’s responsibility to nurture the relationship with the press and public on their behalf. If the said fashion week has a tarnished reputation or has a badly organised show schedule, with staff on the floor that do not know what is going on, the designers are inadvertently affected as irritated editors and writers wait around for the show to be called or worse, choose to leave the event before all the shows are over for fear of passing out from not being fed the entire day.

Luckily for these organisations the talented and well known designers that keep showing at their fashion weeks have got enough pulling power to keep audiences coming back, as I was reminded when we finally filed into Heni’s show, which started on the other side of 20:30. My irritated frown softened as the lights dimmed, and the ramp was revealed. As the first model walked out, I remembered why I love fashion week – the anticipation and excitement of falling in love with a new designer or falling in love with and old designer all over again.

Heni

Ituen Basi

'tis the season to be sporty

Company Magazine / June

Company Magazine / June

About a week ago I purchased a copy of the June issue of Company Magazine to wile away time whilst waiting for my delayed flight at the airport. As I paged lazily through the pages of their spring issue, this beautiful sportswear fashion editorial caught my eye because of its lovely mood and the whimsically charming pants the girl is wearing in the picture above. Looking out at planes in front of me leaving the runway, I got to thinking how our country being engulfed by Phillip has literally filtered into every aspect of popular culture and society. From television commercials, to soapies, to restaurant menus and even our fashion pages, The World Cup has made its presence felt.
This winter sportswear inspired fashion editorials and sports-luxe trends have ruled the pages of our most reputed fashion magazines. Elle Magazine advised us to buy the trend for 3 months in a row and Seventeen Magazine as well as Glamour Magazine’s July issues are showing us how to incorporate hoodies and sneakers into our lives.
I am actually quite glad that the World Cup has shed some light on sportswear in the eyes of the fashion world, because the reality is not everyone is pairing cute printed skating skirts with pumps or heels. There are girls out there who make a pair of kicks look amazing with anything and I wish I were one of those girls, sometimes. It’s not that I struggle to wear sneakers and hoodies. My problem is finding sneakers that aren’t too stocky and bulky in their size and shape, which is why I love my black on black converse high-tops with everything inside of me and still have dreams about these grey Nike Dunks.



Elle Magazine / April

Elle Magazine / May

Elle Magazine / June

Cosmopolitan Magazine / July

Glamour Magazine / July

Seventeen Magazine / July