things you forget to blog because they are brought to you by blackberry

No... I don't have some deal with Blackberry, but there are times when I am very happy and grateful to have the thing with me, because I don't have my camera on me. The photos aren't amazing, but when you wanna capture the moment it does what it needs to...

These pictures are from The SuperMarket held in Parkhurst last week Saturday. There is literally so much going on in a Johannesburg weekend, there is no excuse to stay at home and watch Gossip Girl or Grey's Anatomy back to back on your laptop anymore.
All I remember from this day is that: my favourite shoes from Twenty Two got sold and I ate the most amazing white chocolate brownies aka "blondies" from one of the stalls.
The SuperMarket is every Saturday in Parkhurst... and if the girls selling cocktails are there again, you'll be guaranteed a good time. Promise

my friends jana + koos

My friends Jana and Koos are awesome individuals and as a duo, their like too much coolness in one space. Still can't believe that they haven't killed each other yet... but I suppose it's a good thing because then we wouldn't have jana + koos, we'd just have jana cos let's face it koos... she'd kick your ass! Lol

the launch of mememe

My new year's resolution was to stop complaining and moaning. I haven't completely succeeded at following through, but I am much better than I was last year I tell you! 

Anyways, the point of this irrelevant babbling was to point out that I am pretty lucky and shouldn't complain about much because I get invited to cool events like the MeMeMe store opening next week Wednesday. Happy Friday and remember to wear something made in South Africa today.

always with the cool sh*t cape town

If you're in Cape Town this coming weekend, check out Doepelganger x Dirty paraffin x Cuss at the District Six Cafe. Love the flier, which was designed by the multi-talented Tiisetso aka Urban Mosadi. Love her style. Love her blog. Love her photography. Love her energy...
Oh and don't forget to check out http://doepelganger.com/
 

one of my bff's

Vie sent me this picture yesterday afternoon. It's from the MAC Tartan Range launch event. The reason why I love this picture is because I'm wearing the blouse that Vie secretly sourced for me, placed in rail amongst a whole range of other clothes and blouses and watched with glee as I grabbed the blouse and bought it from her as she had anticipated. It's good to have friend's who know you well...

In, other EXCITING and totally amazing news, Nomi is back! But only for a little bit, because I have ordered her to go back to France and be a super star chef so that I can have someone to visit in France I was literally horizontal at home this past weekend, when I got a phonecall from her saying "I'm home" and I could not have been more excited, surprised and just damn happy that my friend was back in town.

black rain on polyvore

black rain by teeteenteta featuring a slouch beanie hat

i needs me a pair of hunter boots!

Wellington boot = Chiefly British. A waterproof boot of rubber or sometimes leather reaching to below the knee and worn in wet or muddy conditions. 

Wet conditions? With all this rain, methinks it's time I invested in a pair of sexy wellies from Hunter Boots. I am particularly into these red ones pictures below and the black biker-boot inspired ones in the last picture.

I'm not sure if I have shared about my love for winter and all weather that requires you to cover up and layer, wear gorgeous coats and jackets and feel snug. I know it is an absolute sin to say this in a country blessed with amazing summer weather, but seriously can't wait for winter.

woolworths winter behind the scenes at the tv ad - it's not all glamour in the world of fashion, but it sure looks fun, doesn't it?

there’s just no need for…transparent bra straps

I’m not even going to say much about this, except that we can see the bra straps so I really think that if you didn’t want your bra straps to be visible, you should have just worn a strapless bra. Seriously.

Don’t get started on the bejewelled ones… just don’t

there’s just no need for… mid calf leggings

I want to start off by saying that I have worn mid-calf leggings and I am pretty sure most of the girls (and boys) reading this blog have to. A couple of years ago, when leggings where the absolute item to wear, at some point, you and I wore the mid calf legging. With all their ruching, zips, colour and pattern variations, the mid-calf legging was literally cool and trendy for the duration of a deep sigh of relief. However, for some unknown reason, “the fashion friendly gym-pants” are still being worn by women, and worse off still being sold to women.

If you must wear leggings, please opt for the full legging - as in the one that ends just above your ankle. Remember the pedal-pusher pants? Well, when you wear mid calf leggings you are like the kind of girl wearing pedal-pusher pants. Not cool or fashionable. In fact, I would refer to you as badly dressed, just based on the mid calf leggings.

Whilst we are on the topic of leggings, and you’re mulling over throwing out your mid calf leggings or wearing them to the gym from now on, please do not wear loose leggings. If you do that, then you might as well have bought pants.

Q&A: loin cloth & ashes

LOIN CLOTH & ASHES

Has participating in fashion week benefited your business? As in, can you attribute retail success, business or retail ventures to your participation in fashion week?

Participating in anything that has to do with the marketing of my brand is beneficial but also one must think about how to use the feed back to best compliment the business. My small brand cannot only rely on fashion week for retail success. It's an ongoing, yearly process. There while fashion weeks that I am involved in are running I still maintain retail and manage private clients.

Are you as a designer, always thinking in terms of the business of fashion, retail possibilities etc? Or is it more about the pieces, the craft and the artistry?

If I could I would design and give my pieces out for free. But it's the principle. I need to carry on this label to the next and the next season and have some stake in the market. It's important to do what you love and earn a living out of it too. So I think it's both, one cannot function without the other. I think about the business and about the craft.

Which would you pick...Fashion week being scrapped in exchange for the money spent on producing the four days of fashion week being given to designers such as yourself to grow your businesses and expand? Or is that just a dumb question? My fundamental question is centred around whether Fashion Week is relevant in this country.

I think Fashion week is relevant because it is relevant in our times. Fashion has taken the front seat in other industries as well. It's image, image, image. It always has been. I think that Africa, as a whole is catching up to that and we are using this to our full advantage. However in saying this, I do think having too much of a good thing can have a bad after taste. We cannot except to ride a fancy car that does tricks if the engine doesn’t work properly or the wheels are about to fall off. People, meaning designers and people/companies/government/other businesses, interested in investing in young businesses, need to spend more time in the studios, perfecting a good thing, rather than stressing and spending a lot of money to do a show that last 7 to 10 minutes

Q&A: stiaan louw

STIAAN LOUW:

Stiaan Louw is really very talented. The reason why he made it onto my favourite designers list is because I think he really is a truly visionary designer, who pays immense attention to detail and to what he says with his collections on the runway.

Sometimes I go to shows and I can't see the story, I don't feel moved, there is no voice in the collection and I walk away with nothing to say but "let's go to the bar." That hasn't happened in any of the shows I have watched by Stiaan Louw.

Has participating in fashion week benefited your business? Can you quantitatively attribute retail success, business or retail ventures to your participation in fashion week?

The benefit of participating in fashion week is always tangible. Selling contemporary menswear in South Africa but also Africa as a whole is incredibly difficult, yet the brand exposure via a platform such as fashion week lead to a larger brand awareness and growth amongst private clients who approach the brand.

Are you as a designer, always thinking in terms of the business of fashion, retail possibilities etc? Or is it more about the pieces, the craft and the artistry?

It is about the balance. It is important to present a collection that is coherent and sellable and at the same time it is also important to push the boundaries subtly with each collection. Fashion is about desirability and aspiration. Anna Wintour once said about Christopher Bailey that he had the perfect balance between art and commerce and that is what makes a good designer. This is something I try to remember when I design.

Which would you pick...Fashion week being scrapped in exchange for the money spent on producing the four days of fashion week being given to designers such as yourself to grow your businesses and expand? Or is that just a dumb question? My fundamental question is centred around whether Fashion Week is relevant in this country.

It is about the balance. It is important to present a collection that is coherent and sellable and at the same time it is also important to push the boundaries subtly with each collection. Fashion is about desirability and aspiration. Anna Wintour once said about Christopher Bailey that he had the perfect balance between art and commerce and that is what makes a good designer. This is something I try to remember when I design.

Q&A: suzaan heyns

Before I start...

The phrase of the moment = "The business of fashion" is what inspired all these musings. Bear with me please because for some reason or other I do care.

A couple of posts ago, post Joburg Fashion Week, I silently and openly on my blog wondered about the relevance of fashion week / s in our country with regards to the designers showing and the “business of fashion.” I am not a fashion designer. I am not putting together a collection and working every day to make sure that my marketing and product all result in a successful brand and in retail success, so there is no way I could speculate on the answer. So I asked some of my favourite designers from the JFW pool.

SUZAAN HEYNS:

Has participating in fashion week benefited your business? Can you quantitatively attribute retail success, business or retail ventures to your participation in fashion week?

Yes it was a successful in a marketing capacity, we had some international buyers that were interested in expanding our brand and the spin off from the media support is growing by the second.


Are you as a designer, always thinking in terms of the business of fashion, retail possibilities etc? Or is it more about the pieces, the craft and the artistry?

I am very lucky to have business partners to take care of that as it is fashion is a business, the fortunate thing about that is I get to focus mainly on design and honing my craft. I think all designers should have a business facet as we are trying to grow the business of fashion in our country. By focusing on this I have recently been able to explore retail possibilities resulting in us opening a store in April.


Which would you pick...Fashion week being scrapped in exchange for the money spent on producing the four days of fashion week being given to designers such as yourself to grow your businesses and expand? Or is that just a dumb question? My fundamental question is centred around whether Fashion Week is relevant in this country.

It is relevant, this year AFI has done a wonderful job in creating a greater awareness of South African fashion to both the South African and international public.

dkny classic fragrances relaunch

On Tuesday evening I was lucky enough to be invited to the relaunch of DKNY's classic fragrances.

Having never been to ZAR before, I have to say that I didn't mind that my first time (and possibly last time) setting foot in the club was for DKNY, because it was the first fragrance I ever owned.
Besides the lovely cocktails and amazing goodie bag (4 fragrances!) , Derek Watts was there... That's what's up! He had me all star struck and stuff... Couldn't say a word to him.

Join the DKNY South Africa Facebook fan page for cool events, giveaways and the like...

fashion friday's

Friday was a very exciting day with the launch of Fashion Friday's brought to you by Twenty Two at 70 Juta. If you missed this first one, make sure not to miss these events which will be happening every month, because there really is no better way to spend a Friday evening than shopping, eating and drinking.

This time around the event, which aims to promote South African designers, showcased clothing from guest designers Eponymous (leather genius), Guillotine, The Summit, Falata and Rubicon.

Love the concept and can't wait till the next one!

I love these shoes... It breaks my heart  that they are not my size

The adorable Zama from Twenty Two wearing a SA head to shorts

The girl looking at the crimson skirt had the most amazing ankle lace up boots I ever did see. They were all worn in and looked super comfy, which she confirmed they were. She bought them in Soho, which made me want them more. I know it was all about South African fashion, but good shoes, really good ones often come from across the ocean. Hence my obsession with online shopping. Somebody stop me!

The lovely Khensani and Chipo, who was wearing vintage Selfi

Love Maque De Gorgeous because he loves shoes as much as I do... Look at his blog http://maquedegorgeous.blogspot.com/

Wonderfully crafted belts from men's accessories designer ' The Summit'

The lovely Bee... looking chic (I never use that word), but she looked like money