Just a couple of things I am LOVING!

When I am at home, I go onto online shopping websites and look at items of clothing that are being sold all over the world. It enables me to tap into my stylist brain and to do a little bit of trend spotting. Here are a couple of pieces I have found over this weekend, and I definitely dare to love

Much love and even more Dopeness
Koosh: The Lil Black

Student Style Icons #3: Bianca Kruger

Every young woman who has given into the wonderful temptation that is Sex and the City knows that Carrie Bradshaw’s closet is every woman’s dream! The fact of the matter is that, if you consider yourself to be a stylish person you wish that you could be stylish to the level that Ms Carrie Bradshaw is on! I’ve always wondered what it would be like to not make a fashion misstep or what it would be like to wear an inconceivable combination of clothing items and make sense. Well, Bianca Kruger, our next Student Style Icon, is a young woman I consider The Carrie Bradshaw of Johannesburg.

There are very few people who I consider my friends or peers, whose closets I wish were mine. Bianca Krugar is one of those people. Bianca, who I’ve been lucky enough to have spent a couple of years with at the same High School, has immaculate taste.  Whether she is going to school, dinner with mates or a night out on the town in the flashing lights of Johannesburg, Bianca always oozes style.  She is currently in her third year of studies at Wits University in Johannesburg. She is a driven BSc student who has one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever known. Appreciative of everything she has in her life from friends, family and shoes (her obsession); Bianca only deserves to be as stylish as she wants to be.

Unlike Carrie Bradshaw, Bianca’s style is very understated; she usually wears simple colours and then pairs these colours with something that is bold and noticeable. She is one of the very few women who are around my age group that I can sincerely describe as chic. One would wonder why, but her style inspiration and opinions about style give reason to her swag.

Bianca’s style inspiration is her father. She says that her father is a man of “phenomenal taste”, and taught her the “foundation of personal style”. Bianca’s father has given Bianca knowledge about self-presentation in the most poetic way ever. He says that “every woman owes it to themselves to want to be the beautiful creatures of style, elegance and glamour”. I definitely agree with this statement. Women, at whatever age, give so much of themselves to their family, friends and other relationships as well as school or work that it only makes perfect sense for women to want to be on the highest level of fabulous. Bianca continued on to tell me the three essentials that every woman should have “the perfect mani/pedi, great jeans and shoes that make her feel like Venus”. These are the most epic words of style wisdom I have ever heard! What Bianca learnt from her father has definitely been reiterated in the way in which she dresses. She believes that she is very “liberal and free flowing” when it comes to getting dressed everyday; she goes according to her mood and, of course, what she thinks looks cute.

I wanted to tap into Bianca’s stylish brain and ask her how important style and self-presentation during our university days is and this is what she said: “I feel that university is an environment where you are allowed to express yourself without a firm sense of restriction. So yes I do think it is a place where self presentation is important. No matter what we do in life, first impressions make a difference but a constant impression is what creates a memory. Whether we at a biology lab or the front row at fashion week, we should always want to present ourselves in the best possible way.” 

Bianca spoke the truth in many ways, as much as we want to express ourselves and do the things we aren’t able to do when we are given restrictions. We must remember something that my head mistress at high school used to tell us all the time; “someone is always watching”. This world can eat you up and swallow you whole however it can also leave you behind. Self-presentation is one of the things that is within our control. With that being said, Bianca is in perfect control of her style, and it says so many good things about her, she is fearless, confident and has a sparkling spirit: everything that a fashionista with vision should portray wherever they are!

 Here are a couple of pictures of Bianca's epic style:

Much love and even more Dopeness

Koosh: The Lil' Black

Bianca's Favourite Style item from Cavalli

 Special thanks to Bianca! :)

One with the Earth!!!: The Evolution of Eco-Friendly Fashion

The new black is green (oh so they say)! In a world that is quickly globalizing, we need to constantly think of ways to transform and become responsible inhabitants of the Earth on which we live. Face it, our world is disintegrating in the palm of our hands; man-made processes of production are polluting our clean air and contaminating our water. What can we do; the people who love clothes, fashion, style and all things that make us fabulous? Well, it is pretty simple hey…Eco-Friendly fashion!

Eco-friendly clothing does not mean recycling rubbish bags and creating a piece of art, it goes into more detail. I think, as a generation that has so much potential to initiate change in the world, we need to educate ourselves about this beautiful phenomenon and stop being ignorant, because, in any context there is no cool, or fabulous way to pull of ignorance. So that is exactly what I did, I simply googled “green fashion” and this is what I found.

Eco-Friend fashion is a broad term that means different things to different people, by no means does this mean that we must all start wearing vegan friendly items of clothing, there are different categories that can make an item of clothing eco-friendly:

·         Vegan: These are products that have been manufactured without the use of leather or other animal tissue such as alligator skin or fur from an animal. A material that is used is known as “vegetal leather” which is made of Amazonian rubber or other man-made materials

·         Ethically Produced:  Fashion that is produced in an ethical manner is fashion that is made with the consideration of the people and the environment from which the materials to create the fashion have been claimed. This includes the use of organic materials and exchanged using fair trade agreements.

·         Craft/ Artisan: these are products that are produced with the use of skills such as embroidery or intricate beading which “preserves” ancestral tradition and culture.

·         Custom: This is a method where fashion houses only make clothing that has been ordered. This encourages a culture of “slow fashion” so as to reduce the mass production of clothing.

·         Fair Trade Certified: A movement that sets standards for international labour, to protect the rights of workers, these include: working conditions, decent working hours, rights of leave etc. Fair trade focuses on the exporting of goods from developing countries to developed countries

·         Organic: These are products that are produced from natural fibres that have not been contaminated with pesticides and other recycled materials. This process is certified by different organizations.

·         Recylced: Anything that has been made from materials that existed in other forms. Such as old jeans made into a denim jacket or old curtains made into a fabulous dress.

·         Vintage/ second hand: if one is to say something is vintage in the correct sense, this means that it is a piece of clothing created between the 1920’s and 1975. However, in this day and age it generally means second hand clothing.

With that being said this means that if you have ever worn a piece of clothing that fits into any of these categories then it means that you are dressing in an eco-friendly manner! How exciting is that? However, in order to completely immerse oneself into the culture of eco-friendly clothing it requires connections and ummm money! Organic, fairly traded, custom and vegan clothing is not cheap at all. They are generally not accessible to the average fashionista.

Another misconception that I have to clear up is that eco-friendly clothing is usually not aesthetically pleasing. However, after doing a little bit of a search I found a couple of designers that hold the promise of eco-friendly fashion’s success in the palms of their hands. These include Ajna, Acadean Collection, Green Girls and We Wear Chemistry.  My favourite however is a label called Ada Zanditon. Her clothing has a voice that challenges the norm, but not in a ridiculous way, in a way that is coherent and convincing. Her clothing is original but also beautifully crafted and most importantly, it is relevant!

Eco-firendly clothing is slowly going to start becoming a part of fashion around the world. It is a movement that is necessary if we want to preserve or world and our heritages, traditions and cultures, and because the categories of eco-friendly fashion are so vast I believe that it speaks to a student perspective. Start shopping at thrift stores, there a an incredible amount of charity stores, thrift stores and hospice stores in Cape Town, and yes in Johannesburg as well.  And maybe turn those old pair of denim jeans into something new.  Live everyday as if it was on purpose, look after your world, and look fabulous while doing it!

 (To check out some organic clothing in Cape Town, go to Hemporium on long street)

Here are some pictures of Ada Zanditon's beautiful garments :)

Much love and even more Dopeness:

Koosh: The Lil’ Black

(Pictures accessed from Ada Zandition's website via http://www.ecofashionworld.com/)

South African Fashion Week: An Expression of the Creative Facility

Over the weekend that has just past us, at Shine Studio in Johannesburg the city was buzzing on the excitement that is South African fashion Week. It is always three days of the celebration of the creative facility that some choose to explore and discover more than others. Socialites, designers, personalities, fellow bloggers and any other fashion enthusiasts attend this fabulous weekend and are presented with the perspective of different designers, perspectives that some of us may share.

It was evident that some people are returning to what they know how to do best! The simplicity of a lot of the designs really made the clothing and fabrics have a consistent voice.  There wasn’t much experimentation from others, except for Gert Johan-Coetzee and Diamond Face Couture; however experimentation from these labels is expected. There was a celebration of the isi-shweshwe print and bold West African prints as well. There was either a use of bold and bright colours or there was a return to nudes and earth tones.  For ladies there is the introduction of simple clean lines, interesting use of print, shoulder accents, loose and flowing garments and drapery. And for men there is the embrace of shorts, colour and the tailored suit!

What I loved about most of the collections that showed over the weekend is that there wasn’t an overload on trends, these collections were stylish and used shapes that the public is already familiar with. I find that with runway shows, the audience, or rather the common man often feels disconnected from the clothes that they are seeing on the runway. They look at the fashion being shown as unattainable pieces of over-priced art. However with South African Fashion Week this year each collection was beautifully assembled and most importantly relatable.

Here are a couple of photos from the South African Fashion Week, supplied by SDR photos (accessed from www.hautefashionafrica.com

Black Coffee

Black Coffee

Black Coffee

Ephymol

Ephymol

Ephymol

Vesselina Pentcheva

Lunar

Lunar

Lunar

Rubicon

Gert-Johan Coetzee

OO ILU

Elma Bekker

Gert-Johan Coetzee

Naked Ape

Naked Ape

OO ILU

Thunderstorm

Much Love and Even more Dopeness
Koosh: The Lil' Black