Fantastically Impractical Frothy Skirts

Canadian scientist found this fabric on a trip to Cape Town. She is just
Another Sewing Scientist! Love chic scientist chicks. Brains & Brawn--so sexy!

Seems all pretty young things are pouncing and pouting around in lovely tulle skirts. I approve. It speaks to the me eternally in love with grunge street ready flats against the voluminous opulence of something frothy, fluffy and completely impractical. Take your notes from Ri-Ri on how to take the edge off your work week and re-interpret that stress for a Marc Jacobs-inspired getup. Or be classic and stick with the simple lines of an A-line skirt in bright print. I love what Montreal based sewer does with her Venda fabric. And how much do i HEART the design inspiration and color-saturation of Shangaan mocheke/traditional full skirts?  

Now if only i could wrap myself in a tulle Shangaan mocheke with Venda crazed print...Here's to this weekends shopping hunt list!

Vintage Friday

A civilized education piece, this blog, serving up rare vintage finds 

for your friday amusement and benefaction. 

A beautiful look at early 20th century traditional Shangaan attire.

But if you really want to understand the beauty of that full skirt, you must see the elegance of Shangaani dance. It's all about the shimmy of a well-shod derrière. Sowetan dancers show you how. 

Tunes by Nozinja. 

Bush Bling & Schier Shoes

What to wear in the Bush? Hottentot meets Afrikaaner-inspired Schier Shoes. Photos Courtesy Herbert Schier. 

I'm bushed!

City life is all about high heels, tailored shirts,designer bags and accessories to match it all! Invites are often sent with a very particular dress code and going to grab some milk on a saturday in track pants and no make up is often considered being brave. The only place where these rules don't apply is the bush! A recent trip to the Kruger National Park brought this point home. 

MADE in AFRICA! Safari Look and all. We HEART Schier Shoes refreshing take on the African bush. 

It's simple, your audience in the bush is completely different and the bush may also be one of the only places where you are not the center of attention. Game drives that start at 5am leave  almost no time for trying on different outfits let alone pamper sessions. Most of those on these game drives are actually interested in the animals and not your latest "I look thin and fabulous" attire.

The animals take up ALL the attention!

A leopard lazying on a tree caused so much traffic and commotion as everyone not only wanted to see this wild cat but take pictures galore as any respectable tourist will tell you.The up side to all this is even in a simple pair of shorts, a sun hat and shades, in the bush, this is considered dressed up.


post by mmotsa, from our jozzie desk.

Blackberry Pics: It's a Different World

So while Paris fashion week has wound down all that remains are the tents reminding tourists and passers by of the luxury that has just left the building. The crisp brown leaves and puddles of rain signify the beginning of the end of yet another year. (insert bbm crying face)

The Popo doing their bit to keep the fashion safe

The PFW tents on Champs Elysees 

It was such a beautiful day....sike

No Really it was

And on the other side of the world it looked like this.....

Yes, that is in fact a leopard

No, that is not your typical African's backyard, but we do have some of the best darn game reserves in the world, HOLLER! Don't believe me, take a peek at the rest of these gorgeous creatures snapped by one of yours truly from the weekend.

Spot the odd tree out

I had no idea Zebras came in miniature size

The elusive double hump 5 legged Elephant was spotted

All Star Flashbacks on High Skool Coolkid

Converse All Star...Classic Style

In the constant search for all things fresh and current, we inevitably always find ourselves looking back for inspiration. I don't know if there  has ever been a brand or item of clothing that embodies that notion better than the Converse All Star brand.

Growing up we were never allowed to own a pair because as my mom put it, only "tsotsi's" (thugs) wore them and she even went as far as to throw a pair or two out, to really drive the message home.

Cut to 2011 and there could not be an easier or more stylish way to navigate the city year round.

Check out highskoolcoolkid.tumblr.com to keep tabs on what the cool kids in Joziburg are up to.

Cool Kids Navigating the city 

KoKOFIFI in Destiny Magazine

Now you have every reason to pick up November's copy of Destiny Magazine--KoKOFIFI is featured on page 98. Great story by a wonderful magazine shining light on powerful women with style (who said anything here about modesty? I'm fierce gotdammit!). No, seriously, thanks to the Sheena & Christine at Destiny for a lovely piece featuring KoKOFIFI alongside inspiring women "living their destiny".

Madder the Hatter the Hotter.

KoKOFIFI's Friends have Mad Style. KoKOFIFI Woman & Sowetan Beauty Ntsako. 

If you are in the southern end of this planet, everything is re-awakening to life. It's spring. And nothing is more spring fling than eye-candy hats complete with faux-birds of paradise feathers in the sweeping background of purple jacarandas. South African photographer Dammien Gounden captures some of spring's finest birds out in true style. Take Note. Hats are Hot. Madder the Hatter the Hotter. 

Really Looking Forward to Sharing a peep with you into Omphile's (L)  Wardrobe. The girl is so fly!

WAIT NoMORE JOZZIE

Synthesizing Summer

With Family & Friends. The INDEFATIGABLE Olivia Radebe, L. My Hat & Necklace...Made in Africa.

W/ Southern Sudan's Liberation, in spirit. Alek Wek's Skirt Sums up our LOVE. Courtesy, ListenIn Pictures. 

Gunius: Steve Jobs' Dent

Genius is like a raindrop that remains an individual spark even as it enters an ocean, even as it's swallowed by surrounding waters and becomes part of the sea. Somehow, this little raindrop miraculously manages to give off reverberating ripples of itself as it rides new waves which carry it further ashore. True genius is near impossible. How can you send ripples through an ocean while riding a wave that swallows you? You can't. That's why genius is genius. It is a rarity, an anomaly against the best estimation of possibility. In music, a name such as Charlie Parker or Miles Davis may be equated to genius. In political intellectual agility, Nelson Mandela or King Chaka Zulu. Steve Jobs is undoubtably the design genius of our times. His life's ripple was so far-reaching, its hard to imagine life's ocean ebb not drawing his name in the sand with every fresh tide.

SOWETO, For Futurists

First LOVE! Fat Albert & The Cosby Gang. How many of us knew then they were a motley crew from North Philly?

Khaya Mtshali. Courtesy, Another Africa. 

Arise Magazine Takes on Soweto. 

Am really inspired by the lovefest of talented creatives celebrating my beloved hometown-- SOWETO. I'm talking about cool cats' work, such as ilovesoweto and Sowearto and the just wrapped up TEDxSoweto. Listening to TEDxSoweto, I learned cool things about people i should know and admire, like def illustrator Khaya Mtshali, who tripped me out with his deep talk and left me with profound thoughts about the future, about happiness, about drawing and the art of living, "if the future is the present, you can't teleport to your ideal...there is no place you go to, to the future. It has to be here and now". His thesis on drawing and living in a state of happiness got me thinking about probably my first love affair with the kindda design that pulled me in and swallowed me whole--allowed me to imagine even my five year old me in an alternate superego self: as one of Fat Albert's impressive gang of Cosby Kids. Of course, the 70s fashion got me even then--I still have a thing for high collars and necklines/bottlenecks--but seeing cartoons a lot like me was powerful even if I couldn't articulate what it represented. In much the same way, seeing Soweto's design aesthetic celebrated today does things for me I cannot equate to words.