Movin On Up

Moving On...

Ja, ne? Blogspot it's been real but time to move KoKOFIFI to a slightly loftier space. Our new site, www.KoKOFIFI.com will launch in the coming week or so. Stay Tuned!

NYC Mustardseed

Crazy for her color & print combos. M. Makhene

Cheap & Cheerful

A sweet little lady from Peru asked if I'd bought these socks in her home country. Nope! H&M men's section. Sometimes cheap and cheerful still quite thrills. Of course, that's especially so when sitting snugly in vintage Prada lace-ups.

Babies Puppies & SlapYoMoma Drama

Sick as a dog and passing time feeding my obsession with all things etsy-beautiful! I've discovered the "Quit Your Day Job" series and am swelling with some serious nasal-flu ingested hyper inspiration. The Etsy community is chock-full amazing people like Botswana born (shout-out to me peeps!) Cape based Wendren, who quit her job around 2008 to start Thewren, an accessories line using upcycled material such as heavy coffee bean sacks turned chic duffels. Reading the story of how she sewed her dream alive is all the more invigorating because an old (2008!) Etsy blog post gives a glimpse of Thewren's beginnings, juxtaposed against a beautifully captured Total video small biz promo made recently.

Courtesy Two Back Flats.

Another story that really resonates with me is Jasika's, whose bubbly effervescence spills out all over her writing style and the whimsical hats she crafts from scratch for her shop, Two Back Flats. Even just looking at her creations is like gorging on the kind of exquisite cake Marie Antoinette could have saved her skin with had she decreed, "Let Them Eat Two Back Flats!"

It's Not All Cute Babies & Puppies--Etsy Does Drama, Honey! Not Loving Arturo Rios' Heavenly Heady Creations? Humanly Impossible.

I'll leave you with a very Etsy storytelling prod (how original of me, heehee) and leave you to ponder just who may be plotting on dreams for the next KoKOFIFI virtual iteration: "What would be the title of your memoirs and why?"

POSTCARD from KIGALI

Kimironko Market, Courtesy Graham Holliday, Kigaliwire

The highlight of Teatime at Hotel Gorilla is the Garden. M. Makhene

I'm working through what it is I think of and see when experiencing Kigali. My thought cloud is cotton-stuffed with competing bird chirps--the most impressive urban birdlife I've ever known, and the easy haziness of Rwanda's capital city takes you not by storm, but like a very self-sure, steady ebb. There is no rush here, no cacophonous activity. There is also not stillness. I am awakened Sunday morning by the thump of early morning joggers pounding pavement. There is a sun that is hazy behind rising hills every morning, and there is a city that does not feel like anywhere else I can imagine. I'm still deciding, what is Kigali?

Future Invention: How To

Latvia-based QooQoo Fashion. Them Tribal Boots! LUSTable

I've been on Etsy.

No, I mean, I've really been on Etsy. As in, my new ADD med slash facebook fix with a design dollop is a site dreamed up by the kids from my alma mater (Gallatin!) and one I'd senselessly spent years lampooning as grandma's adventures on the "internets. Etsy is the real deal. No shit. Don't take my word for it, check it out yourself. Rare antique Chinese calligraphy set for the man who has everything? Check. Butter tanned lamb leather sold at wholesale prices from an Eastern European country where Borat's brethren churn butter? Check.  And how about a handmade tulle feather-light skirt that's entirely from repurposed French lace curtains spanning, oh let's say the early 1900s? Bloody Check!
Honestly, the shit is unbelievable.

From MamaSheaShea's Shop. This Jewelry line is an absolute Must Watch. 

Unfathomable. 

The real thing about Etsy that gets me though is just how inspiring the artisan craftspeople are. There is a return to the basic principle that you can create what you love that truly resonates, and there's a celebration of beauty as its beheld by each one that is enticing. Etsy is this magical little cobweb where everyone seems to believe something I just heard and love from entrepreneur/sex/life mogul Cindy Gallop (more on that soon) quoting ad man major Allen Kay:
"In order to predict the future, you have to invent it"

Be ALIVE

O my O me o my, already 2012 and a year in the making with this blog. Thank You for keeping up with us on this little adventure and cheering us on with every misstep and small victory. We are so psyched about the New Year and all the goodies we have in store for KoKOFIFI.
2012...Heck Yeah!
And because I love these words and want to spread them all this year, from the Holstee guys (get to know them if you don't), "Don't try figure out what the world needs. Figure out what makes you alive and do that. Because the World Needs People Who Are Alive."

JOZi LoVE LiVE

Inspired!

Chris Saunders keep doing your thing...

Modern Makoti

Bride's Sister Tess Rocking the Swazi getup.

We like this little kick we're on with African weddings and things. And we like that you like it. And we like especially the evolving take on the traditional wedding, before the big white cake dress day. There is something so beautiful and glorious about a bride in her traditional garb, both her own and that which her newly acquired family dresses her in (we do it two times baby!). Surrounded by family and friends all clad in their traditional attire, she looks and is African royalty on that day as she observes and performs the required rituals. Rituals which she knows were performed by her mother, grandmother and generations of women in her family, rituals which will solidify her place as a makoti, a new bride for the in laws.Beauty in a box, I tell you. As in a thick, creamy amasi box. post by mmotsa

Bashful Bride Daphne in Traditionalwear by Bridget Mashile. How happy is hubby? 

SHEBEEN SHOP Shakedown

KoKOFIFI Shebeen Shop Shoes onsale.

The SHEBEEN SHoP was a riot as only NYC can throw. There were plenty Shoes to Shop, sweet Cheeses for nosh, Bubbly & Hot Toddys making rounds and Oh! so many Beautiful People. Heritage 1960's Enyinne gave an insightful+inspired talk about the depth of contemporaryAfrican Fashion. Stay Tuned for more SHEBEEN SHoPs in 2012. Special Thanks to ListenIn Pictures, photos for KoKOFIFI. 

With Featured Speaker & Heritage1960 Founder, Enyinne.

 Modeling A KoKOFIFI Closet Jill Stuart Dress

Shopping The SHEBEEN SHoP: Tommy Hilfiger Coat.

SHEBEEN SHOP TODAY!

Walala Wasala--You Snooz, you Looz. SHEBEEN SHOP Today. 12P to 3PM. SoHo, NYC. RSVP for Address, emailKoKOFIFI@gmail.com. Image courtesy Rachel, flickr.

Walking JOZZIE to NYC

The Cool Kids from HighSchool have reportedly started a Johannesburg to NYC walk with plans to ransack KoKOFIFI's Shebeen Shop this Saturday, December 10 in SoHo. See you+them there...
Photos courtesy of my bro, M.J at HighSkool Cool Kids.

3 DAY CountDOWN

Saturday Dec 10. noon/12PM. KoKOFIFI Shebeen & Talk Shop. RSVP, emailKoKOFIFI@gmail.com

Both these shots are wild. Ins&Outs. Courtesy Christopher Koehler and Inma & Momoko.

WORD! A Taste of Power

Elaine Brown's autobiography--An absolute must+lyrical education.  Do you think it was by mistake that the panthers took the line, detail & aesthetic force of beauty so seriously? 

Images Courtesy Stephen Shames, Eugene Tagawa Pacific Northwest Magazine & 

Washington University. 

SHEBEEN SHOP: You're Invited, NYC

KoKOFIFI is proud to host NYC’s first SHEBEEN SHOP. Inspired by our namesake Sophiatown’s (South Africa) speakeasy/shebeens in township homes, the curated pop up will open at noon, offering vintage Proenza Schoeler, Prada, Manolo Blahnik & Chimmy Choo, among others.
Everything priced for sale is $99. 
Beginning 2PM, Heritage1960 Founder & Creative Director Enyinne Owunwanne will present her first FREDTalk on The Rise and Rules of African Fashion Today. The SHEBEEN SHOP is no secret, but our private Soho home address is! You must RSVP and must come dressed for the occasion in something celebrating Africa NOW! Of course, the Shebeen Queen will have brunch booze on hand for mahala—gratis. To RSVP, drop a line to emailKoKOFIFI@gmail.com
Check into our FB Invite Page, here. 

Hip-Hop Changing The World?

As Obama reaches closer to the end of his first term as U.S president and people of colour from around the world continue to make strides in their respective industries, one man makes the argument that "hip-hop has been the single largest driver of race relations since MLK."

While this theory may seem like a stretch to some, the points that author Steve Stoute - The Tanning of America -  raises are undeniable.

From the Gap indirectly paying for a nationally aired T.V ad for F.UB.U and hiring one of the companies  founding investors to do it no less, to the lifestyle and cultural choices younger people are making today, it seems the Tanning has taken effect.

Steve Stoute - Author of The Tanning of America explains what tanning is and what it means for business models in the 21st century

Throwback Thursday - 2Face Idibia - Ole

If you haven't heard of 2Face then you have been missing out!

This R&B crooner will have you weak in the knees with his hypnotic voice, one of my favorites is Ole, without getting into too much free promo, lol check out the track below

Enjoy!

AfroMetroCultured: Accra Skates

Our friends at ListenIn Pictures spent some sunny days in Accra, Ghana. Apart from returning with enviable robes and the lingering mouth-watering smell of kenke and peppe soup burning their breaths, they also came back armed with an infinite playbook of amazing stories, pictures and celebrations of Ghanaian metro culture. This short is a beautiful example of the vibrant life-blood pumping through the vein of most African cites' subcultures. we LOVING it.

SHEBEEN SHOP: You're Invited, NYC

Hidden Baby

Photo Courtesy Annie Escobar Photography.

Our friends at Hidden Baby had a photoshoot ahead of their hot accessories line launch--see the Giraffe bag in action below. I played model & Annie shot. I'd spend every saturday being her muse if i could. 

The Great Caitie & Bold beautiful Courtney (with Giraffe Hidden Baby bag). Courtney is launching Hidden Baby, a chic accessory line with a social cause, with her artist extraordinare sister, Kelsey. Snatch that Bag Donkey! Photo Courtesy Caitie.