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All this and more in the flagship store to open at the Maboneng Precinct
We’d like to congratulate Anisa Mpungwe on, what is surely every designer’s dream, opening her Loin Cloth & Ashes flagship store in the Maboneng Precinct in Jozi.
It was announced earlier that the store is opening on July 1, and she couldn’t have chosen a better spot too.
The 28-year-old Tanzanian-born designer said of the exciting news: “This is a big step for me and a daring move for my label. I’m thrilled to have found just the perfect spot for people to come shop and try on our clothes. We’ve been working so hard towards this and I’m glad it has finally come. It’s been a divine journey.”
Just last year she left Pretoria to come and open her studio in the Main Street Life building.
Mpungwe picked Anele Mdoda to be the ambassador of the label
This past weekend saw a lot of parties, and of course it’s always impossible to keep up, hence The Social was unable to make sweet young ‘un Boitumelo Thulo’s birthday party at Taboo nightclub in Sandton. But word is it was as sweet as her smile.
We're not sure of Morale's height, but erm Boity aint the tallest
Two beauties
The equally dish Neo Ntlatleng
By guest writer Mamello Masote
The first ever Glam Camp was hosted by Brutal Fruit this past weekend and it certainly was memorable.
Bonang 'Queen B' Matheba with fans. Love the neckpiece!
I imagine it would be the kind of thing that Tyra Banks would happily endorse. It was all about feeling good, from the inside out, and all about empowering women.
As with any event, there were parts that were great, some parts not so great and some parts that probably sounded great on paper but didn’t play out as planned.
For instance, the free manicures were a great idea, but the ratio of free manicurists to girls was slightly off. Not only was there a constant crowd to contend with to get your nails done, but there weren’t enough nail tips for everyone and many girls were very disappointed.
But, on the bright side, the shoulder, hand and foot massages were awesome, and there was no limit to the amount of times you could go, as long as you were patient.
The highlight of my day though was Bonang Matheba’s dramatic entrance in a helicopter….Queen B sure knows how to excite a crowd. Very Kourtney and Kim Take New York of her.
Bonang made a grand entrance. We were impressed!
Most of the workshops were great, practical and the speakers were engaging and sounded as though they had put a lot of thought in the messages they were trying to convey.
The only workshop I found a bit dodgy was with Come Dine With Me’s Aubrey Ngcungama. He was supposed to give the girls tips on how to host the perfect dinner party.
He made a ‘brutal fruit salad’ topped with whipped cream and a strawberry to garnish, a lot less impressive than his appearance on the food show. I hope it was just nerves because if anyone served that at a dinner party, it would be the last time they see me.
Workshops that stood out for me were the ones hosted by life coach Kate Emmerson who got real about relationships and self-esteem as well as a money workshop hosted by journalist Maya Fischer-French who reminded girls that a man is not a financial plan!
All in all, a great concept that was reasonably executed. Can’t wait for next year!
That guy from Top Billing who is not Janez... What's his name? Adrian, we think. Gorgeous.
Spotted: Former Big Brother Africa Lerato Sengadi, who hid behind her shades as well as winner of Fairlady’s reality show Style Intern (yeah, I watched that show), Sunshine.
A very, very pretty cinema, don't you think?
No one goes to the cinema to check out cool fashion. I mean, it’s dark and the floor is littered with popcorn (I will never understand why people eat it – it serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever, in my opinion).
I could swear that some people, though, go to the cinema for the sole purpose of making out and texting. And laughing much too loudly.
But this weekend, a movie house will be used for a more enlightening purpose than watching car chases, explosions and boobs beneath a sheer nightgown. The Ster Kinekor at the Zone in Rosebank will play host to a fashion show. That’s right, lovelies – clothes, a runway and leggy models in a cinema. Enticing.
Hosted by Studio 05 School of Fashion, the event will showcase the works of its students and is part of their graduation process. I don’t know about you, but my graduation featured people dressed like office workers with nasty black gowns draped over them. Yuck.
The Studio 05 show is in collaboration with ELLE magazine (joy!), MTV Base and Woolworths, amongst others.
I quite love that dress - it's so Blair Waldorf meets Serena van der Woodsen...
Why not hit the movies on Saturday for a live show? I’m game. I hear even the Real Goboza crew will be there (“Look mom, I’m on TV!”)
Tickets are R100 and are available from Studio 05. Check them out on Facebook or visit their website for more info.
The entrance to the store. Image by: Pearl Boshomane
In case you didn’t know, Spanish fashion brand Zara just opened their first South African store, launching it last night. The store is housed in the new extension of (the already sizeable) Sandton City, which was so stunning we thought we’d been teleported to a mall in Dubai without knowing it!
Angels sang and danced as we walked towards the doors of the fashion brand we only know from international fashion mags. At the launch we spotted the fashion teams from ELLE and CLEO magazines, R&B singer LeeAnne and style blogger Mili Bongela. The crowd, was, as would be expected, fashionable and cool.
Inside the store. Image by: Pearl Boshomane
The Zara store is huge and is one of the biggest in the world. It’s 2700 square metres of clothes, bags, shoes, scarves and hats. 2700 square metres of bliss.
Hot trends we spotted were preppy tailored blazers and jackets (which we loved), loose-fitting tops (very Stella McCartney), tailored pants, colour blocking (even on the platform heels!), nauticals (Queen Mother Coco Chanel would be impressed), early 60s-style dresses (very Jackie O – let’s channel our inner First Ladies) and hot pants (won’t be donning those any day soon). The guys’ clothes were very Ben Sherman (you know, preppy, cool, hipster, very London), and the suits were lovely (if you can’t afford a Tom Ford suit, Zara has you covered).
The men's clothes. Image by: Pearl Boshomane
As for the prices, they’re middling, with the average price of a blazer being about R600. It’s not Chanel or Prada or even Black Coffee, but it’s not exactly Mr Price. Look, Sandton City never pretended to be about the masses in SA. It’s more for the up-and-coming and the ‘made-its’.
We get the feeling that they will get carried away shopping at Zara.
Here’s to fashion!
I hope your camping clothes are in that shopping bag! IMAGE BY: SharonaGott/ Flickr
**correction: the glamp takes place in February 2012, with the launch in November 2011. I never claimed to be able to read well…
I don’t think anyone would associate the word “glamour” with “camping”. I can’t even fathom associating the word “fun” with anything camping-related.
But Brutal Fruit, the juice disguised as alcohol, claims that THEY can bring not only the fun, but the glam to camping. They call it glamping (I love good portmanteau words). Apparently “glamping” has taken off in Europe (so has the debt crisis, so that means nothing) and now it’s being brought to South Africa.
The camp, which will be held for 2 100 ladies at the end of November, is aimed at women aged between 18 and 30.
In a press release, Brutal Fruit says there will be “a host of workshops full of hints & tips. Expert guest speakers will cover areas such as Lifestyle, Spirit, Beauty and Body in glam detail.”
So I guess that doesn’t mean I’m going to be climbing trees in my Miu Miu pumps (I actually don’t own a pair, but I dream about them. Every. Night.).
For more info on the glamp, click here.
Say what you will, but Julius knows how to dress for the occasion…
Julius Malema as Louis XIV
As most of us know, on Thursday/ Friday the ANC Youth League and lots of other people embarked on the Long Walk to Economic Freedom (or a practise run of the Comrades Marathon, as some would say… pun intended).
For that event, Julius ‘Juju’ Malema busted out his Freedom Fighter outfit: beret, revolutionary T-shirt (I myself don an Idi Amin tee when I’m feeling rather sociopolitical), cargos, boots. I was impressed. It wasn’t the first time Juju had gone all out in his Che Guevara/ MK vet kit. He’d worn it previously on the first day of his disciplinary hearing a few months back.
He was at war with the Mother Party at the time, and last week he was at war with the Capitalists. He had to wear something fitting (rather tightly, might I add).
Almost immediately after helping a few thousand youths make their demands heard to The Man, Juju then jetted off to sunny Mauritius, to party with the, er, Capitalists. But surely you didn’t expect him to wear his beret and boots, did you? How inappropriate would that have been?
The man had to keep in the theme of gaudiness and Capitalism. So, he showed up dressed like a pimp. All he needed was a pimp stick and a pimp cup. Like a true fashionista, Julius HAD to stand out.
I’m sure that purple suit, ugly as it was, cost the price of a second-hand car. So, if you’re a pedestrian, don’t hate. Julius could have bought you a car if he wanted. He just chose to get a purple suit instead. Here’s hoping he didn’t out-dress the bride. That would have been downright nasty.
Images courtesy of YFM
Last week I was fortunate enough to receive an exclusive invite to the Nine West & YFM Shopping experience at the Nine West store at The Zone in Rosebank. Nine West teamed up with YFM to officially launch their new store. We were served champagne and canapes as we shopped. Well, I shopped with my eyes while the rest of the guests looked for shoes and accessories to buy with their one-night-only 15% discount voucher. Bonang Matheba hosted the event and YFM’s DJ Josi Chave and DJ Warras played some tunes while we shopped and mingled. Local celebrities such as Uyanda Mbuli, Rosie Motene, Pam Andrews, Claire Mawisa and Kendra attended the event and I got an opportunity to chat to them on camera.
Congratulations to Nine West and YFM for hosting such a chic event. And many thanks to my colleague Lebogang Tsele for producing this video. Enjoy!
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P.S. wait for the video to buffer after you’ve pressed play now.
2007 Soul Train Music Awards & 2001 April issue of Essence magazine
Jenifer Hudson says that her fiance, David Otunga isn’t as happy as she is about her dramatic weight loss. In an interview with Jay Leno, Jennifer said “He’s getting adjusted to it. He’s not really into change that much so he fusses at me like, “Why do you have to have to get all dressed up to go out and why can’t you just go our like you used to?” And I’m like “I’m a walking billboard now honey”
My friends are also divided on whether she looks good in her newly slim body. Some of them commend her for loosing all that weight while others say that she’s too skinny to be healthy. What do you think?
Images courtesy of FRAZER HARRISON/ GETTY and ESSENCE MAGAZINE
