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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
Like huh?
First things first: The 46664 fashion range is a little pricey (Stuttafords should give you a clue). Secondly, while some of the tees are cute, others are a little odd- the picture above gives you a clue. If this is indeed how the tees look (with the explanation below it), there really is no need to S-P-E-L-L things out for us, dear designers, we get it!
Rainbow nation
The 46664 Fashion’s Statement T’s are said to “draw iconic inspiration from intimate access by the brand’s design team to archive material housed in the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory”.
This, we kinda likeYes1 Yes! Yes!
Imiso Ceramics is the brainchild of Andile Dyalvane and Zizipho Poswa
We’re very excited to head to Jozi tomorrow for this gig.
No, we’re not off to drink (ok, so we are, but only because we believe this is such an exciting visual campaign). Absolut has commissioned hundreds sculptors, glass designers, fashion designers and musicians from all over the world to use the recognisable vodka bottle shape as a blank canvas to express themselves by turning it into art.
Mzwandile Buthelezi hard at work perfecting his "bottle"
The launch event tomorrow (which will be set on the backdrop of the Nelson Mandela Bridge) is expected to draw around 500 guests, including quite a few stars from various industries including fashion, music and art- all to celebrate South Africa’s leg of Absolut’s “It all starts with an Absolut Blank” campaign.
Faith47 is a Cape Town based grafitti artist with an eye for the dark side
We will be represented by artists including Imiso Ceramics, Faith47 and Hac One’s Mzwandile Buthelezi. A lot of these guys are already lauded for their work, but this could propel them to proper global recognition. We wish them well
For more info on the campaign, more pictures and artist profiles, check : http://www.facebook.com/AbsolutBlankSA and @AbsolutBlank_SA
Marie Claire’s annual Naked Issue comes out today, and I must say, I didn’t know they still did this.
This year’s is the biggest they’ve had yet, featuring 31 celebrities including Samkelo Ndlovu and Jafta Mamabolo from Generations, the boys from Lonehill Estate, Shadowclub and Locnville (I do hope it’s a spread!), comedian Tumi Morake and her hubby Mpho Osei-Tutu, as well as model Greg Hammond (remember him? He was the incredibly gorgeous guy carrying a sack of sugar over his shoulder in an Archers Aqua ad? With the orange overall half on? It’s from about a decade ago but I STILL remember it in detail. That’s how beautiful he is.)
Ahem.
Anyway, Jack Parow is on the cover (along with Jenna Pietersen) and I’m slightly disturbed that, well, Jack Parow is even in the naked issue. He’s awesome and everything but hardly my idea of eye candy. Same goes for Trevor Gumbi. And Joey Rasdien…
But then again, it’s for a good cause (the Burn Foundation Southern Africa). I guess it’s the intention that counts. Still, that won’t save my poor eyes from burning, though.
Scottish knitwear brand Lyle & Scott is almost ready to take on the South African market, after announcing it was following a slew of international labels to enter Mzansi in the past year.
Last Tuesday we attended the announcement- held at Arts on Main in downtown Joburg- where we joined celebrities including Rosie Motene, Lira, Sonia Bootj, Jen Su and BFF Liezl van der Westhuizen, Relebogile Mabotja, Idols host Proverb and entertainers for the night- The Graeme Watkins Project.
We’re still unsure about how we feel about the clothes on show, but it will be interesting to see what the range looks like- seeing as Lyle & Scott launches here in our winter. The clothes during the showcase were golfer tees, light cardigans and shorts and looked rather light for a Joburg winter.
Yes, it’s been a long while since I’ve tattled with you all. So sorry.
But I’m here now, so, let’s get to it.
If you have nothing to do with this weekend, it can’t be because you’re broke (pay day was a week ago). Whatever your reasons for planning on staying at home this weekend, I can give you more reasons not to. Here’s what’s up in the next few days:
First of all, there’s Jozifest. I mean, sure, the name’s not as cool as Download Festival or Ozzfest, but it’s distinctly local and so Joburg. It’s a music festival that will have artists such as 340ml, Lark, Fokofpolisiekar and Tidal Waves (among so many others!). Die Antwoord was meant to perform but they had to pull out cos they got an invite to be on a BIG late-night show in the States…. Anyway, Jozifest takes place on 3, 4 and 5 February. Click here for more information.
If festivals aren’t your thing, you might be interested in a fashion show that takes place at a two-floor restaurant. Yes. Fashion show. At a restaurant. The event is called Live-Style, and it takes place on 4 February at Shikisha in Newtown. Soweto rockers Reeburth will be playing (their singer has a really nice body *drool*), along with DJs Gimmick and Rodney. The fashion will be provided by Livestock Cottonwear, who are based in Pimville. The food and drinks will be provided by Shikisha (I did say it’s a restaurant) but not free of charge, obviously. So, whether you want to dine, drool, enjoy the tunes or the scenery, Live-Style is a must. Read more about it here.
If none of that interests you, legendary German DJ/ producer Paul van Dyk is playing in the country tonight. He plays two shows in one day: Durban at 4pm and Joburg at 8pm. Tickets are R250 – R430. Read more here.
Don’t say I don’t care about you.
Till later.
J&B Met, Mad Hatter style. Picture: Esa Alexander
It’s about that time again. When even the attention-seekers dress like Lady Gaga and the stylish only dress with a touch more flamboyance. When spotlight-lovers prance about in front of flashing lights like peacocks at a fashion show.
Oh, and the horse races, too.
Yes, the J&B Met is coming up soon and boy, are we excited. Of course we’ll be there, dressed up and ready to bring you all the titillating bits about it.
28 January, loves. Circle the date. The theme this year is “Made Different” (ahem, “born this weird”). It should be great.
Fire us if we don’t come back with entertaining stories and great pics!
Our golden girl of athletics, she who was embroiled in a nasty scandal over her gender and had politicians using her to score points with the public, Caster Semenya, turned 21 recently.
For some reason I wasn’t invited, but thanks to Sunday World, I got to see the pictures. That’s a lot of purple, Caster!
Caster prefers a more tomboyish approach to dressing. Photographer: Elijar Mushiana
Caster and her (we can assume very close) friend, whose name is said to be Asleigh (typo?) Trotter from Botswana. Mzwakhe Mbuli looks horrified. Photographer: Elijar Mushiana
So from this we can deduce the following: Caster likes the colour purple. A lot. Caster’s party dress code was purple, shiny, wedding-like clothing. Caster is tight with a blonde from Botswana (check how they’re eyeing each other. I love my generation, we’re free to love whomever we want. Thank you, freedom fighters!).
Mzwakhe Mbuli – “the people’s poet” – was also there. Um, I understand Caster’s parents being there, but what was such an old guy doing at a party full of young people? Or is he scouting for a side chick?
For the whole slideshow of Caster’s very purple birthday party, check out the Sunday World’s website.
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!
