Marni x H&M 2012

Amen.

Dia de los Muertos

Today marks the traditional Mexican celebration, Dia de los Muertos, or ‘Day of the Dead’. The Mexicans believe in honoring the dead and find beauty in the macabre – the ornate Mexican sugar skull is the most well known symbol of the tradition. These bright, flora and heart-festooned totems have become popular symbols of otherness in Western pop culture over time, and are more and more frequently incorporated into everything from textiles, to tattoos, art and fashion. This weekend I actually  attended the opening of the Wildfire exhibit at Yours Truly, and fell in love with an engraved wooden skull, one of two, which were the first ones to be marked with red ‘sold’ stickers. My own house has been sharing space with skulls for some time already, and the increasing popularity of the skull motif has done nothing to abate my obsession.

A couple of weeks ago my very own Mexican death skull participated in a Dia de los Muertos shoot for Dossier, and I have the privilege of publishing a sneak preview of it today. Photographed by Antonia Steyn, the shoot was styled and art directed by my dear friend Crystal Birch (with the help of stylist Chloe Andrea), and serves as a visual compendium of local queen of print play Maya Prass‘ work over the last decade. One of Maya’s first interns back in the day, Crystal raided Maya’s Woodstock studio for the purposes of the shoot, and I really think that Maya’s surreal ruffles, neon-on-neon prints and textured boleros give the Dia de los Muertos theme a dose of lusty femininity.

Crystal accessorised each look with insane Ida Elsje jewellery and head pieces (I’m a huge fan – do yourselves a favour and go check out her Church Street studio!), which were recently shown at both the Africa and New York Fashion Weeks. Frida Kahlo-esque braids and matte neon eyes by One League make-up artist Nandi Fourie play up the bewitching symmetry of 16 year old model Katryn Kruger‘s delicate features.

Keep an eye out for the full shoot in Dossier soon – let me just say that Crystal created an epic tiered ball gown of a dress from a mass of Maya Prass ruffled skirts and it is a sight to behold.

Mary Katrantzou x Topshop

I spied this epic collaboration between high street honey Topshop and the inimitable high priestess of print play, Mary Katrantzou, on Style Bubble this weekend and it was like a little hit of adrenalin.

The collection will consist of 10 pieces and will be released in February 2012, with frocks like this tulip-shaped belle retailing for £350 – pretty much as close as us civilians will ever come to caressing a Katrantzou.

Start stockpiling those pennies, ladies!

FanGirl

I’m lusting after these glamorous, fan-shaped clutches by local label Missibaba.

They’re so Bianca Jagger at Studio54-esque, and y’all know I’m a sucker for a) all out sequinning b) tassels and c) little bags that are just big enough for my Russian Red, cellphone and keys.

Which is your favourite?

Do we need to put a label on it?

 

It used to be that wearing clothing emblazoned with labels was cool – it spoke of value, taste and wealth. And somehow it seemed that this wealth was inextricably linked to this taste and this value. Money = taste = value. A strange deduction to make; easily dismantled by the old adage, oft employed in conjunction with a wistful shake of the head: ‘Money can’t buy you style’. White t-shirts shouted Calvin Klein! Armani Exchange! Diesel! Fiorucci! It was indeed the 90s, and the logo t-shirt was in its hey day. If you didn’t have one you might as well not have been a 90210 fan. You might as well have ditched your frayed denim cut-offs and your black choker with the heart pendant. Without said logo they’d look cheap. Like they came from nowhere. If it didn’t have a label it was nothing. 

Somehow, some way, things have evolved. I’ve started to notice less and less obvious branding gracing the chests of t-shirts and the derrieres of jeans. Absence of label, ironically, has come to signal exactly what its polar opposite did in the 90s: wealth, value and most importantly, taste. I grew up with a mother that steered me away from branding of any kind. ‘Don’t get the printed one,’ she’d say, ‘it looks cheap’. My natural predisposition towards one offs developed into a love of vintage at a young age, meaning that labels only symbolised homogeny to me. Labels were for the masses.

The gradual shift in attitude towards labels is fascinating to me. Huge chain stores are abandoning brash branding and opting for unadorned chests, sleeves and backs. Why? So that they can be taken seriously alongside other labels. So that no one knows where it came from. Is that not the biggest irony of all? In a way it is refreshing: the cut of a garment and the fabric it is made of must now speak for themselves. Cheap, ill-fitting white t-shirts can no longer hide behind big, rhinestone-studded names. Clothing must stand up and be counted.

Not only does this shift mark a change in our psychology as consumers, it also heralds a dawning of fashion consciousness that countries like South Africa have never seen before. As retailers wisen up to the fact that the masses have more access to trends than ever before, they begin to cater to a more fashion savvy audience.

In a country where value for money is an imperative, it really is a revolution. It’s a sign that consumers, collectively, expect more from brands. And that what most people are looking for is true value – unadorned, unembellished and authentic.

Charlotte Linton S/S 12 – in which Ermantrude goes to Java

Charlotte Linton, whose inspired scarves and RTW collections I fawned over here and here, has produced yet another lookbook that has me plotting artful turbans and on the hunt for the perfect, mysterious shade of emerald.

The S/S 2012 collection sees Ermantrude, Linton’s fictional muse, sail to Java to study the threatened Javan Rhinoceros and the birds of the Krakatau islands.

‘Whilst there,’ says Linton, Ermantrude ‘learns of the rich culture of the Sundanese people, researching the Wayang theatre, and the beautiful batik textiles. She also makes notes of her observations of night dwelling mammals, such as the ghostly flying squirrel and the fishing cat.’

The palette of bold, primary colours mixes with flashes of light through trees, verdant greens and ripe limes. Unusually, my magpie eye is drawn to the idiosyncratic monotone scarf – I’m dying to get a closer looks at Ermantrude’s impressions of the Javanese people and the creatures they cohabit with. Charlotte’s narratives give her collections context that transports them straight to the jungles of Java and the peaks of the Himalayas. When they return with Ermantrude from her travels they are imbued with the perfume of foreign lands, hands and custom. Truly special.

Charlotte’s latest collection consists of a mix of wool and silk scarves. The silk is, of course, my ultimate.

WANTED

Lately I’ve been mixing my silver and gold jewellery together.

It used to freak me out, but I find myself gravitating more and more towards pieces that deliberately intermingle the two – a kind of pimping, metallic mash-up. I’ve always delighted in irreverently fake looking stuff, like piles of brash, yellow gold chains, and rock-sized rings, so the more crass, the better. I still have my silver and gold neck pieces separately, but they live next door to each other, like neighbours that meet for tea (or tequila) every now and then.

Local designer (and friend) Megan Fogarty from Oh Dear Megan just published sneak peeks of her summer jewellery collection, and they’re playing straight into my little low-fi, high-shine obsession.

Marni Spring/Summer 2012.

Retro swoon.

Somehow Marni managed to intermingle tribal and Cleopatra undertones (prints, accessories and beading) with ladylike silhouettes and totem-like detailing on hemlines and wrists in this, their SS12 collection.

My favourite is the wingtip detailing on the heels and mini bowler bags in high gloss red – like a slick of cherry lipgloss or a spill of hypnotic ruby paint on an all white floor. I also love the graphic prints and the oversized daisy discs – they remind me of those white moulded plastic baskets we all used to carry as little girls. That, and the irrestible top of a Marc Jacobs Daisy bottle.

Images: 1 & 2. Vogue.com 3. The Sartorialist 4. Vogue.com 5. The Sartorialist 6. Olivier Morin 7. Vogue.com 8. Olivier Morin

Halcyon Days

I’m all hot under the collar over this gilded and spangled editorial photographed by Rene Habermacher and featuring model Giedre Dukauskaite for Pop Magazine in August 2009.

Images via Paranaiv

 

SA Fashion Week 2011

After browsing through the collections shown at last weeks SA Fashion Week in Johannesburg, I gathered some of my favorites into discernible themes. Well, sort of discernible. More like into themes that serve my own purposes, for instance, my current craving for citrus colour due to the impending delight of summer, and my natural predisposition towards things like leather, PVC and tuxedo-esque shapes.

Make of it what you will.

* Click on the image credits to view the rest of the collections online.

Blush

I loved ELLE New Talent contender Kutloano Molokomme‘s cultish parade of elaborate red dresses. They were quite Yamamoto-like. Remi Lagos‘ lushly printed kaftan-style maxis caught my eye, and in particular this floaty Aztec number. Rubicon‘s caped frock was Little Red Riding Hood with a dash of 30’s glamour.

Images: 1. Kutloano Molokomme 2. Remi Lagos 3. Rubicon

A Little Waisted

2010 ELLE New Talent award winner Cleo Droomer‘s collection has the online community aflutter and it’s easy to see why. Sci-fi like panels gave tried ‘n tested feminine shapes like dresses with nipped-in waists a future-retro makeover. I was also quite taken with other newcomer Lameez Claasen’s uber long Miu Miu-esque collars and jodphur-inspired trousers, as well as Khumo Manota’s dreamy, feminine layers.

Images: 1. Cleo Droomer 2. Lameez Claasen 3. Khumo Manota

Sheer Story

Cleo Droomer‘s tangerine-piped mac and Tiaan Nagel‘s zip-through sci-fi mini were two of my favorites. I’d quite like to wear them together simultaneously, like some kind futuristic femmebot.

Images: 1. Cleo Droomer 2. Tiaan Nagel

Texturise

Autumn/Winter is, of course, all about texture, as colder weather makes way for layering and lusher fabrics. From Cleo Droomer‘s PVC dresses, to Vesselina Pentcheva‘s romantic velvets, the collections really came out with some interesting textures. Suzaan Heyns‘ leather waterfall jackets were my highlight, as was Remi Lagos‘ devore velvet maxi. Some people might think it’s frumpy, but give me devore velvet and I’ll be your girl.

Images: 1. Cleo Droomer 2. Vesselina Pentcheva 3 & 4. Suzaan Heyns 5. Remi Lagos

Pants Party

Cropped, structured and pleated – I think Tiaan Nagel‘s version did it best, but I also loved Amanda Laird Cherry‘s skintight take on the look.

Images: 1. Amanda Laird Cherry 2 & 3. Tiaan Nagel 4. Suzaan Heyns

Canary Fever

Designers chalked their collections up with snaps of sign-post yellow – ruffles, accessories, pockets and piping all got treated to a little lemon delight. The true triumph was Mr Droomer‘s yellow PVC frock, with Amber Jones‘ lemon collared pleats at a close, wearable second. I want both! I also loved 46664‘s extremely wearable custard-striped, obi-belted, boat neck dress.

Images: 1. 46664 2. Amanda Laird Cherry 3 & 4. Cleo Droomer 5. Amber Jones 6. Amanda Laird Cherry 7 & 8. Mantsho

All images kindly made available online by SDR Photo

Charlotte Taylor

I’ve been dabbling with the idea of donning a turban for some time now – yes, I’m a self-confessed latecomer – and on my travels I discovered Lancashire designer Charlotte Taylor‘s eerily glamorous lookbook for her Autumn/Winter 2011 collection.

The weather in Cape Town is suitably morose at present, so I’m currently warming up with Charlotte’s eccentric print-on-print decadence. The way the images are shot and styled is almost as if this winsome model is the last member of some debauched dynasty, waiting out the storm in an abandoned mansion.

I love the use of irreverently bright animal and insect prints and the wanton glamour of the jools and embellishments paired with big eyes and solemn little lips.

Her 2010 Autumn/Winter collection also caught my eye – a brightly panelled mix of cheerleaderesque stripes, A-line skirts and exaggerated silhouettes.

Friends with Benefits.

I am really excited to be working on a shoot for 36Boutiques later this week featuring some of the country’s coolest and brightest young fashion designers. One of them, Vicky Fenner of Joya Collection, produces, amongst other tempting jools, a range of high-end friendship bracelets. Recently I’ve been envying all the armfuls of hippiesque wrap bracelets and braided wristlets that some of my friends wear, but try as I might, I’ll never be a leather wrap person.

I even went so far as to buy what I considered a tasteful and not too Boho version at the Hout Bay market a couple of weeks ago – black leather and braided – no cowrie shells or beading in sight! It is currently languishing on the window sill in my bathroom, and it will probably remain there until it disappears. The ones that all the streetstyle darlings have been stacking up their arms (think Jak & Jil and the like) are (typically) more up my alley.

While Vicky was unveiling her collection of Summer brights, this neon rope and sterling silver friendship bracelet caught my eye. Weirdly enough, I’d been admiring both Proenza Schouler and Lauren Elan‘s takes on the look earlier in the day. It seemed fateful that Vicky had brought them along, and, she reassured me, she’s almost certain I’m the first person in the country to have it in neon. Yeah! Sorry, but there’s nothing quite like being the only one, in many senses of the phrase.

 

It’s the perfect melange of hippie-ish reference mingled with this season’s neons and a little bit of bling (just so no one makes jokes about my humble Knysna origins).

In my dreams I’d be able to add a Proenza Schouler version to my new little neon – carabiner, climbing rope and all.

 

 

 

 

DEAN QUINN SPRING 2012.

One of these images is not even the correct width, which totally kills me, but I am so obsessed I have to post these.

Central Saint Martins graduate Dean Quinn is in his mid 20’s and I literally lost my breath at the sight of his aquatic, cut-out stream of a dress.

The retro-inspired colour palette is like 60’s airhostesses meets the Jetsons with a side of contemporary glamour. Addicted.

Read this Dazed Digital interview with him from a while back if you’re as startled as I am.

 

Ruby, Winter 2012

 

My latest blog discovery, We The People, an Australia-based streetstyle blog run by Jessie Bush, yields style gems on a daily basis.

New Zealand label Ruby‘s Winter 2012 collection, ‘Capital City’, was one such gem. The collection focuses on a central contrast – metallic vs. matte – which plays out in the pitting of molten leather against cottons and silks. Pared down shapes allow the sci-fi sheen of the leather pieces to take centre stage, while a synergy of tones brings it back down to earth. Winter classics like chunky knits, polo necks and belted jackets are revised – only the defining features remain, and with an elegantly offbeat twist.

I really love the limited palette of rose golds, ochres and rusts with a dazzling flash of intergalactic teal. It’s got me excited for Winter 2012, even though I’m getting ready to dust down the ol’ leopard print bikini.

A sneak peek on WGSN of what’s to come heralded exactly this – a reinvention of form-fits-function shapes, along with a focus on what is known as Faux Real: dramatising the fakeness of things. Think wild perspex heels on footwear, brashly fake jewels and more. I am reminded instantly of Givenchy’s neon jools. And I love it. It really appeals to my appetite for unapologetically, demonstratively fake jewellery.

Mara Hoffman Spring 2012

My friend Tori from Kiss, Blush & Tell posted this video on my Facebook wall, saying that the collection really reminded her of me. I must say I’m flattered that she knows my taste so well, because the delicate tribal prints, Mexicana undertones, icon-rich accessories and tropical palette had me gasping.

The collection, by New York designer Mara Hoffman, is made up of a paradise prance of lightweight long and short playsuits, altered kaftans and floaty wrap dresses. Hoffman’s show is another clear sign that our summer is going to be all about the prints and the accessories.

Shapes are easy-wearing flow shows (maxis, palazzos, tail-hem tees and maxi skirts), all elevated by print play (Aztec, broad stripes, demure polka dots and all out jungle fever) and bold accessories. I love how Hoffman paired matching footwear with playsuits – a kind of luxe, tropical take on the safari suit.

Hoffman is well known for her bright, printed swimwear, which I would post, if I wasn’t dreading the thought of thinking too hard about getting into a bikini just yet. Gimme two weeks.