Please..Keep the Timber Beetle Crushers to Yourself.

I have a bone to pick with the ‘fashion panel’. Why is it that atrocities like wooden clogs and wooden platforms are been leaked onto the pages of fashion magazines and blogs? I don’t care who wares them, who makes them or how much they cost. Wooden footwear is a No-No!

It is distressing to see a pair of Carmen Steffen heels that appear to be made of scraps form a kitchen company. These ‘things’ are called ‘cork platforms’. Cork my foot, it's plywood and plywood is not pretty...or cool. Nor are Luella’s ‘cone’ heels and the wooden platforms from Guess.

This season is looking exquisite – fresh florals, prints, demin shirts, sneakers and 70’s shades – Lets not sabotage one of the hottest summers with such horrible shoes.

I suggest we be adorning our feet with the following this season:

Floral sneakers, brogues and heels; overdose on flora, its uber fresh.

Nude platforms with straps and mesh – this look is classic and will stick around for quite some time. As an extra bonus, nude heels give the illusion of having longer legs, a must have for shorties like me.

Gladiator sandals are still our summer staple – just without the studs. Think leather, beaded detail and tribal patterns.

Sneakers are like Liquorish All-Sorts at the moment, they come in every color, shape and design. Up your swag with something new from the latest Le Coq Sportif, Zoom and Lacoste ranges. All Stars are still legend.

For those of you who are into this wooden shoe thing – shame. Your summer is ruined. And please don’t spoil ours by wearing your timber beetle crushers, keep them to yourselves!

Deutsch Fashion – on the Flipside

I have found some more stunning pictures, straight off Germany’s hottest style blogs. Compared to the pumping and playful South African street culture, Germans are defiantly more slick and eccentric, quite having it in for texture and graphic prints, two basic features of the fashion palette.

The skinnies:

I love how guys’ pair chilled skinnies with more sophisticated attire on top, like a cardigan or well tailored jacket.

The prints:

This is a professional ‘clash of the prints’ sticking with neutral tones in bold patterns, contrasted with splashes of red. The shoes and hat really do it for me.

The flow:

How beautifully outrageous is this! It’s not just the print that matters; it’s the flow of the fabric and the way it is worn that captivates. The body art stretches the line of the print and makes the person look part of the clothes.

This really throws a new dimension onto street culture – it’s all so fresh and preppy!!!

Vintage Value...

I surprised myself yesterday. Anything to do with the purchase of clothing automatically entails sizable sums of money, financial desolation and ‘get rich quick schemes’ so as to sustain the next binge. My sister advocates joining the Mafia as a way to cope with economic distress of this nature...

I am not a reckless shopaholic, but I have no problem spending a lot on clothes. My theory states that quality is far superior to quantity. Other factors that enter the equation are style, label, texture and most importantly, that unique wow - factor.

That’s why I skipped out the Park Town Organic Market, tickled pink by my R360 worth of purchases. I initially planned to spend about R 600 on perhaps one or two items from Milli’s Pulchritude sale. She had some very dainty pieces; I particularly liked the slouchy cardigan by Silverspoon and the bamboo jackets. However two racks of second hand vintage clothing hogged all my attention – oh-so-amazing stuff that can’t be found anywhere else, like exquisite floral blazers and quirky high waist trousers.

It took just two minuets of rack flicking to locate the three items that had my name written on them. In this post I am featuring the first two- a classically tailored white blouse with vertical ribs running down the centre. The collar is stiff and starchy which gives the blouse nice angular definition.

My second little treasure is an ostrich skin postman style bag, in tan, with the long shoulder strap. It goes beautifully with everything I own and can be jazzed up with a scarf, a broach or a string of pearls drooping down the side.

I spent hours in front of the mirror, trying out every possible combination, pulling up, tucking in, shoes on, shoes of……

The blouse looked best teamed with a copper pencil skirt, stilettos and a watch that used to be my Dad’s. It is very elegant, the type of accessory that depicts the ‘gender bender’ trend because it looks feminine on a man but masculine on a woman…perfect!

My next post will feature treasure number three, the show stopper! At the moment is it having a nip and tuck at the tailors…..