Goodbye Summer, Goodbye My Love....

This morning I whipped out a pair of socks, a denim jacket and hunted through my racks for my favourite print scarf, and I realised that this is me saying goodbye to summer and sunny days and hello to grey skies, blazers and knitwear. As Cape Town says au revoir to summer I look back at my favourite summer photographs and reminisce.  

My Summer Favourites...

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Happy Styling!!!!

The Last Sunny Days

With the combination of a sunny day and vacation it called for a fun day out to soak up some vitamin C while we're still able to. With headbands trending I thought this would be a good opportunity to explore this trend.

 

 

How I wore my headband:

1) Choose your preferred colour scarf, this works best with a square scarf.... Don't have one? Grandmother's wardrobe!

 2) Fold the scarf once into a triangle.

3) Now begin to roll the scarf.

4) Place the scarf on your head and tie it at the front.

5) Depending on how long the scarf is you could just tuck in the extra bits. 

 

                Happy Headbanding!!!!!!!

How did you spend your Human Rights Day?

On 21 March South Africa celebrates Human Rights Day, we remember the Sharpeville massacre which occurred on 21 March 1960, which was a result of protests against the Apartheid government. Cape Town hosted a festival in the Company's Gardens, here is what happened.

           There was a showcase of religion.....
                                               

           Some ice-cream for a hot summers day...
                                                          

                                                    
           An expression of culture...

                                                  
      And no festival is complete without a large selection of candy.

Bat Crazy

Today’s inspiration: Waking up to Lana Del Rey’s mellow music, float walking to my closet and feeling like wearing a flower headband…

However I had a dilemma, I don’t own a flower headband so my next best option, my paisley batwoman top.

My batwoman top, as my mom likes to call it, is one of those items we all have, something we love but once it’s in our closets we’re not so sure what we’ll wear it with.

 I teamed my batwoman with: black turn-ups

                                                       tribal  jewelry

                                                      toe toned pumps

 

Happy Styling Everyone! 

Not Fashion but Focused on Social Awareness

Each morning I wake up and head to my fairly well stocked closet, I have the option of having breakfast at home or eating once I get to campus and not once have I questioned my routine but very often I have taken it for granted. For a recent photo journalism assignment I documented a day in the life of a homeless couple and it was only once I experience their struggle, or as they call it “their daily life” did I really learn to appreciate my daily life.

Have a look at my work…

Homelessness, a condition in which someone is unable to maintain a regular, secure dwelling,

Homelessness is a social issue affecting everyone, whether it be directly, through an uncle who lost his job and later everything he owned or indirectly, through that child begging at the robots or a woman asking you for money for the shelter while you are shopping in the city CBD. So often we become irritated by the pools of faces of those begging, who seem to irritate us, as we go about our busy days. Often to those begging, we, are the privileged, we are the women who, in winter, walk around with coats to keep us warm, we are the men snacking on McDonalds which will fill that gap before we get home to a warm, home cooked meal, but to us, who are they, they are but the people who will forever remain nameless.

Each Sunday night after my family has had their Sunday dinner there would be the familiar knock, knock, knock at our front door and once opening there would be the same voice asking the expected question of “Hello Ma, het Ma nie asseblief iets om tee eet nie?” and each Sunday we would give food to the same man and the same woman, but to us they were just faces. However, one Sunday this routine changed, as instead of the man ending with a “Dankie Ma” and walking away, he said instead “Ma, I am Lenard and this is my wife Charmaine” and suddenly they no longer remained nameless but they became people with a story and with a struggle. It was at this point that I realised what my photo essay’s social issue would be, and that was homelessness.

Up until this point of introductions by Lenard and Charmaine, they had been faces to us, people who we give extra food to but now that we could place a name to a face, they seemed to become more real. At this point it occurred to me that if I never knew their names I would never have cared about their story and I felt that this seemed to be the general attitude held by society, this indifferent attitude towards those less fortunate, an attitude which suggested that as long as it was not affecting us, it was okay. I then decided to follow the couple around and document their daily life, as my photo journalism assignment, as it is only once I have walked in their footsteps and experienced their life that I am able to understand their struggle and their circumstance.

With this photo essay I aimed to gain a better understanding of those who live under different circumstances than my own. After doing my photo essay I have learned a lot, I have learned to be less judgemental towards others as I do not know or understand their circumstance, I have learned to be more tolerant of the homeless and respect their trade. I have learned a lot during my photo essay but there are two life lessons that stood out for me, firstly, to respect all people and their means of making money, whether it be scratching in bust bins or working as a doctor, it is not stealing but an honest income, and secondly and most importantly I have learned to appreciate what I have, even when I am on a tight student budget sometimes I still have enough, as there is always someone who is worse off than you.

Here is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DtNIiwGLQ4

Hope you enjoyed that but on a lighter note, stay styled!

 

 

Waistcoat Loving!

With Cape Town’s heat and long campus days, it’s important to combine looking great with feeling great. This is easily achieved by wearing light weight fabrics that makes dealing with the heat and hustle and bustle of campus life all that easier.

My summer trick: Add some chic, Add a waistcoat!

The average jeans and plain white tee outfit could be jazzed up by simply adding a waistcoat. I always opt for light fabrics such as chiffon’s and mesh as that way you are adding layers with a summer vibe.

 

My Summer Getaway

Before the stress of campus begins and it's back to early mornings and late nights in front of computer screens putting together last minute bibliographies for assignments, my friends and I decided to have fabulous getaway...

Welcome to the Southern Sun Newlands Hotel...