Walk the Line

A new trend is upon us and there is no need to read between the lines as the high streets are practically shouting it out!   Spring 2013 is all about stripes and vertical ones at that.  Anything goes from butcher stripes to leg-colourblocking to the more commercial pinstripe.  I’m especially loving the new take on pants…This is what i spotted last week on the high streets...

It was a total stripe-out for fashion week S/S13 with everyone from Marc Jacobs to Balmain sending candy-canes down the runways.

Marc Jacobs' finale pretty much summed it up...

Love this take on the trend at Balmain

Celebs everywhere are voting for this hot new trend.  If you feel the bold stripe is just too much for you and a little Willy Wonka-ish, the racing-stripe take on the trend (so it's basically a thicker stripe running on your outer leg seam) is a great way to play it safe and is ever so flattering as they make your legs look about half their width!  Score!

My model-crush of the moment and her statement skinnies

the good old pinstripe

racing stripe take on the trend

With love from London…

How do you like your eggs?

How do you like your eggs?  A friend of mine asked me and got me to thinking…

How DO I like my eggs?  No really do you know?    Have you even tried all the different kinds of ways to have your eggs?  Or do you think you know your favourite kind of eggs because that is how you usually have them?  Do you have them scrambled because that is how your best friend likes hers or poached because that’s how your mum made them for you growing up?  Have you even tried them fried?  Have you even thought of… deep breaths… an omelette with bacon and feta?

In our frantic lives do we actually take a minute to ask ourselves these kinds of questions?  Do we actually ever take the time to get to know our selves a little better?

Travelling has always kept me raw and challenged to my core.  It rids me of all securities and makes me question who I am and what I actually want myself.  It is a blessing to be totally anonymous and alone in a new and unfamiliar space.  To be out of my comfort zone and without recognition of one face in the crowd.  To be unrecognizable myself.  To be disconnected from work, family, friends, and the ins and outs of our daily lives.  It really is a sobering moment in a raw place, a place perhaps we all need to find in order to be able to make any big decisions about our lives and where we want to go and who we want to become.   I just have to find out a way to do this without the pricey airfares. 

However you do it, take time out and get to know yourself a little.  And decide how you actually like your eggs.  Hell, you might just want to rather order the pancakes.

FACE VALUE

"You can be rich in many ways besides money" our famous, first black president once said.  And yet now the lined old face that we all so love lines the pockets of our country's people.  Ironic perhaps.  Especially when Mandela stood so surely for equality and the bank-note is the tool by which some capitalist leaders, overcome by the lust for material gain, only enrich themselves and widen the gap between rich and poor.

Let's just hope that as his face slips through our fingers on a daily basis, what he stood for does not.  His legacy does not seem to be a fair trade for the movies popcorn worth of one twenty rand bill.

Let's just hope having a Madiba in our wallets, lets us carry him and his values in our hearts too.

No Introduction Needed - TOPSHOP ON AFRICAN SOIL!

We love you too TOPSHOP

Oh hellooo!  Christmas just came early in the form of TOPSHOP and TOPMAN South Africa!

 

The press launch this morning was all a buzz as the blessed got a sneak preview at the winder that is Topshop Sandton.  And we were not left disappointed!

 

My expectations were completely exceeded!  Just back from a trip to London, I can vouch that the ranges offered to the SA customer are the latest and greatest and hot off the London streets!  And the best news of all… prices that us little saffers can totally digest.

 

The Arcadia group promises that there will be weekly deliveries to this flagship store to ensure the product offering is as current as possible. 

 

The store offers a shopping experience that is as famous as the brand itself.  The talented visual merchandising team put together complete looks so that it truly is a “see it, buy it” activity.  Everything from shoes, accessories and even make up are on offer to make this your complete one stop shop.

A girl's dream

  

SHOENIVERSE!

Rocking the Renaissance trend

BLING BLING BADDA BING!

A nod to the boys

And even some accessories for the lads!

The instore set up even included a DJ operating off a touch-screen digital setup.  The first of its kind in SA!

Even the in-store staff are trend-setters!

Complete with nail spa if you (sigh) need a break from shopping

 All I can say is that the future looks bright for SA now that Topshop has arrived at our sunny shores.  Happy shopping everybody!

My first TOPSHOP purchase on African soil!  With brand manager, Lauren Wasserzug-Avgitidis