HazelBird

Power Fashion Couples

2013-11-14T11:24:00.002+02:00

Just the other day I was writing my last paper of Broadcasting Production III, an easy paper I must say and one of my class mates came to me and said, “ you know, I really want to meet your boyfriend.” Yes I do have one luckily enough. She went on to say, “I want to see how he dresses, does he love fashion like you do?” Blushing, I flew his kite for him and conceitedly said, “well he loves fashion more than I do actually,” which is true. My man loves fashion as in, always on trend and his taste is a little, bit expensive, but hey show me a man who has great fashion sense and who doesn’t splurge a little more.

This class mate of mine held the slowly-becoming-interesting conversation by applauding, “ well that’s great because it’s a weird thing to see couples who are utterly contrary when it comes to fashion. It’s even worse when the guy loves fashion more than the girl.”

I waved a smile and she gave me a compliment for my great fashion sense. I get those a lot. See, last year in my second year in varsity I was accoladed with the Student Choice Award’s Trend Setter of the Year 2012 and trust me it was a big deal. It was more significant than the Broadcasting Student of the year award. Fashion has always been part of my life.

Raised by a grandmother who fully clad up for going to bed, it was a given that that was going to have a huge fashion and style influence on me. My grandmother was an extremely clean, stylish and very Victorian woman who believed in looking good and neat. She used to say going to bed without washing your face and feet is bad behaviour and only men are allowed to do that.(Well my grandfather disputed that.)

So I grew up loving fashion a lot. I know this will sound a little bit cliché but I was a little bit of a tom boy growing up. I grew up delimited by boys and we will play football in my grandparents’ farm in Swaziland. When it rained we will go out and play with mud in the rain and nail polish and “staff” were never on my mind back then.

To me beauty was what my grandmother was. So when I was around 11 I started seeing myself differently and believe me you it was not puberty, see I’m part of the generation that actually went to puberty at 13 not 9 like this new generation.

With going to church and having to wear dresses every Sunday, the girly girl within me awoken and I started to see the beautiful, pretty things in life. I started to appreciate watching my mother put on Ponds, at that time I loved how her hands moved delicately around her face when she was applying it. I knew right then that I wanted to use Ponds too but I had to wait till I was 16.

My grandmother was very Victorian, she wore heels to church. It was a long distance from our place to church but she walked that distance in those heels with conviction and you will never hear her complain about paining feet. They did pain I think, it’s just that she was always quick to take care of them by massaging them every night. Something we don’t do because we believe the only place to massage our feet is in beauty spas.

My grandmother’s two door wardrobe had beautiful clothes, I remember a brown long fur coat and she only wore it on special occasions, winter. Her wardrobe was filled with pastels, ruffles, lace, silk, and tribal prints.

Thinking about it now,, if it had existed today, it was going to make Lela Rose run for her money. Everything inside that wardrobe was girly and pretty, and she had lots of scarves which she wore every day, regardless of the weather.

My populist grandfather on the other hand was a Bruno Mars of his time. He had swag like that. He was the cleanest old man I’ve ever seen in my life. I remember those Sunday mornings, (he never went to church) where he will sit outside and be in awe of his huge farm and then take black sheen to dye his hair. His hair was growing white and he didn’t want to look old.

After dying his white hair, he would take the longest bath a man is ever allowed to take and gear up with his vintage, jazzy suits. He always had a knobkerrie with him; I think it was an accessory, a dangerous one.

He carried it with him all the time. And I think, looking back, I’ve learned something from them vis-à-vis having that one item that make you stand out. For my grandmother it was a scarf which was her statement piece and for him it was the knobkerrie. For me it’s the colourful lip stick and pearls. I can’t function properly without bright lips, for me they add colour to my smile and brighten up my face. For my grandmother, the scarf might have been a symbol of respect as most black women did that, but she turned it into a fashion statement piece and every time when she wore it, she wore it with delicacy, élan, and sumptuousness.

My grandfather on the other hand might have had a stick as a weapon of protection but it turned into a fashion accessory. Nelson Mandela once said the walking stick he carries with him is not a symbol of him growing old but it’s a fashion trend. Well we know how stylish Mandela is.

My grandparents were married for more than 40 years before death did them apart within a period of 3 months. But they were different individuals who had everything in common from fashion to the way of life but yet lived it differently from the other.

They both loved fashion, my grandmother was very Victorian and grandfather very vintage and soulful. They both believed in looking good and didn’t just invest only money in it but time and love. And to me that made them a great fashion couple. Together they looked seamlessly well dressed and I don’t remember even once my grandmother choosing an outfit for her choosy husband but yet when they were both done dressing up they looked so fitting and toning as if one brain had styled them.

That’s a power fashion couple.

So my class mate reminded me of that and looking at it today, most celebrities actually do come across as power fashion couples easily. For them it might be because they have stylists who take care of their clothing but there’s an element of that. Look at the stylish Obamas, I might not agree with anything they do politically but the way they dress comes across as well primed and meditated.

For me that’s one of the things that make a good power couple. We have to be different people but yet fit in the puzzle of life and the way we go about in that life. I don’t want to be wearing a pencil dress and my man wearing sweat pants. No, that’s not acceptable.

As a couple, (not that my advice is credible), but you at least need to try look differently-similar. I’m not saying wear denim to denim just like Justine Timberlake and Britney Spears once did once upon a time, but do be in the same page. This means sporty=sporty, classy=classy, vintage=vintage.

Hence I love men who wear chinos because they make it easy for a girly girl like me to wear anything and still look incorporated. Of course you may disagree but my class mate agrees with me.

Mama Knows Best

2013-11-14T11:22:00.002+02:00

How many times has your mother or any female custodian in your life told you not to use a certain beauty product and you never listened and ended up with messed up skin? Ye, a thousand times right? I know. But don’t bit yourself up for it yet, there’s still hope for you to be a good daughter and listen.

I was raised by a very delicate and Victorian grandmother who instilled the sense of beauty and taking care of my body in me with conviction. She later died when I had just turned 13 and I had to move in with my uncle’s wife who I stayed with till I was 15. My uncle’s wife was somehow influenced by the American culture. From the gold, leather and labels to the way she wore make up. It was too much. You know how Americans have a propensity to overdo everything? It’s just not enough for 2 Chains to wear one gold chain or for Lil Kim to have enough face lifts.

My uncle’s wife was and is still like that, I’m not saying she does face lifts too, no, she hasn’t reached that era yet, but she does over wear makeup. She had lots of beauty products that I never understood more especially foundation. My grandmother never wore makeup but her skin was as flawless as that of a baby. She only washed in the mornings and before going to bed and applied camphor. No toner, exfoliater, none of that stuff.

I guess the water did everything. My uncle’s wife did influence my love for brands but not for makeup, well so I thought at first.

When I was still living with my graceful grandmother my mother would visit us and I enjoyed watching her take a bath. I still remember all the beauty products she used because I had made a promised to myself that I will use them too as soon as I turned 16. She used Ponds for her face and Dove to wash it. At that time Ponds didn’t have a Face Wash hence the use of Dove.

I loved how she applied the Ponds in her face, the way she moved her hands and patted her face was too beautiful of a thing it made me admire her. My mother is a very beautiful, strong woman just like my grandmother. She used Perfect Choice for her hair. The women in my family somehow have long beautiful hair which I don’t have. Lord knows why. So my mom at that time had long, black, shinny hair that smelt like olives meet lavender. I never could comprehend the smell but it was breathtaking.

I told the 8 year old me that I will have skin as beautiful as my mothers. And I did for a while till this year. Let me let you in. When I turned 16 I was given the right to use any beauty product I wanted and of course I had to fulfil my child hood dream so I chose Ponds, Normal to Oily Skin because my skin is somewhat very oily.

For the past 5 years, I am turning 22 December; I have been a loyal customer to Ponds just like I have been to Nivea. It treated my skin so well I only had skin breakouts when it was that time of the month. Other than that my skin was perfect just like my grandmothers and my mothers. All was well and perfect.

I love magazines and they are good company but somehow they have a bad way of influencing our thoughts regarding beauty and somehow we women tend to take whatever advice we get from them and forget that we have different skin. What may work for my white sister can’t work for me. What may work for my black sister can’t work for me. And as for me beauty products that were never tasted on black people are just waste of money.

I love Elizabeth Arden and I believe that it has beautiful products, which is what women need. The makeup is perfect. Consequently, sometime this year I attended the Elle Editor’s Breakfast in Hyde Park and I was more excited about getting the Elizabeth Arden goodie bag than I was about the actual breakfast. It was worth a good R1000 so you understand the excitement.

During that breakfast we had beauty if not skin consultants from the beauty company who used some very scientific machine to scan, if that what it does, our faces. You put your face in that square box and it shows your face,,,, differently. Different as in like alien different. There’s a green light and that light detects any skin problem you might have. With me it detected the oiliness of my skin and dark spots around my nose which are caused by the oiliness. I can explain that better to you because I already knew it.

After that the consultant gave me 3 products. A Skin Balancing Exfoliating Cleanser (the name is long because it’s purportedly suppose to balance, exfoliate and cleanse your skin), Optimizing Skin Serum (I don’t know what a serum is even though ELLE’s Beauty Editor Lynette Botha has written about it a gazillion times I still don’t know what it really does) and then they gave me the Skin Illuminating Smooth and Brighten Emulsion (which I must say hasn’t made sense to me even today)

See, before receiving these products, I had gone on twitter 2 months prior to announce that I have outgrown Ponds and I was ready to say my goodbyes and grow up. I was introduced to Avon’s Solution beauty range by the security officer at the institution I intern for. She sells Avon so I thought she knew best. And she knew best. I bought the face wash, toner, day cream and night cream and it was good for my skin. My skin was much toned even though it didn’t contain the oil but it looked bright and healthy as I want my skin to be.

But then came the internationally recognised Elizabeth Arden and who says no to that? I didn’t throw my Solution range away I just kept it. For a week I was excited to be using an expensive beauty brand. But every day when I had to use it I had to consult the manual because I didn’t understand what was what and what was used before what. It wasted my time.

3 weeks down the line I realised that my skin was becoming toned but oilier. I currently stay in Pretoria and this side is very hot, I’m talking about 30 -34 degrees, so imagine the face sweating. But still I loved how soft it made my skin but I just became darker and oily daily and for two months I hoped my skin would get used to it and perhaps change but it didn’t.

Two weeks ago I started hearing people tell me that I was becoming darker. “You should stop using whatever makeup you are using” “when I first met you, you were a yellow bone what happened?”

People started raising questions but it was Elizabeth Arden you guys and it was worth a R1000 so I was not ready to part ways with it. But my skin comes first, and being the perfectionist I am, I had to do what’s best for it.

So I packed it all up and went to Pick n Pay to buy Ponds. Within 3 days my skin was back to its natural light and the oil remains where it belongs, inside. I still use Elizabeth Arden’s cleanser together with Solutions cleanser and toner and then topple it up with Ponds and be good to go.

I am glad I experienced this at just 21 because now I know for sure that not all products are good for everybody. Just because it’s expensive and popular amongst beauty editors, that doesn’t guarantee that it will work for me. I learned the hard way. My mother still uses Ponds, my uncle’s wife will never stop over using makeup, so it seems, and for now I am happy with Ponds too. It might not be the most expensive product in the beauty shelves but it knows a thing or two about black skin and that’s what I exactly need. A product that accommodates my black skin.

Yes mother, you can say I told you so now.

Rihanna go Glamour

2013-10-02T14:18:00.000+02:00

"Our" fashion Idol Rihanna does it again. This time she covers the Glamour magazine November issue. She talkes about everything from her friends, being misunderstood, her reality show and her dont-give-a-dime- attitude which we love. We love the curly hair.

She back

2013-10-02T14:08:00.001+02:00

Rihanna is coming to South Africa on the 13th of October (next week). I am beyond excited so I had to buy myself a Rihanna branded tank top to wear.

You know girls do eat right?

Spotted with DJ Sbu

It's spring I know but I am in love with black this season. I can wear it all day and night long even to bed.

Alysia Harris - That Girl

2013-09-06T10:31:00.001+02:00

#Vogue #TheSeptemberIssue #2013 #JenniferLawrence

2013-08-27T16:18:00.000+02:00

We all have a thing for our "girl next door" Jennifer Lawrence. The Hunger Games star looked rather elegent and mature in her Vogue September cover. Besides the fact that pictures were taken by the great Mario Testino, Jennifer is a star to be reckoned with.

Alek Wek_Vogue-Black

2013-08-26T11:16:00.001+02:00

The Oversized Sweater

2013-08-21T08:44:00.000+02:00

This look was inspired by the girls from Made in Chelsea. I love that reality show because of the way the young ladies execute clothes and how they make an odd sweater a stylish item to have. UK for me has the best fashion and style sense. Anything goes in the UK and that allows people to wear what they want but still look stylish

ELLE SA Editor's Breakfast

2013-08-19T12:13:00.000+02:00

Jackie Burger's shoes

The amazing ELLE SA Editor, Jackie Burger

Selfie and Jackie

When I received my invite to attend the ELLE SA Editors breakfast in Hyde Park, I was beyond thrilled. It came in time when I needed to just leave my office and find new stimulus outside. Southern Sun Hyde Park Hotel hosted us on the 16^th of August.

My first impression when I walked in at the hotel (I was a little bit late) was, “wow pretty women all over.” I grabbed a sit and I was sited opposite Poppy Evans who is the Fashion Editor at ELLE. I am a huge fan of Poppy. I love the way she execute fashion in the magazine and I also appreciate her eye for fashion. She told us that she has been with ELLE for seven years now. That’s a long time and her way of writing and conveying fashion in words shows that she has been around for quite some time now.

The great Jackie Burger, who I consider to be the Anna Wintour of South African fashion, was sited in a table next to mine. When she grabbed the mic to tell me to introduce myself to the ladies, I honestly didn’t know where to start because part of me wanted to scream “I am a huge fan of you” but then again we don’t do that. We try not to be too astounded and contain ourselves.

The breakfast went pretty well. We talked about anything that is everything, from SA Fashion to beauty to magazines. The ladies there were amazing. They were fun to be around and had warm hearts. I felt at home, with people who understood my love for fashion and beauty.

Elizabeth Arden was part of the breakfast and of course we received goodie bags worth R1000 and had time to consult with Elizabeth A consultants who scanned our faces. It’s amazing how we think everything is fine with our faces simply because we don’t have any breakouts. What I saw in that machine really scared me. From now on I will take using my night cream serious. No more “I am tired excuses.”

I had a one-on-one talk with Jackie where she gave advice about my possible future as a feature writer and it was amazing that she had the time and love to listen to me and be nice. She is such an amazing, graceful, stylish woman.

Add that to the collection

2013-08-13T09:47:00.004+02:00

I am in love with my new find.
This little dark purple Outspoken by Fergie is my new baby and it smells devine.
A little does go a long way and it keeps you smelling fresh all day long. The bottle says it all, sexy, outspoken but yet classy with opulance.

The Dress That Changed My Life.

2013-08-05T12:25:00.001+02:00

When I first went to sister Uzo for measurements, I had a vivid picture of what the dress would look like. Of course the bride had a picture to show us. Since it’s her wedding she chose color champagne for our dresses which suits the black and white theme well.

The bride is my dearest cousin and I am one of her bridesmaids and this is the very first time that I will be a bridesmaid. Excited, I am. See I couldn't go to my matric dance out of choice and last year on my 21^st I didn't have a birthday party out of my choice again. So I denied myself the teenage hood right of wearing an evening gown.

So the first and last time that I wore an evening gown was back in 2010. I was in my gap year and out of boredom I decided to enter Miss Cloverden beauty pageant which was a disaster. I came second princess and there were no prices for us, not even a sash. That’s how scantily organised it was. The dress I had worn was something hired.

I consider myself to be a very classy person and I promise myself that when I earn more than I need I will have as many Cavalli, Chanel, YSL evening gowns to wear even when I’m just relaxing in my posh mansion.

There’s something about evening dresses that whispers class and sophistication and I long for that. So after doing my measurement for the bridesmaid dress I was averse to be excited because I am hardly a fan of weddings.

Two months later the dress was ready for fitting and the first thing I said when I saw it was, “this is the essence of my body.” With my Naomi Campbell skinny size 30 figure and my 1.78 frame I hurried to change into it. The strong silk that touched my body with delicacy put a smile on my face and made me feel like I was wearing the same lace Cleopatra wore. The net beneath the umbrella of the dress called me to safety. The corset lace made me feel French, ala Coco Chanel.

The color of the dress couldn't be any fitting to my moment of growth. A color close to white which is purity, a color of tranquility. I instantly felt like a real princess from those Cinderella stories. It made my body sway and float in the air. I felt free in it. Free from the repressions of teenage hood. I felt like I was in an instigation to womanhood. It was as if I can just fly to any place in the world and be me and beautiful. It reminded me that I am a young woman who under the vulnerability is free.

That dress, made me feel like a queen who can be and do whatever she desires. In that dress I felt like the person I want to be. I wanted to wave like the queen of Britain. I needed a red carpet. I saw a red carpet in my sharp imagination and I was the queen of my own jungle, filled with love, power and grace. A strong queen who lives to love and give. Who lives to advance her spiritual-self to achieve closeness with God. In that dress I saw a me that is, that is to be. I saw my dream of being more and living in abundance. I saw the beauty of life. I was Lady Khumalo in that dress, till Uzo disturb me by saying, “well you can take it off now, I need to alter it and fix the zipper then you can collect it before the wedding day.”

Today's boots

2013-07-22T12:11:00.003+02:00

Hold my hand

2013-07-17T11:30:00.002+02:00

Winter can be a little bit tricky when it comes to showing off the little pieces you have in your wardrobe. So here are some tips on how to:
1. Wear a neutral polo neck with your bold neck piece.
2. Wear leather gloves that leave space and doesn't cover up your wrist, so you can wear your watch, bracelets and cuffs.

Baby it's cold outside

2013-07-17T11:23:00.003+02:00

Coat : Daniel Hechter
Scarf : Mr Price
Shoes : Rage

Coco Chanel 1969 Interview - Part 1/2

2013-07-16T10:42:00.001+02:00

K'NAAN - Take A Minute (Mandela Day)

2013-07-16T10:07:00.001+02:00

The Love they get from the dress

2013-06-10T12:38:00.002+02:00

My Winter

2013-06-05T12:18:00.003+02:00

What’s there to love about winter? One writer queried. Well, there’s plenty actually. There’s the liberation you get when you wake up in the mornings (after several attempts) , of knowing that regardless of your skin imperfections you can still look stylish in those bulks of tights, scarfs, and oh, trench coats, they come in handy when you want to hide that 2 kg you’ve just gained. I love having to wear what I feel contented in, and winter grants me that freedom.

I love wearing stockings, black ones only because they’re sexy. But because I stay in Pretoria, it is not practical for me to wear my black stockings in a 30ᶜ blazing hot city, I only wear them winter.

I love winter because I can get away with the UK boots trend. See that trend we all love but just can’t follow because of our hot weather. Boots and an above the knee dress or skirt. You can’t wear that summer because you will look like a city girl meets driller. So when our chilly winter comes, we get to play around with that look. It’s chic and we deserve it. I love winter because I can eat anything I want. I love beautiful, warm food, and during winter I eat without feeling guilty.

I save the guilt for summer. It is only in winter that you can eat a bunny chow twice a day and not notice any avoidable weight gain. It is only in winter that you even get away with wearing different-colour-socks and still pretend as if life is normal and nothing is in the wrong. Winter is great; it allows you to have an excuse of staying indoors and not going out. I mean you can just say it’s cold and save having to explain why you don’t want to go to News Café. It gives you the freedom to dodge the outdoors and have the entire day to catch up with the Basket Ball Wives

You wouldn’t get that time if it were summer and you can go to a street braai or food festival.

Winter is not bad at all, it is only bad when it is gone because then you realise that you have put on some weight and you don’t even have time to visit your personal trainer. Other than that, it’s perfect, you can even get away with wearing your boyfriend’s jacket. They’re romantically warm.

Cleopatra Days

2013-05-21T10:07:00.002+02:00

www.vogue.com

Life Style Events

2013-05-20T15:34:00.001+02:00

I am so excited about a lot of things this June, you guys. My diary is full of life style events. If you know me you will know I love me some good wine and beautiful food. So first on my June diary is the Oyster, Wine and Food Festival in Randburg.

I am so excited, and I am going to drag the boyfriends with me. I know they will “enjoy it” because, they don’t like oysters. Well I and my girl Khethelo will enjoy seeing them not enjoy it. And besides I want to try lot of different food this time. Less wine and more food.

Date : 1-2 June 2013

Venue: Brightwater Commons Shopping Centre

http://www.brightwatercommons.co.za/

Next, is Khanyi Dhlomo’s new venture. If you haven’t heard, she has a new store ,if I may, opening up soon. So she is touring her pop up store around the country. Since I am based in Pretoria I will attend it here. I am super excited. I know for a fact that Luminance (the name of the store) will sell high end items. That means expensive items. Lol. But I am looking forward to the browsing and they will be offering styling too.

Venue: 131 on Herbert Baker Boutique Hotel, 131 Herbert Baker Street, Groenkloof Pretoria

Date: 7-9 June 2013

http://luminanceonline.com/trunk-shows/ for more

The other events are more corporate but I am just excited. June is not here yet but it will be a great month for me.

2013-04-29T12:51:00.002+02:00

I dont want to give you the wrong impression

Well….. her Majesty Rihanna always does it for me. If it’s not the oversized sweater she is rocking, it’s the black cap. I am not a sporty person. I’ve always said that I am a girly girl who can’t stand sweaters, sneakers and caps. But these days I find myself indulging in All Star sneakers; over-sized sweaters (stole one from my boyfriend). And I must tell you, that it is as girly as that pink dress of mine I got for my first date (well that was years ago, but still). I am in love with the tom boyish trend and Rihanna, as my fashion idol, has done me justice in inspiring me.

But what Rihanna does best though, is that she rocks her black cap with an umbrella skirt and heels. Yes, she makes the sporty cap look classy.

To Celia Khumalo

2013-04-26T10:07:00.003+02:00

There will come a day
When the fear of death will be the favorite joke
Passed amongst corpses,
And they’re already laughing
My love, please don’t be afraid, but there will come a day
When field mice play in our empty sockets
When our bones become homes for living creatures other than our egos
When time jostles our skeletons out of the composition that is me and you
Will write with us, love letters that spell I owe you eternity
If we believe in life after death
Then I often wonder why we assume the dead like coffins
When people were never meant to live in boxes
So I pray that our children have the good sense to leave us a little wiggle room
Leave us exposed like stray dogs in a thunderstorm
I will hear the breeze, but not know it as the breeze
I will feel the rain, but not know it as the rain
I will behold the sky, but not know it as the sky
Instead, I will hear the breeze and think it is your laugh returning to the hearth of my ear
I will feel the rain and think it is the pinprick of your kiss
When the rain is tender I will know that something has softened you
When the rain is violent I will know that something has shaken you
In this newfound understanding without eyes or ears or hands or lips
Our bare bones will make love in the dirt, never knowing our nakedness
Imagine, a course wind cursing through a calligraphy of weeds
In our disrepair we have grown gardens of ourselves
Sprouts of curious grass shooting from my eye sockets
Our knuckles, hard, smooth skipping stones meant for child’s play
The devilish sun picking its way through your missing teeth
Neither one of us can keep from smiling these days
The days go unnoticed and the nights go unslept
We talk with our souls through the holes in our ribs where organs once sat
Imagine, your skull in mine both reduced to grins
Both washed clean of our skins and our sins
Growing young again
Forgetting why we ever wrinkled or why we ever furrowed our brow
With the plow, the plow of anger
Become dust with me, insignificant and everywhere
For I will love you, even after your marrow has become a whisper
Your bones, nothing but the snickering of gravel
With the sunk and the spaces that are shadows
Whats behind your skeleton, laced with mine
I will tie your soul on my ankles and know what it’s like to step into a dream
You will tie on my backbone, see how bad it hurt the day you said you were calling it quits
I don’t remember why you left, or why you came back
I don’t know how many years have passed
Not really sure years passed at all
All I know is the rain falls, you kiss me like a rainfall
The sun, it bleaches us clear and everyday is a romance
All this to say we’re already laughing
There is a wedding of earthworms and pebbles
Waiting in our tuxedo skeletons, the wrong fit
There is place for our faces to lie, planted besides, forever smiling
There is a place, where we can be still and in love
There exists a place, where we can still be in love
Just two gentle skulls.
by Alysia Harris

Celia Khumalo, My Grandmother

2013-04-26T09:11:00.001+02:00

Having been raised by my late grandmother, I can attest to grandmothers not only imparting wisdom to young girls, but also a sense of style which comes with grace. I was raised by my beautiful grandmother and at some point I considered her to be my mother because she was more around me than my mother.

My grandmother was everything a woman should be. She was gorgeous, smart, serene, optimistic, loving, caring and sophisticated. Yes she was the most stylish woman I have ever met. At a tender age of 50-62, I remember how she would comb her long, grey hair. She never relaxed it though but it was always straightened and soft…. Wonder how she did that…. I would watch her take a bath more than twice a day, she would tell me that “ as a woman, you have to bath before going to bed. Your grandfather doesn’t bath because he is lazy and doesn’t appreciate the beauty of being a man, so you have to appreciate the beauty of being a woman.”

Everyday was a dress-up day for her. She would, after cleaning the house and over seeing that the farm goes well, she would bath and wear her tribal-printed dress with a nicely tied turban. She always put emphasize in moisturizing your hands. She had beautiful, lenient yet strong hands.

My grandmother had all the trendiest items, well she was not aware of that but she had this fur coat that was to die for. Apparently my grandfather bought it for her. I wanted to take it when she passed on but I was only 13 at that time and it couldn’t fit well.

Going to church was like going to a fashion -show -intimate -dinner date with God. With vanity my grandmother would wear her nicely tailored skirt, heels, a small clutch which had a bible and Vaseline ( for her lips). She looked so pretty. I admired that. I wanted to be like her. I always said when I grow up I will dress up like her.

My grandmother didn’t understand women who never took a shower, she would say “one doesn’t need to be going somewhere to bath and look nice, like a woman”

My grandmother did everything with poise, panache, dignity and style. Regarding of how busy she was with running a big family, a farm and my grandfather who was more of a child, lol, she still had time to be beautiful. She made time to be pretty out of all the madness.

When I last saw her in hospital, her hair was still long, her lips, softly curled, her hands strong, her smile wide and she said to me, “You shouldn’t have came, I am fine, go home and PRAY”

My grandmother is not just my protagonist, my role model, my goddess; she is my fashion and style icon. She was here as an elegant, phenomenal woman, she lived and she loved.

A Link To Think About This Freedom Day

2013-04-26T08:39:00.002+02:00

http://heitatut.co.za/2013/vol5no3/

Camo

2013-04-24T11:12:00.003+02:00

I promised you that I was going to abuse this cute camo shirt of mine. I love this shirt so much I wake up at night just to check if it's still there. I love it also because it seems like I am currently the only person here in Pretoria who is rocking this camo trend so hard.