Monochrome // The Bold Fashion Statement

"Black compromises everything. So does white. They posses absolute beauty: they are in perfect harmony." - Coco Chanel

Monochrome is a timeless trend that dates back centuries but more famously brought to life by Coco Chanel around 1926

 with the Little black dress and the Lady Suit. Before this, monochrome was popularised by "The Suit": the male attempt at "getting dressed up" (This made me chuckle!). With black being the traditional colour worn to funerals and white the purity of a matrimonial ceremony, it was uncommon to have the two brought together (unless in uniform) as a fashion statement . In the case of Coco Chanel , she killed two birds with one stone. A legendary fashion statement was made as well as the breaking down of gender stereotypes in fashion . The notion that women could not where suits  (especially the black and white suit traditionally worn by men) was shut down. A win for fashion. A win for the females. ( whoa. I feel my feminism creeping into this post. Ha). The trend paved way for structured, masculine pieces for women as well as bold prints that gave the 1920s mini dresses a twist. Monochrome has always given me a since of edge, a bit of gies to strut my duck walk down that flippen street. Come summer, autum, winter and spring.. monochrome is no trouble fitting into your wardrobe for all the seasons. Mixing and matching different shades of a colour (because we all know monochrome is not just black and white, right ladies and gents?)  to tone you down or give you that edge or even when it's just the easiest thing to put together when you are lazy/late, monochrome will always be your go-to trend.

My top monochrome influences (local and international) have to be :

1. Black Coffee by Jaques van der Watt
The Imprint Summer 2013 range at SA Fashion Week 2013 and his summer 2014 range had monochrome pieces with bold, geometric patterns and print that left me teary-eyed they were so gorgeous !

2. Alexander Wang
Am I the only one who thinks of this genius when I think of monochrome? I shouldnt be. Personally Alexander's monochrome aesthetic is what made me fall head-over-heels in love with his creations.

Erykah Badu x Ricardo Tisci

"You a Bad(u) girl and your friends Bad(u) too ! Oh, you got that swag sauce, you drippin' swag-goo !"

My love and obssession for this woman will never waver . Whether she's belting out sultry tunes or making a fashion statement with her headwraps or  high top hats looking like she stepped out of the Dallas, Texas version of Alice in Wonderland, Mama Badu is always on point. She embodies the whole "Listen I love this piece and I'm gonna rock it in the most unconventional way and slay" look , something I aspire to be as my sense of style evolves .

Erykah was named the face of the Givenchy Spring 2014 campaign. We see her rocking her signiture afro to quickly transitioning to sleek hair and that quirky top hat in the campaign shoot and looking nothing short of a goddess.

In recent internet news ( that I stumbled across on tumblr ) Creative Director for Givenchy, Ricardo Tisci and Mama Badu did a spread for Paper Mag ( Yes, the same one that Kim did the nude shoot for - which she slayed tbh ) . The snaps taken at a train station, had some "lumming with the homie" type vibe and then that one shot that had a hot and steamy lovers scenario going on which I absolutely loved ! Here, Ricardo reveals how Erykah is one of his idols and the definition of style. He goes on to say, I quote "
Erykah is the perfect Givenchy woman. She has that ambiguity, that contrast of high-end fashion meeting street culture. She'll wear an haute couture dress with Nike sneakers without ever doubting the association". Erykah Badu undoubtly embodies unconventional glamour and oozes raw elegance . (read more about it here ) .

Pictures by Theo Wenner

Bobbi Brown Pretty Powerful South Africa // Inspirational women

This is pretty cool for those of you like myself who find peace and joy in seeing accomplished women getting out there and perfecting their hustle and still looking damn beautiful whilst they are at it. This series of Pretty Powerful women has inspired me to perfect my art so I to one day can touch the hearts of young ambitious girls like myself.




                

Walking Into Summer | Cotton On Buys

As Cape Town has basically throttled full force into summer, my wardrobe has been lagging breathlessly behind. I've found myself struggling to put together proper outfits that fit my stylish personna. I've even caught myself rumaging through my 13 year old sister's wardrobe. What I expect to find there ? Please don't ask but desperate times call for desperate measures .

So I've been bargin shopping and scouting as well as basically digging for gold in the dump that is my wardrobe . Which found me bagging rad pinafores and a boho chic style dress that I had thrifted years ago and I'm so thrilled to have found use for again ( will do a post on those later) . Anyway so I popped into Cotton On this weekend ( which ALWAYS  has great deals by the way ! ) and went straight to the shoe section because I realised that I wouldnt be able to pull of my All Stars with every single oufit this season ( my style has totes evovled from that ! )  . I found a prettier version of the now in trend Ugly Sandal as well as these cute black mini platfroms both for 300 bucks. I was so stoked!

My quest for a boho chic summer wardrobe is well underway !

Bless x

Outfit Post | The turtle neck vs. The maxi-length skirt

" I apologise for waiting to tell you for so long.. I am not human . I am made of bacon, fairytales, pixie dust .. I dont feel. "

Basically all items are either thrifted, passed down or borrowed.

Bless.

Dear diary | Ninja or nah ?

So last week I was dubbed a "black hippie" by a friend. He deduced this or rather came to the conclusion from the contents of my blog and mind ( which he now and again enjoys picking and vice versa - bless you sweet Theodore! ) .

My first reaction to this was  to be offended honestly. My cliche argument being why BLACK hippie and not just hippie ? Since when is eccentricity a colour ? Why class me according to my race ? You know what i mean ?
Truthfully im not even too joyous about the classification of hippie. Because today being classified "a hippie" is more of a fashion compliment than an appreciation/recognition for your serene outlook on life or your immense love for everything beautiful or even your strong belief in right and wrong , moral and immoral and your willing-ness to fight for that notion.

I am far from hippie. I lust for immorality more than I strive for morality . There's always something that feels right when doing something wrong. I have far too many perspectives on life and all its shenanigans to be a do gooder. So even though my dear friend passed me the compliment ( in his arguement I understood why it  was a compliment  and thanked him regardless ) , I think I will pass on the "black hippie" title . I see no colour and I could never be classified.

So a couple of weeks ago I woke up wanting to be a ninja . See that's an occupation rather than a classification - fictional or not ! Anyway .. I felt like channeling Left Eye from TLC (may her soul rest in peace) and MichealAngelo .. because teenage mutant ninja turtles duh ! These two will always be the sheeez nacks to me . Left Eye when she'd spit those "i feeeeel you guurl!" type verses (Waterfalls x TLC) and MA for making me wish I could kick bad guy butt .

So I doned the faux beauty spot and badly done signiture Left Eye patch by .. Left Eye. There was equally badly done make-up but hey who gives ? Im not one for the face paint anyway. The end result was my interpretation of a ninja .. A Thando ninja , Love Ninja . Ha.

Bless you for finding my ramblings interesting enough to read through .

Erykaah. Because Bad-gals-Du

It just dawned on me that in all my 11 blog posts (ha. pathetic, I do apologise to my frequent blog viewers), I have not once mentioned Erykah. Erykah she who gives me LIFE. Erykah she who opened my mind to PERSPECTIVE. Erykah she who got me through my first HEARTBREAK. Erykah aka Medulla Oblongata aka Annie aka Analogue girl in a digital world aka The Mothership. By now I'm sure I've exhausted my point. I stan Erykah hence the blog title.

Most of you have probably heard Mama Badu sing but just didn't know it was her. " Oh My My, Im Feeling High" the line that is most likely to ring a bell, from the track On and On. If that doesnt ring a bell, the remember that house track we were all jamming to December 2012 with the repetitive line of "Bomamama" ? Yeahp that was a remix of Mama Badu's track ! " And if you didn't know well now you KNOW !" , glad to have enlightened you.

I decided to share with you the track Window Seat because of the message she tries to convey. One that I think is very important and especially relevant to youth.  Erykah is protesting group-think . What is "Group-think" you ask ? It's a group of people that exist in confinement and would ostracize/assassinate anyone who would dare step out of this confinement/be different in terms of their actions and beliefs or for having their own thoughts, their own will.. Just generally for being their own person. We see Mama Badu walking down the street stripping her clothes off (symbolizing her getting rid of all the layers that people that she should have been wearing or doing) with of course dumb-founded stares and stares of disapproval shooting at her from all direction . We see the word evolving  painted on her back simply meaning (in my interpretation) that we as humans are ever evolving in terms of our beliefs , in terms of our direction and especially breaking away from "THE direction" . We are evolving in terms of being able to accept anything besides the norm.

This is something I feel very strongly about and struggle with myself. Therefore I felt it was necessary to share this. Check the link for a further breakdown from Mama Badu Herself.

Bless.

Jam Of The Day : Vic Mensa - Down On My Luck

Internal walks.

5 Things that have "touched" me in some way these past  couple of weeks.

1. Eve Ensler's Play, I Am An Emotional Creature
2. Late Movie shenanigans with the homies. ( ALWAYS )
3. Hearing my cousin was just as unsettled by my hatius from our friendship
4. uMama wam and the sacrifices she makes for me
5. And all the 10 000 other things. Im a girl. Im ALWAYS touched.

New month, self shenanigans : Outfit Post

As I rummaged through my timeless wardrobe .. I came across this super cool mini that umama bought for me at a sale five or six years ago . Of course then I thought it was super hideous but now it's unusual . I love unusual. So I love the skirt now and I just had to put on my favorite Anisa skirt. Ugh I just always feel sax in it.

Also I put on some oversized shirts and vests and rocked my over sized dungaree. Bad hair day and badly done faux freckles.. I rocked it because I can. 

Bless. 

Photographer: Olwethu Rani 

Outfits: Mini-woollies, other mini-Anisa Mpungwe mrp line, oversized vest-Mrp , Men's tshirt - Cotton On , dungaree - Cotton On , Old primary school cap , All stars and iknee highs zika mama 

Reflections

Hi it's Luthando

I'm not really sure how to start this blog post in a way that'll entice you to keep scrolling down and reading but I'll try the cliché  "life and it's relatable shenanigans has me down" route. In usual 17-year old cases, I'd be expected to look to those quote pictures for emancipation but alas they cure not the growing pains (which is what I've ignorantly diagnosed myself with).

I have been feeling jaded as of late. It's disgusting, almost as revolting as being dependant on anything/anyone besides yourself. I don't like routine. I really dislike it and ironically at this stage, my entire life is based on routine. I am a creative. But my creativity is confined and restricted by expectations placed on me and clouded by disappointments I'm always having to "get over" .

Anyway the just of this is to just sit back and reflect on what's preventing you from BEING GREAT.  EMANCIPATE YOURSELF FROM MENTAL SLAVERY as Bob Marly once sung.

Bless.

P.s I apologise for the long absence, school is hectic.