@janine_j

So. I didn’t go to the Met. I don’t really do horsey events and the thought of going to CPT to party with half of social JHB doesn’t really appeal to me (no offense). Anyways. Instead, I partied in Jozi and, on Saturday afternoon, played fashion police watched the action unfold on Twitter from the comfort of my couch. While dressed in a fetching black velour tracksuit and cartoon socks.

But, given that this is the age of the interwebs, pictures of the fab and not so fab are already everywhere. Here’s a selection of pics courtesy of Sowetan.

I’m going to keep the sartorial snipes to myself because, frankly, fashion is a personal thing and I’m sure all the Met attendees thought they looked super fab when they left their homes or hotel rooms on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s what a few fine folk wore on Saturday:

Can we please have numerous moments for this picture? My BFF Mokgadi looking gorge in a David Tlale number. Only Somizi could pull off that Tlale look and Your Girl B represented in a Gert Johan showstopper.

Phat Joe and Lelo Boyana of Just Curious fame. Who could blame him for looking a bit overwhelmed. I mean, really, look at Lelo’s body! I die deaths .. Anyways, let’s move on to more important matters: Lelo’s dress. It’s another Gert Johan triumph and there’s nothing I don’t love about it. My fashion friend Dumi Gwebu seemed undecided about the bird on the shoulder, but that’s actually what sold me on it. This, my dear people, is what happens when a designer gets the theatrical look right. And thank you, dear Lelo for keeping the styling and make up simple.

Somizi in his Tlale and the evergreen (I mean, can people just age already? I shudder to think what I’m gonna look like in my 30s with all these people setting the bar so high!) Uyanda Mbuli in DFC (I’m assuming), took home the Best Themed Couple award. Well deserved. Thank you guys for putting some effort into your look and for setting a standard. Uyanda, please wear red more often, you look fab!

Loving Miss SA Bokang’s origami hat/ fascinator thing.

The gorgeous Thembi Seete kept it simple. Over at Just Curious they’re asking who ran those shoes better: Bonang or Thembi.

The oh-so-hot Stoan, his friend #SpeedysTowel and the towel’s date, Speedy.

Yes, I have a day job. I’m a features writer at ELLE magazine and my first feature appears in the February 2011 edition.

The article, titled ‘The Mother Load’, focuses on the effect your mom’s food issues have on you.

I feel really lucky that my mom always emphasised health (and not weight/ skinniness) in our household. But, through researching for the article, I know this isn’t the case for many women.

Today in Conversations That Actually Happen in My Life, I’m going to focus on a little scene that happened at Kitchener’s on Saturday night Sunday morning. It’s 3am and Kitchener’s seemed like a logical next step after a hot night at Party People (damn you, OST for closing at 2am). I’ve had some good nights at Kitchener’s, but I was much to sober for… well, everything.

Scene: I’m dancing with Khensani, Kim and Vic. Strangers are walking past us to go … wherever.

Strange dude: [leaning in and holding my waist, indicating that he wants to pass me] Excuse me

Me: what?

Strange dude: Excuse me

Me: [removing dude’s hand that’s still holding on to my waist and stepping aside for him to pass] Please don’t touch me

Strange dude: what?

Me: Please don’t touch me. You don’t have to touch me

Strange dude: It’s not like I want you

Hold. Up.

It’s not actually about whether this person was hitting on me. He didn’t have to touch me in any way, shape or form for him to get the message across that he’d like me to move out of his way. Bottom line is, it’s my body and I should have a say in who gets to touch or not touch me. This scene, which couldn’t have been more than two minutes long, speaks volumes about how women’s bodies are public property. Would Strange Dude have touched a male stranger in the club while trying to navigate his way through the crowd? Methinks not.

Completely irrational RT @shellzbellz25: janine_j because for some reason people have this irrational fear that (cont) http://tl.gd/8ejf6e

Mokgadi, Thulane and I at last night’s ICE watch launch

Last night I went to Taboo for the official South African launch of ICE watches. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the colourful watch trend… I sport my bold TOY Jelly watch with pride. A bright watch is a great accessory as it adds a bit of punch to any outfit, even if your style veers towards the more classic and structured.

So, as you can imagine, I was very excited to see that ICE would be entering the local market.

Ooooh! Look at all the pretty colours

This watch brand hasn’t been on the market for long - it was born in 2007 - but it’s taken the world by storm. According to the official press release, more than 3 million watches were sold by the end of last year at the rate of 5 watches per minute. That’s a lot of watches.

So it was no surprise to see Joburgers come out in droves to ooh and aah over the trendy timekeeper. The press conference started at 6pm and the launch itself began at 7pm. I don’t often go to Taboo, but it was a fab venue. There were speeches, performances, great canapes (much-needed as I was starving), an open bar (also much-need. I was thirsty), handing out of watches (yay!), cool people - all the right ingredients for a great event. Thanks for the invite, Farah!

Now back to the most important bit - the watch. The watch is available in 100 different colours and, because it’s relatively affordable, it’s a great item to get if you’re into collecting. The packaging - it comes in this cute money-box case - is also really cool.

Cute packaging!

My pretty pink ICE watch.

Where can you get yours? Joburg: Sandton City, Eastgate Mall and (soon) Menlyn Mall. Cape Town: Canal Walk.

The beautiful Chanel Iman stars in ELLE UK’s presentation of the Spring/ Summer ready-to-wear collections. These are some of my favourite looks… Behold!

PRADA:

CHLOE & GIORGIO ARMANI:

FENDI:

CHANEL & LANVIN:

D & G:

MIU MIU & MOSCHINO:

Can we please have a moment? These Dior lovelies are in the latest edition of ELLE UK. The rest of the shoe spread was just as sensational. One day is one day, indeed. Sigh.

Had too much fun! Way too much! #ICEwatch launch @fcfortune is boss!

Glad it’s not my job, but much respect and well wishes to my journ comrades covering this story. Can’t be easy, but y’all holding it down

‘People talk about the good old days. Old, perhaps, but not all that good’ @Karl_Lagerfeld

The second edition of Pop’Africana has just hit shelves and it’s a hot something.

For those who don’t know, Pop’Africana is a bi-annual art and fashion mag founded by Oroma Elewa in 2008, which focuses on culture, fashion, lifestyle, amazing stuff magazine created by Africans. This edition includes features on fashion designer Duro Olowu and model Nina Keita.

But then again, doesn’t she always? The 20-year-old vampire movie actress, Kristen Stewart covers the February 2011 edition of American Vogue mag looking beautiful, but ….zzzzzZZZZZZZZZ….

Thula Sindi gets much deserved props in the latest copy of ARISE magazine.

I’m totally in love not only with Thula’s designs, but also his mind. He’s incredibly funny and warm and sweet, even though he’s always accusing me of being a liker of things (oh, yes, I actually am one, right?).

Here are some highlights from the interview:

On his own appearance: ‘I’m not what people expect. I like Ann Demeulemeester, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen - their work is different from the person. You can’t be a user and a dealer. I’m comfortable with who I am.’

On simple dressing: ‘No one should look like a mob wife spending the crack money on Fendi and Gucci furs.’

On his design ethic: ‘When I make a collection, I think about the women in my life - my mum, or a client I care about. I don’t want to dress madams. I want people to look at my clothes and say “I can wear that next week”. Most of my customers are over 30. They’ve bought the clothes they need, now they’re buying the clothes they want.’

Oh, and Thula, if you’re reading this (I know how much you love ‘silent blogging’), let’s arrange a sit down interview soon?

Model Millen Magese in Thula Sindi.

 The ELLE South Africa girls received their Lanvin for H&M packages in December.

Recently, two new interviews featuring Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz hit the internet, on Paper and New York magazines.

Here are some highlights:

On Lanvin’s 2011 pre-fall show:

I see Internets every morning — I don’t have an e-mail address and, you know, I don’t do Internet, but every morning my boyfriend, Alex, makes me coffee and we watch these images. And more and more I see these stylish women wearing all these evening dresses for day, and I thought, how beautiful. So it’s not just about the nice gray sweater and the nice, I don’t know, that nice straight skirt, but it’s becoming a little bit more elaborated during the day.

 On his inspiration:

The pre-collection doesn’t really start from an inspiration; it doesn’t start from a trip to India. It starts more with needs and desire and dressing women; wardrobe. And more and more I see women saying to me that they don’t go out at night much, but that they love all these flamboyant dresses to be worn during the day. And I’m saying it’s almost like those amazing dishes that we only serve when we have guests. So use it every day; use it in the morning, use it when you feel like, use it when you’re by yourself. So this is the story.”

On luxury:

I work with intuition, I make mistakes and for me that’s the process of creative work. To just feel that freedom is for me the definition of luxury. It’s not your address, it’s not the size of your apartment, it’s not the label you are wearing… it’s that freedom. That’s what we — you and I — have in common actually; that we have that luxury that I call freedom.

On design:

There is nothing intellectual about what I do for a living. I think the biggest danger today in fashion is that people think we are in show business. But it’s not show business. We are dressmakers and coat makers, and we have to be here to cater to people and help them look and feel good. It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s about making people comfortable. As a designer who is not exactly skinny, I am very sensitive to comfort because I am not comfortable anywhere or with anything.

My lovely colleague Cheska was literally shaking when she opened her Lanvin for H&M package. What a dress, right?

On Lanvin for H&M:

It was an experiment. I wanted to learn something from it. I felt that there is a huge group of people who never could afford Lanvin. I didn’t really want to make Lanvin cheaper, though, but I decided I was going to try to turn H&M into luxury.

I was not sure that it was right for me to do it because I was trained in luxury and this is my know-how and domain. I’m a dressmaker and I am doing things that are expensive not because I feel like putting a big price tag on everything but more because I work in a laboratory. In order to make one piece, I have to make seven or eight of them, and because we work in Paris and not off-shore somewhere, we pay taxes. Because we are working with people who are thinkers, because we are trying to work around proportion, fabric and cuts. And if it takes a group of 60 people to make 50 pieces in two months, that’s our job. To find answers to questions is what we do for a living. So basically the whole exercise with H&M was to see if it was possible to make a luxury brand for $69.99.

On women:

I think that women have gotten stronger. I’m not talking about more powerful — there is a big difference between power and strength. I think men are powerful, I think women are strong. When you are powerful, you buy, you sell, you have it, you lose it, it’s external; and I think that strength comes from a different place. It’s internal.

Pics via ELLE.co.za and Style.com.

I stumbled across this blog, CIAAFRIQUE, quite recently and I immediately fell head-over-heels in love with it.

It’s run by Ciaa, from Mali, who currently lives in Toronto. She was inspired to start her blog because she struggled to find information about African designers and fashion online.

I visit CIAAFRIQUE for updates on African fashion, models, stylists and editorials. It also has these cute ‘Inspired by Africa’ posts and Polyvore inspiration boards.

Very cute.

Let’s face it, loving Victoria Beckham isn’t easy. I spend almost as much time justifying my love for her as I do admiring her fantastic style. Sadly, there’ll always be people who see her as a chav-tastic WAG and not as the fashionista, brand guru and queen of reinvention she actually is.

Mrs Beckham appears on the February 2011 cover of Vogue UK looking soft and feminine. The Vogue team must be over the moon that this cover coincides with Victoria’s announcement that she’s expecting her fourth child (please, dear fashion gods, let this be a girl!).

The inside pictures and article are just as good as the cover. Victoria is, as always, warm, open and self-deprecating. She’s really come into her own.

The intro to Lisa Armstrong’s article says it all: ‘They said she couldn’t design. She proved them wrong. They said her marriage wouldn’t last. She’s just celebrated her eleventh anniversary. Victoria Beckham has confounded her critics - and then some.’

Some quotes from the interview:

On growing older with David: ‘The other morning I looked across at David just after he’d woken up and thought you look really crap. THANK GOD, because this is a man who always looked so perfect.’

On her career as a designer: ‘I don’t see this as work. At 18 I was in the Spice Girls. But I wasn’t very good, let’s be honest. I didn’t really, you know… sing. This is something I can do.’

On domesticity: ‘I can cook anything so long as it’s mince - and I don’t eat meat.’

On not being a paparazzi regular: ‘To be honest, no-one’s that interested in us - not when Tom Cruise is down the road.’

On dealing with negative press: ‘I’m a positive person. It’s never nice when people write hurtful things and as much as I say I don’t see it, I’m not stupid. But I’ve seen both sides of fame and I realise that it’s brought me a lot of opportunities. I suppose if I really cared what people say I’d have topped myself years ago.’

Same dress at the same event? Disaster! Luckily, this dress was worn at three different awards shows.

ME. Channel O Awards. 4 November 2010.

ZONKE. Metro FM Awards. 27 November 2010.

MINNIE. Feather Awards. 10 November 2010.

Zonke and Minnie both looked absolutely gorgeous. Eish, I might not have worn it well, but at least I can claim to have worn it first, right?

New Idols judge Unathi jumps rope.

I loved this shoot in February 2011’s TRUE LOVE magazine so much, I just had to share it. Actress/ general creative person Sthandiwe Kgoroge styles six of South Africa’s most talented entertainment personalities playing some of the games we’ll all remember from childhood. So cute, so quirky, so perfect.

Wanda and Sonia just chilling.

Mmabatho and Moshidi looking hella fab.

Wanda and the ever gorgeous Terry Pheto.

This year’s AFI JHB Fashion Week (autumn/ winter collections) is set to take to the streets of Joburg. That’s right, they’re moving away from the stuffy Sandton Convention Centre and exploring this beautiful, vibrant, dynamic city.

Last night I attended the official media launch at Randlords where it was revealed that the fashion showcase will have different iconic venues - from Fashion Kapitol to the Nelson Mandela Bridge. Can. Not. Wait.

Seen at last night’s media launch:

Malcolm Kluk and Christian Gabriel du Toit.

Mpho, Tebogo and Tshepo Lerole (Kwela Tebza).

Aspassia Karras and Noni Gasa.

Thula Sindi.

DJ Zinhle and friend.

Pics via SDR.