Celebrating the Olympics in Red

I have been quite surprised at my excitement at this year's Olympics. And to get into the spirit of things, I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts themed to the colours of the Olympic rings.
So let's kick off with red.
Red is such a classic- whether it be cars, fashion, wine, or decadent red velvet cake slathered in cream cheese icing. Yum.

Liv Tyler in red lips and gloves

I love classic red lips. My favourite is Russian Red by Mac which is a blue based red. And which I am wearing in this shot of me at the Habits fashion show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Cape Town last week:

And when I say "red", it also conjures up images of the red sole of the one and only Christian Laboutin shoe.

Like these. Which I will never, ever own.

And how hot would those shoes look with this red-hot dress from Zara? The racer back makes it look sporty too, so it's perfect for an Olympic themed post.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Cape Town. All the pretties.

So fashion week has come and gone in Cape Town, leaving the Mother City in it's sparkly wake.
I only attended Thursday and Friday nights so I did  miss the one show that had everyone talking- KlukCGdT, which apparently had ballerinas, and a Rapunzel and various other fairy-tale inspired beauty.
So Thursday night was King of Bling Gavin Rajah, and Jenny le Roux's Habits label which I loved.
Gavin Rajah's collection was inspired by love and poetry and the language of flowers. It floated between long, romantic, beaded gowns and pieces that looked like they belonged on a 1950's Italian holiday. He used tons of lace and truck loads of beads.
These are some of my favourites:

Habits Spring/Summer line was inspired by the movie The Artist and so Jenny le Roux sent out some flapper style dresses, and cute little hats and gloves. 

I expect we'll see more of the roaring twenties this year in fashion, with the Great Gatsby movie coming out later this year.

My absolute favourite thing I saw on the runway was a series of white, organza dresses, which had neon colours underlayed underneath. The neon was just so subtle, and layering it made it different from the rest of the neon.

You can't really see the orange underneath in this image, but it's there.

These beautiful, flowy dresses used up to 8m of fabric each. And made huge, billowy tents of loveliness when the models turned.

Thula Sindi went for tough looking leather and lace, and combined it with really feminine pieces for a "tough mommy" vibe.

And then on the more wearable, daywear front, Michelle Ludek and Ruff Tung really impressed me.

Michelle Ludek teamed up with Belinda Lee Ludek who did the jewellery-massive, bold pieces to go with her fairly simple, relaxed clothes.

Ruff Tung used a palette of orange, coral, mint, and neutrals:

I particularly loved this dress below, printed with the word Lobola and the little cows. It's a fun, tongue in cheek look at the practice of lobola (in certain South African cultures, the bride's family negotiates Labola with the groom's family before marriage).

There was so much more prettiness to love, but these were some of my favourites.

Pretty, right?

*All pics are by SDR, and are taken from the official African Fashion International website.

Look What I made Monday (On Wednesday)- Ceramic Door Knobs

It's been a crazy week and it's about to get crazier because the Mercedez Benz, Cape Town Fashion Week is in town, so I hope you forgive me for the lack of posts up on the blog lately.
I am covering fashion week for my day job and as such wont be able to put up a lot of content this week, but I'll try do a big old post on Monday with a wrap and all the details.
But back to this post.
I have been quietly collecting and stashing ceramic door knobs for my kitchen cupboards for a few months now. I had this crazy idea that I'd like a whole bunch of different ones in a bunch of different shapes and sizes. My kitchen has light oak cupboards and grey tile so is pretty neutral and could do with some sprucing up.

I needed 20-odd door handles so every time I had a spare bit of cash, I squirreled it away for door knobs. You'll be surprised at how hard it was to find warm toned ones though. Lots of greens and blues. A few pale pinks. But finally, the other day I spotted some dark coral ones in Poetry (where the majority of these actually come from) and then my collection was complete.

The previous knobs were just little round brass pulls and I don't particularly love brass. I would have preferred the finishings on the ceramic ones to have been silver to tie in to my blue/grey lounge but unfortunately most of these just come with bronze hardware bits.

So I set about with my screwdriver removing all the other ones. Only, I didn't remove them all. There are still five of the brass ones mixed in there because I can't seem to loosen the screws. They seem "soft" and when I turn the screwdriver in the grooves, bits of the screw actually come away.

I have tried trying to turn the actual knob until is comes off but that hasn't worked for me either.

So as much as I'd like to show you a whole kitchen shot to see how cute it all looks, I'm afraid I can't. Not until someone gives me a hint on how to remove those last five pesky brass ones!

In the meantime, here's an out of focus, blue spotty one:

But, in the meantime, please enjoy my recently repainted and re-ceiling-ed lounge.

The painting on the left it one of my boyfriend's artworks and the frame to the right is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, from Spineless Classics-the whole book printed in to one image- in this case, the winding yellow brick road.

Maria Lopez for Bronx Launch

Last Wednesday, Bronx launched their new line of ladies shoes, designed by Spanish shoe designer Maria Lopez.
The launch was held at Delos, a beautiful antique and lighting store in Woodstock. It's such a beautiful venue-an old church- filled with massive chandeliers.

The shoes themselves are very glitzy and glamorous. There were a lot of special occasion shoes.

Like these, which are beautiful and come in a range of colours, including black:

The shoes had a lot of interesting textures and details. Maria Lopez has used flowers, sequins, diamante and lots of satin to create her range which includes wedges (some of them are sky high so if you like a bit of height in your shoes, have a look at this range), flats and stilettos.

The range will be available in South African stores from September and online and Zando. The good news is that all shoes retail for under R500.

Mugged with Skinny laMinx

Last Thursday I headed to Cape Town designer Heather Moore’s Skinny laMinx studio for a workshop on ceramic transfers.

Nine ladies each got a mug and got to go mad with Heather’s designs which had been screen printed onto transfer paper.

The transfers are placed into water for a little while and then you move them onto the mug, remove the backing and smooth the water out.

I love Heather’s flower designs and went for a grey and yellow, floral theme.

Actually, most of us went for grey and yellow. I threw some little turquoise hearts in there too just because I could, and I liked the process of sticking things on.

My stupid camera battery died so I couldn’t take any photos. But the lovely Michelle, from itswhatiminto was there, and she took beautiful pics. Both pics in this post are hers.

This is my mug:

-The cost of the class was R275 including the cost of the materials, drinks and snacks. Heather will be hosting other classes, usually on Thursday nights, so keep an eye on her website for that.

-To check out Skinny laMinx fabric, illustrations, designs and various other prettiness, go here or visit her cute little store on Cape Town's Bree Street

-To see more of Michelle’s pics from the workshop, go here

-She also runs her own street fashion blog and to see some of that work, check out Cinder and Skylark.

Neon and Neutral

When neons came into fashion (again) a few years ago, I must admit, I ignored them. Although, I did buy those limited edition Blondie Converse with the pink laces and the zebra print. But that's because they were awesome. Not because they're neon.
But I digress. Neons are back again but this time they feel softer, a little more watery and not so brash.
And when they're paired with neutrals, the feel quite grown up.
Neon yellow and grey are fast becoming a favourite favourite.

So glam. From Around Lucia.

Hello beautiful shoes. From Jak and Jil

I love how surprising the mint is with the yellow and grey. From The Day Book Blog.

I also love a sandy, beige-y neutral with yellow:

I love this. The photo came off Pinterest and I can't find the original source so if you can identify the photographer or the designer, you get +1 morality points.

This bag from Urban Outfitters makes me want to stroke it and tell it it's pretty.

And just because I like to mix things up, here's some neon coral:

Pretty jeans at Ring My Bell. Everyone knows Breton stripe is practically a neutral!

Pretty, no?

In Full Collar

I'm loving shirts with collars at the moment. The more unusual the better.
I love lacy, crocheted ones and floppy ones and rounded ones and ones with studs on them.
Have a look:

This picture came off Pinterest and the link appeared to be broken so if anyone has a source for that shirt, or the picture, drop me a comment.

I love this sweet, ruffled affair from here but it's vintage so probably fairly once off and difficult to find.

This loveliness is by South African label Adam and Eve. If you're in SA, you can buy it from36 boutiques.

Look, her collar has a collar! Pic is by Tommy Ton at Sydney Fashion Week. I am loving that neon yellow too.

And look how lovely this blouse is. It's from here and comes in a deep, berry red and chartreuse too. And they ship worldwide!

Pretty right?