End of an era, new chapters are born.
A black ankle length jacket and a leopard fur coat. Tweed high waist wide leg pants and two pleats green pants. A black boxy top and a dress inspired by the navy, are some of the items I have collected in the past three years. As the year comes to an end, re-doing my wardrobe, packing all my winter clothing into my sacred storage suitcase and introducing my summer wear to my wardrobe, I recall an article I read last year from British Vogue on their Ageless Style July issue by Emily Sheffield, who is known for her work for Vogue for the past eight years. The article “Piece of me” starts quoting “A significant birthday means many things, but what does it mean for your wardrobe” and as I iron and fold my clothes I recall some of my best buys this year. Event after event I have been to is a symbol of my vibrant and free style evolution. I can’t recall sticking to one style or look for two events, some might say I follow trends rather than set them and others might say I adjust my look for an event. Both are true, I love trends and follow so many websites that predict new trends for each season, all four of them not just summer and winter. I also do a thorough research on the events I go to as soon as I get an invite whether it’s a fashion show, restaurant opening or an art exhibition. I like to dress up and always being introduced to the owner of these events, it is always a great feeling when they see how much input I gave to embrace their vision whether it’s for the collection, the theme or the culture for their restaurants. All my best buys are based on what I just said; the leopard fur coat was for an Italian restaurant launch, Seelan, the ankle length jacket I wore at this year’s Peace Table, the tween high waist pants I wore at the second day of MBFWCT for Thula Sindi, the two pleated green pants for Spree designer look book launch, black boxy top for BUC Fitness club launch and the navy inspired black dress was for ERKE Sea Point store launch.
Collecting clothing is one of my best attribute as a person. I love the smell of fresh clothing as much as I love the smell of vintage. Most of my clothes are bought new from everywhere, Mr Price, Jet, Ackerman’s which I call Fashion Finds. Rags to riches, the lot, Mememe, XO are some of the boutique I love and wish to buy more than I can every time when I visit. Vintage boutiques I try go to once a month as you always find something unexpected like my Chanel inspired knit and my oversized white Dior inspired blazer or even finding a 1980 Polo jacket or Monatic vintage oversized 100% cotton shirt. As I read through the article as my base for this post, I am derailed by the following quote “I wish I could say that I approach the end of my current decade, I’d listed my achievement with confidence, set goals, and felt renewed vigour. But instead an unwanted swell of chaotic memories and emotions have pulled me hither and thither, especially in the early hours between sleep and wakefulness: ghost-filled nostalgia, nagging regret and fear-fear of time running out, not enough done and the inescapable knowledge that the last 20 years zipped by, so the next 20 will, too”. Last year was a big year for Pose.ZA and this year we started off slowly but it’s been such a learning curve for me as a blogger and a brand. As it has been a great year for Pose.ZA, with many exclusives, interviews and hitting our 2nd year, it has been a regretful year for me. I have lost my best friend of all time as some of you might have guessed. I won’t indulge but as I think of it I can’t think of any quote but when Nigel tells Andrea on The Devil wears Prada “When your personal life goes into a flame that means you up for a promotion”.
I still have so much that I want to add to my collections for each season, two more fur coats for winter, an oversized knit with abstract print for autumn, a pastel sweater for spring and a skort for summer which I will be adding before end year to my collection. Is it not great to look at your clothes and remember the occasion you wore it to and reminiscing to the emotions that were involved whether it was a Polo match in some fabulous wine estate wearing a turquoise A-line skirt or a grey fur gullet at an Italian meets Cape Town art exhibition or just a baseball t-shirt with the most tiniest sports shorts at one of your best friend’s birthday party where you got so drunk that you can’t remember half of the night. “If I seem unable to take stock of my life, I thought the least I could do was make assured decisions about my wardrobe (which, let’s be clear, will live longer than me) so that no more years would be wasted flitting about, flirting with styles and trends, and instead focus on building a collection that has a bit of last to it”, became my motto after reading the article the 10th time. Basic clothing and quality are sometimes the best buys one can collect with a cheat there and there of a trend that has evolved throughout the years and modernized. It is not simple to not follow trends as they do look good on you sometimes but never last. What I’ve decided is to at-least give it a try, building a collection that will last for more decades than I would ever live for my daughter, son, next generation.
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