Beauty will surely be the end of me

The beginning and the end. Via fashiongonerogue

I MEAN REALLY THOUGH

From Walk fast, strong cool and Urban blog. This is my ultimate silhouette.

But would you though?

Lol. 

NOT EATING TODAY

I'm saving myself for this. If that avo and pea sandwich doesn't appear on the menu tonight, there are going to be problems. 

I hope this idea works, pun intended.

Good morning interpeople.

As a South African citizen, it causes great shame to know that our country has a 40% unemployment rate, one of the biggest youth bulges in the world and that we have graduates in all fields who are sitting around because they do not have jobs.  On a regular basis I receive emails from people looking for work, whether it's a request to work for me or or any other company.  It becomes worse when I advertise for a position at Mememe Joburg. My inbox is flooded with emails and CVs in response to the advert and I feel terrible that I can only choose one person.  I do what I can and pass CVs on to people that might need people but then it carries on and every week there is a new CV to look through and another email that begins with the word ''Unfortunately''. I wish there was something I could do to help.  While writing an ''unfortunately'' response last week, I had an idea that I thought might work.

I am a firm believer in starting something from nothing and not waiting around for things to happen no matter how little or no money you have. I arrived in Johannesburg in 2008 with no plan and R200 in a Sandton City shopping voucher (it was spent buying groceries at Checkers), R29 airtime that my sister bought me and about R150 in real cash.  I was in love and didn't really consider how I would actually make it, but somehow things worked out.  While I don't think mine is a story that should be repeated, I do believe there is value in not waiting for work to come, but finding a way to create an income if you are struggling.  I did everything I could do and suffered then so that I would not have to suffer now (not that I'm swimming in gravy. No. Far from it but at least I'm not sheepishly calling my mom to wire me R100 with an extra R10 for bank charges) We are living in a time that can allow one to make money from anything, especially in South Africa. There are so many gaps here that if I could, I would clone myself and get on with it.

Back to the idea I had.  Since this is a public platform of expression and a platform where many kinds of people return to on a daily or a weekly basis, I had the idea of using it.  I wanted to get the blog redesigned first but this is not more important than getting the word out about these young qualified South Africans.  I have decided I am going to connect job seekers with potential employers by posting their CV's on this blog every week.  Not sure how it's going to work yet but so far, I reckon I can post the top three CV's every Friday and make it known on Twitter, Facebook and through word of mouth, with your help of course.

That way, potential employers can reach potential employees and this can grow into some sort of market place for young talent in all fields, not just fashion and design.  I will start with the first three this Friday and I welcome people to send their CV's through and we can get the ball rolling.  I will not publish people's names and personal details, just the qualifications and the basic info that employers need to know, and if they are interested they can contact me and I will put them in touch with the CV holders.  Still thinking about a finder's fee for employers but not sure.  I will gauge by the response.  This thing will only work if you guys participate, whether you know someone that can potentially employ someone, whether you are an employer or whether you are someone who wants to get their CV out there.  You can email your CV's to missmillib@gmail.com and we will take it from there. I already have three compelling CV's to post this week.  I will also post a template of a CV or a CV tutorial because nobody wants to read a 4 page letter of a CV.

I am most open to ideas that might actually really give this thing legs, just post in the comments section or email me.

Phambili!

Excitosis

Morning guys,

It's been a busy January hence the thinness of posting. Sozz!

I've just returned from Cape Town where I was there to join my two partners Doreen and Lisa in greenlighting the MeMeMe Range of clothing. So you're now looking at Miss Milli the soon to be designer. Who am I kidding, I have great ideas but my drawings are equivalent to those of a kid who has just picked up a pencil for the first time. Luckily I don't have to do drawings, my partners are going to be taking care of that.  The range will be tested in stores at the end of February, believe me you guys will know and will go into full production in March and April.  I'm also working on the launch of Mememe's E-Store. Hopefully that will be up by the time the Joburg store turns 2 on 1 April 2013. We are living in exciting times, ones that have me upside down with excitosis. This is me at Lisa's house wearing her grandmother's fox fur gilet circa 1940s

UNDER THE INFLUENCE

I went to bed reading Under The Influence magazine last night, and I forsee many a night to come.  My new housemate Chipo, takes fashion obsession to another level. Last night I told her to insure her magazine collection because it's insane. She bought this on the weekend and well, lucky me.  

There are some stellar shoots and well considered essays but I've only read about 15 pages, am yet to see the rest of the Africa issue.  It features photographs by Malick Sedibe, Roger Ballen, Misha Taylor and Daniel Jackson with features about Femi Kuti, Leyma Gwobee and of course, the Under Cover Girl, Alek Wek. The story shot in Joburg by Misha Taylor and styled by Louw Kotze features Laduma Ngxokolo's mohair jersey's next to Adidas Originals by Opening Ceremony and the like. We love this. 

African prints, what will happen when the trend is over?

Stella Jean AW12 pieces.  Stella Jean is a Haitian Italian designer who is causing a quiet storm in Europe with her consistent use of bold ''African'' prints. 

This post was unplanned, I was going through some images I collected on the internet in the past couple of weeks and came across these ones from Stella Jean's Winter12 collection.  I remembered a Skype conversation I had with a friend of mine in the US last week and thought, hey here's a topic that people might find interesting.  

I work in fashion. I work with designers in South Africa selling and promoting their clothes at Mememe in Joburg, I write about designers that people need to hear about on my blog, I sell at pop ups and am constantly looking for new opportunities to help spread the word about local and African designers.  I don't do it as well as say, this website www.heritage1960.com but I try. I am fortunate to deal with customers and kind of know what people want to wear.  

Judging by the current ubiquity of the so called ''African wax print'', a name I often times struggle to use because, well, the prints are not always wax prints but I have not come across a general name that describes the fabrics that are considered to ''look African''.  Anyway, this is not about that, let's just call a spade a spade.  We've stocked some designers at the shop that make clothing with ''African'' prints and while we have sold some of this clothing because it's beautiful, it has not exactly been flying off the rails.  I've seen some stylish people who can pull off a ''bold'' look wear designers like Loin Cloth and Ashes and Hunadi, who both cleverly use these prints and I can see how popular labels like Babatunde and Maria McCloy are becoming because of their use of these fabrics in their accessories. [In fairness, Loin Cloth and Ashes and Hunadi use a range of different fabrics, not only African prints] But if you look at the increasing number of African designers who work with these fabrics, one wonders two things.

The first is, who are we making these clothes for? Are we making them for ourselves or for the rest of the world to look African?  I ask this because the clothes are not nearly selling as fast as the catwalks and magazine features suggest.  The people that are buying them are the trendy ones who aren't afraid to wear them or ones that are going to a traditional wedding or some or other special event.  I know this because this is what people say.  I wonder what general women think of these fabrics, are they nice to look at and admire but too much to pull off? Is it a case of designers expressing their pride in Africa, a pride that patrons are not ready to wear on their sleeves? 

The second thing I wonder is, are we going to move on from this beautiful, yet limiting and overly literal approach to expressing our Africanness?  These items are a nice to have but they are the stand out pieces, people don't dress like this every day. Or should they? Are the runways paying lip service to a pride we should have about ourselves?  What will happen next season when the trend has petered out?

That said, there is solace in the direction that African designers like Maki Oh and Sindiso Khumalo are taking in terms of expressing their African roots.  They make ready to wear clothing, clothing that can live in people's everyday style all over the world. They make clothing that is nuanced in Africanness but is not defined by its Africanness and that, I think is how we should be selling our continent. The colour, soul and texture of Africa's beat is inimitable and should be banked on, but perhaps it's time to stop resting on our printed laurels.  

A look from Maki Oh SS13 Collection 

A look from Sindiso Khumalo's SS13 Collection

14 MAY 2013

This date is not coming soon enough. That's the release date of one of my favourite authors' new book, Americanah.  I don't want to order it on line, I want to go a book shop and get a physical copy. Hopefully it will be stacked in the window of Exclusive Books. If you're not familiar with the writing of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, I suggest you start with her Magnum Opus, Half of a Yellow Sun. Then onto Purple Hibiscus then onto The Thing Around Your Neck. 

The Firsts

Happy Birthday David West

This is a really beautiful picture of one of South Africa's most talented fashion designers.  Taken from his Facebook page. www.davidwest.co.za

TELL ME THERE'S A CUTER SONG OUT THERE

A little song for the weekend! Gillian Hills' Zou bisou bisou c1962

STELLA JEAN'S SWIMWEAR

I mean I appreciate her tenacity in using these amazing prints and doing it so well but there's something  that doesn't quite make me approach this brand with the zeal that I usually would if she was African.  She is half Hatian and half Italian but my claimy African tendencies wishes this was an African label. That said, this is beautiful swimwear. Your boyfriend probably won't think it's sexy. Don't listen to him. I'm scared to even promote her website cos the stuff is deadly amazing. Okay, here it is www.stellajean.it

Gotta love instagram though

Whoever lets budgets and money get in the way of making a look for their brand clearly hasn't heard of  the thing that apparently all hipsters weigh...Instagram.  I love this instagram look book by vintage label Love You Long Time. She sells at Market on Main on Sundays and her stuff is available at Mememe stores. 

Pardon Me

This kid is obviously practicing his mafioso pose. The sheer confidence of the hand in the pocket. 

For more on his adorable style, click here 

When you have 1 minute

THE RADNESS THAT IS SALLY DRAPER

I don't know what's more criminal.  The maturity of style and totally awesome radness of 12 year old Kiernan Shipka i.e. the only kid I will admit to idolising, Sally Draper.  Or the totally awesome radness of The Coveteur's creativity in displaying clothing.  I will be the choir to their preaching forever and a day.  And yes, the red and white pumps gently resting on the bosom of that lucky statue are by one Christian Louboutin and they do indeed spell LOVE. To see more of this beautiful story, visit www.thecoveteur.com

FASHION MARKET

This beautiful shoot featuring some of Africa's most prolific designers including Deola Sago, Gavin Rajah, Ituen Basi, Thula Sindi and Marianne Fassler is in the latest Elle South Africa.  Nice one fashion editor Poppy Evans. Images courtesy of Sapelle 

CORSO NERA AT MEMEME

Oh these? Just some kicks I just got from my friend Adhiambo's car boot about 10 minutes ago.  Adhiambo Louwers, the former model and fashion show producer now makes these and trust me, many other beautiful shoes.  I did a post about these late last year and got a few enquiries from twitter. I'm very happy to report that as of this morning, MeMeMe Joburg stockes these two pairs. Before we order any more pairs, we want gauge the interest and demand before but aren't they just what the doctor ordered for back-to-work Monday?  

We have 1 sample per shoe and we're taking orders. If you like, we can order your size and you can fetch them by the end of the week. Or if you don't have the cash now (who the hell does?), we are open to negotiation because we understand the depth of the relationship between a woman and her wardrobe.  The shoes are going for R1950 a pair and the quality is superb! Email james@mememe.co.za to enquire  

DEAR UNIVERSE