TIME OUT /// NOT A FASHION POST

Askies for the Facebook Album type post skat, but i think this getaway is too good to keep to my Facebook account. So don't worry, i'm not about  to become a travel blogger. The place is called Old Mac Daddy Luxury Trailer Park, and it is located on a farm in the Elgin Valley an hour and a half outside of Cape Town. Me and four stressed out friends booked ourselves a couple of trailers for the weekend so we could get a bit of a breather from the city space. It is after all that time of the year when work can start to feel like a drag as one starts thinking about the holidays, so a relaxed mini break at a tranquil space like Old Mac Daddy can help re-energise the batteries and get one ready for the last lap, and possibly keep you from lashing out at your boss. Besides the beautiful location, another thing that adds to its beauty is the design. The interior of each trailer is designed according to a specific theme. I absolutely love clever design and no detail is left to chance in the interior design of these trailers, it is actually quite inspiring. Which explains why these guys won a Gold Loerie this year in the Three Dimensional and Environmental Design Category for Interior Design Temporary Structures.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER /// FUMI GUESTBLOGS FROM THE GQ BEST DRESSED MEN AWARDS

The downside to having a job and not owning a private jet is that i can't be everywhere all the time. One party i'm really sad i missed is the GQ Best Dressed Men do in Jozi. It was on a Monday of all nights. So i asked my friend Fumi to pop in for us and snap a couple of crowd pics. He did just that, which i'm super grateful for, but then he got on a flight the following day and spent the week chilling on a beach resort in Zanzibar. Along with his camera and the pics. He kinda decided not to bother with email either, what with all the distractions Zanzibar had to offer. But we love him anyway. He is back in SA and using email again, so he sent us the pics and the write-up below. Enjoy. Oh and he is quite the avid tweet-er and funny as fuck, follow him @onefumi.

Dearest Skat, forgive my tardiness but I'm actually writing this from Zanzibar where in front of me is the endless Indian Ocean and a very attractive, very buff, young Zanzibari raking leaves from the sand in front of my room. I really should be paying more attention to him actually, but the guilty feelings regarding my lax attitude to this write-up prohibit me from enjoying both views. About the GQ Best Dressed Men of 2011 Awards; I must first apologise for the kak-ish quality of the images, but trust me, you’ll live. Besides, I am a wordsmith,  photography is an entirely new world for me. I would also like to thank the lovely people who let me immortalise their shit.

Now skat, fashion isn't really my world – i'm a banker by day and a shameless hanger-on by night – so it was skant surprise that I got more than one quizzical look from those in attendance. Or perhaps it was the leather shorts and silk blouse that Jamakazi Thelejane had slapped on my skinny frame. Who knows these things?
The nominees list was strange to me – I couldn't figure out what criteria is applied for one to make it on to the list, but if you know Skat please share. It was nice to see Jamey Lipschitz guy repping for us lowly banker folk (even though he rocked up in denim jeans, a white untucked shirt and a black blazer – YAWN!). I think it's safe to say that we all collectively fell in love with Masego 'Maps' Maponyane that night, who brought his mom as his date – as if he wasn't adorable enough as it is. Eventually the big prize was won by Oscar Pistorius – who looked hot as hell!

The people that make Jameson sure do know how to get a fag drunk – free-flowing 15-year old whiskey and champagne all night. Well, until 10pm anyway. By which time the rest of the fags and I were already hlokolozing on the dancefloor. 

Anyway skat, there's a troupe of Masai warrior types on the beach trying to get my attention so let me attend to them and leave you to go about your day. Toodles.

MID-WEEK ///

So i've been a little :-( for a coupla reasons. One is my self imposed sobriety thing, I could really do with a drink but i'm on my third week of abstinence, my ever self-flagellating and masochistic nature just won't let up. I won't lie, i'm as bored as fuck and as boring as fuck. It really is just the way i thought, people that don't don't drink are boring, and where's my fucking clarity?

Second reason, I couldn't make it to AFI Fashion Week in Jozi this past weekend. That made me sad. But i had responsibilities i had to take care of here in Cape Town. I must confess i've been avoiding websites that have posts relating to the Fashion Week because to be reminded that i wasn't there just breaks shallow heart, and that makes me write sad little blog posts.  

INTRODUCING THEBE MAGUGU

The pictures below are all taken from Thebe Magugu's facebook page. Thebe also has a blog where he shares his opinions on style through words and images, but the real treasure trove is his facebook page. He has uploaded literally thousands of pics that are made up of fashion shoots that he and two friends put together for fun. He is based in Kimberley, has recently turned 18, and most of the images were taken over the last couple of years. I first noticed his pics last year when i read a post on the Marie Claire blog about his blog, and i've been a follower ever since. I really really love the shoots they put together and i think they show such a love for fashion and image-making, plus a keen understanding of references, especially the pop-cultural. I think it's a real pity that most of these images stay on facebook and do not make it onto his blog. There are shitloads of personal style blogs out there that aren't half as experimental and sharp as the pics he posts. I am a rather hectic ageist, and i understand all too well how easy it is to be condescending and cynical about work done by people that are much younger, especially if they do that work in their teenage years, and i am well aware that fashion eats its young as a midnight snack. But all of this makes me even more excited about the work Thebe and his friends put together. The obvious love for what they do makes me that much less cynical. So i did a brief interview with Thebe so we can get a sneak peek into his headspace and a bit of behind the scenes info. Check it below after the pics.

Where are you from?
I am from Kimberley, a small backwater town in the Northern Cape. Its hell, not only because of the sun but the oppressive nature of it all.


Where do you guys take your pictures? Who takes them? Who edits them?
Well, I have a creative powerhouse, Trevor Stuurman and Ree SillyFresh Marekwa. We take photos at very unconventional places e.g. Trainstations, burnt-down velds and last week we took to the back of a Museum, which looked like a grave yard. It was stunning. Trevor is the photographer, he is a first year student at AFDA in Cape Town. Brilliant eye with so much attention to detail. He would climb trees or dig holes to get that perfect shot. Trevor and I do the editing, I use Coral Pro-X while he uses the grand daddy of photo editing software [Adobe]. I prefer mine though, we are both high fashion but I'm more haunted in my photography to his 'exciting' photographs.


And the styling?
I do the styling. I'm in love with unnecessary 'drama' e.g I threw Fifi into a vintage, burnt-biscuit fur coat with a massive patent belt and slapped lipstick on her with her weave in a pony like Cleopatra. This was all done when the weather was 39 degrees on a busy highway. Citizens of Kimberley almost passed away. I lay in the middle of the mall in a navy blue suit designed by Fort Joko with shoulders as high as my head. Just for the drama and absurdity.


Inspiration?
 I don't believe inspiration should be from a certain era in time e.g The Victorians or The Babylonians. I get my inspiration from abstract ideas, like heartbreak [which contributes to the emotional weight of my photography], philosophy and religion [allusions to these ideas in my photography]. Funerals, homosexuality, mythology[Norse and Greek], taboo and a woman's figure. People who inspire me are Florence Welch from Florence and The Machine and how she's always carrying on about curses that fall on young lovers and how she lives in the wrong world. Kanye West, Coldplay and the ideas of Friedrich Nietzche and Camus. Kant as well. As well as loneliness.
 


A lot of your pics feature you and your friends Ree Sillyfresh and Trevor. What roles do you each define for yourselves in putting together the shoots?
We do it all. Personally, I am stylist, photographer, model and editor - so is Trevor. Ree does it all except photography. she acts like she cant use one so she can get more facetime - a malevolent diva that one!

INTRODUCING >>>>EXORSISTAHS

Exorsistahs is Cape Town based duo, Kyla Phil and Lauren Rose. This is their first video "You lie, you die"

@ MUSEUM GALLERY FOR NICO KRIJNO'S EXHIBITION OPENING

I know i know skat, i'm getting back to my bad old habit of neglecting my blog. I swear it wasn't intentional. Please let me explain. After years of dissing and ignoring the idiot box i finally caved in and decided to join the masses and get dstv. ja ja it's bloody repetitive and at times boring but it beats that government tv. so i spent a couple of nights last week and the entire weekend totally horizontal watching b-grade movies and the History channel, trying my very best to avoid reality shows. I fucking hate reality shows, and i really don't get why they are so popular. Anyway I got back to my senses this week and i got up off the couch and started attending events again. Alas, i don't know what the fuck happened in the time i was gone but shit has not been looking good. I've attended a total of six events so far this week and i am only able to publish pics from one event, which is photographer Nico Krijno's solo show at the Museum Gallery at Upper East Side hotel in Woodstock. Nico was also launching his book "On How To Fill Those Gaps". Follow this link to his site to check out some more of his beautiful work. So like i said above, except the pics tonight, the rest of the week has not been so kind. It's tough times in Cape Town, outfits are being repeated like they are going out of fashion (wait, they are). There's a dearth of skattielisciousness. Fuck maybe it's me, maybe i'm gatecrashing the wrong events, blame it on my somewhat mediocre social skills. Let's hope there's a better weekend ahead or i might get desperate and go back to roasting the unfortunately dressed. Speaking of unfortunate, i also gatecrashed the Ray-Ban something or other launch. Ja i'm not really sure what the event was about, i wasn't really invited, fortunately i really do love gatecrashing, always brings me a fucked up sense of achievement. Can't seem to shake off the dodge. I found out about the ray-ban do quite by accident tonight when i overheard at another party that a certain fashion editor who was supposed to go was not gonna make it, so i decided right there and then to borrow the editor's name and head to the party, didn't bother telling the editor though. And don't judge me skat, i was desperate and i did it all for you, not really, the fomo had me in its grip. Anyway, i didn't really get what i was looking for. But the skattie below in the yellow shirt kinda made it worthwhile. There were bands and lots of free booze, but unfortunately i'm not too clued in with the band scene and i'm back on my sobriety thing so no booze for me, possibly for the rest of my life. Ja ja i know i've said it before. I'm allowed to dream skat, this could be it, this could be that final quit. I filled in  an online questionnaire on alcohol dependency and according to the results i need to quit immediately or seek professional help. Bless the internet. So here i am. Sober. The website which led me to this decision also promises me that i will not necessarily become a bore. I want so badly to believe them.