all i want for christmas is...

this ALEXANDER WANG ROCCO DUFFEL BAG, pleeeease!! my ex-colleague from WGSN in hong kong recently tweeted a photo of a woman on the hong kong MTR (a.k.a the underground) with one of these of her lap. i almost forgot how i first fell in love with it when i was in hong kong. thanks for the reminder, Yilian! it's shameful that A.Wang doesn't go on sale. i feel you, girl!! you know you truly love something (and it's not just the hip and hype) when you still want it, even though it's technically "last season" and there's a whole new collection of bags taunting you. i will have none of that, thank you very much. just this "last season" rocco lover will do.

santa, can you hear meeee? ♥

LV - what i love to hate and hate to love.

advertising campaigns aren't what they used to be. nowadays, it's all about big lights, big faces, big photographers and big big hype. a marketing tool that is finally being used to its full potential, and leading by example is Louis Vuitton. people literally wait at their keyboards for the release of LV's new seasonal campaigns. now, i don't usually make a habit of posting about them. afterall, that's what vogue.com exists for, right? however, i am a MAJOR Marc Jacobs fan. he's a genius. full stop. what he's done for LV can't even be put into words and what he does in the sewing room and on the catwalk is insane. what i don't love however, is the way LV is shamelessly mass-produced, ruthlessly distributed and how it lands up on the arm of every girl in asia.

on a happier and less critical note, i think Marc Jacobs' team can execute an advertising campaign as well as they can a Speedy tote. this season, Dutch model, Lara Stone replaces Madonna as the new face of Louis Vuitton's s/s 2010 ad campaign. couldn't think of any other model who could live up to Madonna. she's on par with Alice Dellal in terms of what she's doing to challenge the Kate Moss's and Lily Donaldson's of the fashion world. the full campaign hasn't been released online yet, but it's only a matter of time. i much prefer Lara to Madonna. it must be said. don't hate me.

and to the ONLY LV-loving girl i love - who owns one too many LV bags, but still knows that it's more than just a flashy monogram to throw around - please, pretty please make your next one a Chloé. i'm sending this one to In LVoe with Louis Vuitton just for you. and yes, to all you die-hard LV lovers, that little treasure in the middle is "The Kalahari". ♥

FACEHUNTER in Cape Town update //

just a quick update on my recent post, Yvan Rodic to FACE HUNT(ER) in Cape Town //. unfortunately, his schedule's been changed and he will no longer be gracing our beautiful shores.

here's what you he wrote: "It has been difficult to make the choice but I had to cancel my trip to Cape Town in order to go to New York, where an 'exciting opportunity' - that I'm not allowed to reveal at the moment - is offered to me. You will see the result early next year. I hope to make it in South Africa soon!"

don't get me wrong, i love this city to death, but i can kinda... maybe, see how a street photographer would choose New York over Cape Town. oh well. better luck next time, kids. ♥

TAVI sports waistgear as headgear.

i go through phases of being shamelessly addicted to certain blogs. i probably visit around... 20+ fashion blogs a day - not quite sure if this is something to be proud of or not. when i was in hong kong end of last year it was Tavi's Style Rookie, which if you kids were paying attention, i actually posted about last year October. >> click here if you weren't. who doesn't love Tavi, right? lately, i've been religiously following JAK & JIL, especially since Tommy Ton (how much do you love saying that name?) is posting more often than ever. when i discovered his blog, he was only logging on once every few weeks.

so, while browsing through new posts on the site today, i scrolled past this image. Ton has finally(!) got a shot of style prodigy, Tavi... and not even during Fashion Week. i'm actually desperate to know where this was taken. in what ideal world, outside the land of Fashion Week, would Ton accidently bump into Tavi?? and while she is wearing the most interesting little headpiece?!

so, check this girl. she's sporting a (most probably, DIY) head-piece made from an elastic turquoise belt and a (very) oversized gingham shirt. let's keep in mind that she's probably half the size of the models stomping down the ramps every season.

this is just a little friendly, monday reminder that fashion is for everyone (cliché, but true) and innovation can come at any age. she blows my mind, over and over again. ♥

Yvan Rodic to FACE HUNT(ER) in Cape Town //

are you with me? we're talking about Yvan Rodic of London-based street-style blog, facehunter. i happen to have history with Yvan. let me share.

back when i was broke and living in a box-sized room in East London and working on my post-graduate thesis on "Fashioning the Web", i was putting together a piece on street-style fashion bloggers, entitled these streets are made for walking and like a true fashion writer on a mission to complete an article with a creeping deadline, i think i might have, maybe... harassed poor Yvan, a little. yes. he probably remembers me as the annoying LCF girl who sent him email after email begging him to meet me for an interview before my deadline... and after countless replies from him, with empty promises of getting around to arranging something, just as soon as he returned from [insert city here], i never did hear from him. i thank my jimmy choos for the camera-clicking cool kids behind copenhagen street style and hel looks for putting some time aside to answer all my inquisitive questions. i made the deadline btw.

so back to the point of this post... one of my favourite blogging girls, Nicci Bruce from i scream tells me that Yvan a.k.a. Face Hunter will be visiting Cape Town this summer - check out his itinerary here. what i can gather from his tweets, he's currently in New Zealand (and no, i am not stalking him. this is all in the name of research, honestly.) which means Cape Town is next... 4 - 11 December. diarise it if you must.

keep your eyes open and your best shoes on, kids. :)) i look forward to seeing some of you on the site. yay. and remember, Yvan was wearing skinny jeans and vintage brogues way before you, so be nice. that's all. ♥

double-breasted cardigan, i think i love you.

The Sartorialist Book has been floating around the office for a few days now and i finally got my hands on it. there's definitely something different about holding the weight of a book in your hands and feeling the pages brush over your fingers. it's some what different to the online experience of clicking and scrolling. yes, i admit i luuurve The Sartorialist and all... but in all honestly i'm hugely over the higher-than-high-high-heels, Balmain shoulders and high-fashion trenches. it's all a little too high maintenance for me, really. maybe i'm just saying that cause summer is in the air... anyways the only thing i wanted to pull off the pages were the (modest-in-comparison) double-breasted cardigans... is that too much to ask? tell me you don't love them and i promise to never say these 3 words again... double. breasted. cardigan. ♥

blog love ♥

in case any of you have been hiding under a rock or spending all day on the beach, the newStiaan Louw x A Store Collection is on the rails and causing hype and havoc. i'm going to skip all the details and take the opportunity to give a shout out to my fellow bloggers instead, who have already covered all the nitty gritty of the campaign and collection. what can i say? i'm slacking. i know. from what i've seen so far, Stiaan Louw and Brett Rubin have delivered, as usual. the campaign is a killer and if that's anything to go by, there's no doubt the collection is a work of art.

Marco from Man of the Cloth ♡

Robyn from Style Guide Cape Town ♡

The kids from We-Are-Awesome ♡

You&Me&EveryoneWeKnow Market II

You&Me&EveryoneWeKnow Market II is officially happening on Saturday, 28th November. i was blown far far away by the first one. it was a warm spring day, a small venue in town with a beautiful balcony overlooking all of Bo-Kaap's rainbow-coloured houses. there was delicious food, pretty things and lots of creative people doing what they do best. we looked, we bought, we ate, we chatted and did all we could do, but were still tempted to hang out a little longer to soak up the vibey hustle bustle... so all i can say is go expecting, girls and boys! it's going to be fun, fun, fun! see you (&me&everyoneweknow) there. ♥

Sunday Best.

Margot Molyneux - fashion graduate turned young designer with two collections to her name - has been sort of making a name for her self around town and i've been eager to see some of her work since her name first popped up in a conversation a few months ago.

she's not stocking in any of the stores around Cape Town as of yet, but we were able to arrange a little show and touch with Margot at Vida to view the collection, but alas, the flu caught me sometime between saturday night and sunday morning and i missed it. D, however, got to ooh and aah over the collection and bought the prettiest of dresses, which naturally became her Sunday attire of choice. the peter pan collar and pretty pleating is bound to bring out the good girl in anyone.

the collection is modestly stylish - all clean cuts and cool colours. it has a number of really strong pieces which holds it together well. think last season's and this season's key tailored pieces - boyfriend jacket, harem trousers, etc. - pieces that ultimately take technique and skill to make. you can't fake tailoring and there's no doubt that this girl can tailor. unlike, a large number of people these days who claim to "make clothes for a living" or be "designers", Margot can actually put a garment together. a girl worth watching.

diamond in "the lot"

i'm generally not a big fan of the clothes at "the lot" on Kloof. don't get me wrong, i'm not hating. i hate to hate. it's just that DIY-looking dresses (i don't believe in buying clothes that i could make myself) and plaid fleece shirts just don't prompt me to scream out, "i want!" on the other hand, they do source some great accessories and vintage stuff.

so i popped in a (good) few weeks ago (yes, this post is late late.) looking for a pretty bag. been seeing some girls around town clasping clutches that hailed from said store and thought i should make a stop... and so glad i did. i found this beautiful vintage Salvatore Ferragamo envelope clutch - navy blue (i'm developing a fetish for navy blue things...) made of genuine leather and suede. love love happy surprises.

after handing over my money (it was priced the same as all the other bags), these were the words exchanged between myself and the shop girl...

me - do you know it's a Ferragamo?

shop girl - umm, sorry?

me - Salvatore Ferragamo...

shop girl - oh... (opening bag to peep at the label) omg, it is... i don't think anyone's even noticed.

me - (confused look. thinking how could no one have noticed?)

happy surprises can happen in the strangest of places.

happy sunday ♥