Styled By The Kokonut Stylist - Article 9

Now This Website Is A Fashion Hub!

My fashion icon, Coco Chanel once said: "Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable." I am sure many of us can relate to this quote. I for one have tried and failed so many times but each time I tried again, I convinced myself that this time I would succeed. As a business-minded fashion person, I am always looking at ways of sharing my favorite fashion pieces with other fashion loving people. It was shortly after I briefly stopped my shoe business, armed with a booklet full of "lessons learnt" that I realized that there was a great need for an online shop that would cater for the needs of other fashion lovers.

Being an IT geek, I decided to put my IT Master's Degree to good use. I recently designed and with the help of a friend, completed the development of what I call a fashion one stop: www.thekokonutstylist.com! The Kokonut Stylist website is more than just a fashion hot-spot and it is targeted at any style conscious person, male or female between the ages of 16 and 40 (or even beyond that 40). It is about the lifestyles of local, international, prominent and just stylish personalities and their wardrobes, where they shop and all things fabulous. Since there obviously is more to life than just fashion, this site is also about the people who actually wear the stylish clothes, their lifestyles, etc. In The Kokonut Stylist there are tidbits of people’s day-to-day ensembles, hairstyles, dress designs, designers, fabrics and a bit of this and that. The Kokonut Stylist is more than just about fashion!

The reason I have dubbed the website a fashion hub is that it offers more than what online shops do. There are services such as personal styling & image consulting, personal shopping and fashion styling. These services range from R1,200 for a standard three hour consultation for personal styling & image consulting. With personal styling I meet  with my clients, preferably at their homes; organize their wardrobes by helping them to create go-to outfits in their existing wardrobe and I recommend new ways of wearing their existing clothes in a way that will be most flattering to their bodies and advise them on what new colours to add to best complement their skin tone. Personal shopping comes at a fee of R2,200 for a standard six hour shopping session. This is ideal for someone looking into a style make-over and we go shopping with them and recommend clothing ideal for them to meet their personal and professional goals while fitting into their lifestyle. Then the fashion styling services are for editorial fashion shoots, TV promos, advertising campaigns and music videos. Depending on the client's brief, I source all apparel and props for the shoot and charge R600 per hour.

The Kokonut Stylist also supplies good quality human hairpieces for ladies, branded clothing (baseballs jackets which are proudly made here in Swaziland), accessories (jewellery and bags) as well as good quality shoes for ladies. There are also glam videos on The Kokonut Stylist TV on interviews with your favourite, stylish celebrities, fashion shows, fashion weeks and uber stylish people spotted here, there and everywhere …...it is truly a clothes lover’s paradise.

I started The Kokonut Stylist because I am a style/fashion obsessed (and that’s putting it mildly) 20 something year old.  My love for clothes was apparent at a very young stage. I am told I would put together my own ensembles at age 3!! and always colour co-ordinated my outfits. That love has sort of progressed and intensified through-out my years of growing up. I now style people and almost breathe, eat and live fashion. I am very passionate about clothes and looking good! Even though I studied IT, fashion remains my first love.

In last week's article, I encouraged each of us to live lives filled with passion for the things we feel strongly about. I am constantly reminded that one does not live their life just for themselves, our lives are to be blessings, examples and bring joy to others. I hope that through this column, someone out there is getting a glimpse of what I do in fashion and getting inspired to put passion into whatever it is they love, as I do into my love for fashion. You can have anything you want if you are willing to put in the hard work to get it and keep it. We are creatures of habit, so we become what we constantly do. Constant hard work is what brings success.

If I can realize some of my dreams through working hard, so can you. I am looking forward to you visiting the website and hopefully you will be requiring some of the services we have on offer.

Please follow this column and engage with us on:

*Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheKokonutStylist

*Twitter: www.twitter.com/kokonutstylist

*Blog: http://www.thekokonutstylist.blogspot.com/

For feedback, email: kokonutstylist@observer.org.sz

Written By: Koko Shabangu