Styled By The Kokonut Stylist - Article 16

How To Revamp Your Wardrobe Without Spending A Cent!

The looming Skip Destiny Magazine Fashion Exchange allowed me the creativity to look at my wardrobe with a whole new set of eyes! I do not know whether it is the pressure of exchanging my mere garments with the elite and monied residents of Sandton *gasp* or the fact that no matter how full my wardrobe is, I never have anything to wear! and this is the case with most ladies. As previously mentioned, Destiny Magazine is hosting various fashion exchanges around Gauteng where ladies can exchange their high-fashion clothes in order to improve or revamp their wardrobes. With Spring just around the corner, these fashion exchanges could not have come at a better time.

 For those of us who may not be at an advantage to attend these fashion exchanges, there are a lot of ways one can revamp our wardrobes without even spending a cent. I recently also just suffered the I-dont-have-anything-to-wear pickle as I found myself wearing the same pair of jeans almost every other day because everything else did not fit me anymore (one of the unpleasant by-products of losing weight). This then compelled me to re-organize my wardrobe, after which I discovered many great clothes to wear. Here are a few tricks and tips I learnt from my wardrobe "re-organization".

• Clear Out The Clutter:  Ever noticed how in each one of us there lies a hoarder of some sort? Well, say goodbye to the hoarder and clear the clutter out of your wardrobe. If you have not worn a specific item in the past 6 months, chances are, you are  not going to wear it again. Sort your clothes into what you wear frequently and what you have not worn in a long time. You will see that somewhere between those piles of clothes is clutter you do not need. Within that clutter are also outdated clothes (please give those away to charity) and those items of clothing you may somehow, still transform.

• Sort Out Your Accessories: A trick I recently uncovered is that hanging your favourite accessories allows you to use them more often. Instead of stashing your belts and scarves, find a way to hang them and shelve your earrings and necklaces in a way that you are able to see all of them at once. You will be pleasantly surprised at how many lovely, previously hidden accessories you have. There are these awesome clear vinyl pockets that can be hung on your wardrobe and easily folded when travelling and they are a great way of organizing your accessories.

• Sort Out Your Shoes: Ladies, the unfortunate thing is that no matter how much we love our shoes, sometimes we have to let them go; not repair tips, just let them go! The biggest injustice you can ever do to your shoes is to pile them up into a huge untidy heap. Never pile up your shoes into heaps, you tend to forget you own certain pairs of shoes and it bruises the shoes. The best way to store your shoes is to line them up neatly at the bottom of your wardrobe, get a wooden shoe rack or a shoe wheel. You will be surprised at the lifespan you add to your shoes just by storing them correctly. Some people even turn old bookshelves into shoe storage spaces and it works just as efficiently. Storing shoes in boxes is a good way of forgetting what is in the boxes.

• Transform Your Older Clothes:  Once you have the piles of frequently worn clothes, clothes you can still transform, accessories and shoes, it will be easy for you to look at ways in which you can transform your clothes. For example, I have a now-over-sized shirt dress that would look terrible if I were to wear it on its own, a good way to transform that is to add a clingy waist-belt and accessories it up nicely so that I get to wear it in a never-been-worn-before way, that way it feels as good as new.

Very often we assume that style is expensive whereas it is merely just creativity and out of the box thinking.  Ladies, if any of you are interested in the vinyl accessories hanger and shoe wheel, do not hesitate to email The Kokonut Stylist on kokonutstylist@gmail.com to place your order and have it delivered to you. Let us clean out our closets in preparation for spring and not break the bank while doing so.

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Written By: Koko Shabangu

Styled By The Kokonut Stylist - Article 15

Phenomenal Women In The Fashion Business

Phenomenal, extraordinary, outstanding and unusually great are some of the words I can use to describe all the women on this list. Still in the spirit of celebrating women as it is Women's Month, I have decided to put together a list of women I deem as exceptional in the fashion business.

Coco Chanel

Mademoiselle Gabrielle "Coco" Bonheur Chanel is, to date, the only fashion designer to have appeared on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.  Even though she passed away in January 1971 at the age of 87, she is one classic example of phenomenal, as her name lives on to this day. Coco started her fashion business at the age of 30 by opening a fashion boutique which specialized in clothing, hats, fragrance and accessories. Her iconic Chanel No 5 fragrance later became the cornerstone of her business. Towards the later years of her life, Chanel worked with Karl Largerfield who is still the head designer and creative director for the Chanel Fashion House. During an era of corsets and long uncomfortable dresses, Chanel resisted conformity and gave style and comfort a new meaning. Her rebellion resulted in her giving us yet more iconic items such as: the Chanel suit, the little black dress, the Chanel bag and the classic use of white pearls. To this day, Chanel is a high fashion brand that may outlive a lot of us.

Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe

Aptly pictured in the iconic Chanel pearls, Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe is the brains behind and Executive Chairperson of Africa Fashion International. Africa Fashion International (AFI) is a company that promotes fashion designers (from all over Africa) and enterprise development in the fashion industry. Dr Moloi-Motsepe, a qualified medical doctor with about 20 years as a General Practitioner; converted her love and talent for medicine into a talent for nurturing young fashion innovators. Through her great work, many a fashion designers have had a chance to showcase their works at the bi-annual Africa Fashion Week and also through a number of fashion weeks all over the world. As a woman married to one of Africa's wealthiest men, Patrice Motsepe, Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe could have easily given up on her own dreams but she chose to follow them by transforming the fashion retail industry in Africa and she is doing an amazing job at it.

Khanyi Dhlomo

Khanyi Dhlomo has won every business woman accolade imaginable, been featured on almost all Forbes Magazine Lists that include anything to do with African women under 40, young millionaire African business women and anything inspirational and African. Khanyi is anything but ordinary. She has been setting ground-breaking and unprecedented records from the moment she was employed at the age of 20 years, as the first black newscaster for SABC 1. At the mere age of 22 she was appointed as True Love Magazine's Editor and she managed to literally double the magazine's circulation within a year of being Editor. Armed with an MBA from Harvard Business School, it came as no surprise when she founded the successful media house, Ndalo Media which gives us magazines such as Destiny and Destiny Man.  In 2010 she was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. With her recent fashion business venture, the launch of her high fashion retail boutique, Luminance, it is without a shadow of doubt that Khanyi Dhlomo is a phenomenal woman in both fashion and business.

 All The Women In The Swazi Crafts Market

It may not be fashion in the truest sense of the word but art and fashion intertwine in a lot of ways. I was very fortunate to find out some of the stories of the amazing Swazi women who are in arts, craft and handcraft. These are the women who are the breadwinners of their families, the women who take their children to school, feed and clothe them daily, save up (from their meagre earnings) and building houses that shelter their families. It is beyond my comprehension how these women do it. I am talking about the women who make tilulu, the women who make all sorts of beaded work, the women who rent market spaces along the sides of the road to sell their craft. Those are the women who make me realise that nothing in this life ever defeats a woman on a mission and I salute them!

To make use of Maya Angelou's words in her poem "Phenomenal Woman", she says "I am a woman phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that's me. Now you understand just why my head's not bowed. I don't shout or jump about or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing, it ought to make you proud."

This is for all the amazing women who silently walk their paths and loudly inspire us all through their great work and undying spirit despite all the daily challenges that come with being a woman. I know that all the women in my life are not in fashion but they are all phenomenal and they greatly inspire me and give me strength. Who are some of the women you deem phenomenal in your personal life?

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Written By: Koko Shabangu

Styled By The Kokonut Stylist - Article 14

The SKIP, Destiny Magazine Fashion Exchange

To mark the beginning of women's month, Skip in collaboration with Destiny Magazine hosted a fashion exchange where ladies swapped clothes in order to shop. This fashion exchange was a part of a series of events that have been hosted all over Gauteng since late last year.

The Centurion exchange was held at the beautiful Royal Elephant with Destiny's columnist Timothy Maurice Webster as the MC and Metro FM DJ, Idols SA Judge Unathi Msengana as the main speaker. The event started with circulating canapes, bottomless champagne and entertainment by an electrical string quartet all girl band called The Muses.

Columnists: Myself with Destiny Magazine's Columnist, Timothy Maurice Webster.

The Muses serenading us with divine classical music.

Each fashion exchange participant was required to bring three or more nearly-new clothing items which are then evaluated and color graded. So in three simple steps you:

• Go through your wardrobe, pick three or more high-fashion items that you value but nolonger wear for some reason.
• Select, wash, clean and mend these items so that they are in their best conditon for the fashion exchange.
• Submit your clothes for grading. After your clothes are graded you are given a pamphlet containing boxes with the color grades your clothes received. This then acts as your shopping card, you are allowed to shop for other clothing items with similar color codes as the clothes you brought in.

This is a very smart and easy way to renew your wardrobe. The only downside (which is not really a downside considering the value of the clothes that some people bring), is that they do not accept clothes from famous retail chain stores, so forget about the inhouse brands from; Mr Price, Edgars, Truworths and Identity to name but a few. With all the clothes I brought, I had a Indentity nearly-new blazer(which cost me good money, might I add hahaha) that was not accepted, talk about being strict on the high-fashion bit! The fashion exchange trend is very big in New York and globally, with numerous shops, organization or even individuals swapping clothing. With the global recession putting financial pressure on all of us, clothes-swapping is a great alternative to 'buy new garments' without incurring any debt plus you get to update your look without spending any money.

Following, the grading of our clothes, we were ushered to a different section where Unathi Msengana shared her beautiful life story with us. She talked about the importance of staying true to oneself and that when pursing your dreams, you will ruffle a few feathers. She further shared with us how her decision to not "sell out"  in many spheres of her life (including the decision to keep her hair natural) has opened many doors to her that had she been "just like everyone else" she would not have enjoyed the benefits that came with walking in her own truth. Unathi told of how before she even got the Idols SA job she knew she was being judged and that for her was not an easy burden to carry. She further mentioned how she never wears anything that is not designed by a South African designer on Idols because she wants to use that platform to inspire other people who are pursuing their dreams.

                        

Unathi Msengana delivering her moving and inspiring speech.

Once Unathi was done with her amazing speech, we began shopping. I have never seen so many women (myself included) that excited to exchange clothes. I got myself some lovely items and in those was a never-been-worn-before-high-fashion Mango boyfriend blazer which is now one of the favourite items in my closet. The next fashion exchange will be at The Maslow in Sandton, I cannot wait, it should be interesting.

With my new-to-me items after shopping.

I truly loved the idea of exchanging high-fashion clothes and even spoke to the brains behind this idea in South Africa, about doing it here in Swaziland. It was more than just about clothes; it was fun and inspirational (with the speeches and the women who shared their life stories). Do you think it would be viable to have a fashion exchange, say in Mbabane and Manzini? Would you attend a fashion exchange if we were to host one? I am looking forward to hearing your view on this because if you think its a viable idea it would be interesting to do one. I mean, why not?

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Written By: Koko Shabangu

Styled By The Kokonut Stylist - Article 10

The 2013 Durban July Fashion Police - Oh My Gosh!

I am almost certain that no one cares that a horse called Heavy Metal with jockey Smanga Khumalo won the main race at this year's Durban July held last week Saturday. I also  assume that not many people care that Smanga Khumalo was the first ever black person to win at this horseracing event or that about 50,000 people attended this year's Durban July. Yes? No?

Well, maybe that is because we all look forward to the fashion and that is perfectly normal. With a splendid theme as Posh, Oh My Gosh! one would think there would have been no fashion offenders at this years Durban July. I mean, how do you possibly go wrong with a Royal theme? Unfortunately in as much as there were a few and far apart fashion hits, there were, sadly, a lot of misses. Let's start with the good ones shall we?

When I first saw Top Billing presenter, Bonang Matheba's dress I thought 'how could Bonang of all people get this one wrong?' That was until I heard her rationale behind the bright-coloured floor length neon coloured dress. Bonang said "Everyone is focusing on the 'posh', so I decided to do the 'oh my gosh' part. Everyone who sees this dress goes 'wow' because of the neon colour." Smart  choice there Miss Matheba. She never seems to put a foot wrong when it comes to fashion.

TV presenter and Voice-Over Artist Roxy Burger was among my favourites. She interpreted the theme, kept it simple and dressed exactly as it stated. The pop of colour on the shoes was also a great touch.

Celebrity couple, Mbali Mlotshwa and husband Black Coffee looked every bit of classy in black and white. I love how Mbali went for pants as most people always think "dress" when dressing for the Durban July, defying boundaries is a fashion statement on its own.

Vuzu TV presenter, Dineo Moeketsi looked absolutely dazzling in a white dress with lovely neon highlights, it accentuates her figure perfectly.

I was left on the fence with Dineo Ranaka's dress. It has too many trends in one piece; puffy shoulders, peplum, leather and houndstooth. I do however love that her hair and make-up was almost natural and that gave the entire outfit a classy feel.

Minnie Dlamini's outfit was one big confusion for me. Its almost as if she wanted to make it fun and flirty but it just came off as messy. It more 'Oh my gosh why?'.

Muvhango actress Omuhle did a total misinterpretation of Kelly Rowland's Grammy Awards dress. I feel she could have made it a bit more figure-hugging. Word to the wise, if you copy something, make it better.

TV personality Samkelo Ndlovu is apparently wearing a E5,000.00 dress. For just satin and chiffon silk it sure is expensive. Expensive enough for her to want to wear it to big public events twice. It just looks too busy, over-accessorised and just wrong. Neither posh nor oh my gosh!

Let's hope next year's Durban July outfits will be more exciting than this year's ones. Maybe at the J & B Met in Cape Town in January we will be spoiled with good, creative and mostly original outfits.

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Written By: Koko Shabangu 

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.

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Written By: Koko Shabangu

Styled By The Kokonut Stylist - Article 8

The (un)Necessary Job Of A Fashion Stylist

Someone once said: "Stylists are the people who push celebrities to make the best-dressed list." Whether they were right or not is totally up to whoever the target audience is. Ever since the birth of this column, I have received several emails requesting style tips, offering styling jobs and most recently, asking how one can become a fashion stylist and if fashion stylist make good money.

A fashion stylist is a creative mastermind  who helps set trends in the fashion industry. In major fashion capitals of this world, fashion stylists rank among the highest paid people in the entertainment industry. In Africa, the inclination to use fashion stylists is not at very advanced stage but one can definitely make a decent living as a stylist as the entertainment industry in general, is always in need of stylist. Styling jobs vary from personal styling (where one can style celebrities, respectable public figures or even general members of the public) to selecting clothing for magazine editorials and picking wardrobe styles for print advertising. Fashion stylist also work mostly as wardrobe consultants for TV programmes such as soapies. Stylist dress our favourite soapie actors on set according to the actor's role in such a way that the way the actor dresses as you watch your TV makes you believe that their acting life is their real-life.

There are several places where one can train to be a fashion stylist but above everything, you need to be; creative, passionate about clothing, be a people's person, have crafty eye for detail and be innately stylish yourself. In South Africa, Gauteng to be particular, there are several places to get formal training on a number of fashion courses, including fashion styling. These places include: Tshwane University of Technology- Arts Campus, University of Johannesburg as well as LISOF Fashion School. By far the best way to get training is if you shadow a well known stylist or apply for internship in fashion houses. Nothing can beat the experience one gets from learning while on the job.

As a full-time, independent stylist one can make +/- E25,000.00 on average, per month and more during fashion week season. This varies in that you may not always get styling jobs so it is an extremely fickle work environment and one definitely needs a good income back-up especially while still starting out. It takes years and years of experience to be the designated fashion stylist for a fashion house where one can earn a steady income. On grassroots level, while a stylist is still starting out, you need to be very willing to take any and every styling job that will provide income and help you build a solid styling portfolio. Think of it as being a businessman, every styling job you do and what you wear is an extension of your brand. The more you do a good job at styling people and look good yourself, the more people will want to be associated with your brand.

There is a very common myth that people who use stylists have no style and this tends to make people shy away from using stylist for their personal wardrobe styling. Being a part-time stylist myself, I can say that nothing is further from the truth that than myth. Stylist can help enhance your personal style, they can be a new (creative) set of eyes for you to view your existing wardrobe differently. When I style an individual, I work based on their existing wardrobe, body figure, lifestyle and budget and all this has nothing to do with whether the person is already deemed stylish or not.  You see, style is a very personal thing as I have mentioned in previous articles and it can only be harnessed and enhanced. Being a stylist has opened a number of doors for me and has introduced me to people I would not have ordinarily met. I get invited to fashion shows (such as the 46664 Fashion shows), fashion launches and fashion weeks and I do sometimes live some of my fashion dreams. 

I always put an unyielding emphasis on education. Whether you want to pursue your fashion passion formally or on the side, it is always important that you get an education as that is what will always empower you. Hopefully all you young, aspirant fashion stylists here in Swaziland will one day work for The Kokonut Stylist fashion house, in the near future.

You decide, do you think being a fashion stylist is a necessary or unnecessary job? Can jobs in any creative field provide sustainable living for us? Do we always have to work for someone else to make a decent living? I do not have the answers to that but what I know for sure is that we must live our passions, whatever they may be, pursue them strongly because I believe good quality living is about living one's passion. "If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you. -  Alan Armstrong

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Written By: Koko Shabangu