Procrastination, Desperation and New Hats

Part one – Procrastination

I’m bored. I’m frustrated and I feel like I’m going insane.

My first university exams started yesterday. A momentous occasion that culminates a semester of hard work and chaos that has taken place over what has felt like a really long week. This also signifies (hopefully) my passing and proving to myself that I may still be an academic (although let’s just reserve judgement until the fallen-from-grace subject of Maths for Engineers is sufficiently over and done with). At UCT, we (lucky souls) get gifted a consolidation week off from lectures before exams to contemplate the meaning of life and to determine just how many files we can organise before accepting that we may actually have to read through the things. Being one of the unfortunate many who had to write on the first day I didn’t really have the luxury of taking time off to regain my senses before starting to study and so I threw myself into it… This ended rather unsuccessfully. Despite the fact that I spent three days doing exercises and past tests, I swear my brain sub-consciously took the time off and point blank refused to take in any information. Along with this I also managed to bring a whole new dimension to the word procrastination despite my good intentions. I re-designed my room, did six loads of washing (but in truth I was running out of clean underwear and nice shirts), I filed for the first time since coming to Cape Town and swept my entire room. So when the opportunity to do ‘work’ for a blog post came up I seized the new challenge (shelving my five kilogram physics text book back into my newly-neat book shelf). There was a slight problem. Due to my so-far-uneffective rebellion against the environmentally unfriendly dryers I had six loads worth of wet washing drying in my room which meant that the majority of my clothes were unwearable. This brings me to the second section…

Part 2 – Desperation

The photos that I ended up taking for this outfit were greatly effected by a series of events. Namely my lack of clothing, the weather and my inability to stop pointlessly injuring myself.

1. Me getting up and looking for an outfit. The only thing I had in mind was the mysterious hat (which you will hear more about) and I was kind of mentally/creatively blocked as far as the rest of the outfit went and every time I had an idea I would remember “oh that pair of jeans is soaking wet”… so I took the screw-this-we-are-going-to-experiment attitude and grabbed my pair of dry stockings… grey ones. Possibly a bad place to start but hey I wasn’t turning back. I couldn’t wear my black boots because they are heeled and one of my culminating injuries was a recent twist of the ankle which my bruised foot is still recovering from so I had to go for my flat brown boots… Yes I know the only people who put grey stockings with brown shoes are schools and I did feel vaguely reminiscent of St Mary’s but the experiment continued. I then took my only mini skirt which I only feel comfortable wearing with stockings and a dry shirt. Yes that was my only nice dry shirt. (sigh, my life seems pretty dismal).
2. We had had in mind a cool alternate stairwell at UCT to do our shoot at but as per predictability, Cape weather was its unpredictable self and the white fluff that had sunk over the mountain decided to open up and cry (possibly on my sad fashion situation) just before we started taking photos so we had to make a new plan. Hence we went to Jammie Plaza (the heart of UCT if you will) and hid between the pillars. In my opinion I don’t think it was that bad of an idea although I had to get rid of a whole lot of pictures because the wind was oh so not elegantly ‘whipping my hair back and forth’
3. Also please note the look of discomfort on my face and tense body language was not because I was trying to go all America’s Next Top Model on it but I had managed, in my brilliance, to injure my neck while doing the terribly hard activity of sleeping and I was in a lot of pain at the time.

Part 3 – The hat

Yay the hat. While actually the whole outfit but I really love the hat. I don’t own any hats (except for one straw one and those sports caps that I got when I was little don’t really count in my mind). I have been looking, searching for an affordable-adorable hat that suits my short hair.

Oh Romeo where art though… (actually I hate Shakespeare… and Romeo

The wind being Capetonian as usual

And…

I found it at a market in Hout Bay. I like that its blue because most people have it in black and I like being different but it does make it slightly less wearable so I do suggest that anyone going for this style contemplates giving in and going for the black but yes if you have short hair… Go Go Go and get one.

Anyway I feel like the hat made the experiment of an outfit wearable plus I don’t usually wear colour-themed clothes but I really liked wearing all (or mostly) blue. It made me feel very grown up.

The coat… how cool is the coat! I really like it and it came from Pick and Pay. Thr hypermarket/supermarket/cheap-food-store-supreme gives me not only my groceries on a regular basis but also a rather hot jacket that I basically wear everyday.

As for the rest of the outfit- I know the skirt is short but as any one who has read anything feministic will know THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH SHORT SKIRTS (plus it made me feel sexy and took me out my comfort zone while still be comfortable?) and the shirt, despite the fact that it wasn’t even really a choice looked awesome anyway and besides it was about time it appeared in a blog because I dig it. I love the over-sized, bat-wing, too-much-material, cape-type attitude it has but the collar keeps it together and gives it structure and focus. It’s a really cool shirt and I like wearing it because it makes the child in me feel like she has wings…

…

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I should be studying

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I hope you liked the post… greatly affected by my the-day-after-writing mind and now you get to see what outfits come out of a desperate Jemma.

Enjoy your week

x J

Mom’s Closet

Hi all,

I know it has been far too long but here I am, back with a short fashion post as usual.

This one is a bit of a throwback from when I had my mid-semester vac in Johannesburg and I had left basically all of my clothes in Cape Town (for optimum bag space) and I delved into my mother’s collection of clothes.

You will probably recognize the jeans as being my own ripped, black, much-loved Mr Price pair and the blue clutch being a bright accessory that yes does belong to me but the rest of the outfit is not mine.

(Okay the sunglasses are mine but I am not mentioning those as they broke during this shoot at the tender age of two months – tut tut Woolworths I am unimpressed)

The top, oh the glorious top that I came very close to smuggling back to Cape Town, is my mothers. I don’t know where she found it but I think its obvious that a good fashion sense is something I inherited from the mama-bear. It is a light and over-sized white cotton shirt which elegantly bridges the gap between formal and casual. I think in the week I was home I wore the shirt three times (yes it is that versatile – perfect for university- wink wink mother).

The shoes, an item which has also been seen before on this blog, are also my mom’s and the only pair of her shoes that I can squeeze my feet into. I paired them with some cute frilly white socks and a confident walk and felt like I could step into the business world there and then and I would have fit in, or I could have been comfortable at a lunch with friends, or a fancy date… and really the list goes on.

It’s about time my mom’s closet got the spotlight as really she is where I got my initial inspiration from… maybe when I get back to Joburg you’ll have to have a whole shoot to yourself Mom!

x J

(oh and how cool is my cover, it is a strong cover for my iPhone 5 – needed as I am always dropping it – but the best part is it has my name on it. It is from a cute little shop called Macaroon in Joburg and is one of the best buys I have ever made http://www.macaroon.co/macaroon/content/en/macaroon/home)

Polka-dots and Parrots

Hello!

Today is just a quick pop in. It’s been a very long week so far (and yes I am aware that it is ONLY Tuesday). I just want to speak briefly about my Sunday outfit.

I recently picked up this sleeveless T on sale at CottonOn and I now want to wear it all the time. It is a little big, but I like the effect it has. I have very few casual t-shirts that I can wear to varsity and so I get very excited when I find a new one especially one that looks even slightly vintage like this one. There is also something, an indescribable feeling, that attracts me to those parrots. There are two main kinds of love for clothing: The kind that exists when you see a beautifully crafted, one of a kind, amazing item that will stand out anywhere and then there is the love that you feel when you have found an item that, yes may be ordinary and common, but fits perfectly into your style in a way that can’t be explained. This T-shirt fills the latter.

The only thing I am going to say about the skirt is that I wore it out of some mental defiance to the weather and the limitations it has placed on my wardrobe… this was a bad idea. I regret it and have apologised to the weather for disobeying its almighty judgement – who knows maybe it has better taste than I do.

I do have to make a special mention to my shoes. These make a regular appearance on the blog and I honestly do wear them continuously. These were bought for no more than R60 from Pick and Pay (I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in). They are awesome camo, canvas boots that go with everything and have an undoubted durability. I get compliments on them all the time and people always react surprised when I inform them of the origin. These shoes were in fact my sisters but I was unable to find another pair. So yes I was prepared to buy them from my own sister because I love them so much. These are one of the most important staples in my cupboard.

Shot in front of an old church in Cape Town

Occasionally I like to give some sass

Hope you enjoyed the look.

x J

A Cape Town post

Hi all.

I have this ever growing list of adventures that I’ve been on and new things I have learnt that I want to share with you but sadly I have this little thing called school which is taking up a lot of my time and I am still trying to find balance (it is debatable that I will ever find balance although I will continue to try). So look out for some cool Cape Town inspired posts coming up but for now I would like to show you the first outfit post that I have put together since coming to Cape Town.

This look…

There are quite a few important elements to it. Yes I do know the mostly black thing is becoming a bit of a trend with me and honestly speaking I think it is going quite well. As you can see one of the major transformations Cape Town has had on my style is that I now wear shorts. Hmm… My dismissive regard for the item of clothing has not really changed but for the practicality that the weather here demands I have been forced to invest in such clothing. See in Cape Town it gets hot, very very VERY hot. Ordinarily I would deal with this by digging out my skirts and dresses but alas the next hurdle which this city has is the wind and so unless I am in the mood for sharing my underwear colour with all my peers I have to resort to shorts. Now these aren’t too bad, they are well made, black (an important feature these days), they aren’t short shorts and they aren’t too tight on my legs to make me feel self-conscious about it. I may just go back and buy this style in every colour.

But alas there is more. See Cape Town weather also has the flaw of being particularly indecisive. So on almost everyday so far I have encountered temperatures of all the seasons. So jerseys have become my best (and worst) friend. I always have one with me so that when the cold hits I will be prepared but it is so annoying that I have another item which I must carry around with me all day and make sure I don’t lose (by the way let’s give three cheers because I haven’t lost anything yet). This cardigan was one I grabbed from Cotton On and the only clothing item I have bought in Cape Town so far. I love the layered effect and the change in length as well as the hood. I think it gives both the jersey and any outfit it is worn with, more character. The jersey goes with pretty much everything so it accompanies me to university almost every day.

I must put in a quick word for the accessories of that day. I don’t know if you have noticed but I like watches and this one is often on my wrist. It is a very cool, antique/steam-punk styled watch that my cousin sent me from Japan. It is hand made and so completely original which I love. The necklace is a beautiful present from a friend and I love it. I love the chunky metal combined with the delicate idea of flowers and it too has this remarkable ability to add that extra touch to any outfit. Also and probably most importantly is the glasses. I GOT NEW GLASSES, and this is the first time you are probably seeing them. They are very retro looking and I can not get over how unusual they are. Many people have stopped and asked me about them, or asked me about myself and then acknowledged that they approached me because of the glasses so lets admit that they are a win.

I must admit that this was’t my most interesting of looks but it did hold some crucial bits of information. It’s a comfortable, practical and doesn’t look to bad so I will keep it around for a while still.

I hope you enjoyed.

x J

(I am trying to make my blogs more personal so I am going to try sign off like this every time)

The little black Coat

Being this age is great. Everything is a celebration. We are constantly celebrating lasts and first which means that there are parties all the time! Okay I am over exaggerating I am a bit of dork so I am not at parties all the time but I am attending substantially more than I ever have before which means that I get to dress up. Unfortunately and fortunately it is winter at the moment. This sucks because sometimes a beautiful outfit looks really rubbish with a jersey but otherwise winter fashion is fun and suits my style quite well so I enjoy it. I went to a recent 18th, it was a dinner (not too formal but not too casual) so I dressed in a-skirt-and-stockings look (one of my favourite combinations of winter). I don’t like wearing too much black so I grabbed an olive-green skirt instead of a black one although I think black would go just as well. I had to add my splash of colour with the scarf which tied the beanie into the outfit. Beanies and Scarves… what would winter fashion be without them.

I finished off the whole look with a short black coat. This, I have to admit, is my sister’s but I often borrow it. I think that having a good coat especially a black one is as key to having a nice winter wardrobe as the little black dress is key to style as a whole. This one is not so long but not so short that it should be called a jacket and it went well with the skirt and stockings.

Over all I felt warm and I think it turned out looking quite well. What do you think?

A big scarf is great in winter.

Beanies don’t always have to be extremely casual.

Maybe the brown shoes didnt go so well.

Rings can always add that extra element that you were looking for.

First Fashion Blog – The International Collection

So this will be my first ‘fashion blog’ on WordPress. I am very excited but nervous so hopefully it goes down well but please remember I am still learning here.

Indian (hipster) ring and hand-made watch

Okay so today we went out for lunch so my sister and her friends could tell us about their trip to India. It was great. I wanted to dress nicely but not over the top as it was quite casual. So I went with jeans as a place to start. It is cold in South Africa at the moment so I needed layers and of course boots. The best thing about living in a house with other women is that you can beg, borrow and steal clothes from each other so the white jersey is my sisters and the shirt is my mothers.

I’ve called the outfit International collection because it just so happened that some of the clothes were from overseas. The ring was something my sister bought cheaply in India, The watch was hand-made and sent to me from a cousin in Japan. The pink button-up top is from Gap which my dad bought for my mom also from Japan. The jacket is from Cotton On which is Australian. The boots I ordered online so they could theoretically be from anywhere and well jeans are jeans I guess.

I really loved the pop of colour that the shirt gave as I am a sucker for just a little bit of colour plus I am really digging the whole collared shirt peeking out from under a jersey vibe at the moment.

What do you think?