Fashion is an amazing idea, it’s an art and incredibly vibrant industry but it still has its flaws one of which is it’s socio-economic elitism.
For me fashion is not about the place an item of clothing is from or the expense of obtaining it but rather about the art of styling a particular outfit. This requires creativity, bravery and individualism.
And although it may no longer be the prime focus of the fashion industry or at least something that is drowning in the commercialised aspects, it is what drew me to the industry and what I am determined to keep as the emphasis of my fashion journey.
One of my saving graces as far as actually finding stuff to wear has been MrP/Mr Price.
Mr Price is an interesting place. It has the unique characteristic of reaching almost every single South African which means that its stores contain a variety of different styles… which can sometimes be discouraging.
I along with some of my peers are on the lookout for upcoming and on trend designs that are modern and perceptive but this sometimes leads to frustrating and unhelpful shopping experiences as the general Mr Price store is difficult to work through, crowded and not at all organised…
But…
MrP has come in to change this. MrP is the new name which comes with the redesign of the Mr Price clothing brand and with it the style of the store and the business. The branding is modern and on trend and growing to contest with the alien brands like Cotton On and Factory (for some reason these are all Australian-not sure how Australia got such a firm hold of this market but anyway).
MrP works off a similar theme of being for the youth, being exciting, colourful and creative.
Along with this has been a new emphasis on joining the common trends and supplying the general populous with clothes which mimic the high end brands at a fraction of the cost.
I am very excited about this move by Mr Price and I love how a brand which has been a crucial part of my fashion career is taking a bigger step in joining the industry.
There are two concerns that I do have. Obviously I still want MrP to be accessible to all South Africans and so I hope they maintain their price range even though they have stepped up on their advertising the most important aspect of Mr Price was that it was affordable. On top of this I think as a South African brand they should maintain a connection with the various cultures around it and so I would like to see more South African inspired wear available in their stores.
Also it would be nice to see “made in RSA” in the labels rather than the Chinese equivalent as support for the South African textile and clothing manufacturing industry is desperately needed.
Aside from this the brand has come a long way and I am really excited to see where it goes from here.
One of their new endeavours has been the MrP Pop-Up stores. They are like retail’s version of flash mobs. Small concentrated stores that come out of nowhere.
They only exist for short periods of time to create excitement and knowledge about a brand. MrP has taken advantage of the hipster-life-style found on Long Street in Cape Town and Braamfontein in Johannesburg (but I believe this has since closed) and is targeting the group of fashion forward young people who hang around in the areas. The store has so far been around for one month and is moving into the second with the new month having a different theme to the last. In august the store was 90’s inspired with bell-bottom jeans, grunge chokers, t-shirt crop tops etc. It was fun but had only about ten items in the store in total making the store clean and concise and most importantly easy to shop in. The idea was to focus on a particular trend movement and almost honour it with it’s own personal show. The different themes will move us through the spring to summer fashion period utilising the consistently changing weather and hence dress. The second theme of the store (September addition) which I must admit I haven’t had an opportunity to check out was dedicated to the 2014 winner of the Elle Rising Star Design winner Tamara Cherie Dyson’s limited edition MrP line. This helps create excitement around the brand and works on my previous wish of the brand strengthening its links with South Africa.
When I visited the store I did not thinking I would buy anything and left with a dent in my bank account and three new items of clothing (plus a free necklace!).
The first item and the one I was most excited about was my Suede-Style (just wannabe leather not the real thing) A-line Skirt which made an appearance in my last blog post (Read it here next). This particular style of skirt has taken the world by storm (practically overnight) and every fashion blogger has invested in a version of it (hence why it is so diversely used). Whether it be leather, denim or corduroy everybody is wearing it.
And I was searching for it. Although TopShop quickly introduced it, it was impossible for me to justify the expense and so you can only imagine my joy when MrP had it as a main piece in their first pop-up range.
The second item which admittedly is slightly too big for me (they didn’t have my size but I didn’t want to lose the chance so I went ahead and bought a big size so now I have to live with my decision) is a Maroon Knee Length Side Split Shirt with a high neck and giant slits down each side. The shirt style is also a popular one although usually it is floor length rather than only touching the knees but I do like this alternative length however if I see the traditional t-shirt side-split floor-length piece I’ll be sure to grab (hey MrP wink wink). I feel very grunge/goth in this look and channel my inner dark diva. Also the necklace was a giveaway that the store had with every purchase of 2 or more items which I was very happy to take. It is a play on the stone/crystal trend and comes with a leather string so you can wear it as you will. I opted for a layered choker style because I’ve decided chokers really suit my hairstyle and that’s that.
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The next piece was a bit of risk for me to buy and was a 90s inspired Little Black Dress which they call the Gypsy Dress. It was originally knee-length which I really liked (it has hence for shrunk in the wash and although it is possible that res-washing had something to do with it I’m going to warn you to watch out when washing it if you do decided to get it). It has embroidery detail along the sleeve and body that creates a gap that breaks the stark black. I like this too but am slightly worried about how I am going to wear it in summer when I don’t have black stockings to hide my multi-coloured underwear (oh well – I’ll cross that road when I get to it).
The dress also came in white which had an entirely different vibe just by a colour change but was also pretty. It has large belled sleeves which I am genuinely in love with. I used to hate ‘belled’ things because it reminded me of fairy-type shirts I used to wear in my unfashionable past and I steered away but no more dear friends will I shy away from over-sized sleeves.
I want to turn over a new leaf and start wearing eccentric platforms and teasing my hair to make its volume treble its natural state. I think I am attracted to the rebellious state of mind that 90’s teenagers lived in (or the idealised protest-starter, world-changer, hate-destroyer 90’s kid at least).
Thank you MrP for making some of my fashion dreams an affordable reality and trust me I will be spending many more hours in that store. Also please pretty please correlate your everyday store with these ideals…
“Fashion is a great thing, it’s a way to express who you are” – Zendaya
x J
Plain Old Glasses 