Weekend.

Winter has reared its ugly head once again and good parties are few and far between. Got my winter essentials out:

1 x Black double-breasted peacoat
1 x Pair black leather gloves
1 x Skinny black umbrella (makes me think of "The Childcatcher")
3 x Pairs black/grey wool shuffle socks (skinhead/80s throwback vibe)
1 x Pair black military boots
1 x Super chunky knit, extra length scarf (in grey)

I'm waiting for an exceptionally cold morning to post an image of all of the above on my body at once. Oh, winter, you fiend.

I ventured out on Saturday night to a little party in a loft in downtown Johannesburg. Its called 'NOIR' and happens every now and then. Its one of those 'secret' type of parties that you have to have heard about from a friend of a friend of a friend etc. One of those.

We got there a bit late and I only got to DJ at 2am, but it was a lot of fun. We got stuck in the elevator for an hour after we exited the building. There were 11 of us crammed in there. It wasn't really an 11-person kind of lift either. At least everyone was in 'high spirits', passing around a bottle of rather nice whiskey and cracking inappropriate jokes. Being an experienced get-stuck-in-a-lift kind of person, I found it all very amusing.

We stopped in Linden on the way home and I slipped into an all-night laundromat to snap some pictures of its very minty-coloured interior:



Such fun.


Loving at the moment, via Dazed & Confused, here are some backstage shots of Gareth Pugh's recent menswear show at the Audi Fashion Festival in Singapore.







J'adore. Beautiful and highly-desirable, as usual.

Also loving this outfit (via Jak & Jil), very on trend right now, 80s throwback hair, aviators and shoulders-to-here-and-back. Would kill for her vintage Chanel belt.



My friend Ben Rausch aka DJ Sassquatch, has this rad blog. Its called "So Many Animal Calls". Its a great source for info on all the great parties happening in the Joburg independent music scene. He's just uploaded an incredible mixtape that I can't get enough of:

So Many Animal Calls - Sassquatch mixtape


Lastly a great song/video combo straight out of Paris, France (J'adore, again). They're this great new band called Make The Girl Dance. Ones to watch:




Before I go, this Thursday is the Stiaan Louw Menswear launch in Joburg and also my debut on The Frock Report. Have to get out and get some new snaps.

You can mail Dirk/Stiaan for more info: stiaanlouwjhb@gmail.com

The Power of Collaboration.

Some very exciting news today.

Sitting in my Fashion Media lecture this morning having a talk from The Times' features editor Aspasia Karras who runs the lovely Frock Report, I was greeted with a lovely surprise.

Aspasia has asked me to be a guest blogger on her site. I will be doing a weekly post inspired by street fashion (every Thursday). I'm all about collaboration and I'm pretty amped to get things going.

Have been busy this week so haven't been able to snap very many cool people so I'm choosing to post some snaps of these pants that I am lusting after. Dior Homme by Kris Van Assche (he's no Hedi, but he got me with this number). Thinking of knocking myself up a pair inspired by these.






Doing the rounds on my iPod this week, just by the by, every Kate Bush album EVER, on repeat. Love her. Also my new obsession the last few months has been this lovely lady:





Goes by the name La Roux. Taking the UK by storm at the moment. Fun, infectious 80's-inspired synthpop. Album due next month, will be a good one. Her new video "Bulletproof"



(She's really churning them out. In For The Kill and my personal best Quicksand.)

Lastly, B-sides from the new Depeche Mode album 'Sounds of the Universe' ("Oh Well", "Ghost" and "Light" namely) have been making early mornings/late nights more bearable since college started again.

Love.

Stiaan Louw's "The Next Generation"

So I just had to put these up before I forget.












These snaps are all over the blogosphere at the moment (rightfully so) and because I do love Stiaan so, I thought I'd just put them up on mine too.

His new collection "The Next Generation" features a new troupe of 'collaborators', all of the ginger persuasion (thumbs up from me on that one). The new collection takes on a softer approach to bondage and the colours are more muted than last season's vivid black and white 'Tribe' collection. Shot by the amazing Brett Rubin (and the last shoot to take place in his Cape Town studio) 'Street Heart' (RIP).


Stiaan launches his line in Johannesburg from the 21st of May, at the Glaceau Vitamin Water pop-up store at 44 Stanley in Miilpark.


Email Dirk De Waal for more info about receiving an invite and the event times, etc.
dirk@deconstruction.be

Junk Sale

Hey all.

So, I'm getting things going again, on a more regular basis, I have actually been inspired again.

I'm posting some images from the monthly vintage clothing/bric-a-brac/memorabilia/cooljunk sale that I'm part of, hosted in the heart of Greenside. It's usually held the last Saturday of every month and after a very successful run at Go Go Bar in Newtown, has moved to a more permanent (and a little more central) premises on Greenways street (just off Gleneagles, opposite Design Center) in Greenside.

The new venue is an amazing little shop called 'Deer Hunter', run by my friend Kezia and her lovely boyfriend Sean. Check them out when you can, they're open 7 days a week from 10am - 6pm, weekends 10am - 5pm.

Johannesburg Fashion Week

And...

We're back!
Thank you all for your patience. We are back online and hoping all goes well. We won't be disappearing again!

A few choice shots from Sanlam SA Fashion Week 2008:













(Dirk De Waal wearing Stiaan Louw)



(This lovely bloke, his name alludes me, dressed in Vivienne Westwood)


(Suzaan Heyns wearing some of her own fabulous creations)

Taipei, Taiwan (25 November - 3 December 2007)

I fell in love with this city.

These are some kids I met. It was rather difficult explaining what a 'street blog' is. I'd say my minimal knowledge of Mandarin served me well.





















































We want to send our love and respect to the kids at Screaming Boutique and Pet Shops Girl.You bunch are super cool. We'll see you again soon.Screaming Boutique (follow links to Pet Shops Girl blog, Screaming blog and flikr account)

And then there were 8.

Thank you all for voting for us on Street Clash!

We're in the Top 8! We love you all.
Here's quite a bit of new stuff from around town:
Night of 1000 Drawings,
The End Is Nigh Part Deux,
SA Fashion Week,
Dirty Laundry Exhibition and finally,
Get Nasty 2.0 in Cape Town.

Phew.






































Hey! We'll be in Taipei, Taiwan and Hong Kong next week, until early December, so definitely check back for super updates all the way from East Asia! We're very excited.




Also, this is where to be end of November, although its probably going to be crawling with Matrics 2007. I promise it'll be fun. See you soon.





Later
Chris