Mish Vintage

It is so amazing how truely inspiring revisiting the past is. I love the fact that you can dress like your mom did when she was younger and still have present day technology. Gosh, my mother is the epitome of style. She was as gorgeous as a young woman, as she is today.

A grand trend that really suits my limited budget is vintage! Years ago when I was a child, I got a few hand me downs from my older cousins and while my mother always said, don't tell other people where you got your clothes... Today, I am revealing a new found budget saving, brilliant trend that made me want to go back and ask my mother and aunts for their olden days' fashion stoppers.

I have colleagues and friends at work who, on a daily basis mixes up vintage pieces and come up with the most fun, stylish and interesting outfits that I personally cannot do. They all have great style and fashion sense, but do not be discouraged if you are not a fashion fundy. Its a playful trend that you do not need to approach with fear in your heart as you stand to save a lot of moola and gain a new and interesting look.

My first encounter with vintage clothing happened when I attended the Toffie Pop Culture Festival at City of Cape Town. There were so many vintage clothing displays every where and all of the clothing was under a R100! I was very fascinated and could not believe how many people ventured this trend and owened it. People where browsing the rails like it was today's hottest buys and guess what in the chain stores it is!

What a relief, making this discovery. All the shops right now are stocking many of these items. We are truely spending exhorbitant amounts of money on staying in fashion and putting clothes on our backs each year and 2012 is the year we can finally catch a break. At Toffie Pop I found so many well looked after items on sale for rediculous amounts, e.g. R40 for a blouse, R50 for a dress and R30 for a bag and on the odd occasion an item for just under R100. There were labels such as World of Vintage, Vintage Lover and I love Vintage and many more.

I got myself a Pussy Bow Blouse from Vintage Lover and I have to tell you that I struck gold! I have been eyeing these shirts from the moment I saw it in a Woolies catalogue and here I nervously stumbled upon a teal jewel tone 1980's secretary style blouse and I was not able to stop myself from buying it. I searched the internet to see if I could find a present day blouse and got one from an Italian designer for a whopping R1972 and I only paid R35. I rest my case.

Though I am not a die hard lover of this trend, I sure dipped my big toe into this stylish pool and so can you! You don't even have to tell anyone where you got your new threads.

Mish Wanna-Be Photogenic

Ever wondered how the celebrities get great photographs everytime they step out onto the red carpet? It's not because they are beautiful. It is not because they are thinner than the rest of us normal people and they are definitely not PHOTOGENIC. Besides, what does it mean to be photogenic? Well, it is simply defined by Google below:

pho·to·gen·ic/ˌfōtəˈjenik/

Adjective:

(esp. of a person) Looking attractive in photographs or on film. (of an organism or tissue) Producing or emitting light.

In the digital age we find ourselves constantly bombarded with everyday 'paparazzi' asking for a photo at a function, group photos with friends or portraits for whatever reason. It can be annoying, stressful and horrifying esspecially if you are not the kind of person who lavish the lime light.

Thankfully nobody in the history of photography has ever been able to pull of a double chin. So in my capacity as aspiring photographer and enthusiast, I am always confronted with these questions: "How can I look as great in a picture? What will make me look more slender than I really am?

I love helping my friends look spectacular in a photo but I swear I struggle to take my own advice sometimes. You know what they say, practice, practice, practice and before you know it... You will be feeling confident, calm and picture perfect anytime your local paparazzi pops up!

The most common mistake we tend to make and a lot of my friends would agree, is that we treat the camera as the enemy because the damn thing exposes our flaws or worse, highlights flaws! This is a scary thought and it causes you to shy away away from the camera and when you should actually be leaning into it to help you achieve better results! Shying away from the camera can make you look a little heavier believe it!

Try these tips, it really works:


1. Dreaded double chin:
    This happens when you pull your head back in order to be further away from the camera. Instead slightly lean forward with your head, it elongates the neck and eliminates the appearance of that nasty double chin. Lift that beautiful face but not too much. Ask your photographer to help judge here. What you want to do is lift your head and dip your chin down slightly.

2. Sitting on a chair:
    Scoot yourself to the front of your seat, it makes you look taller. By sitting to the back of your chair, your legs will appear bigger in porportion to the rest of your body. The wonderful thing about this tip is that if you have tummy folds like I do, it gets ironed out when sit on the edge of your seat, your back is automatically straightened and your chin lifted and the double chin becomes single chin and voila... You have lost a kilo in an instant.

3. Great arms
    Do the Kim K pose! This is my favourite! I come from a long line of women with beautiful legs but thick arms. So you are in a beautiful sleeveless top and you are confronted with a photo request. The room is full and your only escape route is blocked, you start to panic and just as you are about to get out... The photographer says its your turn. The pose you choose is keeping your arms as tightly strapped to your body as you can, hoping that your arms will not look like lumpy flapjacks and unfortuantely it is a miss. To avoid flabby arms, put one hand or both hands on your hips. Shakira is wrong because a hand on your hip will help you lie.. to the camera that is. Having your hand on your hip, opens up the arm and creates the illusion that your arms are more slender than they really are.

4. Angled pose
    This is another great one. Angles are your friend and so are your legs. Find an angled pose that works for you. This is an exercise that you can do in a mirror in order to see which is more flattering. I would encourage you to use your camera to help better judge your results. Exagerate your pose. Have fun with it. Engage the camera by putting your leg infront of the other and transfering your weight to your front leg. It gives you a subtle hour glass figure. An extra tip here is if you add your shoulder to your pose. Do a side profile Kim K pose and drop your shoulders to the front and slightly down. You will love the picture perfection.

5. Know what works for you
    Don't be affraid to tell your glamourazzi photographer that you want to change your pose. At all times avoid having your happy snap taken from the bottom. So when he or she is ready to take the photo from a couple of stairs below you, kindly ask to switch positions. By taking a photo from a higher platform down on the you, the double chin disappears and your eyes seem larger and become more expressive. Think about a warm happy thought and you will be pleasantly surprised at how beautiful you will look. Remember the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Lastly keep practising these tips and after a while it will become second nature to you. Also, the more you practice these tips, the more comfortable you will become infront of the camera and the more confident you will become.

Enjoy and embrace and love cameras every where!

Mish Formal and on Trend with Lidewij Edelkoort

Image Source: Lidewij Edelkoort is one of the world's most renowned trend forecasters.

Last night I decided to share this breakdown of the Li Edelkoort session I attended at the Design Indaba this year. Here is looking forward to forthcoming trends.

The seminar by Li Edelkoort was held at the Design Indaba. Li is one of the world’s foremost trend forecasters. She analyzes and discusses moods, influences, feelings and fashion and translates it into trends. This session provided a lot of inspiration and a sense of excitement for everyone who has a love for design and the esthetic.

One of the key trends for the year 2013 is finding what you define as BLISS, through exploration of spirituality, caring for others, baking bread, and knitting. We are gearing towards joint efforts and collaboration and thus distancing ourselves from individualism. According to Li we are in a phase of transition and this will be evident in our creative process in this time.

Li placed great emphasis on WHITE as the dominant colour for the period to come. White will be paired with various colour palettes to lighten or enhance a mood. The colour white, ties in with the theme of spirituality and is described by Li as being airy, light and optimistic.

A trend to look forward to in 2012 and possibly 2013 is the return of knitting, oversized jerseys and mohair yarn. This trend will also be found in contemporary furniture pieces with large knit cushioning.

We will also see a continuation of the theme she calls ‘living and thinking inside a box’. This will be seen in organizational items such as storage boxes, trays etc. which will be stacked together in the one colour to make it more appealing. Colour blocking and scarves are two highly fashionable trends that we will see a continuation of as well.

For the ladies the shirt and blouse will be overtaking the dress and T-shirt. An exciting trend that we will see in the year to come is the pencil design effect as seen in the picture. This is trend has already started to appear in t-shirt design, shirt and even shoe designs.

In sportswear florescence is derived when white and a splash of colour is coupled. White denims and the handkerchief will be reappearing as well.

Gardening will be at the forefront with colours such as white and green. As the inviting aroma of baking bread can be blissful, so can the idea of ‘playing house’. This theme evokes feelings of happiness, joy and can also be therapeutic and to some, spiritual. Playing house is a trend we will see rising. Mundane tasks will offer an escape. Li reveled in the colours, textures and the feelings that we experience when we enjoy freshly baked breads with butter.

As the future draws near, we become more technologically advanced and therefore Li suggests adding texture to our lives. We will find it in textured fabrics, layering of blankets, sheets and rustic furniture. A very wonderful trend we will observe is nomadic behavior. People who want to disconnect with urban living and go to the country side but not willing to give up the comforts of home. This trend is called glamping, which simply means glamorous camping.

Li concluded with a trend she named ‘folly’. This trend will be full of the colourful theatrical, embellished, over the top, super creative and amazing works. She says that people will start designing non functional objects purely for the joy and esthetics of it. As a point of interest, we will be seeing a lot of references to CATS and prints of our furry little friends.

Visit Lidewji's new Trend Tablet is dedicated to keeping you trend and in style by demonstrating how trends grow and evolve. Enjoy!

A Mish-take

Right now, it is 22:11. I have a stylish Woolies glass water bottle filled with Municipal tap water and the hope of burning at least 200-300 kilojoules while wearing my funky new Addidas trainers. I look about as cute as one could look, feeling bloated and stuffed into a size 10 black spandex vest and a pair of lime green track pants. The goal: To lose 5 kilos before going to Kakamas in the Northern Cape. The significance of losing all this weight in about 4 weeks: To feel good, look better and well honestly, to avoid the dreaded weight comments that I will lovingly receive from my family who I haven’t seen in years. “It’s so good to see you. You have grown so much and I see you are nice and round my child.” Ai, sadly there is just no way I can avoid this tender torment but with some sweat and tears I could much rather hear; “My jinne kind, kyk hoe mooi lyk jy. Jy het so effentjies opgetel maar op al die regte plekke.” This is the realistic goal and I figure that means shedding five big ones.

Me in short

I am a 28 year old designer at a top book publishing company. Obviously my job comes with a desk, slouching, some bad eating habits and too much caffeine. Since I have finally become more confident in my handy work, I have realized that a new challenge winks on the horizon. I have read somewhere that every 10 years your metabolism slows down by 10%, meaning that all the really attractive curvy girls in high school need to slow their roll before there’s too much jelly on the belly. I haven’t exactly been the prettiest, most popular or admired girl in school or in my tertiary studies. I am more a mixture of a nervous version of Ugly Betty and the disastrous but hilarious Bridget Jones without having an English accent or lawyer boyfriend. Heck, I have a clean Afrikaans sort of Northern Cape influenced accent with  lots of Cape Tonian style mixed language. I do have a boyfriend who absolutely makes me feel like Super woman in a size 10 spandex cat suit with a blue cape and rocking body. He is gorgeous man with a capital everything.  Picture Twilight’s Jacob crossed with Jay Hernandez, add a sense of humour, make him down to earth and intelligence and that equals... My dreamboat. A girl needs to keep her appearance in order to keep her guy’s eye where it belongs. Unfortunately in my case it means self inflicted torture 3-4 times a week.

Back to the goal

In short, I have gained and I need to lose!...Weight, that is. I need to gain better health, shape, more confidence and to feel like a million dollars! I am going to take you along on my journey and document the trials and tribulations, the good, the fat and the ugly, the cold hard truth, the excuses and the triumphs that will hopefully bring me to realize the more flattering weight comments. I hope you enjoy this series.

Please write to me at mishtery10@gmail.com if you have any tips, advice or just want to share your weight loss story with me.

Starting weight: 69,5 kg | Goal weight: 64,5 kg | Height: 1,62 m