I will have more on this later. BUT. This. Is. Big. Ill Skillz (my homeboys!), in collaboration with DJ Kenzhero, will bring Slum Village to South African shores next month.
Well done, guys! The gigs are set to go down in Cape Town (13 March) and JHB (14 March). Will keep you posted!!!
Have to firstly apologise for being so late with this – I’ve been AWOL for a bit because of a brilliant course I’ve been attending (will let you in on this a little later).
So after Kumbul’ekhaya (don’t ask), what pops up on my screen? The Real Goboza. It was gone for quite some time, hey? Anyways, the “gossip” show was back on with all the “freshest” stale news you could ask for.
First up, they addressed the story about whether or not Live’s Bonang Matheba refused to go to townships with the Back to School campaign. Shugasmakx was in studio explaining exactly what he’d explained in last Sunday’s tabloids. Yours truly covered this story earlier this week.
Also in old news, they looked at Audi Fashion Week… nuff said.
Then there was Generations’ 15th birthday. This is what Generations founder Mfundi Vundla had to say:
‘Generations was created out of an experience I had, hanging out with young black advertisers. They created the first black advertising agency in South Africa and that was the birth of the idea’
Well, now you know!
Next up, RGB covered Khabonina’s birthday/ the launch of her talent school (don’t know if I heard all this info correctly, at this point RGB was starting to lose me!). I think I really dig Khabonina and you can read more about her here. That’s a very cute interview in City Press.
There wasn’t much to report on the SAFTAs (South African Film and Television Awards) red carpet . The only thing that caught my attention was Terry Pheto. Now, I love me some Terry. I think she’s soo lovely and has a fantastic career ahead of her. But. As evidenced at the SAFTAs (and I saw it for myself last week in Sandton City), Terry is a classic example of bad hair colour happening to a good person. I’m gonna have to agree with Shwashwi when I say it’s got to go!
City Ses’la actors were in studio celebrating their 7 SAFTA wins. Much deserved, might I add!
The J&B Met was also drier than a 2 day old Chicken Licken bone… Claire Mawisa was there in all her gorgeousness, giving other celebs some style/ fashion advice:
‘Don’t try too hard’
Will have to agree with her on that one. Sizwe Dhlomo was there repping for Carducci and the Kwela Tebza boys looked great – and ahead of the trend curve – in plaid. Bonang disappointed – the flapper idea is good in theory, but in practice her colour combo (including her weave) washed her out completely, IMO.
Marc Lottering was super funny as expected. This is what he said:
‘This is where I speak to former beauty queens who tell me about their supposed business plans’
Kwakwakwakwa!
There was also a party roundup, which checked out Dineo Ranaka’s party in Midrand. It looked… sweaty. Then they showed some footage of this strange event.
All-in-all, RGB hasn’t deviated from its original concept - stale news, recycled.
The legendary Grace Jones for Xuly BET
Liya Kebede in MOMO
Chanel Iman in Tiffany Amber
Alek and Tyson
Stacey Mckenzie
Xuly BET's Obama T-shirt dresses
Stoned Cherrie
Here are some more beautiful pictures – scoured from the four corners of the Internet – of the wonderful This Day/ Arise magazine African Collective show that took place at New York Fashion Week this past weekend. Enjoy!
Say what you want about Miss Moss – yes, my fashion consciousness was formed in the 90s - but she sure can turn it out. Look. At. That. Face.
She discusses her latest ventures, designing for Topshop and pregnancy rumours in this New York magazine feature.
Some highlights?
Kate on designing:
I’m not a designer. I’ve never been to school or been trained. I can’t draw a dress, really. But I know what I like.
On her attitude to clothes:
I love clothes. I know how clothes should fit and feel. When I would go to shoots, stylists would say to me, “You really should do something. You should take it another step.” But it never felt right until I met Philip and the whole atmosphere of Topshop.
On her newfound boobage:
I am a woman now! It’s true. No, honestly, I’ve never worn a bra in my life. Ever! It’s so awful, even my friends are phoning me up and saying “Are you pregnant?” And I’m like, “No! I just put on a couple of pounds, and they went in the right place.” Isn’t that weird? And how perfect for lingerie.
My, my, my… what do we have here? Apparently, this is how Janez (Top Billing) consoled colleague Jeannie D at the J&B Met after her caddish boyfriend (or is that ex?) cheated on her one too many times!
This is just some of the juicy goss and pics you’ll find at the newest addition to South Africa’s celebo-blogosphere, Snaparazzi.
Snaparazzi is a partner site to TVSA.com - the blog and info hub for all things TV – and also has a social networking and blog component.
So, if you want the latest info on your latest celebs – and the pictures to prove it – head over to Snaparrazi. And celebs, no getting up to dirt – you’re being watched!
Pic from Snaparazzi.
I’m feeling quite smug right now. For a while it was a toss up for me: my monthly hair appointment with Minette at Carlton versus stocking up my personal library at Exclusive Books.
This has finally been resolved. I’m now a member of my local library. The librarian says they’ve experienced quite an upsurge in new members since around late last year.
All you need to do is head over to your nearest library with a copy of your ID and proof of residence (eg. a utility bill). It takes about 5 days to get your card. Happy reading.
Bonang Matheba
I was quite disappointed in yesterday’s tabs – just not enough juice! Only one story got my attention – only because it aroused my finely-tuned bullshit detector.
Sunday World claims that Bonang – Live (SABC1) co-presenter and Legit brand ambassador – pulled major divatude by refusing to visit Vosloorus as part of her job as an ambassador for the Gauteng Youth Commission’s Back-To-School campaign.
All the so-called dirt was provided by a ‘reliable [obviously anonymous] source’.
The source says Matheba’s manager told GYC that she had to be picked up as she wasn’t going to drive to “some township” all by herself.
The source says she was given an alternative – to meet another group in downtown Jozi.
‘She refused and demanded to be picked up at her residence in Auckland Park. She was immediately dropped as an ambassador,’ says our source.
The source reveals that Matheba’s boyfriend Slikour has been begging the organisers to take her back.
Our source says Matheba has lost loads of money.
Bonang’s side of the story?
‘How can I be scared of going to the township?’ she asks. ‘I was called on Wednesday night and in the morning, but I could not get directions. There was a misunderstanding in this whole thing. It has nothing to do with attitude. You can ask my management.’
Lebo Mothibe (aka Shugasmakx) of Buttabing Entertainment, defended Bonang:
‘We cannot let our client drive in the early hours of the morning alone. She is young and a well-known woman. Something could have happened to her. Bonang goes anywhere in South Africa. She was eager to be a part of the GYC campaign.’
I don’t personally know Bonang, but her version -as opposed to the ‘reliable source’ – is helluva more plausable. She’s recently admitted in True Love (March 2009, p 22) that she went through the ‘oh so cool’ phase and she’s over it:
It is difficult to remain the same person. I battled with this for months, as people would say: “Shuwii, Bonang o chenchitse” (Bonang, you have changed). I did go through a stage thinking that because I presented the show I was oh so cool, but I realised that people were detaching themselves from me. I went to my mom and she said: “Bonang, rechannel; go back to the people who love you; fix your relationships and people will be willing to forgive you because you have made your mistakes”
This story really stinks. Do better, Sunday World.
Alek Wek in Stoned Cherrie
This past Friday, four African design houses – MOMO, Stoned Cherrie, Tiffani Amber and Xuly BET – showed at New York Fashion Week as part of the first This Day/ Arise magazine African Fashion Collective.
I spent all weekend furiously googling to aggregate the blogosphere’s take on the events (unfortch Sistagirlfriend has no budget – yet – to jet off to NY at the drop of a hat!).
The show was opened by the legendary Grace Jones. Other big name models – Liya Kebede, Alek Wek, Oluchi, Tyson Beckford, Stacey McKenzie, Chanel Iman – worked the runway, looking spectacular in the best African designs.
According to the New York Times:
For Nkhensani Nkosi, the founder of the South African label Stoned Cherrie, African fashion has been signified by “the Big Five and leopard prints” for too long.
What, she suggested, of the Africa of Malik Sidibe, the much-lauded Malian studio photographer whose images of young people in Bamako in the 1950s and 1960s are a mine of late 20th century African style? What of the Africa of Papa Wemba, the Congolese musician famed for having created SAPE (Société Ambianceurs et Persons Élégants), a movement that made a cult of designer dressing and slyly subverted European notions of African style by adding the raffia skirts and cowrie shell hats of rural rustics to his crisp onstage uniform of Versace and Cerruti suits? “There is so much urban energy right now,” she said, “waiting to be bottled and sold.”
“Africa still trying to get its head above water,” said Lamine Kouyate, a Malian designer better known by the pseudonym Xuly Bet . “One problem for us is that we don’t have media talking about this African energy, this sophistication. All anyone is obsessed about is disease and what’s going wrong.”
For at least a half-hour, there was the sense that western fashion might finally move toward integrating itself with the larger world.
The Telegraph framed the show around the new Obama era:
The designs were modelled by a United Nations roll-call of girls from more than a dozen countries, including Ethiopia, Namibia, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Russia, China and the Netherlands, along with Tyson Beckford, the most celebrated black American male model, and the black catwalk superstars, Alek Wek, from Sudan, and Chanel Iman.
Xuly Bet showed contemporary sportswear in denim and corduroy and T-shirt dresses printed with President Obama’s face.
Tiffany Amber’s collection featured silk shantung and traditional ‘Ankara’ fabrics, with intricate shell and bead embroidery.
Alek Wek closed Nkosi’s Stoned Cherrie collection in a shadow-dyed, burnt orange-to-earth toned, silk chiffon gown with an elaborate, jewelled collar. Zebra, leopard, giraffe and snake patterns, printed on hand-woven taffeta, cashmere and metallic silk, in shades of pewter and gold, were the feature of Asibelua’s Momo collection.
Black Voices’ take:
All showed exquisite, tailored designs with ethnic accents and details. The show was quite impressive from the front row guests – Ryan Leslie, Chrisette Michele, Calvin Pace of the New York Jets, newsanchor Sade Baderinwa and model agency owner Bethann Hadison, to the models who walked-Estee Lauder model Liya Kebede opened, Italian Vogue covermodel Sessilee Lopez, Chanel Iman, Liya Kebede, Victoria’s Secret Oluchi, Alek Wek, Tyson Beckford and Jamaican model-turned-runway coach Stacey Mackenzie did a return to the tents. The afterparty was swanky with a fab performance by Solange Knowles at The Plaza Hotel. To quote CNN correspondent Lola Ogunnaike there, “Äfrica is the new Black. We’re major.” And it showed.
And here’s some reaction from the blogosphere:
Lavish Mag Blog:
Stoned Cherrie’s tribute to Miriam Makeba had viewers singing in their seats. Her pieces were pumped with color, and featured wonderfully crafted jacquard coats, cigarette pants and funky but functional pencil skirts. Very feminine, flowing, and exciting to watch from the first whispy blouson sleeved shirt, to the graceful ombré dress worn on Alex Wek.
Similarly feminine with luscious colors, Stoned Cherrie’s billowy tops and ruffles were interspersed with slim, tailored pants and high-waistlines, bringing back a bold new version of the 1970′s girl-about-the-office.
Pic via.
Happy Commercialisation of Love for the sake of Capitalism Valentine’s Day for tomorrow!
Pic courtesy of an email sent to me by Anitap.
What a week it was… Full of drama, celebs, mag covers and unflattering clothes. This week:
Say what?