Behind the Scenes at VOILA! Issue 14 Cover Shoot

I was lucky enough to assist Gaschette stylist Jessica Lupton on her latest shoot for VOILA! Magazine, featuring Miss South Africa Melinda Bam. My three favourite shots. 

Jumpsuit, Avant Apparel; Sequinned, Jacket Rayne, White Gold Cross, Jewel Africa

Sheer top with fringing, Rayne; 14 carat Yellow Diamond Bracelet, Browns; Scarf and Ring, Jewel Africa

Gold jacket with faux fur trim, Thula Sindi; Earrings and Necklace, Tinsel. 

 Here are a few behind the scenes shots of the amazing team who made this cover possible. 

The team all huddled around our current Miss SA; Photographer Steve Marais atop a table, in vintage dalmation print stylist Jessica Lupton, make-up artist Stefanie Payendee touching up the glossy red pouting and at the back is hair stylist Laura Kingma- acting as photographer's assistant. 

VOILA!'s Deputy Editor Kyle Boschoff samples some Clive Rundle fur (faux of course).

Melinda's glamous golden tresses were perfected by hair genius Laura of One League Artists. Here Laura makes absolutely certain that not one strand of hair is out of place. I have to admit, learning how to achieve that old Hollywood wave has become one of my life goals recently. 

Some Thomas Sabo pendants that couldn't be used, but which I adore! Please note that hand models were Dave, Thiao and Sifiso courtsey of KMS Model Management. 

A Sketch by Grace Coddington

Cats in this seasons runways looks. Thank you Grace for brightening my day once again. 

Milk Teeth's New Stock

Clever Qz Zhang-Cowie of Milk Teeth took a recent trip to Hong Kong and is already making appointments for  throngs of followers to see her new wares. Call her quick or you may miss out on something spectacular. 

Find her at https://www.facebook.com/milkteethjhb

New Store: Lalalux

Former retail buyer Lauren Fabien is putting her well trained eye to good use once again with the opening of Lalalux. Fabien's boutique was previously a well revered secret amongst her chic client list- selling one off's by international brands such as 7 For All Mankind, Diane von Furstenburg, Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan. The new addition to Parkhurst's 6th street is situated snugly between Kluk CGDT and MeMeMe; they have a great opening special on for the first two days of business. I'm looking forward to covering great things from Lalalux, stand by in the next few days for more. 

Strictly KP Open House

We all love a long weekend, especially when it's up to five days long. However the weekend following this phenomenon always seems quite sad in comparison to it's predecessor. But some clever people in the know might just have the thing to cheer you up- a sale, with champaign! Pop through to Strictly Kp's Open House- you can bag yourself a bargain, get styled by the man himself and support local designers such as Two, Rayne, Jane Sews and Rachel de Mardt to name a few. For information on the sale, check out the Facebook page. 

Here are some of Two's Winter 2012 campaign images to give a little taste of what to look forward to. I'm personally a very big fan of that purple cape and love the use of blues and teal in this collection. Hope I'll see you there my lovelies. 

Birdy

If you haven't become acquainted with her already, then meet Birdy. She is currently 15 years old, doesn't mind letting her braces show in her videos and has a voice to send chills along your spine. I am completely besotted with this girl, mostly because I feel like she is sincere. In an age where one of our most popular female indie artists is rumoured to have had both her sound and background story produced, has a look which is very much the product of a surgeons needle and stylists hard labour, I find the honestly of Birdy quiet enchanting. 

Born Jasmine van den Bogaerde, her stage name comes from a childhood nickname given by her parents; as a baby she held her mouth open like a bird waiting for food and the name stuck. Birdy won the British competition Open Mic UK 2008 at the tender age of 12 and by 14 had recorded a version of Bon Iver's  "Skinny Love" which rose to number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. If you're a Vampire Diaries fan you might familiar with her sound as she's had tracks featured on two episodes and she has a single called "Just A Game" on the Hunger Games Official Soundtrack too. Almost all of the songs on her current album are covers of tracks by other artists, but if you would like to hear a track written by Birdy herself be sure to listen to 'Without A Word" 

All videos from Birdy's Youtube channel OfficalBirdy, Image courtesy of  www.bpmtv.com

Chanel Monochromatics A/W 2012

Karl Lagerfeld was inspired by the age old beauty of crystals in their unaltered and natural state for this collection. This was used in everything from colour choices and the use of high tech textiles with holographic qualities, to his make up and set. 

There are so many details in this show that the more I looked at images taken there, the more I loved until I had too many for one post. So I've had to split them up. Here are the neutral based looks I particularly love. 

Antonia Wesseloh

Bette Franke

Georgia Himler

Heidi Mount and Hudson Kroenig

Sui He

Obsessed with this neckline.

Sigrid Agren

Isabella Melo

Jacquelyn Jablonski

Nadja Bender

What strikes me is the high contrast in texture; so many of which constantly go wrong in the retail environment. I find it inspiring to see that enlarged net, metallics, feathers, sparkly thread and sequins can be used without being tacky if the correct applications are utilised. The amount of detail and attention in every look is rather daunting considering there were over 60 ensembles. And the touch of a child on the ramp to thaw viewer's icy hearts after such a stark display is rather warming too.