Levi’s

Saturday morning with the plants, trying to figure out how to wear these jeans.

heel appeal

Two new additions to my shoe cupboard are these Superga x Henry Holland flatforms and a pair of  red Melissa x Vivianne Westwood boots. They are still to be delivered from the UK, BUT I LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT! I just cant resist a good shoe.

Since i was young i never thought i was a shoe and handbag kind of girl. But over the past few years i often find myself thinking about anything except that. It all stated when i read an article called ‘The Perfect Shoe’ in Elle many, many years ago. I still remember the illustration pointing out the qualities of a good shoes, and i still havent forgotten it.

When it comes to heels, a good shoe will be equally balanced. When buying a heeled shoe always hold it up and even out the ratio of toes and the balls of your feet to the heel with your eyes. The rise in the shoe will be right in the middle, therefore the distance from the middle of the shoe to the heel should be the same as the distance of the middle of the shoe to the toe. You’d be surprised once you start taking notice of this that there are so many heeled shoes that are not made this way and are uncomfortable to walk in.

x

Living or dreaming?

When Steve Jobs died, a paragraph of a speech he’d given to graduating students of Stanford University in 2005 was spread across the Internet relentlessly. “You’ve got to find what you love…” he told his audience. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know it when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better…” The speech as a whole is like a triple-shot espresso of motivation, and leaves you feeling incredibly inspired. But just like an addiction (be it caffeine or motivational speeches) that reassuring buzz can wear off and leaves you feeling kind of deflated. Surely Steve Jobs could figure out why he was the one standing on the stage giving the speech. That’s because people who know what they want and pursue their passion with world-changing results are hugely out of the ordinary. Finding and forging a career is already a thankless task. And, telling hundreds of 21-year-olds and 22-year-olds to do the same seems almost ridiculous.

So what about the rest of us, the ones who still don’t know what it is that they love, or worse, how to turn it into something successful? These days, it’s not enough to just work hard, do a job well and reap the rewards at the end. These days you have to love your job, really love it, put it above everything else and succeed. It’s true that the relationship you have with your career will be one of the most engaging and long-lasting relationships of your entire life. But does that mean realising your most deeply held dreams will only do? That anything less of that is a failure?

For me it’s writing. As a child I wrote letters to invisible fairies, and I still have the 10-page book that I wrote, and illustrated when I was 12. As a teenager I wrote heart-wrenching poetry and wrote down the lyrics of music that spoke to me. I had a friend when I was 17 who wrote a thousand-page book, which lead me to writing a 462-page novel about alter-realities, and other stuff. I still write. I’d like to make a career of it, but actually I’m a waitress, I’ve interned and shadowed and temped since I finished college, it’s exhausting, but it’s waitressing that gets me by, as well as allows me to fuel my shoe obsession.

In a breath of relief, I’m not the only one. My old schoolmate hasn’t had a salaried job since she graduated. It’s not that she hasn’t worked, she works 12-hour days and sometimes weekends. But her job happens to be in fashion where the experience is meant to be payment enough. By now she was expecting to be offered a job, or anything really. She does exactly what she’s supposed to, but so far, it hasn’t got her to where she wants to be.
A friend of my sister’s was a model throughout her 20s and has been trying to pursue her dream of becoming an actress in the States for the last couple of years. She’s had her ups and downs, more downs than ups, i think. And it makes me wonder, are these dreams just too big?

A too-big-of-a-dream, is it possible? Whenever I watch X-factor I want to cry when those 3 red X’s light up. Those are people’s dreams too, just like mine, so thoughtlessly shattered by celebrities! And how do you ‘Not give up your day job’ when all you’ve been doing is pursuing your dreams? When I ask myself what it is that I would consider my dream job I picture this: London Fashion Week, the second row, wearing Jimmy Choo’s, clutching a writing pad and a pen, and a list of all the exclusive front row guests, models walking, and a media pass for backstage – to interview Louis Gray of course. I want to be a catwalk reporter. Dream big much?

It’s hard to compare this to someone who has it all figured out. A childhood friend of mine is an accountant and just put a down payment on her first apartment. She’s 25. It’s definitely not her dream job to work for a bank, but this way she gets to live the life that she’s always dreamed of, and she’s incredibly happy. “Work is boring, but the people are nice”, she says, and its given her the kind of things that makes the rest of us feel like we’re missing the point of what jobs are actually for. your job should be the strong backbone of your life – the bit that keeps all the other bits upright. But the insistance that it has to be your ultimate passion of your entire existence means that if you give it up then you have failed yourself hopelessly. So there it is, the answer just hit me. It’s not about doing what you love and being employed to do it. It’s about doing what you’re good at so that you can have the life that you want.

Though I’m only a year out of college, I’m not about to give up on my dreams, that’ll be like not even trying. And we have to at least try.  I’ll still write, and ill take every opportunity that comes my way. I’ll write whether someone pays me to do it or not. And as it may often be ‘not’, in the meantime I might as well pursue some other things too. Speaking to a fellow writer about this topic, she told me this, ‘There’s no denying that your career is a big deal but focusing all your energies on finding that one perfect job is like focusing all your energies on finding that one perfect partner. The search is unbearable and blinds you to the things that could enrich your life right now. So make some money however you can and enjoy your life.” After all earning a living isn’t supposed to replace actual living.

x

feelings of change

When a new year is born, the feeling of change rises over me. I consider all the things that i can change in my life. Maybe ill stop smoking or start altering my eating habits. I’ll walk everywhere and think more out-of-the-box this year… When I think of  change I always picture the scene in the book Chocolat when the wind starts to blow and a yearning for something new; a fresh start, new beginnings, takes over. And when that wind blows, it doesn’t stop until you go with it. But  like most things that we tell ourselves we have to do, it’s the easy things that come first. And whats easier that changing the look of your blog?

Well, finding a good theme is the hardest part. I wanted to factor in all the things that make my blog what is it: the fashion and my thoughts on it. When I first started getting serious about Thrills it was Summer of 2010. The feeling of change was nagging in the back of my mind as a new year was soon approaching. I decided to start posting my take on personal style and it soon evolved into little projects that both Tom and I enjoyed doing. I started to notice pretty gardens and interesting walls  that made me excited as I matched outfits to fit each backdrop. Tom would snap photographs of me just before we’d go out to meet friends and suddenly it became as easy as that. Toms fondness to photography fueled my passion to dress more daringly everyday. It’s been 2 years since it all began, and by doing it, it has shown me the greatness of change is that it influences more change, more experiments and shows you that change is not that hard to get used to.

Regularly updating a blog reminds me of a strange kind of relationship that seems one-sided, but has its rewards every now and then. But the more you put into it (like any relationship) the more you get out. Over the last few months I would say that Thrills and I have been going steady, but it is one of my new years resolutions to publish more writing on here. Which brings me back to the reason I wrote this post in the first place; more change. I’ve changed the look of my blog to accommodate your eyes to the words written and not just the photographs displayed. Just like my outfit posts i’ll categorised  my writing under ‘personal style’ too. Style doesn’t stop where the clothes end. It flows right through you and into everything that you do, and this is where ill start.

So if this interests you, im glad. Along with the rest of my resolutions, one of the few nice ones i’ve vowed to is that i will start my collection of Vogue and Elle UK magazine. I have a dream of owning a library of my favourite magazines. Rows of months of years of fashion inspiration and also, some really great writing, right in the comfort of my home! No other thing will make me feel more like the person i want to be when im all grown up than by having this.

Some more of my new years resolutions? Yes, I will stop smoking and start changing my eating habits (firstly, by not eating when I get home at 3AM after a friday night out). I’ll attempt to walk most places, to and from my workplace, etc, and ill think more out-of-the-box (with the help of my magazine collection this shouldn’t be too hard), I will learn a new trade and work more with my hands (not only typing on my keyboard) and I’ll go overseas and live there for a while. This one will prove to be the most tough, but ill write all about it sometime soon…

x

SEE-RIGHT-THROUGH-ME

So i made my own collage, it’s pretty wild! Im not sure if i’ve captured the ‘mood’ of the outfits in the background pictures, but i think Closet Collage could dig!

This is a display of one of my favourite trends: transparent wear. The featherweight, sheer materials like silk chiffon, organza, and mousseline have a romance about them that this trend captures so perfectly.

Saturday morning

I have been looking for a specific pair of dungarees for nearly a year until i found these at a denim warehouse in the middle of nowhere last week. It was a Thank The Heavens moment for me. The still intact paper tag read Old Navy, size small, $35. I don’t think they’ve ever been worn! I wish i looked somewhat more happy in these pictures. It was on Saturday morning and i had Kent Andreason over at my flat taking pictures of Tom for the new Alex Knost/RVCA range for AStoreIsGood. So while I was hiding in the shadows and got these snapped in less than 5 minutes during an outfit change.

flatform shoes: Zara
white tee: the label reads ‘Country Seat’, its second-hand from a church fate.

blackbird, blackbird

Found this old silk scarf at my parents home in the cupboard where all the old things from the past that is forgotten go, until one day it is rediscovered and loved once more. This scarf is one of the items that was well worth discovering again. Over the time of Halloween, i thought about going as a bird. These photographs depict my process of imagining up an outfit, but unfortunately it doesn’t display the final product -  i dressed up as a character from The Battle Royale instead.

plaited petals

These are my Summer shoes. I wear them most days and never tred too hard in case i scuff them.

Plaited brown leather sandals from Babette.

Horns

Its seems like its Autumn everywhere at the moment, except for South Africa. But we’re still having weird in-between weather that is sometimes scorching hot, and other times quite chilly. So we can still take part in dressing up in thin layers to stay warm. This outfit is a perfect example of what im trying to say.

But what first got me interested in this lady’s style were her hair horns. Im currently trying to grow out my fringe, and anyone with a fringe knows how hard this can be. And when i part it to the sides, my hair does this funny thing where it stands up and the ends flop down, like two little horns. But after seeing this photo, im inspired to get into it! The best part about this hair style is that you have the option of letting your fringe down or styling it up (something i never even fathomed for the last four years of having a fringe). A curling iron would probably do the trick best, accompanied by hair spray.

Seen on The Sartorialist

today im make-shifting

 

Quickly, quickly! This is actually what im wearing right now. A Country Road dress that i have belted and pulled up so that it looks like a top and skirt combo! Apologies for not taking a photo of my shoes. They are Lacoste sneakers.

Casio watch; black socks; silver cuff bought somewhere in Europe, i think.