Tips for Attending Music Festivals in Style this Summer Season

If you are a total fashion junkie like me, you’ve probably been drooling over the hip crowd’s feeds of selfies and snaps attending festivals like Coachella, Burning Man (or Afrika Burn) or even the local 947’s Joburg Day. And long gone are the days of muddy, messy teenagers mosh’ing it up - most of these festivals welcome all ages and it is getting ever more fashionable to attend them. So here are the essentials of doing Music Festivals in Style:

Shows happen rain or shine - so take a poncho!

Comfortable shoes to walk in, jump in and even sleep in.

More than just music, these festivals are also celebrations of art, design and creative expression (think “themed camps” at the Africa Burn festival) - so planning your outfits is essential and this is your chance to go over the top girls!

For festivals like Coachella, Joburg Day, Up the Creek of Oppikoppi, think more bohemian rock and grunge. Especially for Oppikoppi - you will be roughing it a slight bit more and want to be comfortable enough to even sleep in your outfit.

My suggestion for grunge and rock festivals? Layering! Cami, checked shirt that can be worn or bound around your waist when it gets hot, leather jacket for cooler evenings, ripped jeans (obviously), and your classic lace-up Docs.

For a more bohemian twist, I would go for a long, bell-sleeved wrap dress or floral jumpsuit paired with your Docs lace-ups or sandals.

For Africa Burn and alternative festivals - wings, tutus, wigs, masks, fishnets…you name it. Your Docs will go with any and all of those looks. Or maybe wear nothing but your Docs. Now there is a statement for you. Not sure what the security will do though. [Disclaimer here].

Add some waterproof mascara, sunscreen (take that entire tube with you baby!) and a cap orsunhat (boater hats are HUGE this summer) and you’re ready!

Smart snacks: not high maintenance food - the kind that doesn’t melt, bruise or need refrigeration…my suggestion? Nuts, dried fruit and if you are the carnivorous kind - biltong and dry wors.

Water: As much as you can carry! And keep replenishing at every available point. Dehydration is not pretty.

Just in case you didn’t take the previous bit of advice and you DO get a dehydration headache / hangover / heat stroke - have some LEGAL drugs at hand…we’re talking aspirin here.

And whatever you do. Do. Not. Wear. Suede.

In Collaboration with #DrMartensSA.

Confessions of A Closet Shoe-Addict (featuring Dune, London)

You’ve got the vocab down pat…midi heels, mules, moccasins and you know that Dune, London has nothing to do with anything desert-related and that a wedge doesn’t refer to your average golf game. You can totally spell Manolo Blahnik and smell a pair of Louboutins a mile away.

The Dune, London store in Sandton City

And if, like me, you speak Shoe, then it might just be a case of closet addiction, ladies! Here are some sure signs that you’ve got it down:

1. Your boyfriend / husband / partner thinks that the shoes in your closet are the only pairs you own. Really..? Does he honestly still imagine that the shoe boxes in all the other closets in the house are filled with art supplies / surplus / random stuff?
2. You have shopping carts filled with shoes on various online sites, ready and waiting for pay day in exactly 5 days, 2 minutes and 29 seconds.
3. You cried for days after your dog chewed up your favourite pair of Choos. Oh wait. You are still in mourning two years down the line. RIP Jimmy.
4. You have been known to buy two pairs of the  exact same shoe - when you find the perfect pair there is just no risking it getting ruined (especially after the episode with your dog).
5. You remind your friends and family that there are worse things being addicted to when they question your “shoe hoarding”. No one likes having a crack addict as a sister. But having a shoe-addict-sister might mean that you bestow on them your (still sentimental) hand-me-downs. 

The bottom line is that life is too short to wear boring shoes.

Adventures with Dune...coming soon!

My heart and sole (er, pardon the pun) will always be red and there is just no feeling as thrilling as wearing a show-stopping, bar-setting, sky scraping pair of heels!

1 Scarf. 3 Ways.

Souvenirs. Sigh. Such a cliché.

There are the snow globes, soft toys, magnets, T-shirts…I always succumb to buying at least one of these items when traveling (sometimes a last-minute thing at the airport, not wanting to make one family member think they had been forgotten)…

But there is something that I specifically seek out for myself when I travel to a new place and that is a scarf. So I have a dedicated scarf drawer, containing my “Paris” scarf, my “Mexico” scarf, my “Maldives” scarf etc. and the most recent addition to this collection is my “Rome” scarf. I found this little treasure in Zara in downtown Rome and instantly fell in love with the motif and vibrant orange and cobalt. It will forever remind me of this richly cultured and romantic city. 

I think scarves are such a versatile accessory in any woman’s closet it can be worn to brighten up any tired old dress or even a dull handbag, tied around the handle. Here are a few more ways to wear your scarf this season. Let me know what your favourite closet classics are.

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