Wednesday, July 20, 2011

PICTURES: DAVID TLALE AT CAPE TOWN FASHION WEEK




"I HATE BLOGGERS". OH, WELL! *SHRUGS*

   “All they want are freebies and to be seen. They just want fame, they don’t actually care about the story,” says the High-Snobiety of media traditionalists, feeling threatened by the one-man media machine that is the blogger. After reading a Mail & Guardian article about the grief (oh, shame) of food journalists who hate bloggers within that industry, I just cannot believe that such discriminatory beliefs still exist.
   My frustration is not what this sort of self-importance stands for, but the ignorance that, on the face of things, sounds like a professional trying to protect the integrity of journalism. See, media people tend to want to cluster bloggers into one category and have such a hate for them that they get left behind as their prized profession evolves right under their snooty noses.
   As a professional journalist myself, I know that the blogosphere cannot be ignored. It has that power to push such idiotic behaviour into a very dark and lonely corner I call “Archaisia”.
   I am in no way insinuating that arbitary excuses for bloggers be embraced, but I am saying that, out there, are some really credible bloggers, a lot of whom could not be bothered about the story, in actual fact!
   Some just want to capture the moment with their lenses. Some just want to muse about their entertaining lifestyles. Others, well, should never be given the light of day. Learn how to differentiate!      
   Better yet, get your own blog and do what you think should be done rather than complaining about a situation you can actually change. Lead the way and take that integrity you want to see into the digital age.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

CAPE TOWN ADVENTURES ON THE SIDELINES OF #CTFW SS11/12

So, South African Tourism was generous enough to take this blogger to the Mothercity for Cape Town Fashion Week. But my stay in Cape Town was not just about threads, but also lots of wine and sightseeing. SA Tourism took me and a couple of other journalists and bloggers on different tours each day and out of these, my most favourite was the fashion tour, where we went to the Cape Peninsula University of Technology's clothing and textiles campus to learn about things like grading. They showed many machines that are used in manufacturing clothes; from a machine that uses software to cut patterns to the chemicals used to grade textiles. Oh, and there was also one that welds textiles, allowing one to stitch a garment without any actual stitching. Trust! It's true.
We also went to see a couple of stores in town, which was a lot of fun, bar the fact that I was too broke to shop.
I was a bit of a happy snapper (just a bit) and I brought back these pictures of some of the places and interesting spaces.


The view from my hotel room at The Pepper Club hotel
 


A wonderful restuarant you should definitely eat at next time you go to Cape Town
It is called "The Kitchen" and is situated on Main Street in Woodstock
The food is just amazing!
 



Me & You is a collaborative designer space, housing six designers
I thought this is a wonderful idea that Joburg designers need to start looking at
 




Designer Thulare Monareng's concept store "The Fashion Deli"
Monareng also allows other designers to stock their clothes here
She also stocks one label by two Capetonians who apparently refuse to leave the suburb of Observatory
Their label is called "Intsangu"...
 




The rails at Stefania Morland's store