#AnotherOne ... Cheers to TWO years of styling

I WOULD like to believe I’m generally a reserved human being. I don’t talk much unless I’m spoken to. But I do a lot of observing. I see things and I’ve lots to say about them. Most times I don’t verbally articulate my thoughts but I’d have gone into overdrive with them in my mind. I have a photographic memory which I believe helps me describe things better as I visualise them in my mind. And you know what happens when visual imagery, a keyboard and Apple earphones come to play? Pattern & Style comes to life. In the past two years, Pattern & Style has grown from just being a fashion column and turned into a movement of sorts.When I started this column two years ago, I didn’t realise how my feisty yet chic inner being that few ever get to experience would come to life in black and white.

Pattern & Style has grown from being a spicy fashion column that throws brickbats to wardrobe disasters and bouquets to fabric slayers into a lifestyle. It’s about making a conscious decision to look good every single day and understanding that the way you dress speaks volumes about your personality and how seriously you take yourself. Pattern & Style is about building confidence through your wardrobe and making sure whatever space you’re in – you turn up. Now I’ll ask, dude – where’s your pattern and style because you’ve got to bring your fashion game to every aspect of your life. It’s about ensuring the brand that is you remains fresh and consistent. And now it’s not just my thing. I see the #HeavyPatternAndStyle hashtags and the “Akula #PatternAndStyle la” comments on social media platforms.

This is what Pattern & Style is about – keeping you in check for your everyday life. I’m truly humbled by how people have caught on and acknowledged the existence of the column. Because Pattern & Style is a lifestyle – it doesn’t end with the column’s publication on Saturdays. Every day of the week, game recognises game and where there’s need for correction – it’s done from a place of love. I would constantly get feedback from readers who couldn’t access the Saturday Chronicle on the streets to read the column and decided to set up a blog for online readers.

The blog, www.stayera247.blogspot.com has somewhat become a library for those who want to play catch up. It has in the past few months had over 5,000 views by people from across the world – France, Rwanda, South Africa, USA, India, Nigeria – you name it.

It’s really humbling to see how seriously people take your work. Any writer will tell you it means the world knowing someone took the time to read your words. The Facebook page, Pattern & Style, has also brought me closer to you the readers. Sometimes your feedback leaves me in stitches; I can’t help laughing out loud. It’s sometimes constructive criticism which I greatly appreciate. And at times it’s just you agreeing with my sentiments and nothing feels better than knowing you’re not the only one who thinks the way you do. My favourite bit of it all is having people that wouldn’t ordinarily take an interest in fashion diving in. They’ll share they’re two cents and make you realise just how much of an important aspect of life fashion is.It has truly been an incredible two years!

You may not always agree with my views and that’s really okay. I’m just grateful I’d have given you something to think about. Pattern & Style has been about being relatable, practical and relevant to what would be referred to as the ordinary person. It has been about disseminating fashion tips which are simple and most importantly affordable. But I wouldn’t have been able to do this for so long without you the readers. Particularly my mother who has read every single article, she’s been my number one fan, my most blunt critique and the first victim of my pen.

My brother, relatives, friends and colleagues have also been victim as I try to make fashion a relatable and exciting aspect of life – thank you for letting me do this. As this baby turns two on January 30, allow me to say THANK YOU to you the readers! Do keep reading and never stop slaying!

Remember, how you dress could be the difference between you and your next big break. Here’s to #AnotherOne.

Don’t get sold a dream…

I HAD been following one Facebook page for a while. It had some of the most beautiful dresses I’ve ever seen in my life and I thought I’d look good in a few of them.

I loved how clean and classy the dresses looked and obviously how professional the store selling the dresses generally seemed. Then I went on a trip to Harare, where the shop is located. I decided to visit the shop, as “any other business” while I was there.

I wasn’t ready to make any purchases but I really just wanted to experience the store and maybe try on a few things. You know, for when I had the money. So, off to the store I went but I was never ready for what I saw when I got there. The shop was situated in a bank building in Avondale – that’s a decent enough location, I thought.

But when I opened the door and walked into the store, it wasn’t really a store.

It was just a tiny unflattering room with two rails of dresses on either side. It was such an underwhelming room and guess what – it cost $1 to try on a dress! I didn’t even have that buck! I couldn’t believe how much faith I had had in this shop, especially with my general loath of online shopping. But I had been sold a dream. It looked nothing like it did on the Facebook page. And the dresses, well, they were just dresses. I realised then that it’s such an easy task advertising one’s products nowadays. Just take a few good pictures, edit them, post them on your social media page and voila – it’s done! This is why it’s important now more than ever to be a vigilant shopper. With the advent of the Internet, it’s so easy for businesses to sell a dream and guess what – you’ll fall for it. Save yourself the emotional stress and make sure you keep your online purchases independent of your wardrobe.

A significant number of business owners are now taking their merchandise online because an increasing number of people are consumers of the Internet. What is worse is you actually buying these clothes after seeing them in pictures and not in person. What they don’t tell you is after you pay – they’re not responsible for how the garment looks on your body. One of the cardinal rules to being stylish is before you buy a piece of clothing – try it on first and make sure it fits you well. Clothes are an investment; you have to invest wisely. You’re investing in your self-mage and most importantly the brand that is you. You can’t afford to sit back and hope your clothes will fit once they arrive – that just causes unnecessary chest pains.

In order to be considered fashion savvy, your clothes are going to have to fit you well and this can only happen if you get into the habit of trying on clothes first before you buy them. Don’t get me wrong – there’s absolutely nothing wrong with looking at clothes on the Internet, just don’t buy off it, look for ideas that will help you shop and put outfits together. Because we don’t live in a vacuum, there’s always room for research and getting inspiration from other people. Once you walk into a clothing store, be very honest with yourself. Be aware of your body type and skin tone. These play a key role on the general outlook of your clothes.

Don’t buy a smaller size with the hope that you’ll lose weight for it – you won’t. Buy clothes that fit you now. Before you approach the cash counter, while you’re still in the fitting room, concentrate on how the clothing piece you’re trying on looks on your body. Worry about its general outlook and not just the fact that you like it. My mother always says – right dress wrong body! You may like the dress but it may not necessarily look good on you.

Men don't like weaves...

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WELL, some do but I wouldn’t be lying if I said a significant number of men don’t like weaves. They have their reasons and I quite frankly have my own. For a start, I just feel weaves are too extra – in the unnatural type of way. I feel like they’ll give me a rash of some sort. I won’t even start on the itchy scalp that will almost drive a woman crazy! I don’t mind braids; they seem less fake. But weaves; when they come in blonde, hot red, burgundy and all sorts of colours – I mean, what black woman has blonde hair, honestly! My bathroom floor suffered the most the last I had a weave. All those hairs on the floor, it’s such a farce cleaning that up every morning. Maybe my weave was cheap quality but I’m pretty sure it was Brazilian hair which cost me a cool $300.

And then it started to smell, I couldn’t stand it – what more the next person if it got to me that much! I just decided I wasn’t putting myself through that again. But women have different reasons for wearing weaves. For some, weaves simply enhance their overall look otherwise they could really do without them. Others use them as protective hairstyles – just to protect their hair from the elements and everyday combing and styling. Some women have deep-rooted opinions on weaves it will shock you. They believe weaves are a status symbol of some sort, that if you don’t have a weave on it’s because you just can’t afford one. That’s absurd – I can’t honestly be deemed poor simply because I prefer to wear my hair in its natural state. With some, you’ll never see their natural hair – they’ll be in a weave from January to December, it’s unbelievable!

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For some women, weaves are a genuine necessity. It could be because their natural hair doesn’t grow much at all or when it does, it thins out. They just crave the volume a weave offers. All they want are the extra hair strands. For some women, weaves provide some form of comfort – they hide facial features they don’t like and mask what they view as imperfections. But men say weaves smell, they’re unnatural and they don’t like how women use the hair strands to mark territories. They say she’ll walk into the house and come across some random hair strand that’s not hers and ask, “Whose hair is this – are you cheating on me?” It causes all manner of unnecessary problems.

Because men are highly likely the number one reason why a significant number of women even bother with weaves, their view on the matter counts. But if you really can’t do without a weave, the least you can do is take good care of yours. For starters, don’t make the time in-between washes too long. Six weeks is decent enough – make an appointment with your hairdresser and get yourself sorted. It’s really not entirely the sparse shampoos that make the weave smell. It’s your choice of moisturiser and how you use it. Because weaves are “fake” – the hair isn’t growing from your scalp, they don’t need to be moisturised. What you need to be moisturising is your scalp. The oil you apply on the weave doesn’t get absorbed, it stays on the weave.

And as you keep applying more onto the weave, it continues to accumulate and with time starts to smell because it becomes dirt. You’ll know you’re in too deep when the weave starts to look like a mop. The ends would’ve gone hard and bristle and the weave would’ve lost its form – it’s literally just sitting on your head. No one can tell you what weave colour to wear or whether to have an invisible parting line or not but at least have the decency to clean up after combing your weave. Check the bathroom floor and other surfaces for any hair strands and be sure to remove all hair from the comb you’ve used. Real or fake – hair on bathroom surfaces is just disgusting.

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