Cast your eye over the creations of Jacques Griffe, and one can’t help but wonder why a designer so acutely gifted doesn’t also boast a couture legacy similar to that of many of his contemporaries. Griffe closed his business in…
Remember the supermodel-celebrities of the nineties, the ones who wouldn’t get out of bed for under $10 000 a day? Casting a glance a little further back into fashion history, there’s a host of equally noteworthy style muses with diverse achievements…
If you were a late 19th century sex worker, shoplifter, gangster, confidence artist, or petty thief, chances are your path would have crossed with the high priestess of misdemeanour, Old Mother (‘Marm’) AKA the ‘Queen of Fences’ Mandelbaum and her…
François ‘Féral’ Benga glances at us from black-and-white photographs, immortalised in a sculptural pose, large soulful eyes turned skywards as if to say, I am indeed a celestial creature. Hard to believe, but this lithe of limb and cacao-butter-sleek heavenly…
To us comfy dressers of today the idea of an itchy, restrictive gadget – fashionable or not – impeding our head movement isn’t the most appealing of accessories. But the ruff, a cumbersome featherlike collar worn around the neck, like…
Hit pause on reality for a moment and step into the fabulous shoes of a bohemian design diva whose life reads much like a fairy tale. With looks straight from the glossy pages of Vogue Italia; classy, sassy, smart, uber-talented…
The best way to make fast friends with a taxi driver in the Middle East? Ask them a simple question: “Fairuz or Umm Kulthum?” Sensational diva, singer, songwriter and actress, affectionately called ‘Egypt’s fourth pyramid’ and ‘mother of the Arabs’,…
Whatever that intangible ‘It’ factor is, the gods bestowed it on Denham ‘Denny’ Fouts in disproportionate quantities. He was blessed with more natural-born charisma than Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad Pitt and The Talented Mr Ripley put together. Denny Fouts exuded…
To be one of “Antonio’s Girls”, as they were known, meant you were going places. You had “it”. Grace Jones, Jerry Hall, Tina Chow, Pate Cleveland and Jessica Lange are names that are much better known today than Antonio Lopez,…
There’s a song that went viral on TikTok recently (seven years after its initial release), becoming the social media platform’s song of the summer. You’ve almost certainly heard it. “Ooohe, Makeba, Makeba ma qué bella,” sings the French pop singer,…
