Meeting with Palesa Mokubung (Mantsho) this morning

palesa : flower
mantsho : brutally black

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Location Monday

Locations

Today we walked around a few locations in Soweto. These shots here are not actually test shoots they are here to show how we can use the locations, and what effects the colour has on the locations.
Tomorrow we are off to see more locations within NewTown. We have slightly changed our locations idea, but you will be able to see the theme from looking at these shots.

Kepi Mngomezulu, the designer for the shoot

Meet Kepi, he will be the designer that I will be using for my shoot. He is an awesome guy, full of energy and a great person to collaborate with.
So far we plan on shooting at the end of Feb in Soweto. Kepi has found 5 different locations which we will be checking out on Sunday and Monday. Unfortunately when we come to shoot we will need security with us but I am hoping for the test shoot it shouldn't be a problem.
So far on DAY 2 of 10 we have gone through the details of the shoot, met the smarteez, confronted agencies and done a few pic for an interview in a mag (below). Tomorrow will be a quiet day as the test is on and the smarteez seem busy. So the plan is to liaise with a member of the South Africa fashion week team. Collect some contact and organize for the big day in soweto on sunday.
The main problems at the moment seem to be finding a decent willing makeup artist and hair stylist, and if we can find them in 1 person it will be a added bonus.

Finally here in sa

So after a 24hr journey due to the stupid snow and a stop off in Nairobi i am finally here. Slowly things are taking off, I have organized a few meetings tomorrow. Trying to meet with modelling agencies, the smarteez, mobile phone people and liaison. So it is all go. For this to work i have to use all the time i have, no buggering around and to be cautious. I hope every ones presentations, books and lit go or went well

I will be in SA in a week

Guys does know of any cheap places that i can get 120 roll of film developed?
I am just doing my lit review at the moment, hectic I know! 6 Days till hand in!

Article of interest

Fashionable anti-fashion:
the brave, irreverent edge

In among the glamazons, wearing towering heels, carefully crafted and coordinated outfits, there were a handful of young folk, who defy this stifling elegance for a more irreverent take on fashion.

They are the Smarteez, a group of individuals in the truest sense of the word, the majority of whom hail from the harbinger of cool -- Soweto.

"We express the random world we live in with our random attire," says Floyd Avenue, one of the regular Smarteez at the gig.

Dressed in a blue-checked shirt, with denim shorts embellished with top stitching that he has added himself, a multicoloured neckerchief and what can only be described as Steve Urkel glasses, Floyd Avenue looks unutterably funky.

"We get criticism when we are divided," said fellow Smartee, Retro, "But together we are stronger."
Retro is one of the few converts who comes from Pretoria.

Smarteez never wear the same look twice, they find or make clothes and don't buy international labels unless they are sneakers, said Floyd Avenue.

The result is a dazzling array of colour, fabric and style that is an identity all its own and yet defies any kind of label.

The Smarteez have been documented by photographer Lolo Veleko and been featured in Elle magazine's September issue.

According to Elle the pictures taken by Veleko were used in her recent exhibition in Japan, where they were spotted and snapped up by Japanese designer Kenzo.