There should be rules against having months with 28 days. Talk about squeezing the juice out of every single day! Anyway, needless to say life is crazy… combine a bad economy, probable cause dates, VIP passes to fashion week and improbable romances and you have the perfect recipe for why I have been scrambling around like a crazy person for the past couple weeks. Anyway, I’m sure you are all looking forward to fashion week. I have to admit it cuts both ways, on the one hand it’s odd to celebrate that kind of extravagance in an economy where literally, every day for the past week, I have sat near someone on the T who lost their job (they get on at State street and are either crying or calling someone to tell them about it. It’s crazy!). On the other hand, the fashion industry is an important part of the economy and all those designers pursing the dream deserve support… I really want to get down to NYC but the more I look at my calendar the more it looks like I’ll be living vicariously through other bloggers!
If you happen to make it… be sure to check out South African brand Stoned Cherrie! The brand was started in an effort to represent afro-urban culture by creating a platform for self expression. Stoned Cherrie has been building it’s brand over the last six years and has focused on representing South African culture in a way that is truthful and that takes fashion out of the realm of pretense, emulation and frivolity.
In essence, Stoned Cherrie is a product of freedom, a conflation of past and present. SC’s aesthetic oscillates between heritage and how Africa has evolved over the years. Their design signature is reminiscent of the celebration of past eras of the 50’s right through to present day South Africa.
More about Stoned Cherrie from the designers:
Our street wear range has its origins in the era of ‘hippos’and the low level civil war we were engaged in from the 60s up until the early 90s. In our couture offering we were one of the first to successfully take what had been banished to the rural areas and put them on the ramp. We incorporated into our design aesthetic Venda prints and Shangaan inspired beadwork, the Xhosa traditional skirt, and the German print Seshweshwe, reflecting our diverse African cultural influences. Today we are refreshing timeless textiles by weaving and printing our own iconic fabrics.
In 2002 we introduced the ‘Drum Campaign’ in partnership with the Bailey’s Historical Archives. We used fashion as a canvas to convey iconic historical imagery to foster an interest and pride in our history and heroes. This added a new dynamic to the Stoned Cherrie vision where we had set out to produce timeless art pieces. Our new market made Stoned Cherrie unclassifiable in terms of race or age but distinctive in terms of headspace. The idea of using images from Drum magazine has a special resonance in South Africa. By wearing Stoned Cherrie clothing, South Africans feel that they are taking back the censored past of their grandparents.
Our industry recognized and embraced this bold expression by awarding us a mantelpiece of awards. In 2004 Stoned Cherrie was awarded the coveted Catherine/Fairlady Fashion Award for best brand. In 2005 we were the recipients of a L’Oreal/Fairlady Lifetime Achievement Award for our contribution to the development of the South African fashion industry. Other awards include Best Ladies Wear – South African Fashion Week 2002. We are currently nominated for the Marie Claire Prix d’ excellence as well as the Department of Arts and Culture “Most Beautiful Objects in South Africa (MBOISA) 2007.
In 2004 we launched our Stoned Cherrie eyewear range to let our consumers across Africa see from Stoned Cherrie’s proud perspective. The range is available in over 100 outlets in South Africa. Our export countries include Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mauritius, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana and Angola.
We at Stoned Cherrie believe in abundance. It is this belief that has kept us constantly inspired to innovate rather than follow. Today Stoned Cherrie is recognized as a smooth, sexy, street-wise label that has artfully swerved fashion stereotypes by being old, new and futuristic simultaneously. We are passionate about social development and believe that as Stoned Cherrie grows as a brand, so too should the communities that have contributed to its identity. We therefore take pride in having contributed to the restoration of dignity to the lives of women from the African Feeding Scheme by employing them as beaders and seamstresses. We have also collaborated with the Sparrow School from Sophiatown as well as rural crafters from Polokwane. We will continue to create such opportunities into the future. Through creative adaptations of crochet, ‘funkifying’ Seshweshwe and resurrecting all our heroes, sung and unsung, Stoned Cherrie has been instrumental in transforming the way South Africans feel about themselves.
Pictures courtesy of Fashion Africa
