COZ SHE'S IN HER 20s
4:16 pm
"Maybe let me do a Cool Kid session and interview myself lol"
It's 2 AM on my twentieth birthday. I'm very unsure about how I'm supposed to be feeling right now. Excited? Sad? What even does this have to do with fashion? Don't know or care. I just need this day and my thoughts to be recorded for future reference. Still don't know what I'm actually writing about.
But hey here it goes. Maybe let me do a Cool Kid session and interview myself lol. That's a pretty accurate way of encapsulating my state of mind and preserving the Refiloe of 20 April 2016. Yep I've decided.That's what I'm going to do.
Here it goes.
To maintain layout convention, I'm going to hop between third and first person so try not to get confused or perplexed by the level of narcissistic self description to be shortly displayed. Still can't believe I'm 20. lol wow.
Refiloe Mokgele, the 20 year old Civil Engineering student who thinks about clothes on a 60 secondly basis, sits in her bed dressed in fuschia pajama shorts, mismatched socks and a long sleeved black T. Surrounded by pillows varying in size and shades of blue and white (random yellow one in the corner), she half sips her hot ass tea and fiddles with her braids in an attempt to keep them out of her face. 20 minutes ago she knocked on a few doors, asking for scissors sharper and larger than the foundation phase mini ones on her desk. Her braids are now half the length they were before said 20 minutes. Earphones are in. Jaden Smith on full blast to serve as youth voice to drone out the impending drag of actual adulthood. ugh
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1.Describe your aesthetic in 3 words
weird, proportionsareimportant, erratic
2.Movies everyone should watch before death?
I used to have a quick Top Three I'd say off the bat... uhm I recently watched Fight Club which was rad. I'm obsessed with Ken Park (anything by Larry Clark), Clockwork Orange was weird af. Movies either have to be about teenagers, have unique cinematography or be realll lit. Not into blockbuster,Avengers, type stuff.
3.Have you reached your fashion peak, if not what is it?
DEFINITELY NOT. Currently doing the best that I can with my limited closet, but woooah, the stuff I'm planning to wear when I'm rich. god bless. I can't wait to start building my closet with really beautifully made statement pants and jackets and coats. Right now I'm focusing on my vintage inventory (coz it's cheaper) and I'm trying (with great difficulty) to completely stop with the fast fashion stuff.
4.What do you think when you open your closet doors?
"I need to create a cool silhouette. Pair stuff together that doesn't make sense but does. Also I need to look different from yesterday hmmm what about a skirt and pants?? Stop you're going to look like a fool. Tone it down...but not jeans and a white T. defs not" - that's kinda the daily dialogue in my head.
5.Cartoons that make your heart sing?
Everything prior to the terrible Adventure Time yuck that they're playing now. Ed, Edd and Eddy, PowerPuffGirls, Wild Thornberries, AS TOLD BY GINGER.
6.Something that currently makes you angry?
Boys who lowkey perpetuate the patriarchy and racism while simultaneously twitter preaching against it. What's the word- Hoteps?
7.Meal you'd eat all day everyday?
PIZZA IS LOVE. PIZZA IS LIFE.
8.Why do you think you have friends?
I guess I'm interesting to chat to, not exactly cookie cutter. I really love my friends but am terrible at communication and keeping in touch so I'm actually not sure why they put up with me lol. The people I love are on the same wave length as me while simultaneously making me think differently about stuff. Also they make me laugh. So maybe I'm the same for them? idk
9.Fashion Inspiration?
Margaret Zhang, coz of the layers. Leandra Medine coz of the DGAF fashion rules. Solange coz of the colours. Miranda from Lizzie Maguire. Skater boys.
10.Opinions on the two cities you reside in?
I go home and watch tv a lot. a lot a lot. JHB I love coz it made me. But hate coz it feels foreign to me now. Cape Town I love coz of the way it looks and its extensive vintage clothing collection. Hate CPT coz... what did the friend I made on the plane say- "It's too monochromatic".
11.2 things you admire about your 10 year old self?
She is bossy and competitive af (real smart go getter gal).
She's super creative and ambitious.
12.The most important colour?
GREEN.
13.What's exciting/suckish about being 20?
Not a kid anymore, ew. I hate adults.
14.What about fashion gives you life?
The art of it, the images that people create, the words people write, the things people wear! Firm believer of the fact that fashion is so immediate, so telling of the time, so intricate. There are some Vogue articles (like the one on A$AP Rocky) that I've read maybe 7 times. Damnit it's art that moves with you that sits on your body that says something. That's just.. wow.
15.Where is All Zuri gonna go?
Hopefully. It will become something bigger than self, A touch point for discussion and art centered around fashion. I don't want to say too much and jinx myself.
16.Current obssesions?
Been watching Sex and the City a lottt. I started on Thursday and can't stop.
My music always.
Clothes 5eva (I literally sit at certain angles in restaurants to maximize people watching possibilities).
My instagram. Sometimes I just stare at it lol.
17.What is fashion to you?
Borderline too much.
18.Being a young black woman is?
Being black is probably more fun than being white in my opinion. There's so much to us that I love. Being a woman also adds so many beautiful layers to what I'm about. Now together- paired with youth... wooah. Black women are put through so much.Their existence is diminished from all directions. From men. From whites. But there's something so extraordinary about the black women I know. Something that exudes from between those 101 layers that make up who we are. Wouldn't choose to be anything else.
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| Photography by my little sister, Reitu on our Cape Town escapades. |
19. Favourite forms of expression?
Clothes. Writing. Photography. Drawing flowers all over everything.
20.Room for self improvement?
Definitely. Need to work on materializing and pushing through to completion all the ideas that are constantly jumping around in my head. I need to answer my whatsapps. Send more. Call people. Mostly outwardly do, portray, express many of the things that reside mostly in my head.
21(Bonus Q).What do you think about the youth fashion culture in SA?
Sometimes it annoys me- the Stan Smiths, the Joni's, the green jackets- perpetuating the trends they shove down our throats. But I truly believe in myself and the people like me, better than me, who see the potential of this place. I love the people who are pushing for more creative content, clothing and photos. People who are grinding to establish Africa as the fashion capital it's supposed to be. Especially the kids.
Outfit Details:
shirt: vinatge
jersey: Trenery
culottes: MRP
sneaks: Nike
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