outfit | something old, something new

Photos by Kyle Kingsley Green and Zach Louw

Have you ever been shopping and felt that magnetic pull in your core to a particular item? It may not necessarily be on trend, but you can cav the vision – you can see something special in it… If not now, then soon. So you buy it, but it just sits in your closet and every time you try to wear it, it doesn’t feel quite right – yet you still can’t give it away? That is exactly how I feel about most of this outfit. And I have to thank my intuition for it.

When I was in grade 11, I bought this bomber jacket from Cotton On for something like R300 (which is a great price in light of this massive trend lately, LOL) because I thought the sleeves looked so cool – but then I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to wear it. Every time I put it on, something just didn’t look right. It was a bit too long, the vibe wasn’t correct, it didn’t fit me well – there was always a reason I took it off right before I left the house. Yet in every spring clean of my closet, it still stayed. I couldn’t figure out how to wear that damn jacket but it was not going anywhere.

Until midway through 2015 when I gave it a try once again and you would not believe the compliments I received on it! People kept asking me where I got it because it was so cool – not knowing the frustration I endured because of this item of clothing. My burden had become a blessing because I listened to my gut feeling telling me to just wait.

Likewise with my shoes – they were my sister’s back when she was in her sneaker phase of life. I’m pretty sure she bought these embellished silver Supergas when she was in high school or her first year of varsity at the latest (so before 2009), and they were so unlike anything we’d seen at the time so we dubbed them ‘The Legend of the Silver Superga’. That being said, they were only worn a handful of times and lived most of their lives in their shoebox at the back of my sister’s closet. Until she was doing a shoe audit a few months ago and asked me if I wanted them. I originally said no because Supergas aren’t really my style but when I went home, I just had to bring them back with me. Intuition spoke to ya girl once again.

The moral of the story is that as great as the voice in your head booms when you walk through a store and see a trendy item, you should also pay attention to the little voice at the back. I believe the little voice is where our true personal style lies, and sometimes it’s worth it to make the investment in an item of clothing, even if you don’t quite understand it yet. This doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with following trends or that you should just buy and hoard clothing, but rather that you should spend a little more time shopping and examining your closet. Look at what you own or intend to buy and see whether or not it speaks to you – let yourself grow into your own personal style. Shop with your intuition and look at your closet with new eyes, because in something old, you can definitely find something new.

Have a wonderful upcoming week! ✨