Image courtesy of: punkandivy.com

In the last couple of years there’s been a surge in individuals bringing new offerings to the fashion industry. Punk & Ivy is one such  brand, specializing in fashion design, styling and image consulting. The label is collaboratively run by Khaya Sibiya and Bianca Miles,  both having had experience within the fashion industry:  Khaya is a stylist and Bianca is the previous co-owner of a womenswear brand. The idea of Punk & Ivy came about after a trip they took to Bangkok, where the surroundings resonated with all they love in fashion, design and music. It felt like the right time for them to take things to the next level.

The brand was created with the purpose of introducing a different shopping platform to the consumer. This was achieved by them creating a motique (a mobile boutique) with the intention of taking the shopping experience directly to the public. Their garments are locally produced and created with the purpose of catering to all styling requirements, be it items from their ready to wear range or bespoke pieces perfectly tailored with you in mind.

Visit Punk & Ivy for more.

Image Courtesy of: 10and5.com

The  growing  blogging culture has led to a rise in the number of photographers one comes into contact with, so it was extremely refreshing to come across a photographer with a difference. Cues Roy Potterill, a Joburg based iphonographer who saw greater potential in instagram than it just being a social media tool. Thumbnail is a follow up to his Hashtag exhibition which was made up of strictly iphone generated images of the city landscape. The recipe for his Thumbnail exhibition was the same,  but saw his lens venture out to capture the marvels of the country at large. It’s really inspiring to see what a man and his iphone can produce.

The exhibition can be viewed at the Exposure Gallery (Johannesburg) on 70 Juta  Str, Braamfontein and the Exposure Gallery at The Old Biscuit Mill, Cape Town.

Image courtesy of: okmalume.tumblr.com

Redbull has played a prominent role in music as of late, this being majorly contributed to by the Redbull Studios initiative. Their latest undertaking is a project with local musicians: Dirty Paraffin, Bra Sol, Spoek Mathambo, Bhubesii and Choc called the Corner to Corner Tour, which was created with the sole purpose of taking music to the people. The tour is made up of a series of free impromptu concerts which has seen performances take place at locations ranging from local universities to your local street corner, as the name suggests.

It’s great to see thinking outside of the box and using new ways of self promotion, by taking music which was only available to a niche market and putting it out there for the enjoyment of a wider and more varied audience.

Every summer a different shorts aesthetic reigns supreme in my not so humble neighborhood of Williamsburg. For the fashion forward, this summer is gonna go two ways- Sweats, or athletic shorts, or loose long board short shapes. Last year’s rolled up chino shorts will be around but they are gonna feel kinda last year. This year is about athletic wear plus it looks better with Nike trainers, which are being spotted in increasing abundance. Even shorts are sick of skinny jeans. Here are some options:

These styles and more very similar from Opening Ceremony

Pyrex Vision shorts (referencing the production of crack…)

Duh

]]> http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2013/05/18294/time-for-new-shorts-bro/feed/ 0 http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2013/05/18306/the-wine-of-beers/ http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2013/05/18306/the-wine-of-beers/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 18:08:39 +0000 Callan http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/?p=18306 OK so the micro-brew thing is super old news. Portland guys have been doing that since way before I even had a beer. Coffee roasters (also Portland lol) are an esteemed profession all over the place now.  In New York there are now Beer Nerds like there are Wine Geeks. This place Tørst, the newest of the destinations, is a beer bar with really expensive glasses of beer and they adjust the C02 level at the taps and all sorts of things to make sure it tastes perfect. I can ride for this 50% because it is owned and decorated by Swedish people that kinda did things right, and I do like beer but I also can get good beer if I want it for half the price and I don’t work at a real job. If I am gonna spend that money it’s still on wine and also beer attracts men more than women. All the same, this is a thing and I respect anyone’s attempt to make people more sophisticated consumers cuz at the very least it spreads the money around. Also it’s pretty neat, all the unmarked taps.

There is always one look that kind of plagues me because I don’t have the gear for it. For the last few months it has been this one: the wide brimmed hat and oversized coat thing, reminiscent of the Quaker fashion that we saw in Berlin and London 6 years ago, but with less religious fundamentalism and more detective-like mystery. It is a simple and awesome look that combines an oversize coat and often high hemmed loose pants (have to look drapey cannot be pleated and 40′s) with a wide brimmed hat. Not sure if the look has a name yet. I had one of these hats during the last round and sold it at some point. Kicking myself a little.

The film Spring Breakers is an obvious success in its ability to be treated as both fine art/experimental filmmaking and able to appeal to young, dumb teenagers in its “commercial as conceptual” vision. This type of vision is broad-reaching in our post-ironic culture, but what I want to talk about is how Harmony Korine got it to look exactly right. Designing the cinematography to look sometimes like super-Photoshopped EDM compilation cover art as well as Instagram filtered photography was arguably ingenious, and not to mention risky and safe at the same time.

What I have to wonder is how did he know that fashionable girls were all gonna start wearing brightly colored sportswear? How does he always know? (example: Gummo‘s prediction of “white trash” fashion, and the mullet) He is really good at this stuff, maybe the best?

While this film was seemingly less disturbing and unsettling to watch, it certainly evoked in you the same uneasy feelings as his previous films, that is of course if you were looking for them and not just jamming out to Skrillex over the theater’s booming system. Anyways lots to say about this, I just wanted to show how my fashionable friends were already doing this look and how it will be THE summer look. God I hope they don’t see this lol.

Seems that last week everyone I know in the industry was either taking jealousy-inducing #selfies at Coachella just to let me know how much I have missed the sunlight or they were tweeting about this long awaited Jai Paul record which was uploaded to Bandcamp instead of being released by XL recordings. Its lo-fi and messy and pretty brilliant, and would have lost something had it been slickly re-recorded and released as a mainstream pop record (not something I usually say) so is this a stunt for publicity?  Cute thought but seems legit despite XL’s history of sneaky and clever overnight sensations. Either way he is an enigmatic “indie” artist and I expect him to become very popular or at least maintain some of his hype.

As the title suggests Poler, the Portland outdoor “stuff” maker makes the “highest standard of stuff” for the highest quality of outdoor hipster. I mean, who likes North Face zip off pants? The answer is: nobody.

Hip people camp too, and now they no longer have to wear tragically unhip clothing to do so. Poler first hit my radar around two years ago when they sent sleeping bags (what they call The Napsack) down the runway at Portland Fashion Week. About a year after that, you could catch Lena Dunham rocking one on her HBO show “Girls.” Currently they kill it in the arena of social media, they clock in at 64,000+ followers on Instagram all into Poler’s #campvibes.

So if you live in Portland or are just passing through I highly suggest checking out their flagship store at 1300 W Burnside that just opened in March. Personally, I’m really feeling their crewneck sweatshirts and beanie’s, but if you actually go outside and do “outdoorsy” things maybe pick up a two man tent or Napsack.

Since moving to Cape Town I can’t help but notice the sudden rise in music festivals in and around the city. Not only are there so many, but there’s a wide variety which serves to appeal to every individual.

Having attended huge festivals such as Glastonbury and Wireless in the U.K, it’s great to see that the culture is catching on here too. To name as few: there’s the ever popular “Rocking the Daisies” which always boasts an awesome lineup, Vortex (a psytrance x psyche-del electronic festival), Flam Jangled Tea Party and Ramfest. To ones held in unconventional locations such as Afrika Burn, which takes place in the Karoo desert.

We recently played host to  the Holi One festival: inspired by the Hindu festival of colours. The event was a huge success which saw the Johannesburg leg’s 3000 tickets sell out in 15 minutes.

I think we may be fast becoming Africa’s festival hub.