Friday, 9 January 2015
THE YEAR OF THE BUCKET HAT
This is a delayed post but I absolutely have to address
this. So 2014 proved an interesting
year, not? The era of the “cool kids” became more formidable and prominent, the
girls department finally became unisex and the fine line between male and
female (as far as fashion is concerned) became almost nonexistent. Amidst all this great change and introductions
to just about a million other trends,
some great, some sad, I still can’t wrap my head around the bucket hat. For
many of us growing up, this was just a “spoti” and I honestly cannot remember
it being this much of a craze.
Yes it was a common and notable statement piece
of the then Pantsula aesthetic but it was just as “ag whatever” as Dickies
pants. I live in Johannesburg CBD and buy my fabrics all the way in downtown
Johannesburg. Trust me when I say it is utterly impossible to turn a corner
without seeing a bucket hat. Be it on a taxi driver, the random “cool” guy in
tight jeans and a backpack or on ten vendor tables scattered across the
sidewalk.
The bucket hat has become so popular that it is sold on the
same vendor stalls as tomatoes, potatoes and cabbage. They come in a never
ending variety. Hell, there are even ones done in the traditional Mandela face
print Seshweshwe fabric. This one is a hit with the mamas. It annoys me so much
and what’s more annoying is that I can’t seem to figure out why it bothers me
so much.
I had matriculants approach me to design their Class of 2014
jacket last year. They also asked that I make bucket hats for them. For the
love of money I took their business. BIG
MISTAKE!!!! I now became the go-to guy
for bucket hats thanks to my enthusiastic Class Of 2014. I swear to you I must
have made a thousand more bucket hats. Look, big ups to whoever invented (or
introduced back into current trend) this piece of clothing. I’m sure they’ll be
sipping Verve and Moet on a yacht for the rest of 2015. I am yet to see
anything go this viral again in fashion in this decade. My thing is, why?
I really just don’t get it. I’m not sure if I’ve always had
a dislike for the bucket hat or if I just got irritated by how popular and
common it became. I know I’ve always had a dislike for pop culture. Maybe
that’s why. I don’t know. I’ve seen a lot of our local fashionistas and “cool
kids” don the bucket hat in many interesting and often impressive ways but I
still can’t get past this thing. I don’t know why I dislike it so much but all I
know is,I do.
It has really been an interesting year of fashion trends,
music and whatever else came with them but I really just pray that this was the
second and final time we experience the bucket hat. I’m pretty sure it’ll go
down in history as a grand part of our heritage and existence. Might even have a monument erected in its
honor in Braamfontein. I don’t know. All I ask for is that I never see it
again. At least for as long as I live or
have a slight interest in fashion and current trend. Can we just move on?
THE REAL JOZI [FASHION] A-LISTERS.
The common knowledge around the world is that everyone
thinks they have the whole style and fashion thing on lockdown, right? Now,
with that said, how do we begin to rectify the wrongs done to us by thrift
shops and knock-off brand factories? I notice that the “cool kid” era has given
birth to a whole new breed of “fashionistas”.
Girls are looking more and more like their grandmothers with the coming
of every weekend in the name of “vintage”.
Braamfontein is the capital city of this new breed.
The general practice is to raid Wanderers street during the
5am thrift-on-the-sidewalk “dunusa” activity, dunk your latest purchase in
fabric softener to rid of the reek and slay Neighborgoods Market and Kitcheners
in your frocks. The ladies will be clad in Moss Crepe maxi skirts, pussy bow
Goergette blouses and ill-fitting Tartan blazers. The gentlemen are then in
pinstripe suits, tribal print wax shirts and tassel slip-ons. Though honestly,
it is not so much the guys that bother me but much more the ladies. I totally
get the idea and the direction of the aesthetics and all, but the execution is
horrendous, to say the least. How this came to be called vintage is beyond my
wildest understanding.
The accessibility and free use of Tumblrhas not made it any
easier for me and any other person that shares my sentiments. My timelines are forever filled with images
of bright lipstick and ill-fitting skirts.
Look, by no means am I hating on the poor kids. Hell, I was probably
much worse when I was in fashion school thinking I was the Dion Chang of my
time (I once owed a green Seshweshwe maxi “man skirt” inspired by Amanda Laird
Cherry). Yeah, I know.
However, I had the basic understanding that I cannot, under
any circumstances, wear a Tweed jacket and Leather pants in the middle of
November at a food market. The dashikis, the shorts with the tights, reef boots
and riding hats. It’s a whole new era of bad fashion.
They travel in prides of no less than 10, and often have a
name. Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting “The Nomads”. What an
interesting group of humans. With that being said though, politics aside, there
is a lot to be admired and applauded with these young trailblazers. They have
balls.
Remember when Boom Shaka’s Lebo Mathosa and Thembi Seete
first hit the local music scene in PVC regalia and Paula Abddul-meets-Janet
Jackson-style choreography? It was a jaw-dropping time in local music and
possibly changed the face of South African music. This movement is no different
really. Well, depending on how you look at it. It’s an entirely new movement
and rebellion. The kindthat cannot be ignored or pushed aside. It’s raw and it’s
loud. It’s a new revolution and whether you hate or love it, it’s a movement
that’s happening and possibly reshaping the history of South African fashion.
Fashion will probably never be the same. Will it?
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In the words of Gabrielle Coco Chanel, "a fashion that does not reach the streets, is not a fashion". Need I say more?
