Harare Mbama: Alain Mikli

I love colour but I find myself wearing more and more black the longer I live in Melbourne, a city whose inhabitants wear darker tones even in high summer. Thought I'd wear a silk shift that's proven to be one of my best buys yet. This is what I wore yesterday, a day before Zimbabwe's Independence Day.

Dress - DKNY

Bag - Prada

Shoes - Casadei
Sunglasses - Alain Mikli

Jewellery - all BVLGARI

Then a few hours later...

So I overdosed on a little Mavado and began singing Money Changer at the tram stop

Someone who came across Sunday's That I-Rep-263-For-Life DVF Dress post emailed me to congratulate me on my new blog and asked what my mantra is. I have to admit that I don't have just one mantra. However, I do live by:

I only have this one life. I must live to the fullest each day in good shoes.

So, if Mary J's words touch my soul as I'm sitting on the tram best believe I'm not ashamed to boogie in my seat as I sing her words ever so softly to myself. This January, I got to see Movado in concert in Harare and now he's got me whining up on these streets busting moves I never knew I had. If I had one year to live - I'd spend a good part of that year eating at only the best restaurants, travellling with my family, wearing the craziest eyewear a la Iris Apfel (my muse) and trying to track down Mavado The Gully God.

I'm off to solo dinner and a movie. What to wear?

xxx

I stayed up all night participating in a fashion-related discussion on Twitter with some of my fellow Zimbabweans. I had chatted to Shona Vixen for close to three hours on the phone earlier in the night so I was already on a high. It had been so long since I'd had a good chat about life in general, fashion blogging and on a number of dicey individuals who call themselves fashion designers. I guess it had been ages since I voiced my opinions fearing no judgement. ['Ooooosa' moment] By the time Shona and I said our goodbyes I was haaaaaa-eye on laughter, sheer happiness and copious amounts of the finest Earl Grey my money these days can buy. I felt so good after our girly chat. Felt good in my core and just had to put on some old school jams from the 90s that made my knees weak and danced. There was absolutely no way I was going to go to bed and miss out on the first Twitter discussion about the development of Zimbabwe's fashion industry. No way.

The discussion was really uplifting. It was the first time a number of Twimbos had ever 'talked' so the discussion flowed and felt like although everyone was coming from different industries but we had the same passion - for there to be great change. I excused myself as things were winding down just after 6am Melbourne time. After all, I had brunch with friends at 11am.

I slept through all the calls, texts and irritating Whatsapp alerts from the girls. I woke up well after 1pm feeling rather foolish about the Twitter all-nighter and switched off my phone for the rest of the afternoon. Didn't need the panic stricken calls from one girlfriend in particular asking if I was still homesick and thats why I didn't turn up to brunch. Didn't need a text from another who would want to come round and hang out till dinner. So, I just put on my favourite dress, known as The Zimbabwe Leaf Dress, and took myself to late lunch. This is what I wore today.

A few years ago, I spotted the dress in the Nottinghill DVF store but I didn't have the money to buy it. I declined to put it on hold for a few days because I knew there was no way I could afford it. It also come in red but had quickly sold out. I walked away gutted. A couple of weeks later, I got a call from the shop confirming my size. Mr Man had managed to track down the last one which happened to be in my size. That Mr Man was (or is) a bloody good man.