The Fashion Edit ~ Shala Monroque

There is nothing more refreshing than a woman revels in her natural beauty and is unapologetically herself. Shala Monroque is both these things, and more. What caught my eye about this gorgeous woman was how simple her style really was, and how she almost used  her body as a plain canvas to interesting pieces of clothing. Though always properly primed, Shala rarely does much to her hair and often keeps it short. The focus is often on her quirky pieces of clothing, most of her clothes are simple to the point of seeming thrifted but don't be fooled, Shala is a close friend of Miuccia Prada and serves as a fashion consultant for the brand.

A Little Piece Of Paradise

 Thought I would switch things up and start with some pictures rather than words on today’s blog. I wanted to tell you about  a little piece of heaven I discovered last week, well I did not actually do the discovering as the owners of the place are a client of the graphic company I work for but as it was my first time there it felt like a bit of a discovery!

I had a photography session at a place called Sugar Bush Farms, they have a place called “The Design House” which is absolutely divine, it has a lovely gift shop and a cafe right outside so you can relax after you shop. As you will see from the lovely pictures it is such a peaceful and beautiful place. The gift shop stocks fabulous handcrafted bags and jewellery made by Jackal and Hide and other little arts and crafts for the home that are inspired by an ethnic African touch. It’s every ethnic girls dream shop!

Was wearing my absolute favourite blazer of the moment which is a stripped blazer I got from Mudd Jeans. I have lusted after a stripped blazer since forever and I was over the moon when I found this one so I just closed my eyes and bought it! Also it was my first time wearing earrings. I have never pierced my ears but I really love bright fun earrings so imagine how I felt when I found these gorgeous round teal earrings (hope you can see them!) especially that they go with my top. They are clip on’s and I want to get a dozen more. 

My friend Lilly and I enjoyed some peanut butter cookies and a drink before we left coutersy of the owner Gillie Lightfoot. Here are some of the pictures I took:)

Wishing you the best for this lovely month of July. Thank you for reading.

Beauty In Unexpected Places

Catching up with a couple of things I have been up to lately.

Last week I had such an exciting time going into what I can say is one of the “ghetto’s” here in Lusaka. It’s called “Garden” because apparently the area used to belong to an expatriate farmer and now it has so many makeshift houses with locals living there.

I was reluctant to share this because I really hate how the Western world tries to portray Africa as a dirty place where there is starvation and no hope. I believe Africa has some of the most beautiful places in the world but like any continent there are places where people are poor and just trying to get on. It is the same here in Zambia, we have the beautiful shopping malls, people driving very expensive cars and wearing trendy clothes but as always the extremely poor are also among us.

I was having a photography session for a tour operator company called “Lusaka Experience”. They have such a brilliant idea, while most tour operators will take tourists to all the fancy places, this company does the exact opposite! They want tourists to have a sense of both worlds and so they take them to Garden. Tourists can visit the local market, some orphanages, taste the local brews and food and even crazier the tour guides take tourists to see the local witchdoctor!

Unfortunately we did not find the witchdoctor so I did not take any pictures of him for those of you who would like to see what a real life witchdoctor looks like! I do not believe in witchcraft in the sense that though I am aware that witches and wizards exist, I would not go to a witchdoctor to solve my problems because I am a Christian and I believe consulting spirits and magic is wrong.

What I loved the most about the trip was some of the beautiful artwork that “Lusaka Experience” had done in Garden. It is lovely to see a spark of colour in a gloomy place. I would recommend a tour with these guys to anyone if you really want to have a true cultural experience of Lusaka.