Life is starting to wind down alittle bit and I suddenly find myself breathing alittle easier. March has to be one of my most hectic months every single year and this year took it to another level. Between fashion weeks, shoots, deadlines and just trying to lead a normal healthy life...I realised that sometimes we just need to take a break and not to be so hard on ourselves when we have to admit that... something that I am still learning but hoping to get a handle on things soon.

Life status aside, autumn has also rolled in and Johannesburg has definitely started to chill up alittle. If you have not already; you should be looking at that winter wardrobe to see if you are adequately prepped for the upcoming season. During day 1 of this year's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Johannesburg, I got to wear one of Rich Mnisi's pieces from his latest mens collection. I have loved these polonecks since I saw the runway images and had to have one. I feel like this poloneck is a must-have item going into winter as the colours are bold and the "Rich Mnisi" along the front makes it playful and trendy. The plus side? This poloneck is super warm. Perfect for layering or just wearing tucked into a great pair of trousers or skirt, the cool factor on one is high.

Enquire about getting your own poloneck by emailing info@richmnisi.com or on his Instagram account @rich_mnisi
What is your most lustworthy item for this winter?

Outfit Details:
Poloneck: Rich Mnisi/ Culottes: Zara

Photography: Londam-Holland
Instagram: @londam_holland_
Bloglovin: Londam-Holland

Feeling so sick today after the cold front that hit Joburg this weekend :( but...show must go on right? I hope that you have had a good start to the week and ready for a spanking new lookpost! For this lookpost, I teamed up with Cape Town based photographer, Lisa Gabriel, again and we made alittle magic happen. I was inspired by a quote for this look and one which stuck with me for some odd reason. The quote was from Rich Mnisi, designer for OATH Studio, during a blog Q&A session for the Skip Fashion Exchange. When asked how he would describe his personal style, he said "I’m a white T, jeans and an OATH Studio Jacket type of guy."
Now this may sound pretty simple but for me, it was his style captured perfectly in words and just formulated, for me, why I love this brand so much. It's simple, easy but makes a statement. I think it is an amazing style philosophy to adopt and it really puts an emphasis on investment pieces and basics, which I love! I wore this OATH Studio coat to the Skip Fashion Exchange and loved it so much, I wanted to try it "dressed down" and worn how the "everyday OATH man/woman" would wear it. So with a pair of jeans, plain white T and OATH Studio coat, I went. I think this look is timeless, stylish and has a fun element to it.
For this look, Lisa kept going on about finding a grey wall/background to match my grey coat. I was rather confused as I knew I had a blue coat but when I had sent Lisa a photograph of the coat the evening before, it looked grey. When it came to the "moment of truth", the determination to find this "grey wall" regardless of coat colour was so real. As if like a mirage or oasis, we found this beautiful marble building as we turned a corner during our location scout and just fell in love. It looked almost two-toned against the sunset lighting and it just brought this whole look together for us. I hope that you enjoy this post and keep clicking through for upcoming posts. Follow me on Instagram and Bloglovin at the handles below.

Outfit Details:
Coat: OATH Studio @oath_rm / T-shirt: Jet/ Jeans: Woolworths/ Shoes: MRP

Photography: Lisa Gabriel @lisag_photography
Instagram: @londam_holland_
Bloglovin: Londam-Holland

It’s time for another lookpost and this one is a particular favourite of mine lately. I had this amazing faux fur coat to play around with and decided on really moody imagery to showcase it with. I have always love those super editorial, black and white images, like something out of Italian Vogue so I just had to try out that look with this one.

This coat is from OATH Studio’s menswear collection and I was always been surprised that I haven’t seen it on any women since it is such a “grande fabulous” piece. Granted I love to wear mens’ clothing and switch it up to suit me but most people would say that it’s too bold. There is no such thing as “too bold” in my book. I chose to give this coat the respect it deserves by letting it be the focus of the whole shoot. Funnily enough, when I put this coat on I felt a slight vintage heroin “spirit” come over me and glamour was on my mind. I wanted to give the feeling of a woman getting ready to go out somewhere and waiting to be picked up by “Mr. Mystery and Dashing”. She is fun, carefree and restless in anticipation for her night ahead. You see her touching up her lipstick, changing hairstyles, checking the windows and even considering staying indoors as the anticipation slowly starts to drive her insane. I played around with the lighting here, really dimmed it down and shot it black and white for that gloomy yet glamourous look.

I hope that you are enjoying these lookposts as much as I am enjoying putting them together. I feel like I have been newly inspired since my break from the blog and taking the time to reflect on what I want from this all. There is a lot more content on the way so keep clicking through and following my Instagram for updates.

Instagram: @londam_holland_
Bloglovin: Londam-Holland

Photography: Londam-Holland

Outfit Details:
Dress: Cotton On/ Coat: OATH Studio/Shoes: MRP (not pictured)/Bag: Woolworths/ Necklace: Lovisa

Beauty Details:
Lips: Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Moisturizing Matte Lipstick in Chocolate

It’s funny how you live in anticipation of your birthday and once it’s gone, feels like the whole year is done…then it’s just routine until New Year’s Eve. My birthday falls slap-bang in the middle of the year so it sparks two thoughts; 1. Whoa, the year is nearly over and 2. What have I done with this year!?! …. So basically joy and panic all in one go.

This year I decided to spend my 27th ( O_O ) birthday in my favourite city, Cape Town and just enjoy being there. I had no desire for a big birthday bash blowout or a mountain of presents or a squad of people, just everything that mattered. Over my last two birthdays, I have noticed that they are getting smaller and smaller. I just hope I don’t get to that stage when I forget it all together. But I think it’s a part of growth when you just reflect on life and appreciate rather than getting roaringly intoxicated and emotional. I chose to collaborate with Tegan again for another look post and our first in the Mother City. We have now shot in 3 cities; Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Cape Town….I say we take it abroad now Tegan, what you say? This look was shot as I landed in Cape Town, on the eve of my birthday. The challenge for me was deciding on a location. It was alittle daunting as I wasn’t familiar with the city in that “know-the-best-locations” sense and I had a clear vision of how I wanted it to look. Eventually we decided to go for simplicity and strong architectural lines to highlight the pattern of the dress. I had only one thing I wanted to wear on this day…this beautiful OATH shift dress from South African designer and my friend, Rich Mnisi.

It is actually funny how our relationship came to be…stemmed from work bump-ins then my admiration for his unique work and then his winning personality. If you have been following my Instagram account, you would have seen that I have been wearing OATH to almost every fashion week this year and end of last year. I can honestly say that OATH speaks to my style as it is so loud and unconventional but smart. Rich’s designs are so SMART! There is a special intellectual property that is required to make the prints he makes and think so far outside of the box to the point that it is shocking but devastatingly beautiful. This dress is from the OATH A/W collection that debuted at #MBFWJ earlier this year. I love this strong Ndebele design print. It reinvented the typical play on African prints, making it not that “typical” African traditional attire look”. Rich started off designing menswear but quickly added womenswear to his portfolio. I always loved taking his masculine designs and adding a feminine spin to them as it is how I would wear an OATH item in my every day. When we shot this, the weather was bitterly cold, so I added a poloneck underneath as to not take away from the silhouette and look of the dress, by covering up with a coat but not compromise warmth. I added some leggings for good measure and accessorised with a bold clutch for a pop of colour. The aim was not to overshadow the dress but to make it my own and complement it. This is definatley one of my favourite items from the collection and cannot wait to share with you more from this phenomenal designer.
You can shop this dress at the OATH Studio online store shop.oathrm.com and follow the brand on Instagram @oath_rm & @rich_mnisi. Tag us your best OATH looks on Instagram with the hashtag #MondaysWeWearOATH

If you like this post, comment down below or follow me on Bloglovin (Londam-Holland) or Instagram (@londam_holland_)

Photography: Tegan Smith
(Instagram: @tegansmithphotography)
Outfit Details:
Dress: OATH by Rich Mnisi/ Poloneck and Leggings: Woolworths/ Clutch and Shoes: Mr Price/ Rings: Lovisa (see my review on these in my June Favourites post here)
Beauty:
Lips: MAC Mineralized Rich Lipstick in Glamour Era mixed with MAC Viva Glam Rihanna Lipstick/ Nails: Essie Nail Lacquer in Style Cartel