Exclusive | Csquared Menswear TOPSWAG Style Diary: Omphile Molefe
Today's #TOPSWAG Style Diary comes from one the Csquared Menswear Topswag Style Icon Search Finalist Omphile Molefe. Omphile came in a little late into the competition but he got the ladies going with his smile and good lookss but we will let him tell you about his journey to TOPSWAG3 Finalist...
"Keep your feet firmly on the ground as you reach for the stars", Sisa Hewena - Ace Nzimande on Isidingo
As a young teenager, fresh out of high school, I always envisioned myself being active some way or another in the media world. Although as my life went by, I took a different direction, focusing more of my attention to the world of finance, up until a life changing opportunity came knocking by...
The date was January, 12th the year 2012, when one Otsile Mabyane tagged me in on a picture in which he requested that I should like his picture and the Csquared Menswear Facebook page itself to get my vote to count.
Days went past thereafter only finding myself left wondering what is it that Otsile had really asked me to do, so thus I went back to his tagged picture, scrolled below it, clicked on Csquared and voila, the terms and conditions stipulating the competition were right there n front of me.
After reading them, I naturally entered on the 18th Jan 2012, a new entrant with only one goal in mind at the time - to get that 30k grand prize of Csquared Menswear apparel.
The beginning of the end had just started, days gone past and sleepless nights to follow of hard work, dedication, interaction and that last piece of building & sustaining, rewarding relationships with our would be "guiders" to the ultimate prize. The plan had been set in motion and it was left to me to strategize and achieve this goal best by running a more interpersonal campaign, trying to involve all those that I could engage with to just simply follow the steps to ever increase all the votes that I needed.
A rigorous campaign was now in effect, a personal - Csquared TOPSWAG support group was created, the votes came flooding in, I received a whole lot of feedback from young, inquisitive minds wanting to know what this campaign was all about. All they wanted to do was to help as much as they could...
The weekend went past, the campaign was still hot and heavy, intensified at best with one man - Lucky Seloro - leading the votes enormously at that point with 450 votes plus, he was the bench mark to beat, it was never going to be easy to garner 600 votes + as this gentleman had opened up a vastly, wide gap that through hard work and more interaction with my friends, their friends, ouma's and oupa's, auntie's and uncle's, cheesboys and cheesgirls, cats and dogs - in the proverbial hip hop sense - I could see this figure rise...I pushed and pushed and pushed, LUCKY didn't budge, as his votes continued to grow still in numbers...
After a long day at the office, driving back home, I received a call which immediately caused me to pull off on the side of the road just to listen attentively to this.
"Hi. Is this Omfeelay Molayfee speaking"..."Yes," I replied... a host of a question and answer session followed through, being made aware in the process that I may receive the elusive call to board the plane to Cape Town as part of the TOP5, pending all other votes being considered of course
I stayed calm and could only wait for that call .
I got the call that my place in the Csquared TOPSWAG TOP5 was confirmed.
Elated at best from the information at hand, it only dawned to me that this was no hoax and wasn't what I had perceived it to be initially - just a fun filled competition that I possibly will not see myself even make it especially due to the late entry. The rules of this game were changed, I could not share this information with anybody, as I had to wait for Csquared to officially announce the TOP 5. Was this a dream come true about to realized?
Thursday 26, 2012 - The dream was about to be realized as I left Pretoria at 08:30 am for OR Tambo International. Arrived at 09:10. I called Dully Mokotedi, and met up with him at the check in point. The first member of Csquared TOP5 to have acquainted myself with.
We were running late at the time, Mvelo Ncube, called to find out about our whereabouts. We assured them that we'll be boarding with them soon, nothing was gonna break the TOP5 apart - this stemmed the start of a great friendship as we headed for the Mother City, hitting it off with Lucky, Thabo, Mvelo and Dully on the way there.
Upon arrival at 12:30, we headed for the House of Monatic where we got to meet the inspirational team behind Csquared - Mark Gooding (Head of brands at House of Monatic), Sianna Wu of SocialWOO, Lipalesa 'Didi' Kolane - Marketing at House of Monatic, Chido Samkange of SocialWOO and Wayne the new Csquared designer.
We had an introductory session with Sianna and Mark, whilst Wayne got the fittings sorted. Each of the TOP5 got the opportunity to choose their own attire for the fashion show which took place at Trinity, where Analogue Nits was also taking place that very evening.
After the fittings and selections were made, at about 14:30 - 15:00, we then went to Trinity for rehearsals with Jan Malan - Producer/Director/Choreographer of Face of Africa to get the proper guidance and teachings to make a fashion show successful.
The preparations were set and now we awaited to grace the stage with the Boss models, who were showcasing Csquared's new fashion range.
We left Trinity at about 18:00 to continue forth with our VVIP treatment as we checked in at The Protea Hotel North Wharf. We freshened up, went for supper and off we went to Trinity for the fashion show/ Analogue Nites.
The fashion show went extremely well, especially for the Csquared TOPSWAG 5 all eloquently dressed in high end style, class, fashionably colour blocking when all together we were.
The evening was drawn to a close when the TOPSWAG3 was announced with photoshoots to follow, as well as being graced with exceptional performances from AKA, Khuli Chana and Kabelo.
The rest of the evening was of a great party with A list celebrities, with drinks flowing, great SWAG5 company, what more could have one asked for.
Friday 27, 2012 - we closed off our visit to Cape Town with a relaxing visit to the Beach, endless partying that evening and a sad return flight back home on Saturday the 28th.
Thank you Csquared Menswear for presenting us with such a great opportunity that we could only dream of. A great bunch we were in the TOP5, that immediately were responsive to one another and fun filled, happy times together.
Despite the end result in the coming weeks, we remember that we are friends of Csquared and have come this far together.
Sisa Hewena put it rightly when he said, "Keep your feet firmly on the ground when you reach for the stars." The eventual winner should keep these words into mind as this is going to be one heck of a life changing experience!!!
We wish Omphile all the best and remember he still need your votes to win Csquared Menswear Style Icon Search 2012.
Stay Stylin’
Csquared
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