Welcome to Wearing Woodstock :) My name is Alexandra Davis and I am a Business Science Marketing student at the University of Cape Town. I grew up in Johannesburg and went to Roedean School from Grade 0 to Grade 12! It was a family tradition as all of my aunts attended Roedean too. Some of my best years were spent at school. My most memorable school moment happened in Grade 4 when I formed a pop group called CKA (Clare, Khathu, Alex- how original). We spent our breaks practicing our dance-routines and holding auditions for bouncers, back-up dancers - the works. Tickets to our CKA âworld tourâ (one night only) sold-out within the first few days of being released. We had a tiered ticket system and Golden Circle tickets sold for 50c. CKA got cold feet days before we were supposed to perform and to the horror of our fans we spent the money we had made off tickets on a Prego roll from the school tuckshop (which the three of us had to share). It was a valuable life-lesson as I learnt early on that I should never sing in public, let alone pursue a career in it. After matriculating from Roedean I decided to follow in my parents footsteps and attend UCT. I am not necessarily a commerce student at heart but after doing work-experience at a marketing/advertising firm I decided I had to major in Marketing. I was in Graca Michelle Hall for my first year. After not being able to withstand another year of oily Pizza-and-Chips Wednesday, I sought greener pastures at a flat in Woodstock. I have come to really appreciate all of the factory shops and second hand stores I have right on my doorstep. There are so many great shops that are tucked away behind industrial buildings that offer up-to-date fashion as well as some unique items of clothing for next to nothing. From jackets to shoes to jewellery, Woodstock has been my playground to explore. What I love about Woodstock is that it is so eclectic. There is a mishmash of styles and price ranges. It is a place with so much character and it eagerly invites anyone to dive into what it has to offer. My best part about living here is that I have watched my surroundings evolve. Every time I drive through the streets I notice a new addition- a new cafe for me to indulge in or another shoe shop to lure me in. To me, fashion is not actually that important. When I think of fashion, I think of the moments shared with friends and family when wearing clothes. Fashion, to me, is there to witness adventures and plays an important part in the telling of our stories. Whether it was a dress up party or in just everyday life, it is there as a form of expression and ultimately for you to live in and create memories in. It helps you document and distinguish between different stages in your life and different journeys you have travelled. Therefore, Wearing Woodstock is about sharing the great shops I have come to love in my area, but it is also about sharing my adventures and a slice of my life with you. Clothes and how they make us feel are the fabric of many experiences. My love of film photography began after being introduced to Exposure- a Lomography (analogue film photography) shop in Woodstock. Using this newfound love, I have documented the escapades my clothes and I have gone on over the last few months. Wearing Woodstock is not only about the affordable fashion that Woodstock has to offer, it is about the Woodstock lifestyle. I invite you to be apart of my community and share in the hidden gems that my home has to offer. It's about coming to witness this unfolding hub, to explore these streets and get lost in the maze of shops. Yet, most importantly it is about creating your own experiences with your own style. It is about the experiences you create when "Wearing Woodstock" and the inspiration that is drawn from adventures both in and out of Woodstock. Wearing Woodstock captures the pieces of Woodstock I take with me on adventures and is an outlet for creativity and general procrastination :) Come play! WW
Got it in the (ROWDY) bag I had bought Sean a custom-made ROWDY rucksack to celebrate our 3-year anniversary. Sourced from their warehouse in Woodstock, I first heard about ROWDY via their Facebook marketing (talk about backpack giveaways). Nicholas Meinhart, a 21 year old with vision, started rowdy Rucksacks. It is ROWDYâs mission to supply bags with only the best quality materials - with genuine leather being their signature. All of the bags are handmade at their warehouse and as their brand believes in ethical business practices, their skilled hand-crafters are well rewarded for their hard work. ROWDY base their identity on the pursuit and achievement of authenticity and simplicity without compromising on functionality. ROWDY can also be found at the Old Biscuit Mill market in Woodstock. Nicholas was overseas at the time of my order but proved to be really friendly and accommodating, offering to tailor make a bag to best suit Sean. I had in fact already made my mind up on a bag I had seen on the ROWDY website: a blue suede backpack with a touch of yellow as an accent that formed part of the inlay. On our anniversary, I was so excited to surprise Sean but to my own surprise, he also had something up his sleeve. That afternoon he picked me up and took me to Old Mac Daddy Luxury Trailer-Park in Elgin. We had our own luxury Airstream trailer, custom designed to depict a âLife Before Colourâ. Old Mac Daddy is an unpretentious getaway tucked away amongst orchards, vineyards and ponds to laze around by. Their website describes it best as âthe watermelon-chinned, pine-whispering holiday of your childhoodâ. We spent that afternoon indulging in the most delicious country food at Fresh (a restaurant in Paul Cluver Estate). We were the last people to leave and Joan, the owner, kindly let us move outside amongst the vineyards and finish our wine, after them closing up for the night, on the condition that we would leave the wine glasses in an âeasy-to-findâ spot. Once we returned to Old Mac Daddy we explored the grounds, capturing all the memories with a film camera my dad had just given me. Just as well I had bought Sean his rucksack â when we got back to our trailer, it came baring gifts. Instead of packing clothes into his new bag, he surprised me, yet again, with champagne and raspberries (Iâve bagged myself a keeper- Excuse the lame pun), a perfect toast to a great three years.
The best thing about my 21st presents was the whole new jewellery collection I acquired. My favourite two items were a Skermunkil necklace and a bracelet that my boyfriend, Sean, had personally designed for me. The necklace has a brass hexagon pendent that he has gotten â21â engraved into for me. The bracelet is also brass and has a teardrop shape welded into it. I love the personal touches that Skermunkil enable its customers to add- their accommodative manner allows sentimental pieces to be created and worn for years to come. A Skermunkil stand can be found at the Biscuit Mill in Woodstock every Saturday but their design studio and shop is located in Muizenberg. Their jewellery can also be found at Mungo & Jemima and Take Care in Kloof Street. It is a lovely shop to pop into if you are ever in Muizenberg or on your way to Kalk Bay. It is open from 9am to 4pm every weekday. Their website also enables customers to browse their latest jewellery designs, make enquires and buy online. Marietjie, the owner and designer of Skermunkil jewellery, is also passionate about porcelain. Interesting porcelain jewellery as well as ornaments, mugs and vases can be found too. My favourite, when I went into Skermunkil, were these porcelain dolls hanging from the ceiling that you could plant things in. Another Woodstock Jewellery favourite of mine, which I literally buy all of my friendsâ birthday presents from, is Dear Rae. Its simplistic everyday wear jewellery makes for a very affordable present or a guilt-free way of treating yourself. Karin Rae started Dear Rae in 2010 after completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at Stellenbosch University. The skilled Morgan Xekethwana and Raymond Kama have since joined the Dear Rae team. The Dear Rae shop is located at the Woodstock Foundry and Karin, Morgan and Raymond are always there to be found, working on new pieces. Dear Rae pieces are made of gold, silver, brass and copper and some of the pieces have small gemstones in them. Both local and international orders can be made on the Dear Rae website. It was Oliveâs birthday. She is one of my best friends and fellow âPrincess Sophiaâ band member. So I obviously didnât give up the CKA dream as Olive and I form the rap duo that is Princess Sophia. When we arenât claiming other peopleâs raps as our own or covering Plush songs, we are working on our twerking with our choreographer. Our album will be out in a few weeks (once the struggle of finding a record deal pays off). I wanted to get Olive something sentimental. She was going on adventures to Zambia to go plant trees with Green Pop for a few weeks only to come back to Cape Town and leave a few days later to work at an orphanage and teach in Ghana. As hard as it was to be saying goodbye to her, I was excited for her to go and do what she has always dreamed of (and secretly I wanted to explore my career as a solo artist). I decided to get her a bracelet from Dear Rae because it was something very simple that she could wear everyday and a piece of home that she could take with her. She has had life-changing experiences this year and that bracelet has been with her as a token of where she has come from and now, where she has been.
Skermunkil: Address: 44 Palmer Road, Muizenberg Cape Town, 7945 South Africa Email: [email protected] Studio number: 021 788 8577 These photos are taken off the Skermunkil website.
Dear Rae Address: Shop 3, The Woodstock Foundry, 160 Albert Road, Cape Town, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected] Shop number: 021 447 1390 Here are some pictures of Dear Rae Jewellery which can be found on their website
Hot Dang! Woodstock has great jackets to buy for cheap cheap. I bought this green jacket for R100 from a second hand store a friend told me about in Salt River (Okay itâs being classified as Woodstock fringe). It has a really warm lining that forms part of the dramatic collar. Never in my life have I seen so many rails of trench coats, denim jackets and faux fur in my life. These jackets range from next-to-nothing to about R100. I walked out with a handful of jackets that got me through many a winter smoke break. There are also great jackets for guys too! Besides the copious amounts of jackets on offer, there are âracks-on-racks-on-racksâ of jeans to accentuate that apple-bottom. Warning: I would advise taking these jackets for a sneaky dry-cleaning before use. Some of the smells, subtlety drifting off these fashion statements, are a bit suspect! I also decided to splurge a little bit on a new beige raincoat from Flaunt It. It was R450.00 but it was completely worth it. I have pretty much lived in it this winter. I really like the simple detail on it like the polka-dot inlay. They had the same jackets in an army green too. I have bought numerous items from Flaunt It ever since I moved into Woodstock. From jewellery, shoes, scarves, make-up and R50 iPhone covers- there is little you canât find in this shop. Flaunt It address: Brickfield Junction, 2nd floor.Shop 3, Brickfield Road, Salt River The Jacket Shop: 6 Spencer Road Salt River, Cape Town. The sisterhood of the travelling jacket During June/July holidays I had a first-time experience of going to Grahamstown festival. One of my nearest and dearest friends from school, Kate, goes to Rhodes University and lives in possibly the nicest digs with the best group of adventurers. From the day I arrived I was welcomed with homemade pizza, punch drunk out of BlackCat Peanut butter glasses (Saying Kate loves peanut butter is just an understatement) and stories of their Rhodent antics. We all sat around their inviting large wooden dining table that is âhomebaseâ and has seen through it all. The drunken conversations after a night out, the stresses of exam study groups, the daysâ first cup of coffee and last cup of tea. I knew big adventures lay ahead. Three of us travelled to Hogsback to stay at the most incredible eco-friendly backpackerâs -Terra-Khaya. Shane, the owner who we referred to as âthe leader of the wolf packâ, greeted us welcomingly. Nothing but forest and mountains to explore surrounded the backpackerâs. After dinner and some Dutch courage, Jess (a friend of Kateâs) decided to try out the outdoor bath (bearing in mind itâs winter) and that night the full moon was not the only one out there. The food was deliciously fresh with everything been handpicked or baked that morning. It was inspiring to see people choosing to live such self-sustaining lives. The resident dogs, cats and chickens provided the guests with endless entertainment. Besides from a hike we did through the forest, my favourite part of the trip was waking up in our bungalow. The one half of it had a wall of glass which enabled us to watch the sun rise over the mountains. I had an especially good view from my top bunk bed (which I struggled immensity to get in and out of after a few glasses of red wine hah). When driving back from Hogsback we were listening to Old Pine by Ben Howard and agreed that it was the perfect song to sum-up our latest adventure. Throughout this trip my jacket witnessed all of the adventure. It was a faithful companion to not only me, but also a few people who lent it along the way. It kept me warm on those nights outside while we cooked around a fire, was handy snack-storage during festival performances and doubled-up as a surprisingly comfortable pillow on my journeys.
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