SomersetJane Winter Collection 2011

"It's not about age, it's about taste, and about lifestyle. I believe women of all ages can wear anything." - Ralph Lauren

Words I design by. Below you'll see the pictures of the SomersetJane collection for this season. I'll admit, I'm the first to latch on to a trend, but in trying to grow a lasting brand, a timeless fashion house, designing purely for the moment is a path I try to ignore.

SomersetJane is a brand building towards emphasising the importance of a well rounded wardrobe. While forming part of the collection, each piece stands confidently on it's own, blends with trends for the current season and has the ability to become a vital garment in any fashionista's closet.

Key pieces to note are:

The Tuxedo Inspired Blazer - Every girls wardrobe requires a little androgeny, though belted at the waist and worn with a skirt doubles as feminine too.

The Classic White Shirt - A must have, revamped with an ultra wide bell sleeve.

Animal Print - Worn the right way never goes out of style. In this collection taking form in a pair of shorts, perfect with tights for a bit of sexy Winter chic.

The Jumpsuit - This trend has been moving steadily season to season. We're seeing a bit of a retro 70's revival on the cards and took note when creating the 'glammed up' version complete with shoulder pads.

The LBD - No closet is complete without it. Here in a 60's shift is a shape that most body types will find forgiving.

                                                                                                                                                                                     

  

Photos by Tim Hulme www.timhulme.co.za

 

For a list of stockists or to purchase from SomersetJane contact

Melissa 072 337 9588

or

Carys 079 884 5676

Stay fabulous fashionistas!

Yours in style,

Melissa Jane xoxo

Attitude Is Where It's At!

Attitude. There is a way to be one with your style and your outfit. While two woman can be wearing the same outfit, one will stand out, will carry the look; and the other will be invisible. - Yvan Rodic

I haven't written in quite a while, the blog has been nagging me in the back of my mind but to be truthful I've been struggling for inspiration. So many times I sat at the computer many ideas in mind, yet none grew into anything worth reading. My life has changed completely since working full time on my clothing line 'SomersetJane'. The fun I had always found in fashion, faded a little once the 'struggling for my art' phase of life was over and I became a full fledged designer and business woman. Now with a growing business on my shoulders and seasons changing faster than I ever thought they could, many a morning do I wake up, head barely above water, thinking about whether I'm really cut out for this.

I love a good sign, and go through life, ever the optimist knowing that somehow, it'll all be ok. And last week on opening the latest Elle mag, (my fashion bible of choice) my sign came. I knew once again just why I love fashion, why I design and why I blog. I had to write immediately.

Elle interviewed blogger, Yvan Rodic better known as the Face Hunter, and above is his answer to the question of what he looks for in the people that he shoots. Attitude. The word hit me harder than the sought after red sole of a Louboutin! Here was the answer to why fashion inspires me, to why I am a designer and to how I design my line as well as why I believe it will be a success. A dress ain't a dress without the attitude of a woman in it. Attitude is the answer as to why it's sometimes difficult to tell a designer garment on a well dressed woman as apposed to a chain store bargain. Exuding the correct attitude can up peoples perception of you and your style immensely. This is why fashion is so exciting! Watch a Sonia Rykiel runway show and see what I mean. The attitude of her models is what forms the crux of the show. Creates the vibe, the vision, the pulse and ultimately when buying into her collection, it's not just a garment you're after, it's an image, an image created with attitude. It also gives my design style a strong footing. Often worried I design a little too sophisticated and not uber trendy, I feel pulled in many directions when designing for a season. I can now look at my line and previous lines without fear. At the end of the day it's the attitude with which the wearer adorns a garment that creates a fashion moment.

In designing the way I do, my clothes allow the buyer to notice the trend yet not be consumed by it. The items cry for an attitude to fill them. And that's how fashion inspires me to keep going. When I see women in my clothes ages ranging from young to mature, heights varying and different personal styles, I can only smile and be glad for all the avenues my clothing reaches as a result of so many diverse fashionistas. So at the end of the day when creating your own unique style, fashion is only half the package, attitude is where it's at. 

Can't get away without attitude in these get ups..
Sonia Rykiel SS 2010

Stay fabulous fahionistas!

Yours in style,

Melissa Jane xoxo

Fashion And Farewells

Good bye's are hard, harder than we'd like to admit. Whether parting with an object, a friend or family member or moving on to new things in life it's our instinct to dwell and reminisce on the good times gone by, to resist the change and halt at the doors of new days. Sometimes, if too caught up in this maze we become our own hindrance and watch time waste away in a pit of fear, longing and confusion.

Just yesterday I said good bye to a chapter in my life that I thought was long over, yet only on the physical act of saying farewell to the person who formed a large part of this chapter did I realise what this good bye meant. After the tears, came a big sigh of relief and a void filled with hope, that the hard days are finally over and a new beginning awaits. Another good bye is the one I'll be saying to the first chapter of my career. I've formed a partnership, moved my studio and finally hired staff to help with the workload. All in the hopes of expansion, bigger ideas and the bright future I've always believed in. Along with the excitement, comes fear, comes worry, and the sadness that change sometimes brings. A sadness for my little routine, my little decisions and my little fashion livelihood. Good bye to the walls that first held my dreams, good bye to the comfort of the small, and hello to the risk of the opposite.

Fashion, the seasons, and the ever changing flourish of talented designers and fabulous apparel is a dynamic similar to the one we face in our changing lives. Any fashionista will state that cleaning out your closet or sticking to the 'one in, one out' rule is a depressing thought. Often no matter how out of date an item or accessory, parting with these possessions that have carried you through life, through nights on the town, through winter and summer, through love and laughter is difficult. With the fear however, of becoming a dreaded 'hoarder', it is ever necessary to edit a wardrobe as it is to edit your life.

The task becomes easier once looked at with hope. Hope of new colours, the latest styles just waiting to find their space on your rail. I love the pure joy of taking down the hanger and snapping off the tag from a new dress, the money you spent doesn't matter, and any guilt fades away, along with the poor items tossed in order to make way for the new ones. All a dim shadow in  the light of the hope that this dress will bring new memories, brighter days and finer fashion fantasies. In the same way a dress can give you power, so can the courage to clothe your life in something new. To clothe life's changes in hope, that's the key to getting through. Where hope exists, no night can be completely dark. Hope fills us up with glad expectations and will always drown out the fear or sadness and longing in our ever changing lives.

As fashions fade, they never disappear, they only lie dormant awaiting a time in which they'll make a fresh come back, new and improved, styled for the moment. And so it is with our past and our memories. Change means leaving them behind, but only until needed again to draw on for experience, to remember and help us to better focus on the future.

So I'm waving farewell to my early career, saying au revoir to yesterday and bonjour to tomorrow! With a hopeful heart, renewed passion and all my humble memories waiting in the wings to help me through. It's all about the positivity people. And who knows, with the sky as the limit, this small town journey may soon have to make way for 'Sass In The City'.....

 

Stay fabulous fashionista's,

Yours in style,

Melissa Jane xoxo

Not Just A Clothing Line

Vanilla Orchid, Shop No 22 Elridge Square

I don't design clothes, I design dreams. - Ralph Lauren

This past Saturday was the launch of my clothing line, SomersetJane for the first time now available in store. A small event to say 'hello, I've arrived' and to witness the start of what I believe is going to be one fabulous journey. As it turned out the day was wonderful, quiet at times busy at others but most of all successful. As I saw my clothing being sold, to various women, some young, some old, some tall , some short, I began to think of what I'd like to represent for these ladies, what my name will mean in fashion and how to make them see.

A lot of work goes into my line from my side, many hours at a sewing machine, many hours picking and choosing fabrics, more hours folding, cutting and shaving away at patterns getting the perfect fit. What I'd like to think goes more into this fashion process are my dreams. Tucked away in my studio at home is a wealth of inspiration. Not nearly large enough and always a little muddled, within these walls, my energy when I work, my thoughts and prayers, the music I play and all my hopes and dreams get filtered down into every piece and every design. Up on the wall are a collection of sketches and photographs, news paper clippings, certificates, and trophies to remind me of my achievements, to know where I'm going without forgetting where I've been. I'm a big dreamer and am always wondering far off into the future. For now though one dream is coming true. People have access to my clothing and through this I have access to them. 

The work of my hands and my heart will follow each piece that is sold. I wish upon each item worn that it would bring them the joy that it brought me to design it, that as they wear upon them my daily dreams, looking fabulous would inspire them to make theirs come true. So yes I'm sounding all soppy and maybe a little far fetched and silly, and maybe all I do is design clothing, sell it, live off the profits, just a job you know? Well no, I'll never view it as that, even if all this hopes and dreams stuff never comes true. It gets me through my day, it gives this superficial world of fashion and trends some heart and makes my fashion environment all rosy. In taking on the task I have, I need that and I need to believe that dreams do come true, that others will realise theirs and that fashion will link us together. Fashionistas forever....

 

Check out the new range at Vanilla Orchid, Elridge Square Bartlett, Boksburg and soon coming to Mademoiselle Lakefield Square.

 Stay posted for pics of new designs and when they'll be in store!

Yours in style,

Melissa Jane xoxo

First Love

'When did you first fall in love with fashion' - The title to an article in the new Elle mag. The article recounts thirteen women's first encounter with fashion, and how they knew a love affair had begun with no turning back.

On reading the pages of my favourite mag, I too began to think of my first 'fashion feelings'. I remember a light bulb sort of moment when I was around ten years old. It was the night before a 'civvies' day at primary school where we could wear our everyday clothes. I went to my mom in tears. Not a very stylish kid, and having a BFF who was the 'it' girl, (if you can have those at the age of ten) I needed a fairy god mother to make me over Cinderella style or I wasn't going to school. I pleaded with my mom for a solution. In her motherly way she tried to explain that looks and clothing didn't matter, only comfort, personal style and personality. Blah, blah, blah. These words to a chubby child with little confidence and a wardrobe fit for prairie living couldn't begin to penetrate my immature impulses. I had no branded clothing, thought I was in desperate need of the infamous 'spice shoes' (a hideous breed of platform trainer branded by fans of the Spice Girls) and to avoid mockery I was not going to be seen dead in any threads from my nerd infested wardrobe. It came about that my gran had thrown out some old clothing and given it to us to look through. There were some old skirts which I had taken a liking to but they weren't nearly a good fit. I remember my mom getting out the sewing machine and trying to salvage something wearable from the hand-me-downs. Now at this point in time I had 'fat' issues, fashion issues, confidence issues and the issue that my BFF was sure to show up in something super trendy and only increase her popularity. Ultra sulky and sorry for myself, my mom was only trying to make me smile and somehow see a silver lining. I don't think I ended up wearing an altered skirt or getting out of going to school the next day but I am pretty sure that that night was the spark that led to my fashion career. My mom gave me the idea that old can become new. A fact in fashion is that decades past always repeat themselves, retro, vintage etc. And then the revelation that clothing can be transformed and made to suit your personal style.

So when I think back on my childhood years, there are other moments that could have led to my love for fashion. The fact that my grandmother had always sewn and made beautiful girly dresses for me. Or the fun I'd have dressing up in my moms clothes, draped in beads and tip-toeing in her stilettos. These would definitely have triggered my interest, but not allowed for my love, and life to be engulfed by fashion as it is today. So that's my moment, my favourite early fashion memory. Set apart from the rest as one that shaped a career in fashion as apposed to just the liking.

I look back on my fashion past, short as it may be, and see so many gorgeous memories. Memories that cause me to continually fall in love with fashion all over again. Fashion has made my dreams come true and I know will continue to do so. It never let's me down, even when I make mistakes and the inevitable 'faux pas', it sticks around until I find myself again. It's my perfect partner, the constant in my life, yet changes so oft that I'm rarely bored. And as I am at present a single gal, my business designing fashion apparel and ever trying to live up to being a fabulous fashionista, it seems I've got it all.. And smartly too, as my work and relationship are one. And this now brings me to it. Nonsensical and shallow minded, even superficial as it may be, fashion is and always will be my first love.

Pics from my fashion past, record of a budding fashionista..

    Is a  little girl ever really a girl without a little glitter?

Bringing back some 20's glam, way ahead of the times!

Yours in style,

Melissa Jane xoxo

Obsession vs. Passion

“I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes. I had one thousand and sixty.”

Imelda Marcos

I have to admit it, I've gotten myself into a little bit of a mess. Wait, myself and my wardrobe. It's a mess, I'm a mess, the clothing looks like a mess! I need to stress how much of a problem this is. The doors rarely stay closed as the bulk from the rail space usually forces them open. I'm talking two to five garments per hanger. The shelving I just won't mention as that's where it gets embarrassing. There is an area for sandals, flats, gladiators and pumps. This area is a hazard, pull one shoe, you pull them all. My only saviour is my expensive shoe section, all neatly stacked in their original boxes like tiny baby twins waiting to see the world when mama hits the town. I have friends who come over who, when I open the doors, stare in wonderment, confused wonderment I might add, totally baffled by the sight before them. Somehow being a designer who shops as much as she designs gives people the image that you have a perfect wardrobe. Whatever gave them that idea?

The reality of it is, that I gave up structure, common sense and every inch of rail space in a ridiculous rampage to gain, make and design for myself a wardrobe that would never leave me wanting. This meant endless hours of shopping that I have been accumulating for about two years now since I finished my studies. I have more jeans than I'll ever wear, funny too how jeans are probably the one item of clothing I wear least. A vintage selection of clothes bought from markets or given from relatives, even from hospice, (my greatest little secret) takes up much rail space yet not much space on me. I just like knowing I found these items and that they carry a story, my little fashion gems. Too many shoes to mention, I'll just skim over that one and come to the worst part of all this. My 'special occasion' outfits, some I designed and made for myself for parties and big nights out. Others bought for the same reason yet in a last minute rush and worn in a momentary fad, will never be worn again. So my dilemma is this, no matter how much I design for myself, or how much I buy, I still wake up in the morning, open those doors and repeat this line in my head, 'I totally have nothing to wear.' 

A major problem is the change of seasons. It's all okay one month in but the transition for me feels like a tragedy. Have you noticed how when you pull out last Winter's clothes, you wonder how you ever made it through the season looking even remotely glamorous? And summer, always one key trend to adopt. This summer is the playsuit/jumpsuit/onesy whatever you wish to name it. Well I've dived in the deep end of this trend - I own twelve. If these don't stick around for another season I'll be drowning in a sea of playsuit depression. The fact of the matter is, you did make it through those seasons looking good, and these days anything goes, general trends don't change too drastically. Why this need to gain, to change, to accumulate more? 

For a while I've brushed this phenomenon off as 'an addiction to shopping'. But it's not that. I've said before that I make so many outfits for myself because I'm a designer and if I'm going to make samples I might as well make them in my size. It's not this either. It's because I've been caught in a superficial world in a mindless way. I excused this behaviour because I work in fashion, and that it's something I'm entitled to do. True, but not with obsession. Rather with passion.

The two are so close, so let me clarify. Obsession in my case is the meaningless abundance of fashion apparel because I think I have a disposable income (foolish that) and because I believe the myth of the perfect wardrobe. Passion is a learned luxury. The search for the perfect LBD, might take six months or a year but once bought it'll become a timeless piece. Photographed at many memorable occasions. A fabulous white shirt, there for you in your job interview and there as you get the promotion. Passion is creating a wardrobe of love, not a million ridiculous outfits that are worn once and soon chucked. I don't do resolutions, but it's still January and so I've made one. Lose the obsession and regain some passion for my personal fashion. I recently read about Lainey Keogh, an Irish knitwear designer, famous for her cashmere. She used the term, 'passionista'. And when asked what her luxury in life was she said this, "Freedom to choose, having all the time in the world to... Enjoying good health and knowing everything is possible." On reading this I came to a sudden conclusion. Firstly, fashion for me had become an addiction, not a luxury. Secondly, I was chasing a dream of having the perfect wardrobe thinking it's what I needed, and yet still feeling I had nothing to wear. Here was a famous designer, not even mentioning clothing in her list of luxuries. Instead keeping her career as a means to afford her the time to choose, to enjoy health and creating for her a knowledge of dreams. And this is where it gets fabulous... Fashion and I will always go hand in hand, I don't need to chase it. I'm taking a time out and starting fresh as a fashionista living with passion. No more binge buying, so long obsession and farewell to my closet encased fashion freak show! For now I'm reformed and there's only one trend I'll be buying into. It's the new must have, all the rage... passion.

Yours in style,

Melissa Jane

xoxo

Change It Up!

"Hair style is the final tip-off whether or not a woman really knows herself." - Hubert de Givenchy

So it's a new year fashionistas! A time for looking forward, taking a leap, learning from the past and conjuring up resolutions for the coming months. I am lucky enough to say that I live with no regrets, any I might have had, (especially in terms of style) I like to think of as much needed learning curves. Now, as the new year has come, I've been contemplating how I could better myself, my look, my attitude and meet tomorrow with a new me. Not much different from before, still fabulous, just improved. As business was good nearing the end of the year I treated myself, a little extravagantly and fed my shopping addiction. So a wardrobe change wouldn't do the trick as I now have more outfits and shoes than i know what to do with! And my style is ever changing - gradual, not what i needed to zhoozsh this new beginning.

I recently returned from a fabulous holiday in Cape Town, and as much as I love the city, myself and wind don't mix. After one day in the dreadful gust my hair and I needed a new plan of action. For quite some time, two years or so, I've been sporting a super eighties mega mullet. Short sides, (sometimes shaved) choppy on top and extra length at the back, like below the base of my neck extra length. Not for everyone but I loved it, even more so with my 1920's inspired headbands. As much as I thought my hair worked for me, in the Cape it really didn't. I was in 'fashion don't' territory. My straightener wasn't doing anything to help, unless I was gearing for a scarecrow look. Hairspray only helped in mucking everything up and creating a horrifying nest. Other than staying in doors I needed to take drastic measures. Hats are a fabulous accessory, however with my large head and not so dainty ears they've just never really worked for me. But on this holiday I was going to make an exception, I needed a cover up and I needed it now! Luckily on our second day I found a stylish trilby, woven that glistened a little in the sun. It fit my head, was sold, and I wore it consecutively for the next few days.

On arriving home and really feeling the pressure to make myself over in some way, I realised it had to be the hair. I took the trip as a sign that the mullet wasn't working for me, and with the ghastly holiday pics it created I new I would never enjoy it the same. So I did it, booked the appointment and off to the salon I went. 

I always say, that there's nothing like a good cut and colour to lift your spirits and that's exactly what it's done. I walked out feeling the breeze on my neck, loving the new frame on my face and ready to kick-start 2011 in style! I have to admit, that if I'd kept my old cut any longer I'd be nearing the danger zone of fashion 'has-beens'. You know those sad individuals who get stuck in the styles of their youth when they thought they looked their best, yet not so much ten years later and counting. If Cape Town and it's frightful winds planted the seed, this pushed me over the edge and landing under the scissors.

When it comes down to it, what is it that really gives us the key to take on the world? How do we get that smile in the mirror before walking out the door? How is it that we get people, colleagues, family and friends to notice us, really see us? It's with confidence. And in my opinion, no greater confidence comes from anywhere else other than how you look. Your outward appearance affects how you feel on the inside. Looking good on a constant basis filters out into your life in ways that still surprise me. Working in fashion I see first hand the magic it makes people feel. The false eye-lashes you never thought you'd wear, better fitting clothes, the height of a heel or a new hair cut. Small things and easy to do, but they'll bring about a change, adding to the (as Kimora Lee Simmons coined) 'fabulosity' you already possess. So do it, make the change, the resolution if you will, and start your year in style.

My 'after' picture.

Stay fabulous fashionistas and create your own.

Yours in style,

Melissa Jane

xoxo