The Soapbox | Where South Africans Speak Out

Surprisingly the past year’s top posthumous earner was not Michael Jackson. That honour belongs to designer Yves Saint Laurent according to Forbes magazine. Vogue is reporting that the designer’s estate which is managed by his partner, Pierre Bergé, earned 214 million pounds. This was largely due to the an auction of the couple’s substantial art collection. Second on the list were composers Rogers and Hammerstein, famous for The Sound of Music, followed by Michael Jackson and his one-time father-in-law, Elvis Presley.
 
Many fashionistas would consider it some sort of petty crime to own a couple of designer pieces. I know I certainly would. That may not be necessary thanks to Rent The Runway. In the style of Bag Borrow or Steal, made famous by the Sex & The City movie, RTR is an online invite-only community where the frugal can rent designer couture at 10% of the price. Although the service is only available in the US, it’s still exciting to know that there’s same-day delivery and you’ll be sent two sizes of your choices to ensure that they fit just right. Where do we sign up?!
  
While many designer’s creations catch my fancy, not many of the designers do. Of course, like any other fashionista, I worship Karl and love hearing the things Tom Ford says, but there has always been one that my heart belongs to. Christopher Bailey, creative director of Burberry is that one. The fortysomething designer is cool, suave and creative – things he brings to his designs. Just when I thought he couldn’t get any cooler or cuter, he launched Art of the Trench – a social networking site dedicated to Burberry’s infamous trench coat. The site consists of pictures of everyday people in their trench coats with all pictures being taken by Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist. The site allows users to submit photos of themselves in trenches. If that’s not your thing, you can customize your viewing by selecting the gender of the wearer, the weather behind each photo and whether the coat is belted or open.

Our fashion columnist, the incognito Green Eyes, blogs about life, love and fabulous fashion at her must-read blog: Skinny Bitches – In The Making.