Lovely Links | 23.06.14

(image source: lara jade via  the great discontent)

• New York Magazine's cover story by Benjamin Wallace about Terry Richardson's controversial career path has been all the buzz over the past few days.

• I've been dying over Ed Sheeran's highly anticipated second album, 'x' (pronounced "multiply") which drops in stores worldwide today - Thinking Out Loud, Afire Love and Nina are a few of my favourites tracks so far. You can stream it here or buy it on iTunes. 

• There's been a surge of feminism on social networks in recent times (eg. #YesAllWomen), so I was very intrigued by Charles Aaron's refreshingly honest article on the topic from a male's perspective. What is a Boy? is a particularly great article because he doesn't use up a ton of pages to defend the male species, which is pretty rare.

• Lana Del Rey released the video of her latest single, Shades of Cool, from her new Ultraviolence album. Watch the video, stream the album or buy it on iTunes. Also, read this very open and quite controversial interview Lana did for FADER.

• Sunglass Hut SA is hosting a competition where you vote for your favourite #ShadesOfWinter blogger look and stand a chance to win 1 of 4 Sunglass Hut vouchers worth R1000. Get all the details here. (Vote for Talya from Shades of Gold, she's my fave!)

• During one of my many internet escapades, I came across this lovely online fashion magazine called Material Girl. It's not in English (boooooo), but it has the some really beautiful indie-style editorials (e.g. the one I've used as the cover of this post) well worth taking a look at.

I haven't done a link post in a while, (or any post for that matter) but I will not apologise because (I've been writing exams) it's my sixteenth birthday today and I can be a snotty little brat for a whole 24 hours without anyone saying a word. I'm sorry.

"What are you doing to celebrate?", you might ask - well, I'll be up studying at 3AM, writing not one, but TWO exams during the day, and studying some more until about midnight. Because my life has turned into Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, I could do with some TLC. Mail me a big, fat slice of red velvet or carrot cake so I know it's real (wink, wink).

Music Monday | HAIM

who: HAIM (Alana, Este and Danielle Haim)

what: R&B/Soft Rock/Pop Rock American band

when: 2006 - present

Now I know I've arrived at the party long after the clean up has been done, and I'm sure they're already setting up for the next party, but I feel like when there's a hype over something new, there are two kinds of people: those who latch onto that the trend before it's even become a thing yet, and those who follow suit eons later. This time, needless to say, I have landed among the second category of often less cool people, who the first group are generally irritated by. (I've been on both sides, so I can relate.)

The hype I'm referring to is HAIM, an American rock band made up of 3 sisters, with the last name Haim (pronounced hi-um, like lion, but with an 'm' at the end). They've sort of blown up in the underground indie scene, and have already worked with some big names like Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Flo-Rida, Florence & The Machine, Childish Gambino, and the list goes on... The other night (morning), at about 01:40, I had a sudden revelation that instead of hopelessly tossing and turning, I could put my insomnia to use and finally listen to Haim, which I've honestly been meaning to do for the longest time. Long story short, I listened to them and bobbed my head and enjoyed their stuff and wrote this post. Not bad for a morning's work, eh?

Their style is a mix of a couple of genres. I don't think you can pinpoint it, but it has a sort of techno vibey, soft pop/rock feel. The kind of music that makes you want to put on a good old slip dress, whip your hair and dance around in a field of wild flowers. "Mellow, grunge, feel-good, easy-listening" is as good of a definition as I can come up with. I wouldn't say HAIM is everyone's cup of chai tea latte, but if you're into the this kind of thing, you'll love it. If you're a free bee like I am, and sort of let music grow on you, I'm sure you'll love them in the end - like I said, they're easy listening. It's always a fun realization when you start liking something you weren't too keen on at first. That's the beauty of life right? A little time goes a long long way!

Last year HAIM released their first full-length album called Days Are Gone. I'm sure this applies to a lot of people: when you first listen to a new artist or a new album, there are songs that you looooove straight off the bat, and others that become your favourites after a while. At this point, my off-the-bat favourite songs off their album have to be Falling, which I've embedded above, and Don't Save Me. PS. School starts today, meeeeehhh!

HAIM's links:

website | soundcloud | facebook | twitter | tumblr

(image source: Michael Flores for Spin.com)

OUTFIT | Minimale

MR. PRICE T-shirt / ZARA skort / RAGE boots / SWATCH watch / TOPSHOP  chain necklace / MIU MIU sunnies

I wore this outfit to a lunch with some friends in Sandton a couple of days ago. It may look like it was warm out in these photos, but trust me, it was pretty damn chilly in the city! Autumn weather is tricky because it looks great from inside, until you step out and get knocked over by a gust of biting wind. Why would you then wear shorts, I hear you ask... Well, for starters, I knew I'd be indoors, and secondly, I felt a neeeeeed to wear these specific shorts, seeing as I've only worn them about once or twice before.

This was the first time I wore my booties out, and I'm sort of crazy about them. I love the fact that they're maroon and not black for once - if you know me at all, you'd know that my shoe collection is literally black and black. I think this will be quite a hot colour this Autumn/Winter. Even just while walking around Topshop and Zara before our lunch, this was a pretty popular colour choice, especially among the shoes.

Have a lovely weekend guys. Mine will be spent consoling myself over the fact that I have to go back to school on Monday, and trying to sort out all my books and stuff... (help!) Also, going back to school unfortunately means that I won't be posting as often as I have been over the last few weeks. Please bare with me - trying to fit in high school and blogging is a very real struggle. I'll do my best to post at least once a week though. I cannot wait to be done with high school!

xo,