This week, we head to the southern hemisphere to South Africa to meet a style icon who embraces high-fashion drama: Yoliswa.
It takes a lot of verve to pull off puffy sleeves, a blazer vest AND a dramatic hat, but Yoliswa can do it. She also loves voluminous ruffles, as shown in Exhibit B below:
Seriously, Christian Siriano should make her his muse ASAP - she loves to rock all of his favorite design elements (puffy sleeves, ruffles and dramatic hats). And, just like Coco so adeptly demonstrated last week, the accessories are always perfectly coordinated to the outfit (here, her white sunglasses match her bag while her red lipstick matches her hat).
Even when Yoliswa takes a turn towards minimalism, the effect is still somehow intensely dramatic:
So what can we learn from Ms. Yoliswa?
Don’t be afraid to play with volume, even if you’re just hanging out by the pool. In today’s athleisure world, we are all wearing slouchy sweatpants and hoodies, but I’d love to see a turn back towards a crisply tailored silhouette.
Amass a large collection of wide-brimmed hats and stand-out sunglasses. They’ll punctuate your outfit and save your skin from years of ageing to boot.
Get a house by the beach and drown yourself in sunshine. Seriously, this simple trick will make any outfit look better.
While I don’t have the disposable income to buy myself a beach house, I do have access to some wide-brimmed hats and sunglasses, so I tried to re-create Yoliswa’s last look above on my roof in Brooklyn. I never thought that a monochromatic outfit could pack so much visual punch, but it does and I love it! I’ll just have to avoid red sauce, red wine and my period while wearing this look.
What do you think of Yoliswa’s looks? Are you brave enough to rock voluminous ruffles and puffy sleeves in everyday life?
