The Sartists – a Johannesburg-based creative collective – was formed to challenge parochial ideas about blackness in modern society, taking a considered, autodidactic and documentary approach to style and identity. Sartist co-founder MR WANDA LEPHOTO did the talking and his partner MR KABELO KUNGWANE documented their wide-ranging discussion in Johannesburg. Feature image By MR NAM NTANTALA. Formed by the…
The Collector | DJ Kenzhero on vinyl and Kamasi Washington
DJ Kenzhero – the South African spinner who has shared the stage with everyone from Thandiswa and Tumi Molekane to 9th Wonder and Yasiin Bey – may not discriminate against digital, but his default setting has always been vinyl. In the first of a series on varied collectors, he shared a coveted next buy and his journey…
Imbawula | Intimate stories of our shared humanity
Another intimate night at the Bassline in Newtown Johannesburg at the last Imbawula of 2015, saw four extremely different storytellers come together to share some really personal stories in an effort to raise money for the Quarphix foundation – a youth development NGO that gives a leg up to disadvantaged youth. MS ALUWANI RATSHIUNGO was there.…
Ungovernable | Mathahle Stofile
She is self-affirmed, walking to nobody’s tune but her own. She rejects conformity and seeks only her own truth. She is ungovernable, and just the kind of woman we love. In the first of a series of interviews with these remarkable women, we start at home, with noted.man grooming contributor, MS. MATHAHLE STOFILE. Noted…
Braamfontein | (up)settting the status quo
Cited by some as a model of the kind of free-thinking, free-roaming, freely interactive non-racial South Africa of Mandela’s promise, Braamfontein, Johannesburg is a throng of culture, fashion and enterprise. Yet below this model exterior, argues MR LEE MOLEFI, lie patterns of inequitous cultural and material ownership. Car hooters blare. Spirited movement in every direction entraps your…
Lusting for diversity
Pornography is not a swearword, it can be a great thing, but because of the lack of nuanced storytelling and positive, women-friendly and racially diverse content based on realistic experiences, MS ALUWANI RATSHIUNGO fears that women are doomed to enduring bouts of relentless, one-sided sex as performance. I have often found myself, in the…
Man Walks Into a Bar | Buck and Breck, Berlin
In the first of a bar review series teeming with tales of mirth from far-flung watering holes, a professional nomad (barely) recalls a night in Berlin when even the powers of James Bond and a Pick-up Artist’s handbook could not help him quite remember a night out at one of the world’s best cocktail bars. …
Fe-MEN-ism | suspicion and the benefit of the doubt
Male feminism – while a popular and welcome trend in recent years, with movie stars and r&b singers nailing their colours to the mast – is still fraught with complexity, insincerity and suspicion. MS. ALUWANI RATSHIUNGO argues that while some men use feminism for their own gain, the benefit of the doubt goes a long way. Male advocacy of feminism has, for a…
SAFW AW16 | 5 standout menswear trends
African menswear took a tentative seat at the fashion table with the two South African Menswear Weeks held in Cape Town in February and July. In October, South Fashion Week (SAFW) AW16 dedicated the last day to menswear, featuring established and upcoming designers. Several trends emerged from the runway. We picked five. 50 shades of grey or…
Fighting back against oily skin
Large pores and oily skin almost always go together, making the skin prone to acne breakouts as the skin produces excess sebum (the skin’s natural oil). While this is a common and stubborn problem among many of us, as MS. MATHAHLE STOFILE explains, all is not completely lost. The reasons for the overproduction of sebum vary, from genetics…