Thursday 21 February 2013

To find the perfect Jean, or to not find the perfect jean....

So, I don't know how the ladies feel out there about jeans, but I have been feeling quite miserable lately with the selection I have. So much, that I have even thought about giving it up completely. There is nothing that looks so good as a great fitting jean with a crisp white shirt and a tailored jacket to lift ones look instantly...

My dilemma , as I am sure many of you face as well is that my body shape isn't a plank!
If it were, I am sure I would have no trouble in finding the right jean with ease.
The second, is that at 1'65 when I get the right size jean, I have to shorten it and this is mostly unavoidable.

My body shape is triangular. So it means that I am basically top heavy with a large tummy and no derrière. Which means that my jeans will fit around my legs and be way too tight around my tummy. Then when I take a size bigger, it looks like a baggy jean. I basically look like Bridgette Jones from "The Bridgette Jones Diaries" but I'm not willing to starve myself like Renee Zelwegger to look like her "normal" self. I have tried, believe me, but I have made piece with myself and my metabolism after trying and trying and failing.
I just love and respect the way that celebs like Adele have embraced their bodies and look absolutely stunning and tasteful.

Then, there are soon many choices...straight cut, skinny jeans, boyfriend jeans, bootlegs etc...

Research has shown that our body shapes have changed dramatically in the last decades. We no longer possess the small frames that ladies in the 1920's had.

On the other hand if your African, your full figure use to be a sign of prosperity and wealth, now more and more black girls are trying to conform with the images that the media throws at us.
Most African women are pear shaped, and have the most difficulty finding that perfect jean. Why? There waists are extremely tiny, so if the jean fits around their hips, the waist is too wide and rides up.

The only company that identified the need to address the fact that ladies aren't a straight size in South Africa, has been Levi's that have come out with their Eva jeans. I'm not sure how successful that was, but I commend them for attempting to service their customers needs.

If I do happen to find a pair of jeans that I love, and doesn't "choke" me or gives me a lovely muffin top, I tend to wear it until its absolute end.

I have one such faithful, the boyfriend jean, and I think after all the trails and errors I have faced with jeans, I should stick to it. What do you think?What are your experiences with finding that pair that seems to elude?



Thursday 7 February 2013

Competition Time!

So we are giving away this gorgeous grey dress this week!

To Enter the competition:
All you have to do is Like and Share our Facebook page and post the below picture on your timeline.

Terms and Conditions of the competition:

The competition closes on Friday the 15th of February 2013
The winner will be announced on our Facebook page a week from the closing date
The judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into
The Prize is non-transferable, and cannot be exchanged for services or cash
The Prize comes in straight sizes, and no alterations will be made
The Winner must email info@ilanilan.co.za to claim their prize
The competition is open to South African residents only, and the prize will only be delivered within South Africa

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Fifty Shades of Grey?



It never occurred to me that the colour grey had so many shades. To be quite honest, I didn't like grey very much. My sister was 4 years old and wanted a budgy. So we went to the pet shop and saw a large cage with budgies in all the colours of the rainbow, yet the pet shop assistant caught her the ugliest one of them all in my opinion anyway, a grey one. The budgy was christened "Tweet-Tweet" and off we went. My sister didn't seem to mind at all!

Then I had the honour to wear a grey uniform at one of my former places of work. Needless to say I wasn't happy at all, I much more preferred the black suits we wore beforehand and didn't think that the Woolworths-like uniform suited me at all.
One of the customers actually told me that I looked like a sausage in it, that is a grey sausage.
It wasn't too small as the consultancy measured us before they were delivered, but the fabric was of such poor quality( trilobal) and I don't know what else, that the fit was really bad.

I felt that I constantly looked tired and dull in the dove like apparel and longed for the black that made me feel so safe.
Funnily enough, I started to admire a grey set of freshwater pearls as it suited the uniform, and while I loathed the uniform, I covet the pearls until this day for its uniqueness.
Then I got a grey bunny from my boyfriend and the colour started to grow on me!

It really didn't occur to me that there are so many shades of grey, I just wanted to se the world in black and white I guess, as it made me feel safe.

So here we are, years later and I love grey! From clothing( in natural fabrics) to home ware and decor. Even baby rooms look great in grey and I just love the way it goes with nude pink! Before I would have commented and said that would be far too depressing for child and mother, but just look at how grey can make a room cool and tranquil!

It's amazing to notice how ones taste changes over the span of your life and how one comes to like things that have may been undesirable previously.

The other misconception that I had about grey was that it only seemed to suit blondes.
Look at how Kera Knightly and Kate Middelton got it right, and they are brunettes, like me.

So you see, never say that you might not like something, or that it doesn't suit you, it may just be that you had a bad experience with a shocking fabric or a shade that didn't strike your fancy, but there are a world of choices out there if you are willing to find it!