Last week was apparently my week for making people mad and apart from my blog on the Marie Claire cover (shish kebab, I am unpopular with certain people for that one) I’ve also gotten flack for writing in my blog post on the Africhic.com launch: ‘Maybe its time we all start wearing local rather than lusting after international brands that are mostly, now, mass produced in China.’


My critics have pointed out that it’s hypocritical for me to have that kind of attitude when this blog often reports on international fashion and the many amazing brands that are, ahem, made in China.  Not to mention the fact that I am, in fact, on my way to China and yes, am planning to shop.


Forgive me for hastily written posts that often don’t explain the full extent of what I mean and let me explain myself: as a South African blogger and fashion journalist I grew up openly lusting after the international brands that I saw in the magazines I loved. To me, they spoke of authentic luxury… Of a designer toiling away in their atelier, handstitching bespoke items that you’d proudly pass down to your daughter one day.


Today, the fact that a luxury brand is French or American or Italian but mass produces luxury items via a factory in a different country makes it feel less authentic to me. I know that’s probably ridiculous, and it certainly hasn’t stopped me, or anyone else for that matter, buying and wearing them, but it’s something that I think about. 


And what about those horror stories of children being chained to their workstations in sweatshops – call me hysterical but how do you know what you’re wearing hasn’t been created at great expense to another human being?


The reality of the situation, however, is that fashion, like any other business, is a giant machine that turns and that machine currently is thriving in a market like China. Some of what comes out of there is utter crap but a lot of it is excellent. The same issues are experienced locally: we have good ideas but often the end product is not well made or is ridiculously expensive for what it is.


Lastly, I do love African design and think that local media should support it more. Elle Magazine does a great job punting local designers and it’s great to see. They deserve to be celebrated and I hope that this kind of exposure grows exponentially this year as we move in to the global spotlight so that local fashion develops into a fully-functioning industry that supports our designers – many of whom battle to make ends meet.


I would be interested to hear what other people think of the issue. I’ve been thinking about the dilemma a lot over the past few days and hope people will comment on the blog - just don’t be nasty, ok, there’s a little thing called constructive criticism!