Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Heni

Written By: MIM!—Channelling ancient Persia, Heni's Fall/Winter collection revels in long gone glories. Almost everything in the collection was made from silk, satin, chiffon, velvet, wool and leather.

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Funduzi By Craig Jacobs

Written By: MIM!—Craig Jacob's Fall/Winger collection, titled "Urban Africa" was inspired by the diverse urban living styles in Africa.

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Abigail Keats

Written By: MIM!—Known for her signature tailoring and fitted silhouette, Abigail Keats' Fall/Winter collection was true to form with classic black and white pieces.

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Doreen Southwood

Written By: MIM!—"Alice in Wonderland in her thirties" was the inspiration forDoreen Southwood's Fall/Winter collection. The themes of innocence and reality were juxtaposed in pieces such as two tone dress shirts worn under tiered dresses trimmed with sateen.

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | August

Written By: MIM!—Showcasing everything from lightweight, cotton voile kaftan dresses to oversized men's style shirts, August's Fall/Winter collection was both interesting and wearable.

Weekend Inspiration: Swahili Chic (The Feng Shui Of Africa)

Written By: MIM!—Bibi Jordan is an avid traveler, entrepreneur, author, and photographer. Her first book, Safari Chic (published in 2007), is a 288-page book filled with beautiful photography introducing Swahili shule—the Swahili school of design, architecture, and graceful living that instills a sense of simplicity, sensuality, and spirituality to any interior. Travel from the coral atoll islands of East Africa to the warm trade winds of the Indian Ocean and discover the land where African kings, Arabian sultans, Chinese sailors, American whalers, and French pirates met to trade jewels, spices, and colorful fabrics in Safari Chic.

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Just looking at these photographs from Bibi's book has us inspired to take up house near the Indian Ocean ... Zanzibar anyone? For now, we'll clean house and add some Afri-chic touches. Learn more about Swahili Chic by visiting bibijordan.com/swahilichic

(Photo Credits: Bibi Jordan)

Dance, Dance, Dance To Mory Kante's Yeke Yeke

Written By: MIM!—After a fun week looking at the fashion forecast from Joburg Fashion Week (there's still more to show), we are in a dancing mood this Friday, and to motivate us to actually get onto the dance floor this weekend, we've got Mory Kante's Yeke Yeke on heavy rotation. This high energy song has several remixes which were created for the club scene, including a "Hardfloor," "Trance Techno," "Club" and "Afro-Acid" remix; but we're still partial to the original as we don't need sped up electronic beats to enjoy this classic dance song. Follow this link to play the song on Lala.com. Listen to more Mory Kante songs at www.morykante.com.

MIMI Related Links: Don't Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go)

(Photo Credits: CD Cover Art)

Joburg Fashion Week | Red Carpet (Day 4): South African Style

Written By: MIM!—Day 4 of Joburg Fashion Week was the last day of the glamorous fashion affair, and the red carpet finale did not disappoint. Here are our picks for the most stylish red carpet fashion looks.

{ black and white has never looked so good together }

{ simply fabulous }

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | New Generation Designers

Written By: MIM!—We've always been big supporters of the New Generation Designers show because it gives young designers their first platform at a national fashion week, and, by virtue of showcasing young designers, the clothes are usually the most fashion forward. This year's New Generation Designers show included pieces from: (1) Mis.s.a (who used a black and white palette, with muted purple-grey as the third color; gold, silver, and reddish brown appeared occasionally in some of the collection); (2) Forever Me by Llana (whose signature hand drawn flowers appeared on some pieces of her country-inspired collection); and (3) Nooi (who presented a collection evocative of Amish modesty and old school uniforms using black and white with shades of beige and cream as base colors).

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Vesselina Pencheva

Written By: MIM!—Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 saw the re-lauch of Vesselina Pencheva's eponymous label. The fifties was the inspiration for Vesselina's luxe Winter collection.

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Leigh Schubert

Written By: MIM!—Leigh Schubert's Joburg Fashion Week Winter collection stayed true to the designer's light aesthetic.

Joburg Fashion Week | Red Carpet (Day 3): South African Style

Written By: MIM!—Day 3 of Joburg Fashion Week brought out some very stylish pairings. Here are our picks for the most stylish red carpet looks.

{ fashionably coordinated }

{ a megawatt smile is a great accessory }

Congratulations To Somi On Her Hit Album, If The Rains Come First

Written By: Nani Hapa—Somi's new album If The Rains Come First has debuted on the Billboard charts! The album debuted in the #2 slot on the Billboard World Music chart and the #21 Billboard Heatseeker Albums earlier this month.

The good news should come as no surprise to those of us who've had the good fortune of listening to If The Rains Come First; it is a sweet, beautiful, uplifting, album. I especially like the fact that Somi weaves in lyrics sung in three different East African languages into her primarily English sung songs. Somi captures her sound perfectly with the label "new African soul."

If you haven't heard it yet, take the time to visit www.somimusic.com to hear the album, and for a limited time, if you order If The Rains Come First from Somi's label, www.ObliqSound.com, you get 20% off your purchase price, use coupon code SOMI2010 in your shopping cart.

(Photo Credits: Matthew Furman)

Snapshots: Liberian Girl

Written By: Jamelia Mmari—One of the first articles I remember reading, and re-reading in MIMI, was Snapshots: Angola Carnival 2oo6 by photographer José Silva Pinto. I have always longed to see more representations of day-to-day life on the continent in the magazine, and with the revival of the Snapshots column on the blog, I am hoping to do just that. This photograph of a Liberian girl captures doe-eyed youth so perfectly, I was compelled to chose it for my first Snapshots blog entry.

If you are have photographs of African day-to-day life, and would like to publish them in MIMI, you can write to mimimagazineonline[at]gmail.com.

(Photo Credits: © M&H Sheppard / iStockPhoto)

Joburg Fashion Week | Red Carpet (Day 2): South African Style

Written By: MIM!—Day 2 of Joburg Fashion Week's red carpet fashion's did not disappoint. Here are our picks for the most stylish!

{ we love everything about her look }

{ it was love at first sight with this stylista }

Nneka's The Uncomfortable Truth Is The *Free* iTunes Single Of The Week

Written By: MIM!—Coinciding with the US release of her new album, Concrete Jungle, Nneka's single The Uncomfortable Truth is the free single of the week on iTunes (US). Nice!

(Photo Credits: CD Art Work)

On Trend: Get Ghana Glamorous With Fan Bags And Slim Clutches

Written By: Nani Hapa—Typically made from colorful Ghanaian straw material, and adorned with rhinestones or flowers, "fan bags" (named for their shape like a hand held fan) and "slim clutches" are all the rage in Ghana at the moment. Aya Morrison and KUA are some of the Ghanaian designers that we have already featured on the blog and the magazine, who design bags in these styles, and the list of on trend designers is growing with the recent introduction of the label Diva Delicious. The glam squad behind Diva Delicious design fan bags as well as slim clutches, and are creating their own unique mark on the trend by designing straw bags in interesting shapes (like this pink clutch which juxtaposes an angular shape against feminine details).

Diva Delicious is already stocked in Ghana at the Renee Q boutique, but for those of us outside of Ghana, for now, we'll have to keep up with the label on FaceBook until the official website is published (Diva Delicious tells MIMI that an official website is "under construction").

(Photo Credits: Seton Nicholas)

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Stefania Morland

Written By: MIM!—Stefania Morland is all about versatility and style.

Angelique Kidjo Pushes Back US Release Date

Written By: MIM!—Looks like Angelique Kidjo's US fans who were expecting to hear her new album, OYO, on February 9th are going to have to wait just a little bit longer to hear her CD. According to Amazon.com, OYO's US release date has been moved to March 29th.

(Photo Credits: Alexei Hay)

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Wild Fig

Written By: MIM!—Wild Fig is a label that aims to make "women feel feminine and beautiful." We think they hit the mark with their Joburg Fashion Week collection.

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Carducci Women

Written By: MIM!—Our coverage of Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 continues with the Carducci Women's collection.

Joburg Fashion Week | Red Carpet (Day 1): South African Style

Written By: MIM!—Some of the best dressed people we've seen at Joburg Fashion Week are not the models walking the runways, but the attendees, who highlighted the best of South African style on the Joburg Fashion Week red carpet. Here are our picks for the best dressed men and women from Day 1 (we'll have Day 2 and Day 3 highlights later on this week).

{ red lipstick adds a *pop* of glamour }

{ a unique take on the hottest fashion trends }

We ♥ Bernos Tees

Written By: MIM!—Start with "two guys a girl and a t-shirt idea" and with creative vision and drive, you end up with Bernos, an online t-shirt company. "[I]t all started, over a conversation about how there aren’t any t-shirts that highlight the rich culture that comes from Africa. All of us originating from Africa, but growing up in Europe and North America, found a gap not reached by other designers. Being lovers of tees, we wanted to design t-shirts that expressed our historical and cultural landmark, while breaching the gap between our origin and what we currently call home." We ♥ the Addis Ababa tee, for its artistic Ethiopian take on the Coca Cola logo, a logo which all of us, no matter where we grew up are sure to recognize.

Learn more about Bernos tees by visiting www.bernos.org, and while you're there, take a look at their active blog, which serves as an online Ethiopian community.

(Photo Credits: Bernos)

Myne Whitman Writes A Nigerian Love Story

Written By: Nkem Akinsoto—My name is Nkem Akinsoto also known as "Myne Whitman." I am a Nigerian writer and blogger whose debut novel A Heart to Mend has just been self published through AuthorHouse. Myne Whitman is a name I coined myself while still in secondary school and is a play on the transliterated words of my maiden name. Personality-wise, I am quiet and laid-back but do like a good loud debate sometimes. In three words, I will describe myself as friendly, caring and fun-loving. I have been a teacher, NGO consultant, banker, skate-hire attendant, researcher and government worker. After a postgrad degree and a few years in Edinburgh, Scotland, I now live in the United States with my husband.

On Writing ... I have been writing for a very long time. Ever since I was a child, I dreamed of holding a book in my hands with my name on the cover as the author. I prefer to write in the romance genre and would describe my writing style as direct and simple. I prefer using short sentences and lots of dialogue to tell a story. I like to think that this style is tailored to the situations I'm writing about and will carry my audience on the fluid journey of reading my books. I find inspiration from my life, people around me and stories in the news, movies or books; my imagination just feeds on it.

On Blogging ... Some members of my writing group had blogs where they shared excerpts of their work. They advised that I could start one to get more feedback on the story I was writing then, and to know when it's ready for the market. I began a small blog on the Nigeria Village Square before moving to the Myne Whitman Writes blog. Blogging as a writer has been amazing and I got overwhelming response to the excerpts of a Heart to Mend which added to my decision to self publish. I have now established the blog as a story and writing site and have opened it up to other budding writers.

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Spero Villioti Couture

Written By: MIM!—Here are our favorite pieces from Spero Villioti Couture.

{ to be worn by the bold and the beautiful }

She Defines Soul.Substance.Style (No. 004): Ayo

[ click image for larger version ]

Written By: MIM!—Folk-soul chanteuse Ayo (born Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin) emerged as one of Europe's biggest new pop stars of 2006 with her breakthrough album, Joyful. Born to a Nigerian father and a gypsy mother in Cologne, West Germany, as a child Ayo absorbed the musical traditions of her parentage as well as influences including American soul, reggae, and Afrobeat, all staples of her father's extensive record collection, which were reflected on Joyful. Following the success of Joyful, Ayo returned with the album Gravity At Last. On her second album, Ayo opted for a more orchestrated sound, but like her debut album Joyful, love remained the main lyrical-theme on the album and Ayo once again struck gold with critical and popular acclaim. Get to know this woman who defines Soul.Substance.Style at ayomusic.com.

(Photo Credits: Marc Baptiste)

New And *Free* Music With Burkina Electric's Paspanga

Written By: MIM!—This is our first write-up about Burkina Electric, but this month's release of the album Paspanga is not the band's first album. The band which is the first electronica band from Burkina Faso combines the traditions and rhythms of Burkina Faso with contemporary electronic dance culture, making it a trailblazer in electronic world music. With its main members based in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso's capital), it is, at the same time, an international band, with members living in New York, U.S.A. and Düsseldorf, Germany; as such, the group truly represents disparate musical genres and sounds from across the globe.

Paspanga is a refreshing musical album that is uniquely African electronica. Amazon.com is offering a free download of the track Sankar Yaaré from the album. For more information about Burkina Electric, visit Burkina Electric's MySpace: www.myspace.com/burkinaelectric.

(Photo Credits: CD Cover Art)

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Thula Sindi

Written By: MIM!—Here are our 10 favorite designs from Thula Sindi's Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 Autumn/Fall collection.

{ one shoulder designs are on the fashion forecast }

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Machere Fashion House Collection

Written By: MIM!—Here are our favorite pieces from Machere Fashion House; our favorite is the "Kwaito Saves Lifes" t-shirt. All photographs are taken by our favorite long-time fashion week photographer, Simon Deiner of SDR Photo.

{ we ♥ the rich fabric on this dress }

Audi Joburg Fashion Week 2010 | Designer Spotlight: Machere Fashion House

Written By: MIM!—Known as "the rebel of the Mzansi catwalk," Machere is all about color, feminine silhouettes, and gorgeous fabric patterns. We ♥ Machere, who has incorporated her family into her runway show finale by walking the runway with her adorable daughter.

(Photo Credits: Simon Deiner / SDR Photo)