RMfashionary: The Inspiration Behind the Name

My blog name isn’t a common word you would ever come across on a normal day, the inspiration behind the name came from my husband. I thought it would be nice to share the story of how RMfashionary was born so that you can relate to it a bit more.

I have always loved dressing when I was growing up which is where my true love for fashion started. Although, I can’t take all the credit because when my husband Ahmed– who was my boyfriend at the time – came into my life, he accelerated my love for fashion even more.

When I was 17 Ahmed took me to my first South African Fashion Week. When I started looking at places to study during my senior years of high school, Ahmed suggested I attend a fashion school by the name of LISOF to exploit my full talent. In 2013 during my first three months at LISOF Ahmed gifted me my very first Fashionary entirely made by him.

What is a Fashionary? If you don’t already know, it is a diary of all your fashion designs and fashion inspo. It comes equipped with silhouettes of fashion models to sketch your designs on and a dictionary of fashion garment terms. In this special case it also included a dictionary of inspiration of all the best fashion designers and bloggers for me to take note of, Ahmed had researched and bound it all just for me. It was one of my favourite gifts that I had ever received, labelled in bold on the front of the book was RMfashionary. ‘R’ which stands for Ranaa and ‘M’ which stands for Moola – Ahmed’s surname.

A few months later after a heap of inspiration from being at fashion school and using the Fashionary I decided to start my blog and to me the name was an obvious choice from the get go. 

RMfashionary – a guide to everything fashion and lifestyle that inspires me.

We decided to do a photo booth bit strip inspired shoot to go with the story of RMfashionary. 

Here it is: Ahmed Moola and I.

Falke Feet:

The rise of funky socks is a street style statement that you can’t miss. It’s become so common to see people wearing a bright or intensely printed sock with a neutral or fun outfit.

I remember the episode of Keeping Up with The Kardashian’s where Robert Kardashian expresses his new business venture to his family. Kim’s reply was ‘socks?’ followed by her pulling a very displeased face with her nose scrunched up.

I can see the wisdom in it now Kim.  There are so many sock brands ,Happy Socks, Nic Harry and Sexy Socks to name a few. Socks aren’t just something to wear to keep your toes warm anymore, it’s become a fashion statement. One of my favourite sock brands locally is Falke. If you haven’t heard of the brand yet do yourself a favour and have a look at their website here.

Falke is a German knitting company, however, the socks are produced here in SA. You can shop all kinds of socks from advanced sports socks, everyday sport (gold/cycling/arch support) to fashion socks for both men and women. Socks can be purchased online on the Falke site or from the Falke store in Cape Town.

Falke recently sent me some socks to add to my ever-growing collection since I am a sock junky. Here’s how I’d suggest you wear rock the sock trend with Falke:

Sheer socks:

These are my favourite socks to wear at the moment. The striped sheer Falke socks show off just the right amount of skin and is able to take your shoe game to another level.

Scrunched up socks:

This look works well to add a casual edge to your outfit. If you're wearing a jeans, you don't want your socks to reach the cuff of the jeans to make it look awkward. Instead scrunch the socks down towards your ankle and fold up the cuff of your jeans.

Socks with heels:

Whether you think its weird or not it is a trend. I love wearing socks and heels with minimal-look, knee-length dresses. This way the socks and heels together won't shock anyone who looks at you, instead it will be a welcome pop.

Patterned:

Adding a patterned sock to a shoe that you would not usually wear a sock with can add a new aesthetic to the shoe. You can almost guarantee that people will look down at your feet and ask: ''where are those from?'' As if they have not seen the shoe before.

I got in touch with local style icon and sock queen Yasmin Furmie  for some of her sock styling tips too. Here's what she had to say:

1) Have fun with prints - Yasmin suggested wearing a striped outfit with polka dot socks. 
2) Make use of your socks as a pop - Yasmin was wearing a plain black outfit when I met her with statement ''Stance'' socks as a wow factor.
3) The length of the socks are important - Yasmin says with shorter clothing items opt for long socks and with longer clothing items like culottes, a shorter sock will do.
4) Socks can be formal too - Yasmin's suggestion is to wear a pair of sheer socks with killer heels for a formal function.

Myself and Yasmin.

Our fashionable socks.

Believe it or not it was really difficult for Yasmin to give sock styling tips because it comes so naturally to her. She's a natural street style genius.

A special thanks to Yasmin for featuring in this post.

Photography by Lydia Wessels

10 Backpacks You Need:

Backpacks have been trending for a while thanks to the street wear trend dominating runways and retail. It's my favourite bag to wear for any occasion whether I wear it to work, when I travel or even out on the weekends.

I have compiled a list of 10 backpacks I love that you need to add to your shopping list. Each bag below is available in store or online right now. So lets get shopping:

R169,99 available at Mr Price

 R269 available on Zando

R1399 available on Zando

R379 available at H&M

R599 available at Forever New

R449 available on Superbalist

R2899 available on Superbalist

R1599 available on Superbalist

R499 available at Cotton On

R599 available at Forever New

The bag below was gifted to me by my friend Rizana and this is how I styled it:

I am really into wearing solid colour outfits lately. I wore solid navy for this look and added a pop of pink. 

Top: Zara

Culottes: H&M

Shoes: Mr Price

Head scarf: Mr Price

Photography by Lydia Wessels