Disclaimer: This blog post is just an excuse to show y’all my dress because if you are here right now, you probably appreciate such. 

So the Simply You Magazine lifestyle and fashion awards happened and we all showed up decked out in our individual ideals of African Royalty. The red carpet was my favourite part of the event because you all know I love any excuse to dress up and do the most! What I loved the most is that there was a consensus that African royalty is most definitely dramatic and thus everybody brought the drama honey. As for the award ceremony; like most shows in the country, it needs work and I cannot stress this enough. But I am not going to go into details, as I am sure the organizers are aware of what needs to happen and are hopefully working on it. 

Now about this dress! Yaaaaaassssssssss this dress! Can I just say I finally feel like my creativity is coming back after 4 years of doing private clients, I had to stop. Making what other people wanted me to make, for money, was sucking the life out of me. Ok! Back to the design! Firstly, I only decided on this design on Wednesday. I was having a hard time deciding on the drama aspect of my outfit, because for the most part I love really simple cuts. I was going to wear a detachable long train, but that seemed predictable and messy (I just imagined people stepping on it, not to mention all the stuff that was going to drag along. Ewww!) Lucky for me Celine Dion popped up on my explorer with one of her Paris fashion week LEWKS and I was in love. I designed my own interpretation of the sleeve and added it to my original dress design. To make sure my design worked I spent most of my Thursday making the pattern for the sleeves and planning out the construction of the dress. On Friday: I bought 7 meters of fabric, washed it; because it was waxy and stiff. And finally cut once it was dry on Friday Afternoon. The sleeves took up all 7 meters of the fabric and the rest of the dress was made from the scraps (literally!) Hence, you will notice a tear in the back of the skirt, which was saved by the fact that I had lining and it was dark so no one was looking for my tiny rip (don’t try this at home kids). All in all, it was costly but soooo worth it! It all worked out perfectly because of these amazing sleeves! They are life givers, plus I could have styled this dress so many different ways, which is the type of functionality I want in all the garments I make. So definitely keeping the same energy for future garments I make. 

P.S. This dress is the beginning of a new LM Collection so let me know if it’s a vibe VIBE or if I should move on with my life. 

…xoxo LM (Just another F.O.R)

Incase you have been living under a rock; Melisa Poulton and I collaborated with Jagermister Namibia, to bring you an exciting collection we called Jan Jooster.  The response to the collection has been absolutely amazing and it is truly exciting to see the Namibia’s fashion audience growing with the Namibian fashion industry. Now I don’t want to gush too much about the collection (Because if you follow me of social media, You know I am already doing too much.) but if you haven’t seen it yet, you can checkout  @lamodefashions on instagram. We've got a whole tile of content just for you.

Now back to what this post is really about. Outerwear! Because we wanted this collection to be unisex, Melisa and I needed to make sure that all the garments in the collection could be worm by both sexes and to prove that we took some pictures with woman wearing the same exact garments as our male model on the store front. As much as I am in love with this entire collection, these are my top 5 Outerwear picks in no particular order. 

Photos by: @h_ash_h for  ProStudio 

Accessories by: Leon Engelbrecht

Models: Allison Louw and Bianca Pesch

The Drawstring Cameo Jacket is the ultimate unisex jacket and basically looks good on everyone. We added a drawstring on the inside for the ladies who want to flex and show us that waistline in the middle of winter and some really cool orange accents because orange is winning right now. 

The JJ Black Bomber Jacket. If you are a serious Jägermeister fan, this is the Jacket you want to buy. I’m personally obsessed with the piping placement, but that Jäger stag logo at the back is pretty cool.

The JJ Fleece Bomber Jacket is not for everyone, but I know a lot of guys with a unique style will appreciate this one cause it is not the easiest jacket to pull off, but if you pull this off, you are going make everyone around you want one.

JJ NY Bomber Jacket Who doesn’t love a big puffy Jacket. Of course Namibia will never be New York cold in winter, but we thought this jacket would make a good layering piece for both men and women. And the double-sided zipper is a pretty cool feature if you don’t want to zip the whole thing up.

Ok those were my top 4 picks. Let me know if you’ve seen the collection and which was your favourite garment. 

  P.S.  If you want to gift me with one of these … I would have said the NY Bomber, but it’s sold out for now. So you can get me this Tee instead. Please, thank and Bye!

…xoxo LM (The F.O.R)

 I want to start this with a disclaimer in case anyone was wondering: I am nowhere near living the lifestyle I designed for myself, but ultimately that’s ok, because how to do it 101 is about creating the blueprint and the actions you will have to take. Personally, if I was living my dream lifestyle, I would have an address I hardly frequent, I would be a world citizen painting the world red with my lover, working from hotel rooms and villas with unimaginable views and telling the world about my journey; the things I wore, the food I ate and scenarios I created with my presence in the world and getting paid for it while I watch my bank account figures roll in from my curated business. Currently I am at…the things I wore, so as you can imagine this plan is taking longer than I expected, but guess what. I am already living it in a way. 

But to be honest, I designed the life I’m living now when I was 13. Those plans included Law school, so ultimately it gave me 4 extra years to execute, THANK GOD! 'Cause I would have been mental by now from looking at timelines and trying to figure out where I went wrong and never figuring it out because honestly, how are you supposed to keep up with a 13 year old's master plan who's goal is to grow up?! I redesigned the plan in college when I was 19 (THE COMING OF AGE… Dramatic drumroll please.) Lol. This is funny to me because Leah at 19 is a little bit like Leah now. She was the smartest person she knew. If you spend any time with me now, everything I do will elude to this. Basically, this was a time in my life where I was completely unimpressed with most people’s ways of thinking and more importantly their planning.  I had a SICK plan. To finish my Fashion Design degree in 3 years instead of the recommended 4 (which I did), to moved back to Namibia and start my Empire (MWAHAHAHAHA…coughs …ha…ha). I moved back and left a perfectly good man, good life and salary too (cringe moment, but of course I had a plan). The plan that went to the crappers once I landed in Namibia and realized I had been gone for 10 years. I walked in right in the middle of the “Blesser” era and was confused as to how a degree, work experience and some serious wit couldn’t land me a job or get me a loaded business partner to start LM-LAMODE. Retail literally saved my life, and I am grateful. However, let's not forget how far I was from my plan. Today, I am 6 years in the definition of started from the bottom...and I mean rock bottom, now I’m here; here being halfway there and in a position to share some insight, tricks and traits. If you are on my blog today, my lifestyle probably has something to do with it because I actually do the things my instagram says I do. 

So how did I start designing this lifestyle? Well, like any well-done design project, you have to follow the fundamental rules of creating something solid. 

Inspiration: "Powerful women often get concerned with this idea that they're going to be seen in this unforgiving light. Screw that. It's so old-fashioned... It's so uninspired and actually really cowardly.
 ~ Scarlett Johansson
 No, I am not saying go troll someone’s instagram and attempt to recreate his or her life. The aim is to design your own lifestyle and not necessarily imitate someone elses. Plus, you would end up depressed cause you would spend 80% of your time on their page checking to see if you are there yet (death). So how do you get inspiration you ask? Write a list. Write your top 5 priorities (Do it quickly)… I’m waiting. Done? Ok, from that list your first 3 priorities are your life. Knowing this, ask yourself if this is the life you want to live, if not, rewrite them. Now you have your inspiration.

Planning: This is by far the best part. Under each priority, make a list of actions that need to happen in order for your priorities to happen and become apart of your lifestyle. 

Example; P.S these are my personal priorities so don’t judge and you're welcome.

S/N: The example has five points listed under each inspiration (priority), my actual action list is far more detailed (…and I’m trying my best not to botch it. Everyday!)

Design: And Action! This is the part where you actively start living the lifestyle you designed by ticking off the list of things you've listed and making it a habit. Once it’s a habit, guess what, that’s your life now.

Redesign: You will and can always redesign based on new inspiration. When your priorities change so does your inspiration, and naturally you have to start the process again so as not to loose sight of the bigger picture. 

My Big Picture: “I would have an address I hardly frequent, I would be a world citizen painting the world red with my lover, working from hotel rooms and villas with unimaginable views and telling the world about my journey, the things I wore, the food I ate and the scenarios I created with my presence whilst getting paid for it as I watch my bank account figures roll in from my curated business.”

P.S. This is just one way to design the life you want to live. You could also just live and see how it goes, as long as the aim is to live through your own journey with no regrets. Also, leave me a comment and let me know if this was at all helpful… or not.

…xoxo LM (The F.O.R)