SELF-STYLED TO SELFIES
THIRTY years ago Darlene Smith turned heads at the Durban July in her fleek bubble skirt – it was all the trend overseas and she was the only one with the design at the local races.
She and her cousin, and best friend, Wayne Jones, were the apple of the cameras’ eyes, their photos being taken throughout the day, and they even appeared on television screens. Since that day, that image has been repeated often in media, and today, Smith and Jones will reunite to light up the races together, and hopefully turn heads in another gorgeous ensemble.
“We were so young back then. He was 23 and I was 20. We loved the races more so because we loved fashion and dressing up. Wayne owned the Scribbles clothing shop on the Berea and he styled us,” said Smith. Her outfit was a custom-made rust-coloured bubble skirt, paired with a hat and animal print heels. He wore a tailored suit, but in those days, said Smith, there was no theme to draw inspiration from, as there has been in recent years.
“When I saw the image being used again in the Independent on Saturday last year, I told Wayne we must get together this year, as it celebrates 30 years since we last went to the July together. Since that picture was taken he’d moved to Johannesburg and I was busy, and we never managed to go to the July together and have fun like we used to. Hence we decided to team up again, discuss our outfits like we did before and dress up and spend the day at the races,” said Smith. She is now the marketing executive for Premier Foods, while Jones heads the Forever New clothing brand.
“We discussed ideas for the outfit and decided that timeless is the most elegant. We decided to go with black and white drawing on the colours from a magician’s tux,” said Jones.
Smith’s outfit is drawn from the Forever New range, while his is an ensemble he put together.
Perhaps the only thing different this time around is that Smith and Jones can take their own images.
“Back then we did not have cellphones so we couldn’t take selfies,” joked Smith.