Accessories: Zoom Shoes South Africa
[Image credit: Sandals – Zoom]
As a young woman coming-of-age in mid 90’s Zimbabwe, magazines coming in from South Africa like True Love, Cosmopolitan, Fair Lady, and Elle helped to shape and influence my dreams and growing identity in the world of adulthood. Typical of girls all over the world, each month my friends and I would buy and share the latest copies, discussing the trends and features in relation to our own lives. At the time South Africa was going through an incredible and much long-awaited period of change, inevitably causing a ripple effect that had an impact across it’s borders, and we began to see fashion and images that related to us young women on the verge of our careers. This was the period when Brandy was ‘Sittin’ up in [her] room’, ‘Stella’ was getting her groove back and fashion was rapidly recycling through previous decades whilst taking on a futuristic feel as the Millennium approached and saw the likes of SWV and co sporting 60’s/70’s style influences that had me perfecting a French roll updo with a beehive front!
However, as we started earning getting hold of the fashions we saw wasn’t easy unless we travelled or knew someone who was travelling- providing them with torn pages, lists, and specific instructions- so we had to be content with replicating them through our local tailors; accessories were a bit trickier to get hold off. I vividly remember seeing one fashion spread with these gorgeous shoes, all strappy with platform heels; and looking longingly at the pages knowing deep down that the chances of getting hold of them were next to zero. There was a rumour flying around town about an outlet on the outskirts of Harare city centre that sold some ‘very’ nice imported shoes… talk about an understatement! So after hunting it down and walking through the doors, I went mental, to put it mildly; laid out before me was row upon row of the most amazing shoes I never ever thought I would see. Every single shoe from that spread and then some were lying in open boxes enticing me. Literally hyperventilating I didn’t know where to begin. I was like a child in a sweet shop and cannot describe the feeling I felt of being able to buy what I saw on the fashion spreads, it was a sense of empowerment and needless to say I was a regular visitor to the shop always checking on the latest season styles as I saw them in my magazines.
The shoes that elicited this response… Zoom, and now over a decade later I still periodically take a peek online to see what the company is up to. Being in London I have access to every fashion product imaginable, the only constraint being my budget at that particular time, and when opening up a magazine upon seeing something have the option to go and buy it that very day should I wish. I liken the challenges I faced to the frustrations I have seen expressed by readers who contact me directly, in other blogs and by their readers the world over when trying to get hold of African designers be they fashion, interior or lifestyle products; but this is changing as more retailers and brands set up shop, in particular harnessing the power and reach of online shopping;
…may accessibility and availability continue to get better!
Additional Details:
For further information about Zoom visit: www.zoomfootwear.co.za
