Hi guys! I’m Lerato Maroleng and I have a fashion and style blog called 1ne2wenty3hree that I use as a platform to express my personal style and also document my style journey as I seek to enhance and discover it further. I’m also a student at the University of Pretoria working towards my BA degree in Psychology and Anthropology.
My style, much like my personality, cannot be put into one box. There are various facets of myself that I too am still discovering, therefore my style is an extension of who I am and what I’m feeling. A little edgy and a little soft.
For my style diary I’m not going to do a typical Monday to Friday style guide but instead I’ll be showing you guys how I mix and match my favourite clothes in my closet right now over five looks. I ended up with a predominantly denim aesthetic but I swear it was unintentional. Says a lot about the direction my style is taking though, right?!
Anyone who has been following me on social media lately will know I rocked a men’s white shirt that I bought from Woolworths to SA Fashion Week not so long ago and I haven’t taken it off since. Button down shirts are literally the ‘in-thing’ as far as fashion trends go and because of this, people have come up with so many unconventional ways to style their button down shirts. In the next two looks, I saw you how to be a little more creative with your favourite button down shirt.
Look 1
Layering is not exclusive to winter fashion and in fact you can layer a lot of your summer pieces. I confess I’m not a layering god like say Margaret Zhang but practice makes perfect! Here, I kept it simple and clean and paired my shirt with a frayed denim skirt and let the shirt peek underneath it. I also added a frayed denim choker to give my look a little edge. This choker, and the one in the next look, is actually a DIY project by myself and fellow blogger, TeteHumba so if you want to make yourself one as well click on here and here.

Look 2
This look is my ultimate favourite look of this style diary and it shows just how versatile you can be with your button down shirt. For a quick run down on how I achieved this look, you button up the shirt as far up as possible with one arm left out, then you take the sleeve and wrap it towards the front around to your back and tuck into your high waist jeans. Pretty straightforward!

Look 3