PUMA SOCIAL CLUB CAPE TOWN

On December 1st the cool kids of Cape Town attended the opening night/invite only launch of The Puma Social Club as well as the launch of their Puma Creative Factory. The event will take place until tomorrow night and offers a variety of DJs and activities which include ping-pong tables, Puma design stations and a photo-booth.  After an hour so of mingling, doors opened to reveal a room with tables outlining it. On each table lay two pairs of shoes designed by a variety of different creatives. Lindiwe Suttle, Brad Armitage (Makethman), Cindy Poole (The Summit) and Jack Parow were among the collaborators. I took my friend Kelly with and through the course of the night made a whole bunch of new ones.

Lindiwe Suttle and I must have subconsciously planned to coordinate looks. She is such a delightful, talented lady and also very, very humble. She was telling me about her plans which among other places will take her to Germany quite soon. I just love artists who are just a little bit different, her album should be very exciting. Her dress was designed by Lara Klawikowski (you may recall the condom dress).

Can we just take a minute to talk about Chanel Iman Meghan here? I'm not 100% sure if she is or is not a model but it's safe to say she has major potential. I just loved everything about her (so did all the other boys and girls), she had quite the presence. Just take a look at how she holds her beer? I love it!
I took a walk around the room and bumped into Jack Parow later who designed those fantastic gold high-tops. I suppose if you're going to go gold you go all-gold.

Later on our very own South African rapper Jack Parow entertained us with a mini-concert. Of course that long flat cap of his made it's way on to stage with him. The event started to draw to a close around 11pm which is when I left. I later heard the party went on for some hours longer and many a name was thrown away. It was a fantastic event that could not have been better organized. They even provided guests with vouchers to buy Burgers in the side alley, needless to say they were well used.

DAVID WEST OPENS LONG STREET STORE 'DOKTER AND MISSES'

What could be more Capetownian than when all the cool kids gather around and drink beers on a gorgeous day? If there is such a thing I'm not interested. David West being ever so Capetownian decided to open up his newest endeavor in this theme. He called it 'Dokter and Misses' and without any exaggeration it really was spilling over with the Cape Town cool crowd. So much so that we all ended up on the street talking. Seth and I got into a fascinating topic (See below) and we were later joined by Dylan Jack and 'Popyacollar' blogger Sam (I stole the photo from her site).

Getting a close up view of West's range (which we first witnessed at Cape Town Fashion Week in August) was a particular treat. He really seems to understand what we want in terms of fabric and design. Light, soft materials for the hot weather and pleasing, quirky prints. The breton-striped tee was a particular favorite but naturally it came second to the blue checkerboard-esque shirt which carried the conversation of his range in August. 
The new store was a joint venture between West and his partner Elmi and Dokter and Misses Joburg based furniture and product design duo. This is their first outlet in Cape Town. (They have a store at 44 Stanley in joburg as well as a showroom and workshop in partnership with WhatIfTheWorld called Co Op in Braamfontein).


So why the partnership? David and Elmi felt that Katy and Adriaan were kindred spirits, and if you see the store you will notice how their respective products compliment one another. Having only a short time to view the store on opening-day it was easy to miss the shopfitting details which West developed to change fixtures and displays according to the product they wish to show. They worked with Elmi on designing the rails, lighting the fitting room and shop counter. 

Pre-West the shop was a famous Aspen Flower shop. It has a Victorian facade which was restored to its original glory. And now it houses David West which I'm sure will have you all investigating it soon. And best you do!

Fornarina, with the lobby of the Upper East Side Hotel in Woodstock as their catwalk, launched not only their latest range but in doing so announced the South African arrival of their brand. Excited guests arrived to be welcomed by Burlesque dancers and clowns dressed in theme to the latest Alice in Wonderland movie. Guests were encouraged to do the same but in classic Cape Town style few did.

I went along with Dylan Jack who gussied up in a green frill-front 70's inspired shirt and polka dot bow-tie. Clearly he got the memo. You may remember him (although he since then peroxided his hair) from the Fair Lady "Style Intern" reality show from earlier this year. Today he works as production assistant for AFI Cape Town Fashion week which commenced this evening. More about that later.

Models, sportsmen and local personalities busied the VIP section which seemed to comprise of 70% of the attendees. We got straight into the usual networking one does at these events and before long a fashion show began. "Alice" in full burlesque attire, stripped and then ran off to be replaced by another stripping character, this time the Cheshire cat. The men suddenly found themselves intrigued by the show. Models strutted to the familiar sounds of Stefani and GaGa and ten minutes later it was all over.

Jeannie D from the lifestyle shows Top Billing and Top Travel played hostess and surprised me when they had chosen me as Best-Dressed male of the evening. You can see my reaction above. It was Jeannie who then swore it wasn't fixed because the judges didn't know I was "Fashion 2010 - 2011". Chloe in the yellow bow (above) won Best-Female, so Congrats to her!

Scene around: Peroni Nastro Azzuri

On a rainy Sunday night not too long ago my very good friend and I went down to the Waterfront for a Peroni Nastro Azzuri event. With vocal stylings from Lindiwe Suttle and Aviva Pelham, the event (honoring the Italian football team) went down as good as a Peroni smoothly.

Top Travel presenter, former model and charmer Janez Vermeiren hosted. One of my dear readers sent me this scan from GET IT magazine who snapped me up, along with a few who's who's that attended the event too. Good fun and free Peroni was had by all!

Corthay - Bottier � Paris

The night Bafana Bafana played Mexico I ran off into the vibrant, busy city that once was Cape Town and attended a Trunk Show in the Cape Grace Hotel Bar 'Bascule lounge'. With only half an hour before the game I entered the bar with a strategy but was suddenly distracted by a long selection of shoes. And not just shoes, but Bespoke Parisian shoes by Pierre Corthay.



The green wonders are my favorite and retailed for more than R10 000 but what's money, really? At the end of the day, no matter your current budgetary concerns, quality should always be important. If not... rather go without!

Totally Wired with Sunglass Hut

The event was a stylish soiree where Cape Town�s media and invited guests were entertained by comedian Nik Rabinowitz before Andrew Koch from Claremart Auctioneers got the bidding going. The pieces, each inspired by elements unique to South Africa, fetched between R1000 and R4000 with TOTALLY VUVUZELA, designed by Nicki Dzrewicki and crafted by Streetwires, being sold for R5500.



Fellow Blogger Robyn Cooke and I attended the fun auction at the Misael Gallery in Cape Town a couple Wednesdays ago and it was certainly a lot of fun. The Auction proved rather positive and managed to get some good money for a great cause!

The Fleur du Cap Awards 2010