Getting some inspiration from the 90s

30 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in BFFs, CTG, Design, music, 2 Comments

So… CTG, LA & PD are working on a dance track. We figure, since we got this video vibe going, we might as well make music to do our dances to, or Sony is going to ‘be up in our faces’ forever, which is no good. So we’re working with a (real!) producer and writing some super deep lyrics about going out and dancing and having fun, which is a cause we firmly and strongly believe in, so we’ve been doing a bunch of referencing tracks that inspire us, which led us to Ace of Base – The Sign – which led us to a whole BUNCH of 90s album artwork covers. Which are truly hilarious. Guys, what was going down in the 90s that led us to style our pop culture icons like angry Swedish teenagers? Like, all of them???

Got to love the collage work, the faces blooming forth from the rose

A rose, but there is some anger. You can see it lurking in her elfen bangs.

rainbow gradients - too good! peroxide! yes!

The name of the album says it all - deadly! in that lovely SandScript too. Super hardcore.

There are a lot of fists happening in that image above. Should we fist on our album cover??? These are all things we must consider.

Oh yeah. Let's rave out. Let's rave out to some synths. In my crop top.

You would be forgiven for thinking that TLC is the name of a weekend burger special at Wimpy. I've forgiven myself. Forgive yourself.

Uh. We're in trouble. Dyed our hair with peroxide then tried to get it brown again and it turned out pink so we wrote a song. Gonna sulk it off.

Very inspiring. We feel very inspired. PD & LA are coming over this evening, and we’re going to print out all these images and stick them up on our studio wall while we ‘lay down some vocals’. It’s gonna be great. We can’t wait. Can you wait??

one night in the Dirkie Sanchez Suite

16 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in BFFs, CTG recommends, Design, advertising, cape town, hilarious, hotels, lifestyle, music video, south africa, 1 Comments

CTG was invited to go out to Elgin to experience the Old Mac Daddy Luxury Trailer Park Hotel, cousin to the Grand Daddy Hotel on Long Street, prior to its opening. This was a wild experience, let me tell you. Firstly, CTG and PD took their sweet time heading out into the country, getting our makeup done at Estee Lauder first, dawdling around Vida and then, only then hitting the N2 out to Elgin. We were then informed that we were holding up the boat ride. Oh Lord! Only us. So we then spent 4 billion hours driving around trying to find the rest of the boating party, which we eventually did, which eventually made it worth it.

You can get a boatride at nearby Mofam farm for only R70 - very serene and lovely.

Sunset from the boat.

After the boat ride we then drove another 4 billion kms back to the hotel, which is designed like an enormous barn, with overturned buckets as lights, and all the staff wear Old McDonald checker shirts! Ah, it’s lovely to look at.

Barn vibes in the main dining room

But the driving left us feeling like this, I won’t lie. As did the denial of my request for a cappuccino:

Taken right after it was revealed to CTG that Old Mac Daddy does not serve cappuccinos, or any filter coffee of any kind at all. Bleak.

I mean, what kind of a hotel doesn't serve FILTER COFFEE? An unfinished one apparently. We were assured that cappuccino machines were arriving the very next day.Which we have chosen to believe.

The food was at least delicious. We were served bobotie with banana, custard, coriander, basmati, almonds, green beans and chutney, which perked us up bigtime. Compliments to Siya the chef – he really did outdo himself. I could have eaten 2 servings, to deal with the emotional trauma of being denied cappuccino.

We then retired to our room – the specially requested Dirkie Sanchez Suite, whose development I have been following over at this blog since they started building the Old Mac Daddy. And this is when our evening really started. So inspired were we by this incredible take on hotel decor – the whole room is them Mexican Luchadore with the bed being a wrestling ring! - that PD and I decided to make a video, and spent the rest of the night doing just that. Please enjoy the fruits of our ass-shaking to our get-up-and-dance track of the moment, Beyonce’s Girl Anthem Why Don’t You Love Me:

The making of this was too much fun. We even took a break at midnight, and, starving, ventured down to the hotel to see if we could get a snack. Not only did we get a snack, but owner Jody totally went completely out of his way and opened his kitchen to make up toasted sandwiches, tea, rusks, milk tart and koeksisters. Unreal! That more than made up for the cappuccino debacle. So thanks for that Jody. And thanks for having us! Guys, Elgin is beautiful, and the Dirkie Sanchez Suite has a view of the whole valley. Go spend a night there. They should have cappuccino machines by now.  And take a camera.

BUT WAIT. Hidden in the back cupboard of the Dirkie Sanchez Suite is a pair of luchadore costumes. You know, Mexican Wrestler Nacho Libre vibe. We discovered these as we were leaving so took a few quick snaps but why don’t you use them in your video?

xxCTG & PD

PS video footnotes: CTG & PD wear sundresses R80,00 each by Mr Price, shades Roberto Cavalli, Ray Ban and Armani by Sunglass Hut, POA, makeup by Estee Lauder POA. Contact CTG for more specifics editor@capetowngirl.com

Pretty new product: BOS iced tea

06 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG recommends, Design, drink, food, south africa, 1 Comments

How beautiful is this packaging? Got a sample of this new rooibos iced tea called BOS (love the name) created by the same guys who did Afro Coffee (also love their packaging). As a big fan of rooibos I had high hopes and have not been let down – it’s honestly good. Had a taste of the Slim version because teal is one of my favourite colours and it’s actually really good.

Stunning.

Also really like the Energy variant as it’s lightly sparkling. Definitely going to be picking these up for summer – the perfect beach accessory! They also came in a beach bag!

Love the localness too. Wonder how they’d mix as cocktails… Look out for them in shops in these gorgeous fridges:

one-shoulder dresses: an obsession

30 Jul 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG, Design, fashion, girl stuff, shopping, 6 Comments

Am completely obsessed with one-shoulder cuts in dresses and tops. In fact, if I could, I’d be one-shouldering my way through life like an amazon of the sales, in search of the ultimate one-shoulder item. People would call me Jane and ask me where Tarzan is. They would offer me bananas, and approach me slowly, all the while saying ‘easy girl… we’re not going to hurt you..’. They’d say ‘Wilma, where’s Fred?’ like it’s actually a funny joke. Actually people say that already… but in a good way… I’m serious…

One of my favs, got this at a small store in Gardens Centre called Scoop and it's one of the best-fitting dresses I own.

This dress belongs to Carol aka @CJstweets - follow her on twitter - she's awesome!

This is a one-shoulder top from India Jane. It has really nice shoulder detail too, which is hidden by my hair.

…you get the idea. Anyway have discovered a gorgeous store called Lulu’s who have a feast of one-shoulder dresses. I’m currently transferring half of my personal wealth into their bank account, which might convince you to take a look at their dresses. Too awesome. Here are some of them (don’t order these as I am):

Divine, right? There’s loads more where these came from.

PS Lulu’s also have a very cool blog.

Levi’s Loves Local

16 Jul 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in Celebrity, Design, advertising, fashion, field guides, food, non-tourist attractions, south africa, 0 Comments

CTG is quite enjoying this l’il summin summin for Levi’s® SA on facebook. They interviewed 5 local urban culture icons (Inge from Lark, Samora from 5th Floor, MTV’s Bianca, Jozi blogger True Jones and Pretoria photographer Liam Lynch) and created and designed maps of all their favourite hotspots in Jozi and Cape Town. You can print the maps off the facebook page and hit their unique versions of ‘town’. Is quite cool particularly for those who were here for World Cup and wanting something a little less touristy. Click here to check out all the maps – there are also video interviews and photos of the mentioned hotspots. What do you think? Cool? Yes? No? They’re also releasing clues on the facebook page that lead you to certain marked out venues where you can pick up free limited edition gear (Found that out on a Vide e Caffe cup).

Soulshine Cards in Marie Claire

29 Jun 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in BFFs, Design, magazines, south africa, 0 Comments

Remember Soulshine Affirmation Cards? Well you can find them in this month’s Marie Claire. Click to go to the blog of the creator, Tatum Cochrane. And Click here to order yourself a deck.

attention MacBook bros

29 Jun 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in Design, hilarious, 1 Comments

Do you have a MacBook bro in your life? By that I mean a bro, with a Macbook Pro, who is all about the Macbook Pro, and hence a Macbook Bro? Then best you order him some of the too awesome stickers from StickWithMeBaby so he can ‘pimp his ride’. Love love LOVE the fact that they also make MacBook Mos. Thanks Marc xx

New spot: Van Hunks

04 Jun 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in Design, food, south africa, 0 Comments

Van Hunks Interior

I haven’t eaten here yet, but it was recommended to me, so I went on a quick reccie this am and I just love the decor and the name and the theme. Do y’all know who Van Hunks was? He was an old Captain who lived in the shadow of Table Mountain who once challenged the devil to a smoking contest – and won. Quite a bro!

Click here to read the legend. You’ll find Van Hunks the restaurant on Kloof Street just opposite Tokyo, beyond Gainsborough. The menu looks good – will definitely be giving it a try.

Van Hunks Menu

the way macarons *should* come packaged

28 May 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG, Design, food, 0 Comments

I know we’re taking a break from macarons, but it’s been like a week – is that enough? Besides am not sure sloths proved themselves to be an adequate substitute for macarons. Not nearly as pretty-coloured and severely lacking in squishy delicious almond centre. And all smelling like moss and very slow. Not that ‘mossy smell and slowness’ are bad, just not really ‘edible’. Please enjoy this beautiful macaron packaging by Theurel & Thomas pattisserie, sent to me by Raoul (thanks! x). More about it here.

KISS my FACE

09 May 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in Design, Ponderings, WTF, hilarious, 0 Comments

Let’s file this in the hmmm, alrighty then box shall we? Pick up some Kiss My Face skincare products from the Wellness Warehouse, if this is your vibe. I can’t help but feel they missed a trick. The word ‘face’ is too close to ‘ass’ – they could have had a whole lot more fun with this! Taken out that sappy peace sign watermark, dropped the vines, added some graffiti and an uneven typewriter font… ‘My skin’s so awesome you can kiss my ass face!’ Punk-ass skincare! F*ck yeah! But alas…