kate is another cool local who i know through twitter and the relatively small but quickly expanding cape town blogging community. she has a new venture called the rah rah room that you capetonians should definitely check out, hand picked vintage & international high street labels available to browse & buy from the comfort of her lounge (champagne included.)

things i like right now by kate of the pessimiss

1. Turkey. I am going on holiday to Istanbul in April with a mad & wondrous friend that I haven’t seen in years. I am researching copiously – antiques, leather, Turkish coffee, evil eyes, mosques, ferries, fun. I cannot wait.
2. Utterly dingy, utterly romantic hole-in-the-walls. There is nothing more romantic to me than spending an evening with someone cool at one of the city’s decaying, candlelit bars. My favourite is Roxy’s on Dunkley Square, but I am also partial to a quiet glass of red or seven at the Shack, and I used to be a Pixie’s regular, before its untimely demise. Photo from here.
3. Prince. I will always love Prince. He got the groove. Prince is the new black.
4. The Jealous Curator. My favourite blog, a tribute to art that the writer wishes she had made herself. The Jealous Curator is a constant source of inspiration for me. [This piece is by Jonathan Zawada. Amazing]
5. The Summit’s leather bowtie necklaces. I love their sartorial wittiness and the fact that they look dapper on men and dear on women. Next on my wish list, preferrably in tan.
6. Confetti System. Conceptual artists Nicholas Anderson and Julie Ho spend their days surrounded by streamers and magnificent, gleaming pinatas. They’ve done work for the likes of Opening Ceremony, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the New York Times and V magazine. I want Confetti System at my wedding.
7. MAC Russian Red lipstick. Ultra red, ultra matte, perfect.
8. Erdem x Cutler & Gross. I love every single pair in this collection of eyewear, the result of a collaboration between fashion designer Erdem & eyewear visionaries (ho ho) Cutler & Gross. The clunky 60′s inspired shapes were big back in 2009, but I still love them.
9. Cape Town food bar Down South’s Spicy Tequila tea: El Jimador tequila, lemon iced ted and spicy ginger ale topped with fresh mint, lime and chillis. Hot stuff. And their ribs are good, too.
10. The death of irony. I found 2010 to be a very IRONIC year. Everybody, everything was so damn ironic, so damn sardonic. Ironic this, ironic that. It began to bother me that no one seemed genuinely enthusiastic about anything. 2011 already feels different. Illustration by Paper Doll.