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What you want to know today

SA designers on the world stage

“Out of Africa — and shown in Paris — Maxhosa brand with all the colour and pattern of the African vision — but with an international feel." This is how British fashion editor and journalist Suzy Menkes described Laduma Ngxokolo's MaXhosa series in Instagram during Paris Fashion Week. Laduma, from the Eastern Cape, started his brand by designing original Xhosa patterns for the clothes for teenage boys' initiation process.

Follow Laduma on Instagram: @Laduma

Michael Chandler, ceramic artist, illustrator and curator from Cape Town, was approached by the owner of the fashion brand Cult Gaia to paint the facade of its new flagship store in Miami. He painted the Tree of Life motif in his usual blue and white Delft style: “It’s wonderful to be part of a project that is so public and the fact that it forms a backdrop to everybody’s busy lives. It makes life richer, more colourful and joyous.”

Follow Michael on Instagram: @mrchandlerhouse

Finds

Small miracles that excite the Fomolistas:

Revlon's Salon One-step Volumiser Plus combines the power of a dryer with the volume of a styler. It costs R999 at Clicks.

La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 Soothing Repairing Balm is another miracle. This non-oily, lanolin-free soothing balm provides daily relief for dry to very dry skin. Suitable for babies, children and adults. We use it as a prep layer under makeup and sometimes as a sleep-in mask. R284 for 100 ml from DisChem.

We love these two-tone baskets from Pep Home. Brilliant as potted plant holders. Starting from R89.99.

Watch

The Gentlemen

Crime drama
Netflix (eight episodes)

Directed by Guy Ritchie.

This action/comedy series stars Theo James (of The White Lotus fame), the second son who inherits his father’s title, the sprawling estate, plus an enormous weed business in the mansion’s basement that's run by a syndicate with no plans to vacate. The drama is set in the world of the British aristocracy.

The series is a spin-off of the 2019 Ritchie film of the same name.

Whacky, fast-paced, ruthless, slick and urbane.

IMDb gives it 8.4, Rotten Tomatoes 68%.

The New Look

Biographical drama
Apple TV+ (four episodes)

With Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior and Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel.

The story of how fashion icon Dior and his contemporaries, including Chanel, Pierre Balmain and Cristóbal Balenciaga, navigate the horrors of World War 2 until the launch of the iconic New Look, with its wonderful imprint on the next chapter of history.

Elegant, ambitious and gorgeous.

IMDb rates it at 7.2, Rotten Tomatoes at 59%.

We loved every moment of it.

The Best Bloody Mary

We found this recipe on one of our favourite Substacks, The Trowel (the no BS guide to the products worth owning, the relationships worth having, and the healing worth doing … from Sunday Times bestselling author of Why Did You Stay? A Memoir About Self-Worth.)

Method (for three, or two big ones)

• Pour a litre of tomato juice into a jug. Add 2 tablespoons of Nando's Medium Peri Peri, 1 tablespoon of Colman’s horseradish (it cannot be fresh), four shakes of Lea & Perrins and a squeeze of fresh lime. Mix.

• Optional stage: if you can be bothered, take the lime and swirl it around the rim of tall glasses, then dip them in this salt mix. It’s salty, sugary, peppery, garlicky, everything that goes well with tomatoes.

• If you’re doing alcohol, add a shot to the bottom of two tall glasses. All right, two shots. Ice in the glass is optional, we like a couple of cubes, but no more as we can’t stand it getting watery.

• Pour the mix into the glasses. Slice a stick of celery — from the silliest bunch you can find — and plonk it in so that the neon green frills erupt from the glass.

• Then, you’ll need a jar of cocktail gherkins and some toothpicks. If you want to go to town, get some Perello olives in a tin. Poke a toothpick through so it goes gherkin, olive, gherkin. Balance the cocktail stick on one side of the glass.

• Spill a little of the juice from the cocktail gherkin jar right into the middle of your Bloody Mary. Grind a bit of pepper on the top.

• Serve with a bottle of tabasco for the table. You’ll only get it wrong otherwise.

Warning: once you’ve had this, you’ll settle for nothing less.

What to do

A jewel in Pretoria

One of the cuisine highlights in Pretoria is the Blue Crane Restaurant and Bar at the Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary in the eastern suburbs. The reserve was named after the famous ornithologist, whose Roberts bird guides are known worldwide.

In the reserve, where parents and grandparents formerly took children to get to know the rich birdlife, the restaurant is a popular venue for Pretorians who want to spoil their palate. In the sweltering summer, from the comfort of the cool restaurant you can still marvel at the abundance of grebes, moorhens, yellow-billed ducks, sacred ibises, blue cranes and even a black heron or two.

The menu ranges from pap and wors and lamb's tails to international cuisine. The view and the quality of the food make it more than worth your while.

Sloppy Sam is back in Cape Town

Sloppy Sam has been on the Cape Town food scene since 1935. The latest iteration, lined with Persian carpets and vintage ephemera, is in the heart of Heritage Square. His devoted regulars are flocking back to savour his Middle Eastern food with a bias toward Greek, Turkish and Persian flavours. Opening times: Tuesday-Saturday 5.30pm-8pm or 8pm-10pm. Phone: 082 377 3707

Juicy juice

We were inspired by these delicious juices we found at @healthdevelopment on Instagram. We can't vouch for the specific ailment-related benefits, but the combos are fabulous.

• Arthritis: carrot, celery, pineapple and lemon juice
• Hangover: apple, carrot, beet and lemon
• Constipation: carrot, apple and fresh cabbage
• Detox: carrot, watermelon, cucumber and coriander
• Asthma: carrot, spinach, apple, garlic and lemon
• Colds: carrot, pineapple, garlic and ginger

Supplements

In general we are suspicious of the obsession with supplements, but this list of the five best supplements for men from Forbes Health is well-researched and grounded in science.

Photo of the week

Miriam Makeba and Marlon Brando enjoying champagne on Ms Mkeba’s opening night at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles on April 2, 1968.

♦ VWB ♦

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