by Chrissy Iley
I had an uproarious chic shopping experience in Cape Town. Our guide, the wonderful Rushdi Harper took us to the most amazing market on Green Market Square.
Within this market were a mixture of traditional tourist fair, wonderful crafts, handmade Christmas ornaments, about a thousand beaded penguins, vintage Indian silverware, silk cashmere scarves and hand beaded purses. I bought a make up bag hand printed with African animals, a hand beaded purse and wooden bangles decorated with elephants. All for under £15.
The British Pound to the Rand is very much in our favour at the moment. The market traders like to trade, they like the talk, the bargaining down, the theatre of if all. If something starts off at 100 Rand, you can probably get it for 30.
I also spent a lot of Rands at a shop called Wild Skins. They did crocodile skin bracelets in wonderful colours. They did beautifully crafted wallets from various reptiles and a handbag that had to be made mine, small black and vicious, it contained the entire back of a crocodile. I have always loved snakeskin shoes and purses and here they were aplenty.
I remember I was once interviewing Naomi Campbell and she had a giant live python around her neck, which sent stylists and make up artists running away in fear. I sat down and cozied in for the interview, we both had a wonderful ability to look at that snake and just see shoes.
I absolutely loved this market. It is possible to do your entire Christmas shopping in just this one place. If there is one thing I love more than brand new crocodile bags it is vintage skins, which I found plenty of at a wonderful vintage store called Second Time Around (196 Long Street, Cape Town, 8001). This was a carefully thought out vintage store with some really gorgeous finds and lots of quirky wearables.
Long Street was one of the loveliest streets in Cape Town. It had many quirky shops, several of them vintage, a juice bar, which looked really cool and a Bollywood looking restaurant called Masala Dosa. It is a good place for ‘sundowners’ – I loved that South African word for cocktails, the sun goes down and so does the alcohol.
If you are aiming for this part of town in the afternoon or evening, start off at Jason`s Bakery (185 Bree Street). Its tagline is Beer, Bread, Bubbles. It is on trend with that high brow, low brow home made bread and champagne vibe. But as we went in the morning we stuck to the delicious cheese croissant. The smell of the bakery was intoxicatingly good. It is a great place to start your day.