Patrónise me

One of the greatest perks of working at CLEO is all the fabulous invites that pop up in my inbox. The sad and somewhat embarrassing truth is that I sometimes feel too tired/fat/ugly/frumpy to RSVP ‘yes’ so I’ve learnt to be selective in what I attend – not to appear snobby but to rather make sure I represent feeling at the top of my game (or at least somewhere in the middle of my game).

Events I know I’ll always enjoy are Patrón parties so when our PR pal Toolz (aka Brand Ambassadors’ Thulane Hadebe) invited me to the launch of Patrón Silver I knew I’d be there. It was a who’s who of fabulous people and despite taking over an hour to get ready, I immediately felt yucky when I saw Poppy Ntshongwana, Bonang Matheba and Pixie Bennett all looking tiny and camera ready at the rambling Houghton estate. Unfortunately I couldn’t hate them as they were all friendly when Pippa and I launched ourselves at them to get pics for our July Fashion Stakeout.

Guest spilled out onto the lawn, while sipping on Patrón Silver, mixed with Appletiser (a Patróniser if you will), champagne and later, cranberry juice, served from ice bars dotted around the venue. As a premium vodka, Patrón has an image to uphold and the VIP treatment and breathtaking view of the Jozi night lights did just that. That said, there was nothing pretentious about the party and I got to hang out with some really awesome people I’ve only met through email.

Later, I negotiated my way around the swimming pool decorated with floating water lilies to the checkered dance floor to watch Flash Republic. Tamara Dey’s leopard print jumpsuit may have been dubious and the power only tripped twice but no one cared. Her voice is even better live and the band played all their hits and more while we bobbed along happily in the warm night air.





Afterwards we took a trip up a narrow staircase to get to the roof of the mansion for a 360 degree view of the city everyone should experience once in their lifetime. Leaving the party on a high note with a cute mini bottle of Patrón Silver in hand, it was short golf cart ride back to my car and reality. Thanks to Pippa Alcock for being my wingwoman and Grant Difford for taking all the pretty pics.