A top event held at the African Pride Crystal Towers last night saw an attendance of close to 700 invited guests, despite the bad weather, testimony to the pulling power of the Mercedes-Benz Opulent Living Style Night, which celebrated the 10th Jubilee edition of the Opulent Living magazine, and the launch of the new Mercedes-Benz C Class. The function tied in with the Mercedes-Benz Cape Town Fashion Week, which runs until today, and highlighted 
style, beauty, and design.
Despite the large number of invited guests, the Century City hotel foyer, in which the function was held, never felt over-crowded, and provided an unusual party venue, probably previously unknown to many of the guests attending. The choice of the venue may have been motivated by the proximity of the Mercedes-Benz dealership close by. The weather was kind to guests on arrival, allowing most to get inside without getting wet. We were handed a paid-for parking ticket on arrival, an organised touch!
Inside the foyer, a number of artists were performing, two of them doing interesting things with large hoops, sometimes performing movements with them separately and at times jointly inside one hoop. An elegant looking lady was dangling from the ceiling, while other Zip Zap Circus performers were juggling. We were told that the Zip Zap performers were dressed by leading designers, the main trapeze artist wearing a Gavin Rajah robe before she pulled herself up the cloth ropes. There was an abundance of beverages on offer, Distell having sponsored the JC le Roux sparkling wines, Bain’s 
Cape Mountain Whisky, and Nederburg Shiraz.
Vivacious Expresso presenter Jen Su was the Master of Ceremonies, thanking all sponsors, and congratulating Barbara Lenhard and Florian Gast on the success that they have achieved over the past five years with their Opulent Living magazine, and their Events company, which organised the Chefs who Share event for charity in the City Hall last year, and will be repeated in September again. Next month they are hosting a fundraising event for the Cape Leopard Trust at Leopard’s Leap in Franschhoek.
The evening was to celebrate ‘Design and Dream Cars‘, Jen said. She also announced that one could book a test drive the new C Class sedan. She also announced that Mercedes-Benz has 
created a Lifestyle portal (www.mblife.co.za), on which the latest style and design trends will be reflected. The latest Opulent Living magazine has a ten-page fashion feature, showcasing 10 local designers, we were told by Florian. He also revealed that an Opulent Living App is now available.
In between the announcements and further entertainment, we were served canapés in groups: ‘starters’ were seared Springbok loin, tamarind and coriander, served on crostini; chicken liver paté on brioche with fig compote; goat’s cheese and onion marmalade on crostini; and tuna loin served with yuzu mayonnaise and micro leaves. The ‘main
course’ dishes were smoked beef fillet with mushroom purée; Southern fried chicken lollipops; mushroom vol au vents; and char sui lamb with smoked aubergine and Bulgarian yoghurt. ‘Dessert’ was macaroons; raspberry cheese cake brownie; and vanilla crème brûlee spoons.
It was lovely seeing Cape Times restaurant critic Jos Baker at the event, looking very elegant, and to catch up with Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy and his Marketing Executive Velma Corcoran. The DJ played wonderful music to get the party going. A lovely end to the evening was having coffee with Tanya and Klaus Becker and their friend Dirk at the hotel’s Knife restaurant, of which a large part of the conversation unsurprisingly revolved around Mercedes-Benz!
Opulent Living. Tel (021) 433-1699. www.opulentliving.co.za Twitter: @LiveOpulent
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
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