BellaNaija Style presents Bonang's Top 3 Lifestyle Loves

We’ve all been there before. You meet a woman who is more phenomenon than mortal and you are blown away by her, what she has to say, what she represents, and the way she is always impeccably put together. The BellaNaija Style team is in agreement that Bonang Matheba is definitely our Girl-Crush, so we were delighted to catch up with her before she headed back to South Africa and discover more about her passions. Let’s just call it discovering a bit more about the woman behind the global brand.

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BellaNaija Style: What are your top three travel destinations?
Bonang Matheba: Top three destinations, I really love Paris, there are so many lovely elements to it; it has beauty it has fashion, it has history, it has cuisine, it has beautiful architecture, it has lots of wonderful places to go and things to do too.

I also love New York City, I mean who cannot love New York City, it really is the heartbeat of the world. It is pulsating it is the epicenter of the economics of the media with all the magazines based there, and then there is the lifestyle too, I mean the fame the city has really is about the role it plays in culture.

And the last one has to be the Garden Route, back home in South Africa, it’s an area around the coast and it is absolutely phenomenal, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It has forest it has valleys, it has lush green vegetation it is wonderful.

BNS: What are your top three dishes to eat?
Bonang: You know what’s really funny? I am a typical chicken and potatoes girl, anywhere in the world, it always tastes so good. And then I am a traditional girl, we have a traditional dish called Ting and Chotlo, it’s like a sour porridge and has shredded meat and we eat it at big family gatherings like wedding and funerals I absolutely die, and then I love desserts, all sorts of pastries and desserts. I love cakes, scones, muffins, and croissants. I have a real sweet tooth!

BNS: What are your top three activities to do for time out?
Bonang: Time out for me is being able to travel and getting to a destination and then not doing anything. Just having time to discover the people, the culture, music, that kind of time out for me is really amazing. I also really love massages, I love going to spas, Thai, Asian massages and acupuncture too. And then I also just being really ugly, going home, taking off the lashes, taking off the weave and sitting at home watching Netflix and washing trash television. You just take off everything, your bra and your make up and are just ‘ugly at home’.

BNS: What are your three favourite films, TV Series, and Books?
Bonang: Films are difficult, there are so many films I have seen that I love for different reasons too. I love Mean Girls because it is one of the films I remember growing up. I loved Pretty Woman, Sex and the City and Ocean’s 12. I mean it is impossible for me to pick just three. But I also really enjoy TV series. I love House of Cards, I love Masters of None and I recently started watching The Crown which I absolutely die for.

For Books, Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret is a favourite. I read it in 2004 when I was leaving high school and going to university and The Secret is all about the universe and the power of energies and it completely changed my life. And another book that I love as a true South African is The Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela and of course my book, From A to B which I think is fantastic. Those three are my all-time favourites, every now and then you might get popular books that you are into but the classic books that I would want my children to read would be those three.

BNS: Who are your top three designers?
Bonang: You know, let me tell you something about designers or even brands. Everyone goes through a phase where they are going through something that is really cool and really chic like Gucci is having its moment right now, and then it falling out and now it’s a lot about street-wear like Off-White and Vetements and then you find that they are going to fizzle away and then it’s about Supreme collaborating with Louis Vuitton.

So it depends. If I had to say classic designers that I love I would say, Ralph and Russo. I love Balmain, I think Balmain is absolutely exquisite, I also adore Elie Saab too. I am a Red Carpet couture girl, and the fashion that really speaks to me is couture. And that is my dream to go to the Haute Couture Paris Fashion Week. In terms of the South African I love Gert-Johan Coetzee, I love David Tlale and on my stay here in Nigeria there are so many but I love Meena and I also love Iconic Invanity. With handbags, I don’t really care they just have to be super-cute. I am also a big sunglasses girl and I have started collecting them. I am a big Celine girl. The thing is I love to accessorise my looks with my sunglasses because I love to keep my looks very simple, I never over- accessorise so it is always about the sunglasses.

With our time up and Bonang off to the airport, it was a flurry of air-kisses and fond farewells to our favourite South African Media personality.