Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
On being the "hairy godmother". Experiment in not shaving for 18 months, female persuasion. "I smell just the same as I did before. Which is a bit like soap after showering, and a bit like Christmas cake first thing in the morning"
The writer's passion for drop-crotch pants provokes a fugue on the general boringness of men's dress. At the court of Louis XIV men wore silk stockings, wigs, velvet and plumage. How did fashion get from there to grey suits?
Time to spice up your image? How about a man brooch? Or crystal-studded bracelet? Or perhaps sir would consider a silver knuckleduster bearing the likeness of Gandhi? Men's attitudes to jewellery are reportedly on the move
"A heartwarmer about the resuscitation of UK clothes manufacturing, an industry that received its last rites long ago. Wrapped up in perhaps the unlikeliest story of all—how dressing like a geography teacher became big business"
Backstage at London Fashion Week. It all looks pretty silly. And it is. Flounce and affectation. But take a step back. What's really being marketed here is Brand Britain. Fashion is part of the skill-set, just like football
Four beautiful and impossibly chic young women from Paris, the Courtin-Clarins girls. Granddaughters of founder of skin-care empire. "Boom, as they say in rocket science. Anna Wintour was struck. 'I want to meet them,' she said"
"I ask my hairdresser, Nando, to explain the craze for hair extensions. He tells me that, for a woman who’s had thin hair all her life, they can be a dream come true—like a breast enlargement, only without the bloodshed"
How much has fashion, art, music changed over past 20 years? Little. Certainly far less than in the previous 20. Why is this? Does the rapid rate of political, technological, economic change make us yearn for cultural stability?
"To paraphrase Dr Johnson: 'To be tired of shoes is to be tired of life.' Since I am not alone in my shoe fetish, I have concluded that shoes are emblematic of something more than themselves. They are an index to civilisation"
Interesting look at new breed of luxury fashion brands, ethical at heart, working with local artisans, aiming to help developing nations. Can they create long-term, sustainable value, or will they end up doing more harm than good?
On the rise and fall of the fur coat. Once the height of luxury. Skunk or polecat if you couldn't afford mink. What did for it wasn't so much animal rights as central heating and new fashions of the swinging sixties
Profile of Jean Paul Gaultier, high-octane designer, finder of inspiration in "super-super-beautiful" cat food tins. Now almost 60, he's no longer enfant nor very terrible but still bouncing with enthusiasm
Image by lilszeto on Flickr
