Keep Walking by Coco Videla

SEPT 2011

INSPIRATION for the

CURIOUS MIND No. 05

DOSSIER

KEEP WALKING 101 years of walking in style

‘A glimpse into her wardrobe’

“Quote” ... MORE SMALL TALK

I N S I DE THIS ISSUE OF SCOOP

FORWARD

KEEP WALKING: Standing Still is Not an Option A Walk in the Clouds 101 Years of Walking in Style

STORIES FROM:

DOSSIER

03 05

A GLIMPSE INTO HER WORLD

FROM THE PLANNERS’ CORNER

France, Venezuela, U.K, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, U.S, russia. SMALL-TALK

Women on the go

CURIOUS TID-BITS

Guilty Pleasures

September 2011

No. 05

C O LLECTING

ST O R I E S

F ROM DI FF ERENT CORNERS OF OU R R E G I O N

RUSSIA POLAND C zech R epublic

U . K.

FRANCE U.S.

TURKEY

VE NE ZUE L A

COCO VIDELA, Helen Chapman, Julie Dombreval, Maria del Mar Muns, Vipasha BHUPTANI, Wanda Pogue

A N O T E To C oco, who ne ver stA N D S st i l l . . . mo v in g f ro m N Y to M i lan to Par i s and back to N Y. And t h r ou gh this j o ur ney she has xp l or ed w it h t ho usands o f wo m en acr oss th e g lob e, s h ar i ng r i ch i ns igh ts and stor i es t hat hav e s h aped th e last 5 issues of S coop. T h ank you & keep wa l k ing . . . .

FOREWARD

FROM THE PLANNERS’ CORNER

FROM THE

PLANNERS’ CORNER Throughout the years I’ve heard different phrases used around the world to embody the spirit of the Ariel woman. In Latin America they are always “echando pa’lante,” the Brits stop dwelling and “get on with it,” Americans encourage each other with a “you go girl!” But my all time favorite, originally intended for the striding scotch-drinking man, is Johnnie Walker’s “keep walking.” The women who live in the pages of this edition of Scoop inspire us because of their utter need to keep moving forward. They walk because standing still is not an option, as we’ll hear from the women in Turkey and Poland. They walk without ever losing their style, as our century-old birthday girl will attest. They walk in the clouds, in the vast virtual space, in the final frontier. And as they walk they teach us a lesson or two about why appearances matter and how they use what’s in their closet to keep their journey going. The time has come for me to put on my 4-inch walking shoes on and get those heels clicking, so I leave you with my favorite South African blessing: Walk tall, walk well, walk safe, walk free and may harm never come to thee. Walk wise, walk good, walk proud, walk true and may the sun always smile on you. Walk joy, walk brave, walk love, walk strong and may life always give you song.

Coco Videla, Scoop Editor

KEEP WALKING 1.2

DOSSIE R

S TANDING STILL is not an

OPTION By

Vipasha Bhuptani

One of my favorite quotes is from Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. He tells of a sign he saw on the wall of a Chinese factory:

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start running.” In this fast paced world, increasingly women recognize that if they want to achieve something they need to run twice as fast, no matter what country they’re in. Standing on the streets of a bustling city like Warsaw or Istanbul reflects the pace at which women are moving. The definition of a full time 9 to 5 job has changed. More and more women are realizing their potential to their fullest, without undermining their role as a mother or wife. You might find an hour in the president’s calendar, but it’s tough to find the same in her’s because she squeezes every minute she gets into doing things that really matter to her and her family. From an outsider’s view, her life seems rather complex. But like Julia, who lives in Istanbul, most women have worked out a formula that helps them succeed in their homes, with their children, their husband and yet pursue their passions. Their formula is copyrighted and no 2 women use the same one. Though it seems that they might crumble under the mountain of work they do, they are actually enjoying every bit of it, as they work through their day on their own terms.

P ushing the boundaries Julia believed that “if life is easy, it is boring.” So she infused her life with a lot of interesting things. Julia decided to open a cafeteria just after she had her baby. But she never let her baby come in her way. Instead, she would take her baby with her everywhere, to meetings, to the cafe and often it worked in her favour as it helped to soften the people taking tough decisions. Once her cafe was on track, she took to studying ancient history inspired by the Greek mythology book her mom gifted her. With the history came the study of Latin and Italian languages. She was constantly on the roll and no obstacles could really break her journey to success. Filiz, has always been an adventure seeker. She was not the kind to be pushed into the trodden path. “In Turkey, parents push you into getting higher education and thereafter society slowly nudges you into pursuing careers that are revered upon like doctors, lawyers, engineers, but I decided to step into what was then a man’s territory by entering the film industry and becoming an assistant director in a film making unit.” She was probably the only woman on the other side of the camera. In her journey into film making, she got married and had her child but that did not interrupt her passion for film making. In fact she went on to directing a couple of short films. For anyone who thought she had her hands full already, she drew inspiration from her life as a little girl to write the story of a film which she plans to direct.

SAATCHI & SAATCHI

C ontradiction is within From its architecture to its people, Istanbul’s modern and traditional divide has long been its most defining characteristic. But separating these two is not as simple as spotting a woman who’s wearing or not wearing a burkha. Like the women in other parts of the world, this contradiction of wanting to be modern but hanging on to tradition lives within. Many are traditional at the core, where family values and culture are intact, but modern in their outlook when it comes to themselves. These women are standing up for what they believe in, following their passions and their will to progress. Deniz gave up her full time job, following her passion for yoga. She started her yoga studio where she teaches various schools of yoga, pilates and meditation. Yet when she decides to have her baby, she is pretty sure that she will not compromise in giving motherhood her undivided attention. Zeynep on the other hand belonging to a very traditional family, is a homemaker. While watching news on TV one day, she realised how war was impacting people. This inspired her to do her PhD in psychology of people in war. Maybe it was coincidence that Ezgi and her 3 friends all went abroad to study and explore greener pastures. But they all returned for the love of the people in their country, while continuing to pursue their passions in Turkey.

T aking their li f e b y the horns Having gone through an education and then being a part of an organisation, what really seems to excite many of the women we met is the aspiration to become an entrepreneur. It gives them independence, allows them to be leaders and to explore the skills that they have to the fullest. However in most cases the change occurs when there is a certain crisis that pushes them to self start.

SEPT, 2011

For Ula, her bad relationship jolted her out of her comfort zone and made her realise that although she was unlucky in love, she was gifted with creative talent. She decided to leave no trace of her past so she redesigned her home. Her beautifully refurbished home caught the attention of many of her friends and several request to help them design their homes as well. Iza on the other hand discovered her strengths when her boss masked her demotion by offering her a project he said many would dream to be a part of. Few would have the courage to resign, but Iza realised she was being taken for granted. “After I resigned, I kept hoping that my boss will realise his mistake and call me back. But I soon realised that I was making a mistake waiting for him to call back.” She rightly describes herself as a dreamer. She would draw inspirations from everyday life and draw up ideas for various business opportunities. It wasn’t too far out before her ideas shone out and she was offered a business opportunity. Finally she was not at the receiving end. She was given freedom to do what she wanted, spread her wings and fly as high as she wanted to. Having just come back from signing a significant contract, her eyes had a twinkle in the eye and her happiness was almost contagious.

L ion or gazelle Julia, Ula, Filiz, Deniz, are all women who seem to be living by a common philosophy ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever’ as preached by Mahatma Gandhi. They are making the most of what they have today, yet not stopping there. Each morning when they wake up, like the lion or the gazelle, they are running, learning new things, exploring new horizons, transforming their lives. They are in the driver’s seat and they decide at what speed and which way their life will go.

A WALK IN THE

CLOUDS by

C oco V idela

SAATCHI & SAATCHI

SEPT, 2011

When farming and city planning met Face book , the result were the wildly popular social networking games that’s turned conventional cloud gaming statistics on its ears. By late last year, over 100 million people were playing FarmVille and CityVille, the majority of which were women. The most surprising fact is that 38% of women say they play games multiple times a day. Jenny, a self-confessed Farmville addict tells us, “I play in the morning when I drink my coffee, I take a quick look right before leaving the house just in case. I check my crops first thing when I get in to work and whenever I have ‘downtime.’ Once I called my husband from my car to ask him to water my morning glories. He thinks I’m crazy.” Jenny represents a growing demographic of women who intuitively and genetically feel at home in this gaming cloud. The average social gamer is no longer the stereotyped young male, huddled in the basement, absorbed in a role-playing game. Instead, the average social gamer is now a 43-year-old woman, according to PopCap Games.

Tips from the Clouds M ark P icus , CEO of Zyn ga (cr eator o f Farmville),

outlines what he believes to be the key elements to drive social gaming success: 1. Make

players feel like they’re playing with their real friend

2. Offer

ways for players to express their personality

3. Reward

players for being part of a sustained experience

And when you think about it it’s no surprise. These games thrive on the things women know how to do best: building communities, beautifying cities, making farms fruitful, being proud of your results and inviting tons of friends to be a part of it. These games are less about killing the enemy or racing to the end line. They are more about expressing your personality, giving life to characters, meaning to two-dimensional objects and creating stories.

101 ANNA HILDA DE RUMBOS

YEARS OF WALKING IN

S TYLE By Coco Videla

It was 2 a.m. and Ana Hilda de Rumbos was reluctant to go to bed. After a splendid night of bells and whistles and fancy hats, surrounded by her 5 children, 17 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren and 2 great great granddaughters. Ana had just one request on the occasion of her 101 birthday, “Why can’t we do this every night?” After a century of walking in style, the former owner of “La Boutique” knows a thing or two about why appearance matters. Here she shares with her granddaughter Alejandra Diaz, her favorite style moments down memory lane.

“When I was a little girl, before the car invasion, I remember when the gentlemen would pick up the girls from their homes on their horses. They were always dressed to the nines. The men carefully helped the girls to their saddles where they would sit elegantly with both their legs to one side.”

“I opened my boutique in 1942 with the best collection in the city of imported dresses from Spain. Back then going to any party was a big extravaganza. Women would wear long silk dresses with beautiful drapes and chiffon. When they’d hear that a new shipment from Spain had arrived, they would flock to La Boutique.”

“In the Charleston years, fashion and music went together like peas and carrots. I spent the best part of my 20s dancing in a straight dropped waist dress, a cloche hat over my bobbed hair and adorned in inexpensive jewelry.”

“Hats are the accessories I miss the most. With the beautifully handcrafted details, sometimes made out of flowers, sometimes from chiffon, they added the perfect touch of femininity and sophistication. I still dream of going to parties where I can wear a beautiful hat.”

“The most liberated women started wearing pants in the 50s. It was a big statement. Later in my life when jeans became quite fashionable, I would wear them with a crisp white shirt and a pearl necklace. Sometimes with a scarve around my neck. Simple, but elegant.”

GLIMPSE I N T O H E R WA R D R O B E

The following pages are filled with short, little glimpses of moments, thoughts and experiences from the women we have met.

France

MAR IE ELISE M y P ’ tit B o ’ B o

I always suspected my little Marie-Élise was some kind of fashion genius. You would never imagine this tiny 4 year-old could have this much passion for fashion. As a baby she would only stay still, if I wrapped her around my body in this really cool eco baby-sling. She quickly became known as the p’tit bo’bo (little bourgeois bohemian). Marie-Elise has been picking out her little outfits since she discovered how to point. The thing is, her style is so cool and so HER, that I dare not mess with it. On Saturdays I take her shopping to our favorite depot vente in rue Clauzel. I tell her she’s allowed to pick out one outfit for her and one outfit for me - a task she takes very seriously. Her latest pick were to die for. She chose these sort of matching jumpsuits that were the perfect mix of bobo fashion and easy going comfort. Mine was just the right amount of baggy. Hers was filled with tiny little pockets everywhere, and she intended to use every one of them!

P OLAND

UL A S unshine D ress

After my divorce, I wanted to change everything so that I could leave my past behind. I redesigned my house, I changed my job so that I could spend more time with my daughter and then I decided to change the way I looked. I went to the store and picked up this floral dress that I always dreamt of wearing with red shoes and I soon slipped into it. The dress made me feel feminine, sexy and added instant colour to my life. With a change in my wardrobe I became a new person with a new attitude. Now, every time I hit a bump on the road and need the courage to move on, I start by brightening my appearance with colour.

T URKEY

DENIZ B od y and S oul cleansing

Having spent 10 years after my engineering degree with Gap as a textile engineer, my family and friends thought I was crazy to give up this career to pursue my passion. While other women my age were getting married and having babies, I was giving birth to my baby â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A yoga studio. A studio that was different because it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just about the asanas. I believed in a holistic experience. So I had pictures of serenity in studio to make the environment peaceful, I have a little corner where the idols of gods are placed, so that the students can meditate in the presence of god. I also provided clean, fresh clothes because only when your body is clean, can you start to cleanse the soul.

U .S.A

CAMILL A T H E J E A N S V I RG I N

I never wore jeans before the age of 36. I know it sounds crazy because it’s such a staple, but I had been quite happy with wearing something else. As a teen I had my athletic period, wearing gym clothes and track suits day in day out. Then I had my Goth period, black skirts layered over black pants. But one day it hit me. Seeing more and more girls in tight jeans and high heels -and loving the look- I knew I had to try again. I stepped into Gap and asked the sales guy for a pair of jeans. He asked for my size and of course I had no idea what it might be. I had to confess to a baffled 22 yr old guy that I had never owned a pair of jeans before. So I went through the cuts, the styles, the washes, the lengths ... and as I watched the world of jeans unfold before my eyes, I suddenly realized that I was really loving this jeans thing. I’m now a proud owner of 4 pairs of jeans, 2 of them are designer jeans... and I’m not wearing anything else.

T URKEY

FELIZ B EH I N D T H E CA M ER A

I never did enjoy doing what other girls did – whilst they played with dolls, I climbed trees. Whilst they became doctors and teachers, I chose to become an Assistant director. I was told I was more of a tomboy – doing things the way ‘guys’ do them. The thrill of working nights, going to strange locations, working with 100 people and yet having everything organised, amazed me. Yet when I went out shooting my own film, I rarely dressed like most male directors did. I always thought that my viewers could see me right through that camera. I felt that when the viewers were seeing my work, they were actually looking at me as well. So I dressed in dresses, skirts and shirts – always impeccable, sometimes mistaken to be one of the actors.

DONI 23CABINI F RE A K O F FA S H I O N

I was intrigued by Gaga’s intelligence and the way she could express herself with reckless abandon. My love for her grew as I began to analyze her. As a fashion blogger, I always thought I was a bit of a freak but she made being different cool. Around that time I started a blog. Inspired by her quote, I named it ‘The Freak of Fashion’. For the first time I wasn’t consumed by my peers opinions; I was a freak and I was okay with it. I began to embrace it. Even though it’s just a blog, it’s helped me to understand and discover my sense of style and who I am as a person. Gaga has shown me how to liberate myself and find the person within, that had been pushed away by the world. The person that was weird, awkward, unappealing and misunderstood. Then I realized all of those things weren’t my opinions and those words weren’t going to hold me back. It was when I accepted myself that I realized who I truly was. I was an exciting, creative, innovative, visionary, fun-loving freak and always will be.

U SA

BRITNEY I ’ V E LO S T M Y H O O D I E

SMALL TALK

REMARKABLE QUOTES

SMALL TALK

You can buy fashion - but you definitely mighty buy mouth quotes cannot style. Lisbith,

Czech Republic, on the perils of becoming a fashion victim.

All women are angels but when someone breaks their wings they have to fly on brooms. Elena,

Russia, on why you should never do a woman wrong.

My dear, eat chocolate when you want to enjoy it, not when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to beat yourself up for it. Faiza,

London, on the importance of being nice to yourself.

SAATCHI & SAATCHI

SEPT, 2011

Parents are children we have very young. Corinne,

Paris on the circle of life

Those who know WHAT to live for, can tolerate the HOW. ANNA,

RUSSIA, on what keeps her going.

“So what? Over here we’ve been dancing backwards, in high heels and on icy pavements without partners.” from Russia In response to the quote, “Remember Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels”.

Katya,

GUILTY PLEASURES

GUILTY PLEASURES -

CURIOUS TID BITS

Curious Tidbits

Four ladies give us their favorite tips on how to wake up a wardrobe and find something to wear, or at least to get a new perspective on existing clothes:

Wardrobe Remix

“I close my eyes and grab something randomly. No matter what it is, I have to make an outfit around it and wear it! I usually come up with some crazy and fabulous combinations this way, as well as find things I forgot I even had.”

Kelly. “I borrow from my boyfriend or steal from my best guy friend – guys always seem to have the best basics!

Silvia. “I like to wear my existing clothes in unintended ways. For example, I’ll wear a black tube top as a mini skirt over tights with a loose top, or I’ll wear that too-short -for-winter minidress as a tunic worn over skinny jeans.”

Renee “I normally invest in new clothes that do double or multiple duty. It’s like getting ten pieces for the price of one!”

Paula

SAATCHI & SAATCHI

SEPT, 2011

Wishful packing:

The average woman will pack 26 items in her holiday suitcase that will never see the light of day.

Cheers to my new dress!

In France, even the act of wearing a new dress for the first time calls for a friendly toast.

More to choose from, more to wash

Women have four times as many clothes in their wardrobe than they did in 1980.

This magazine was printed on recycled paper.