The Gloss March 2017

REVEALING SECRETS / FASHIONABLE THERAPIES / SPRING SCENTS / STYLE SWAP / NEW LABELS / MUSEUM MUST-SEES

MAGAZINE MARCH 2017

with THE IR

THE FASHION ISSUE

ISH TIMES

CHANGE OF

A DRESS

How to upstage and downplay

FINER DETAILS About Parisian designer Vanessa Seward

plus THE FOOTSIE INDEX Pick your shoe tribe

PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRUCE WEBER

CONTENTS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE NEXT ISSUE

THURSDAY APRIL 6

PU B LI S H E R

JA N E MC DO N N E LL E D I TO R

SARAH MC D O NNE LL S TYLE E D I TO R

AISLINN CO FFE Y B EAUT Y ED ITOR

SARAH HALLIWE LL A R T ED ITOR

LAURA KE NNY ASS ISTAN T ED ITOR – F EAT UR ES

SARAH BRE E N AC T I N G ASS I STA N T E D I TO R – FE AT U R E S

PE NNY MC CO RMICK ASS ISTA NT ED ITOR

SÍO MHA CO NNO LLY ADV ER T IS ING SALES D IR EC TOR

TRACY O RMISTO N CON T R IB UT IN G ED ITOR S

Polly Devlin, Noreen Hall, Antonia Hart, Catherine Heaney, Aoife O’Brien, Peter O’Brien, Therese Quinn, Luis Rodriguez, Natasha Sherling DRESS SENSE Left: Raspberry dress, Lennon Courtney, DUNNES STORES. Cotton cardigan, TOMMY HILFIGER. Blue paisley-print

CON T R IB UT IN G P HOTOGR AP HER S

Michael Dwornik, Neil Gavin, Renato Ghiazza, Olivia Graham, Al Higgins, Neil Hurley, Doreen Kilfeather, Lisa Loftus, Barry McCall, Amelia Stein, Suki Stuart

bomber jacket, TOMMY HILFIGER. Silver Elsa Peretti pendant,

��

HUNTING & GATHERING Altuzarra inspires confident clashing

16 MOODBOARD: SECRETIVE Why Susan Zelouf can't resist a secret

��

TIFFANY & CO. White

36 AT HOME ON THE STAGE Actor Lisa Dwan and her one-woman Samuel Beckett plays

��

A DRESS FOR EVERY DAY Swap trousers for statement dresses

52 EXHIBITIONIST TENDENCIES Four must-see, global fashion exhibitions

56 A BREATH OF FRESH AIR Time to spring clean your scent wardrobe

28 MY GLOSSY WEEKEND Munich-based Ciara Hunt's favourite haunts

34 ON OUR RADAR A round-up of the latest buzzwords in beauty and wellness

This picture: Black oversized bomber jacket, ZARA. Blue and turquoise Romania silk dress, VANESSA

TRIBAL INSTINCTS

The shoes and bags topping our wishlists

linen hat, EUGENIA KIM.

6�

THIS GLOSSY LIFE Parisian designer Vanessa Seward

4 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

SEWARD. Brown Chain It leather bag, LOUIS VUITTON. White Miami leather trainers, JIMMY CHOO. See page 62 for further information on Vanessa Seward.

3�

ON THE COVER Navy blue unstructured cotton parka, COS. Red and white cherry print silk mix shirt dress, MIU MIU. Black patent leather belt, MIU MIU. Light khaki slingback leather sandals, CÉLINE. Brown Lockett City leather handbag, JIMMY CHOO. Gold Tiffany T cuff; Atlas hinged bangle; Tiffany T square bracelet; Tiffany T chain bracelet; All TIFFANY & CO.

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~ GLOSS IP H MARC

KARL LAGERFELD’s tips for “SHELFIE” perfection … Undone blowdrys at ROLLER …

AFTERNOON TEA for Mother’s Day … and the now-trending DIVORCE SELFIE

I

t seems that the number of households with no books has increased while counterintuitively those of us who are reading them are buying more. An alarming Aviva survey reveals one in ten people does not own a book. KARL LAGERFELD is not one of them. He shows how to achieve “shelfie” perfection in his Parisian flat, next door to a bookshop he also owns. Mr Lagerfeld’s preference is for placing books horizontally on shelves; a growing trend. Urban Outfitters, meanwhile, has recently published a blog on how to create the perfect shelfie for millennials. We know that already. Buy an Ikea Billy bookcase (41 million have been sold since 2009) and fill with books, plants and vinyls. Some fashionistas add a shoe, while others outsource their novel selection process to posh bookshop Heywood Hill (in London’s Curzon Street). The store assembled a 4,000-volume library on modern art and design for Vista-Jet founder THOMAS FLOHR, another on the history of Ireland for the 11th Duke of Devonshire, while the manager, NICKY DUNNE flew over to Manhattan with a paperback ANNA WINTOUR had ordered. No doubt she likes the iconic wrapping in brown paper and navy ribbon. Talking of Mr Lagerfeld, look out for his new “Stria” bedlinen in inky tones …    With unpredictable weather it’s hard to know what to wear – trousers or a dress. News from the front row suggests you can wear both, hence the drouser. Chief executive of Browns, HOLLI ROGERS was much photographed wearing a Ganni floral shirtdress over black jeans at the shows last season. The Scandinavians have been working this style for years with a polo-neck under a tunic over trousers. Issa is a convert, “It makes you appear really long while keeping you doubly warm,” she told The Times. Difficult for the rest of us to pull off without looking like Michelin Man. Apparently the rules are, “If the dress is mid-calf the trousers should be long and baggy,” says stylist VERONIKA HEILBRUNNER. Steer clear of anything tight; this look is not to be confused with leggings and a tunic.   

A blowdry is one of our favourite treats, our diaries are primed for Brown Thomas’s new hair, nails and brow bar opening in April. However, we are left bemused with news that “rich hair” as favoured by AMAL CLOONEY, DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE and KIM MURRAY is on the wane. MELANIA TRUMP apparently has been responsible for killing the trend (with the hashtag #nomoremelaniahair). Reality stars and WAGs have 6 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

Arguably the first street-style photographer was the legendary ROBERT DOISNEAU. Armed with a Leica, he took to the boulevards of Paris capturing incongruous moments and reaching his peak in the 1950s.

Most of us had one of his photographs on our walls as students. Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville is his most famous. “I don’t photograph life as it is, but life as it should be,” he explained. An exhibition opens on March 8 celebrating his work for French Vogue (at Espace Richard, 78 boulevard de la Reine, Versailles). For other must-visit fashion exhibitions, see page 52.   

THROUGH A LENS Robert Doisneau’s Baiser valsé bal à l’Hôtel Lambert (1950)

also devalued the just-stepped-out-of-the salon look. On the rise among fashion editors is the “wavy gravy” or undone hair as seen most recently on the red carpet on EMMA STONE, ALEXA CHUNG and EMILY BLUNT. The look to aim for is fashionably messy and understated.

Like “no make-up” make-up it takes just as much time and as many products. We fast-track with Oribe’s Dry Texturising Spray that gives clean hair that lived in look. Alternatively, visit Roller (23 Forbes Street, Dublin 1) and request The Urban.    Intell from Silicon Valley; the latest business trend is “Radical Candour” not to be mistaken with brutal honesty. There are nuances – if you have to tell people they have failed do it with generosity. Apparently the nonevil frankness of MARY BERRY is the sweet spot. To understand the difference between clarity and meanness, read KIM SCOTT’s book Radical Candour (Macmillan) published this month. In Ireland, we’re already ahead of the game; radical candour has been practised by our mothers for centuries …    Other news from the US where divorce selfies are on the rise, accompanied by the hashtag #guesswhosdivorced alongside a smiling photo after the decree nisi has been signed. Not so much a celebration of the end of a marriage but the fact that it has been achieved with minimal animosity. “Cheers to the rest of our lives – apart” is a recent caption. Also on the rise are the number of “divorce concierges” and “recovery coaches” that “hold client’s hands through the emotional and legal complexities of breaking up.” In other words, a friend.

Fashionistas have another hangout in Milan. Fifty House is decidedly non-greige – the Armani colour of choice.

With stripy wallpaper, modern art and bold colours there are 50 suites, a hideaway terrace, nouvelle cuisine restaurant and cocktail bar (www.fiftyhouse.com).

Meanwhile in London, The Lanesborough Club & Spa has finally opened, with massages from body whisperer Beata Aleksandrowicz, facials by facialist Anastasia Achilleos, body treatments by Ila and Bodyism fitness regimes from JAMES DUIGAN as well as thermal suites inspired by Roman baths. It’s OTT but expect it to be on every spa hotlist this year. Combine with a visit to Christie’s which is presenting Handpicked: 100 Artists Selected by The Saatchi Gallery, an auction of 100 artworks by 100 contemporary artists from the collection of CHARLES SAATCHI. Has he run out of space at home, or funds perhaps? The exhibition to accompany the auction will run March 4-9 (London) and March 18 - 21 (New York).    Afternoon Tea is a favourite treat for Mother’s Day. At The Savoy in London their monthly Salon Couture High Tea features the ballgowns of British designer SUZY TURNER; the hotel was where Christian Dior made his British debut in 1950. Closer to home, our pick is the Perrier-Jouët Spring Garden Afternoon Tea experience at The Restaurant by Johnnie Cooke in Brown Thomas (e45 per person).    Armagh and Down’s 17-day programme for Home of St Patrick Festival 2017 is an immersive experience, part of which is the cerebral Memories and Confessions. It’s a series of talks exploring aspects of spirituality and Patrick’s life. Speakers include broadcaster and writer SALLY MAGNUSSON, discussing sadness, loneliness, joy and dementia and punk royalty VIV ALBERTINE (of The Slits) on her connection to SID VICIOUS. Quite a wide remit then … www.saintpatrickscountry.com ^

The Lowdown WHAT’S TRENDING IN MARCH?

PERFECT TEN

Poplin top, d59, skirt, d69.

COS has designed a LIMITED TEN-PIECE CAPSULE COLLECTION featuring womenswear, menswear and childrenswear. The brand opened their first store on London’s Regent Street in 2007 and since then has gone on to grow their presence worldwide with stores in 34 countries. Each garment in the anniversary ‘10’ collection was created with the idea of MINIMISING excess and MAXIMISING the use of the materials. Patterns were drafted intricately, like a jigsaw, Kimono coat, d125. with the full width of the fabric used.

Influences from Japanese kimonos and the Greek chiton can be seen throughout and the collection is made using light crisp cotton and technical materials in a muted colour palette of sand and white. COS 10, from March 10 at COS, 6-8 Wicklow Street, Dublin 1. www.cosstores.com

1. EATING Irish Wagyu beef and shellfish from the everchanging daily menu at Urchin at the Cliff Townhouse on St Stephen’s Green. Diners take tokens to the open kitchen, chat with the chefs, select their small plates, mingle over cocktails ... DRINKING Roe & Co whiskey (s35), blended in Dublin by Caroline Martin.

THIS MONTH

WE ARE ...

2. WATCHING & WEARING

ITALIAN INSPO

Lina Bo Bardi

.... Ireland V England on March 18. Swathed in a huge pure linen handdyed tricolour scarf, by Stable of Ireland. s240, at STABLE, 2 Westbury Mall, Balfe Street, Dublin 2; www.stable.ie.

L

uxury Italian design house MaxMara will bring its SS17 collection to Ireland, straight off the runway from Milan, in a show taking place later this month. The collection that was inspired by trailblazing architect, designer and intellectual Lina Bo Bardi and her modernist tendencies, as well as Tropicália, the avant-garde cultural movement with links to Carmen Miranda. The only MaxMara standalone store in Ireland is on Lisburn Road in Belfast, run by the fantastic Nina Walls. This store has been an institution for years, attracting shoppers from both north and south. The MaxMara show will take place on March 10 in the stunning surroundings of Belfast City Hall. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to Positive Futures, a leading learning disability charity.

Tickets from £35 stg, from www.positivefutures.net. MaxMara, 723 Lisburn Road, Belfast.

3. HOPPING ON & OFF A DoDublin sightseeing bus tour: tourist in our own town. www.dodublin.ie

4. WEARING Soft, casual and fresh: the shirtdress is the season’s easiest piece to wear. Blue gingham cotton dress, s18, at Penneys.

Nina Walls

Above left: Jumpsuit, £537, jacket, £613. Left: Dress, £484.

Right: Sweater, £319, skirt £431. All MaxMara SS17.

FASHION TO THE RESCUE IN ROME ...

A spring tour of Rome’s architectural landmarks reveals the philanthropic hand of the fashion industry. The COLOSSEUM has emerged after an extensive restoration involving a multimillion-euro cleaning to remove centuries of soot and grime. Footing the bill is luxury shoe-maker TOD’S. In an act of cultural patronage, company founder Diego Della Valle responded to a government call to the private sector to help Italy care for its art and archaeological treasures.

THE SPANISH STEPS have been spruced up by Italian jewellery and accessories house BULGARI, while FENDI weighed in to renovate the TREVI FOUNTAIN.

Gommino snake-effect leather loafers, d320, Tod’s; www.net-a-porter.com.

Round sunglasses, d300 Bvlgari at Brown Thomas.

Embellished printed leather textured wallet, d580, Fendi; www.net-a-porter.com.

THE GLOSS MAGAZINE | March 2017 | 7

OBJECTS FOR LIFE

ALTUZARRA

HUNTING

CL ASH WITH CARE

CHECK YOURSELF

JASON LLOYD-EVANS

Do you remember when Sex and the City was at its peak and Carrie Bradshaw at the height of her powers to influence what we wore? Artlessly mixing patterns, wearing frankly weird garments, adding a hair accessory and a cute bag was all it took to look East Village hip. Erm, well, not really. I remember my husband, normally reticent on matters fashion-related, ordering me back to a (NYC, as it happens) hotel room to divest myself of at least two accessories before we went out to dinner. Altuzarra’s SS17 collection, clashing gingham and print, python and lace, brings this to mind and produced a similarly sceptical look from the onlooker in this picture. It would be poor fashion advice to say Try This At Home. But your takeaway might be that gingham is pretty, quirky earrings make an outfit fun and snakeprint looks cool.

But one at a time please, boring as it may sound. As Samantha Jones said, “I think I have monogamy. I caught it from you people.” SMcD

10 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

GATHERING 2

ALTUZARRA

Channel the Trend

1

3

4

5 6

7

JASON LLOYD-EVANS

8

9

CAN YO U S EE ME?

CENTRE OF ATTENTION 1. Cowhide rug, d673; WWW.AMARA.COM. 2. Nail Le Top Coat in Black Metamorphosis, CHANEL, d25, limited edition, at counters nationwide. 3. Coral-shaped door handles, d11.99 for two; WWW.ZARAHOME. COM. 4. Monty snakeskin decorative box, d35, at www.sweetpeaandwillow.com. 5. Red print dress, d72, at TOPSHOP. 6. Grey marl T-shirt with gingham bow detail, d21.33; WWW.ASOS.COM. 7. Matière Noire eau de parfum, LOUIS VUITTON, d200, at Brown Thomas. 8. Pale blue stripe mac, d395; WWW.BIMBAYLOLA.

10

COM. 9. Watersnake Drew bag, Chloé d1,850; NET-A-PORTER.COM. 10. Multi-coloured resin drop earrings, d75; WWW.BIMBAYLOLA.COM. 11 Eye Kajal in Black Saffron/Vanille, VICTORIA BECKHAM ESTÉE LAUDER, d27, at Brown Thomas. For stockists, see www.thegloss.ie.

12 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

11

IRELAND@THOMASSABO.COM

MOODBOARD

2

“MY DEAR FELLOW, WE ALL HAVE CHAPTERS WE WOULD RATHER KEEP UNPUBLISHED.”

“THREE MAY KEEP A SECRET, IF TWO OF THEM ARE DEAD.”

LORD GRANTHAM, DOWNTON ABBEY

1

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

3

4

I’m meeting an enemy for drinks, wearing poison rings

by Stephen Webster and Theo Fennell.

Bottoms up!

THIS MONTH THE MOOD IS:

SECRETIVE SUSAN ZELOUF spills the beans on the vice and virtues of secrets

Possessed by the urge to spring clean, I risked breaking a shapely acrylic nail (just one of my completely fake and extremely f lammable attributes) to claw the cooker from its niche between the greasy tiled wall and Belfast sink. Scrubbing away a year or three of slop before shouldering it back in place is the equivalent to wearing exquisite underwear when you’re celibate and/or managed to get through another day without being hit by a bus and rushed to A&E, clothes cut away: your dainty panties and degreased stove are destined to remain a secret, a private pleasure, for your eyes only.

The retinue of help in Julian Fellowes’ masterful period drama Downton Abbey (and its precursor Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, for which Fellowes wrote the screenplay) struggle to keep house while their masters struggle to keep the house. Separated by class, wealth and privilege, all of them struggle to keep secrets. Throughout the series, the ebb and swell of Scottish composer John Lunn’s score, recorded with a 35-piece orchestra, invokes recurrent melodies, fashioning a kind of Penelopean leitmotif: the fabric of lies woven by day is unraveled by night, concealing and revealing the deepest secrets of the heart and of the house itself. No wonder the family silver and parquet f loors are so richly burnished, the cinched corsetry and starched collars (worn both upstairs and down) so mercilessly tight – it takes discipline, resolve and a degree of ferocity to keep secrets, from others but especially from ourselves. Over six seasons of delightful repartee, villainous scheming and heartrending disappointment, the gloriously f lawed personages of Downton Abbey mirror our darkness and dreams; we look on as they disown and eventually own their secrets and shame, and it is transformative.

The late Zsa Zsa Gabor claimed “You never really know a man until you’ve divorced him”. But can we ever truly know anyone, the 16 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

colleagues we work alongside, our family, our friends, our dearly beloveds? If social media accounts are anything to go by, the avatars we present to the world are constructs, our profile pictures soft focus – any signs of ageing, double chins and frown lines photoshopped away, emotions abbreviated to emoticons. Our secrets? Seems rude not to share. Posting revelatory status updates is tempting, yet the more we’re compelled to reveal, the less knowable we are. Diaries are often fitted with locks for good reason: perhaps secrets are not meant to be blogged. In Anam Cara, John O’Donohue ref lects: “The secret and the sacred are sisters. When the secret is not respected, the sacred vanishes”. The mysterious terrain of our inner lives is private land, its exploration the work of the soul. We may be as sick as our secrets, but does truth actually set us free, or might oversharing stunt spiritual growth?

I’m a sucker for any book with “secret” in the title. I can’t resist delving into The Secret Life of Lobsters, or bees, dogs, hair, husbands, puffins, plants and pronouns. The Secret Life of the Periodic Table? It has all the elements of a tell-all as the secrets of how they were discovered come to light. Under Mendeleev’s table, 118 naughty elements play footsie; as one synopsis explains, every element has character, be it volatile, aloof, gregarious or enigmatic. Wow! And how about The Secret Life of the American Musical? The brain? Colour, cows, cars ... why, I’ve been kept awake reading about the secret life of sleep! And who’d blame me for devouring Sylvia Tara’s The Secret Life of Fat, a juicy read?

A vintage Balmain black silk ball gown with contrasting lining, ca. 1950, with a f lirtatious f lash of pink at the hem, is moreish food for thought: what delights await the successful suitor when the button front is undone? Do tell! Your secret’s safe with me ... ^ @SusanZelouf

THIS MONTH’S MOODBOARD I’M EARWIGGING on the secrets of Downton Abbey, (1) from the delicious to the pernicious.

Buy the box set and experience heartbreak and happiness, across the class divide.

I’M GETTING NOSEY about the secret lives of anything and everything (2). Get your nose stuck into a revealing book. Browse Dubray Books, with branches in Dublin, Bray and Kilkenny. www. dubraybooks.ie INSPIRED BY Balmain’s drop dead gorgeous silk faille gown with peekaboo pink lining (3), I’m investing in a couture frock by Irish fashion designer Helen Cody.

The occasion? Our secret. www.helencody.com I’M TAKING ADVICE from Zsa Zsa Gabor (4), who knew how to rock a peignoir. Source your scanties at Susan Hunter Lingerie, 13 The Westbury Mall, Dublin 2.

Photo Michel Gibert, used as a reference only. Special thanks: molodesign.com / www.marc-lepilleur.com

French Art de Vivre

Aqua. Dining table, designed by Fabrice Berrux.

CĂŠleste. Armchairs, designed by CĂŠdric Ragot.

European manufacture.

UNIT D1 - Beacon South Quarter, Dublin 18. Tel: 01-653-1650

3D Interior Design Service

www.roche-bobois.com

FASHION

NATAN

ELLA GREEN This gold ear-climber earring, designed by Dublin-based jeweller Eimear Lynch under the Ella Green label, is inspired by swallow tattoos and is a tiny, subtle flash of gold. Perfect for everyday wear. €165, at Design Yard at Campbell Jewellers, Donnybrook, Dublin 4; www.designyard.ie.

Natan, a Belgium-based contemporary womenswear label and a favourite with many European royals, is perfect for special occasions.

Each collection showcases timeless dresses, skirts and tops, with dramatic colours taking center stage this season. At Les Jumelles, 2-3 Church Lane, Galway; www.lesjumelles.ie.

ELLERY

Kym Ellery

LANDING Here are the hot new labels you’ll need to know

ALEXA CHUNG

�� CHAPEL LANE

Amal Clooney wearing Monse.

MONSE

Hot new label Monse (pronounced mon-say) has the fashion world captivated. Since its runway debut, Monse (created by ex-Oscar De La Renta designers Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia) has quickly garnered the attention of the fashion-savvy set. Bold and feminine, A-lister followers include Sarah Jessica Parker and Amal Clooney. At Brown Thomas, Dublin; www.brownthomas.com.

ELLERY

Labels

MONSE

Think enormous scarves that really deliver impact. Pierre-Louis Mascia is a trained illustrator from Toulouse. His bold, printed scarves come in silk and cashmere blends featuring a wonderful mix of old and new references and are produced in Como in Italy.

From ¤90, at Electra, Donnybrook, Dublin 4; www.electra.ie.

Cool Limerick city-based couple Damien and Joi Hannigan are behind this label and their new clothing collection appears both timeless and wearble for all seasons.

Their pieces can be worn individually or combined and layered for warmth. All pieces are tailored from Irish linen and manufactured in Ireland. Luxurious simplicity at its best; www.31chapellane.com.

Chung’s namesake fashion label is due to land at Envoy of Belfast in May. Shrouded in mystery, we still have no idea what to expect (except that the range will include denim, daywear, eveningwear, shoes and jewellery).

But what we do know is that we’ll be forming an orderly queue. Envoy of Belfast, 4 Wellington Street, Belfast; www. envoyofbelfast.com.

MOLLY GODDARD

PIERRE-LOUIS MASCIA

ELLERY Australian designer Kym Ellery’s eponymous line launched in 2007. Think sculptural, feminine yet completely wearable clothes.

According to Ellery, she designs for the “woman who appreciates quality and wants to buy pieces to build a long-term wardrobe”. The result of Ellery’s contemporary approach to design is the complete reinvention of great classics. At Samui, 17 Drawbridge Street, Cork; www.samuifashions.com.

Two-tone wool sweater, Jacquemus, d450, at Brown Thomas.

JACQUEMUS

Cult label Jacquemus (designed by Gallic influencer Simon Porte) is one to watch.

At Brown Thomas, Dublin.

MOLLY GODDARD Winner of the British Fashion Emerging Talent Award 2016, Molly Goddard’s frothy tulle dresses are anything but “prim, proper and pretty”. Her SS17 collection includes great gingham dresses and risqué T-shirts. In conjuction with her SS17 runway collection, Goddard has collaborated with Topshop to produce a sassy range of shoes (at www.topshop.com). Find Molly Goddard at Havana, Donnybrook, Dublin 4; www.havanaboutique.ie Black leather sandals, d170; www.topshop.com.

20 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

FASHION

SEASONAL UPDATE:

A few smart SS17 swaps and your wardrobe is back in credit, says AISLINN COFFEY

| MID-RANGE |

| MODEST |

Blue pinstriped cotton shirt, Theory, d285; www.net-a-porter.com

Gingham cotton button-detail blouse, d50, at Topshop.

Blue pinstriped open-back cotton shirt, d19.95, at Zara.

THE ACCESSORY

CASH O UT CASH IN | MEGA |

Bronze Midnight Smoking linen-blend blazer, d2,392; www.matchesfashion.com.

Black and white Marlowe gingham cotton blazer, d215, at Hobbs, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16.

| MODEST |

| MID-RANGE |

CASH Crystal-encrusted Spider earrings, Alexis Bittar, d255, at Loulerie, 14b Chatham Street, Dublin 2.

SWAP: DRAPED-FRONT TROUSERS FOR LEGGINGS Try a well-cut pair of second-skin leggings and styie them with everything from a sharp shirt to slouchy knits. 1980s-style ski pants with sky-high heels are so right now (and extraordinarily comfortable).

Faux pearl earrings, Simone Rocha, d215; www. net-a-porter.com.

Pink mismatched earrings, Kate Spade New York d58; www. nordstrom.com.

THE SHOES

THE PANTS

| MID-RANGE |

| MEGA |

Silver and black ballet shoes, Chanel, d555, at Brown Thomas.

CASH

OUT

22 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

SWAP: VOLUME FOR WAIST-CINCHING BELTS

Shelve loose-fitting dresses, instead belt up your middle to create an hourglass silhouette that is both smart and super-feminine. | MEGA |

IN

Ombré leather belt, Tom Ford, d990; www.net-aporter.com.

| MODEST |

SWAP: POINTYTOE T-BARS FOR CLASSIC BALLET SLIPPERS

Black stretch-gaberdine leggings, Joseph, d225, at Seagreen, Monkstown Co Dublin and Ranelagh Dublin 6.

THE SILHOUETTE

| MID-RANGE |

CASH

Pink suede ballet shoes, d450; miumiu.com.

Black star-print high-rise leggings, Balenciaga, d745; ww.matchesfashion.com.

Off-white double-breasted blazer, Autograph, d82, at Marks & Spencer.

CASH IN

Stash matchymatchy shoulder dusters. Go for mismatched, mid-sized drop earrings instead.

| MID-RANGE |

CASH O UT INVEST

SWAP: EARRING PAIRS FOR MISMATCHED

| MEGA |

| MODEST |

| MEGA |

OUT

CASH

| MEGA |

IN

Ditch cape shapes for a supersized blazer (seen at Céline and Balenciaga) and wear with a pair of kitten heels or low-key sneakers.

IN

Forget peasant-style off-theshoulder tops, this season's blouses and shirts come in a more grown-up, less girlish guise. Think strong asymmetric necklines and bold stripes.

SWAP: CAPE SHAPE FOR AN OVERSIZED BLAZER

CASH

SWAP: BARDOT-STYLE FOR ASYMMETRIC SHIRTING

CASH O UT

THE JACKET

CASH O UT

THE SHIRT

Grey check leggings, d19.95, at Zara.

Miu Miu kickstarted the ballet slipper trend: a classic pair of ballet pumps should be a staple in a well-edited spring wardrobe.

| MID-RANGE |

| MODEST |

| MODEST |

Pink leather ballet shoes, Autograph, d65, at Marks & Spencer.

White cotton Obi belt, d89, at Hobbs, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16.

Tan suede belt with crocodile buckle, d75; www. uterque.com.

Marc Cain FP.indd 1

NOW OPEN IN CORK NOW OPEN IN CORK

19 Oliver Plunkett St, Cork | 021-4279909 | mc.store.cork@gmail.com 19 Oliver Plunkett St, Cork | 021- 4279909 | mc.store.cork@gmail.com 2 Strand St, Malahide | 01-8456989 | mc.store.malahide@gmail.com 2 Strand St, Malahide | 01- 8456989 | mc.store.malahide@gmail.com

FASHION

INS IN STIN TINC CTS CT CTS TRIBAL INSTINCTS BAG TRIBES

THE ARM CANDY EDIT

LOEWE

The new season's accessories will define our wardrobe choices as well as our allegiances

BIG & ROOMY

Minimal hardware and vast stretches of unembellished leather and cotton: big, slouchy bags saturated SS17 shows.

No bag is too big. Perfect for those who actually need to pack the kitchen sink. Loewe's luxe leather hold-alls and Balenciaga's XXL shoppers are a hoarder's dream.

MINI & PRIM

Red Bazar leather bag, BALENCIAGA,

from d1,095; www.matches fashion.com Colourblock leather bag, CAROLYN DONNELLY The

Femininity ruled on this season's catwalks with miniature sizes, frame shapes and top-handle bag silhouettes. The best bags (for the "I carry only the bare necessities" set) are polished and structured: sleek, minimalist shapes in muted tones and white. Top of our list is Thailand-based handbag label Boyy; its Karl bag is pretty, edgy and sophisticated.

Burgundy Eloise croc-effect mini leather bag, d405; WWW.NET-APORTER.COM

SONIA RYKIEL

Edit, d99, at Dunnes Stores.

Black Roma mini intrecciato leather bag, BOTTEGA VENETA, d2,300, at Brown Thomas.

Animal-print cotton shopper, STELLA MC CARTNEY,

Taupe T leather shopper, d890; WWW.LOEWE.COM

CÉLINE

d195; www.net-aporter.com Green leather frame bag, MANSUR GAVRIEL, d719; www.envoyofbelfast.com

Dark green Karl leather bag, from d900; WWW.BOYYBAG.COM

OBJECT OF DESIRE Check woven raffia-effect shopper, TRUSS, d177, at Harvey Nichols,

Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16

24 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

If you want to be ahead of the posse when it comes to this season's trophy handbag, then you need to get yourself GUCCI's Nymphaea Bamboo bag; www.gucci.com.

DIOR

FASHION

SHOE TRIBES

HOT TO TROT THE FLATTIES

Diane Kruger at Dior Haute Couture.

Clockwise from top left: Black J'ADIOR kitten heels, Christian Dior. Blue Jemma leather kitten heels, d80, at Topshop. Pink Cherry patent leather bamboo heel kitten heels, d890; www.gucci.com. Silver fold-back kitten heels, d39.95, at Zara.

Multi-coloured Lolita sandal, Alexandre Birman, d525, www.netaporter.com.

Green suede stiletto-heel shoes, www.paulandrew.com.

Veronika Heilbrunner wearing Old Skool Vans at the SS17 shows.

PRADA

Emmanuelle Alt: Queen of kittens.

CHRISTOPHER KNAE

HEELS

Are heels politically incorrect?

Part-time actress and temp Nicola Thorp had more than her 15 minutes in the spotlight, when last year she told her bosses that she didn't want to wear high heels as a corporate receptionist. It fuelled the ongoing debate about appropriate office wear. We admit to not wearing stilettos as much but on the right occasions they offer a sleek silhouette. If you hadn’t yet got the memo, retire nudes now. Instead, brighten up pastel pieces and a classic LBD with Alexandre Birman’s Lolita sandal or a Paul Andrews court. Rumour has it Salvatore Ferragamo will appoint Andrews its new Creative Director. We approve!

Life’s trajectory can be traced via footwear. Our YSL Tributes were traded in long ago for trainers ever since Phoebe Philo brought them into fashion consciousness in 2012. Since then we’ve worn everything from Stan Smiths to Nike Cortez. Adidas EQT Series will be huge this year as will sateen trainers (at Jil Sander and Zara).

Black is the new white as far as colour is concerned. Transcending age and time, the trainer adds a sporty twist to maxi dresses, while gender neutral brogues (Prada please) can be both smart and formal. Forget fantasy slides and flip flops, Neogeta sandals — a reinterpretation of the Japanese sandal — flatforms (at Dolce & Gabbana and Balmain) and babouche slippers are in, all adding an exclamation point to outfits. Comfort meets chic.

CÉLINE

Kitten heels are divisive. Some see them as ambivalent — neither a heel or not a heel and worn in plain black a semaphore for safe and dull. When on the right feet, especially those of Emmanuelle Alt or Michelle Obama, they speak of elegance and confidence. Audrey Hepburn’s Salvatore Ferragamo kittens started the trend in the 1960s as a revolt against the tyranny of the high heel and we’re sure she would love Mansur Gavriel’s ofthe-moment versions. Kittens allow more freedom of movement and are associated with women on the go … Theresa May donned her favourite leopard print Russell & Bromleys when appointed Prime Minister. This season’s iterations range from the bamboo-heeled leather pumps at Gucci, JW Anderson’s jewelled versions and Maria Grazia Chiuri’s now iconic logo slingbacks. As if to cement kitten's fashion credentials, Demna Gvasalia's white Balenciaga bootie version is shoe nirvana.

Make sure your slingbacks fit properly otherwise they look careless. Style with jeans or tracksuits and don’t be afraid to wear with ankle socks.

Yes, really.

Y PROJECT

THE KITTENS

Clockwise from left: Stoneembellished Croc-style clogs, d325; www. christopherkane. com. Brocade slip-on loafers, d695; www. gucci.com. White slip-on slides, Ugg X Preen, www.ugg.com.

Clockwise from left: Red Comando ankle-strap flatforms, d450; www.miumiu.com.

Black Old Skool suede sneakers, d75, Vans, 45 Grafton Street, Dublin 2. Multi-coloured fabric shoes, d39.95, at Zara.

THE GLOSS MAGAZINE | March 2017 | 25

SOCIAL LIFE Clockwise from left: Hunt in traditional lederhosen; Hunt’s apartment; The city of Munich; Oscar, Louis and Freya; Hunt with Oscar on a family skiing day in the Austrian Alps, and with Louis.

My

GLOSSY

WEEKEND

Former publishing executive Ciara Hunt makes the most of her weekends in Munich with cycling, culture and cafés on the agenda Richard and I have been living in Munich for over two years and we find it’s an easy city in which to live. I love that it is so near to central Europe. We cycle everywhere; I’m ten minutes from work and there is a lot to see and do in the Bavarian way. As a family, we have lived in Toronto, Boston and London. My daughter Freya, 12, was born in London, my first son Oscar, 9, in Toronto and Louis, 2, here, so it’s been a bit crazy. I have lived in Paris and Madrid; every city has its own heart and what we do in each one is different.

My weekend starts on a Friday evening – my husband Richard travels a lot (he is CEO of Sandoz) and my kids are at different schools – but we are all together then, so it’s movie night. My kids love Star Wars and James Bond movies and we like to watch them together at home. If I am feeling creative, I will make a cheese soufflé and if extra lazy, pizzas. It’s Louis time until seven and we are totally obsessed with him, but having packed him into bed we sit around and catch up on the week. Weekends are sacred for us and are reserved for family and friends.

We live in an apartment on the top floor of a restored building in the old bohemian area of the city called SCHWABING. It is like a gallery – all white ceilings and white floors – and that suits us because I have a lot of art I’ve been collecting for years. My mother, who has a great eye and who started buying from college shows years ago, has always given me art or lovely sculptures for my birthdays. My own collection is eclectic. I have moved so many times that I’ve developed the habit of going to local galleries and becoming friends with the gallerists; once you have met the artists you have more of an affinity for their art.

We are very centred on our home. I love contemporary furniture mixed with 1950s Danish furniture, the old with the new. The apartment is full of light and there are a huge number of windows, so it’s great, for instance, at New Year, because we overlook the OLYMPIC TOWER and can see all the fireworks.

We are early risers; I get up at six most mornings and do some work before the kids wake and a 20-minute run or an hour on the treadmill, but on Saturdays we lie in until seven. Breakfast is usually bacon and eggs and the kids run down to the local bakery for croissants and then spread Irish dairy milk chocolate over them because they say Irish milk tastes better. After breakfast we hop on our bikes and cycle through the ENGLISH GARDEN, one of the biggest public gardens in Europe, five minutes away.

28 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

Most Saturdays Freya goes riding there. It takes us ten-15 minutes to get into the city centre to the VIKTUALIENMARKT where we visit our favourite cheese and vegetable stands and catch up with their owners. After that we pile onto the bikes and go to CAFÉ NYMPHENBURGER for lunch, where we like a special table at the back. All the produce is fresh from the market.

Richard loves their truffle cheese sandwiches, Freya the Caesar salad and I go for the lentil stew.

Once a month I drive the kids to a museum for an exhibition. We spend an hour and try to make it exciting for them, otherwise we cycle to the Garden to see the surfers on the RIVER EISBACH who surf all year round – great fun to watch. We usually stop at the CHINESE TOWER PAGODA where we have a beer in the garden while the kids enjoy the playground so we all have fun.

“We cycle to the Garden to see the surfers on the RIVER EISBACH who surf all year round.”

Saturday evening is for Richard and I and a catchup with friends. Favourite places are BUFFET KULL where the food is fantastic, the staff hilarious and standards are high – it has a cool, chilled vibe. More formal is Nobu’s MATSUHISA, and the bar at Mandarin Oriental is fun and casual. We entertain all the time – we had 30 for New Year’s Eve – and if guests bring kids, we have a room with television, and toys for them. We serve drinks, nibbles and fuss-free, fresh seasonal food. I will cook my favourite Ottolenghi winter salad, serve cheese and then a delicious cake from a local bakery.

There is nothing open in Munich on Sundays except restaurants and churches, so we get up and go skiing as we can get to the AUSTRIAN ALPS in an hour, ski until 2pm and be back home at 4pm. I like cooking lunch or supper on Sundays – roast chicken with vegetables.

It’s the last time at the weekend that we are all together winding down and gearing up for the next week. I tend to have a spreadsheet outlining activities to keep an eye on everything during the week.

I do most shopping online and buy fresh food on the way home from work. For fashion there is TERESA, a high-end boutique, but I mostly buy clothes – like the Givenchy boots I wear to work with J Brand jeans and quirky tops – on holidays or online at NET-APORTER. I like an off beat look, in navy, grey or black.

Elsewhere, the specialist KUSTERMANN store has everything for the home and you can get wonderful household stuff. I’m a very fast shopper.

Our weekends revolve around our next meal and who we are going to meet – my husband loves having friends for dinner. Sometimes I will say we are not going anywhere. But we never just sit around and do nothing though my downfall was when I started watching Game of Thrones. It’s a busy life, but I would not have it any other way. Visiting my parents who live by the sea in Kinsale is totally different – we sit and wait for the next person to arrive and talk about going for a walk! In conversation with Deirdre McQuillan. Hunt is launching an organic babyfood company Pumpkin Organics online later this year. ^

L OV E Make your mother’s day with hand-finished sterling silver jewellery.

DUBLIN · CORK · GALWAY · LIMERICK · WEXFORD · TRALEE · ENNIS · WATERFORD · KILKENNY · ATHLONE · SLIGO

INTERVIEW

LET’S DO LUNCH

by Anne Harris

ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN O’NEILL

A feisty Joanna Trollope talks about self-sabotaging female friendships and how every novel has its own agenda

“T

here is a special place in hell for women who don’t support each other.” The last person you would expect to deliver such an infernal admonition is the fragrant chronicler of England’s manners and mores, novelist Joanna Trollope.

Everything about her: her voice, her appearance, her work, has always projected a delicate sensibility. Her mind, I was to learn, is made of doughtier stuff. We are barely two minutes into conversation when she paraphrases former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s war cry for Hillary Clinton.

Why am I surprised? Any of the characters in her latest novel might have said it: the dynamic being the conflicting pulls of female solidarity. City of Friends charts four women in their mid-forties, in a motley representation of modern relationships: married mother, single mother, gay.

The common thread is they all work in the financial sector.

There’s very little sex in it, I remark, wondering if she had uncovered, in her observant way, a new truth; the parking of sex by women in the prime of working life. She 30 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

Minister. “Theresa May and I share a background. We are both Chronicler Grammar school girls.” And they and social both grew up in rural rectories, but commentator the similarities end there. Trollope, JoannaTrollope has been a a firm Remainer, no longer has “the novelist for same admiration for May that I had 30 years. She when she became Prime Minister.” lives alone in London.

This could spell trouble for May, because one thing Joanna Trollope has, is a feel for is the pulse of Middle England. Those tropes used by lazy reviewers – middle class and middle brow, as though these qualities did not encompass solid virtues – sound hollow now that it’s clear it was ignorance of the rhythms of middle England that caused Brexit.

Besides, childhood in the rectory was no cradle of comfort. Born during the war, she is firmly of the “mustn’t grumble,” generation. “I didn’t see my father until I was four. It was a terrible time. Men came back to a cold, tired, hungry country. It was worse than the war.” Women who had been welcomed in the workforce were expected to go back to the kitchen. “The rationing didn’t stop for years.

That kind of austerity defined my generation. We still eat the leftovers.”

She lives alone in London now, but this is no leftover life. Between the rectory and her writerly eyrie, clearly glimpsed through her many novels, is a rich life. Two marriages, two divorces, (one caused “a mini breakdown”) two daughters, two stepsons and lots of grandchildren.

“In my youth, you didn’t go to bed with someone without marrying them. Society was pleased with you for being pregnant. There was a terrible stigma if you had a baby out of wedlock. Even a stigma around adoption. For all its faults, society is much kinder nowadays.”

She now belongs in the great English tradition of the edifying novelist. Like Catherine Cookson, her novels have a purpose; to start a conversation. “If I was writing City of Friends 28 years ago, the conversation would probably have been about same sex relationships. For most of my life, homosexuality was illegal, lonely and distorted.”

Twenty-eight years ago, A Village Affair, in more classic storytelling form, tells of a lesbian relationship which rocks a community. “It was stacked on the gay and lesbian sections in bookshops. It was a very daring thing to do.

I regard all my novels as equally subversive.”

So what conversation does she want to start now?

“Women and work and motherhood. I don’t see many novels about that.” Her central insight, through a character “who loves her children but adores her work” is that a women in a top job is drawing on skills that are uniquely maternal. “She has a very maternal effect at work.” She is concerned that the sabotaging of women in the digital age is mostly done by other women. “What I want to promulgate is women standing together.”

It is noticeable that Trollope no longer self-deprecates with remarks like “nobody reads me for the perfect sentence”, and I detect one delicious literary dig. “It’s all very well writing about the death of Anne Boleyn, but that’s all in the past,” (let nobody cry Wolf Hall). “I record the here and now. I take the eternal truths about human nature and filter them through modern routines.”

She’s bursting with ideas for more novels – childlessness may be next. She doesn’t dismiss early feminist claims.

“It may be possible, on your deathbed, to look back and think you had it all.” If anyone can ... ^ Trollope’s City of Friends (Pan Macmilllan, d14.99.) is out now.

JOANNA TROLLOPE:

is quite stern. “Sex didn’t occur to me when I was writing this. It’s a novel about work. I wanted to put work back into the centre of women’s lives. There are masses of novels about sex out there. Women are always identified with sex and romantic love.”

Had I grown complacent in the comfort zones of traditional Trollopeland – love, pain and the whole damn thing? “This one is about the intense satisfaction of work,” she says and there’s no doubting which satisfaction she rates highest.

“The choice of the financial sector is deliberate. I spent a long time in Canary Wharf researching. It’s a traditional bastion of the male, a bubble.” If this sounds sterile, relax.

It meets my personal criterion – a good read should be like bingeing on a good box set – because Trollope is all about relationships. Besides, it contains some very subversive ideas around motherhood and work, that complicated tangle that feminism has still failed to unravel.

She stoutly defends Margaret Thatcher from accusations that she deserved a place in the hotspot. “There were no women for her to hire, she had to choose a man.” She has graver reservations on England’s other female Prime

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WELLNESS

ON THE RADAR PENNY McCORMICK investigates the latest fashionable therapies and beauty buzzwords

And so to bed...

Louise Kennedy’s Spring Summer 2017 collection

BEDITATION “You snooze, you lose” is the mantra upheld by those who talk (smugly) about being overworked as if it were a badge of honour, yet for many of us sleep is still seen as a luxury even at weekends. In Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less (Penguin Books) published this month, Stanford scholar and Silicon valley consultant, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang combines neuroscience and psychology and advocates restorative daytime naps (used by Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill), lengthy holidays and long walks. Sloths will cheer but it’s a mindset that has already created traction. Pang sees sleep as an active skill that promotes creativity and he has shared a stage with Arianna Huffington who had her own Damascene moment having passed out at work from exhaustion, smacked her head on a desk, broke her cheekbone and incurred five stitches to her right eye. She argues in The Sleep Revolution, Transforming Your Life, One Night At A Time (Penguin Random House) that we owe it to our health to sleep well; hardly rocket science, but it is a sea change for the renowned workaholic.

Gwyneth Paltrow added a further nuance in Goop’s Clean Beauty, confessing she goes to bed for a minimum of nine hours with heated socks, copper pillows and a twelve-hour fast (probably in Olivia von Halle pyjamas). Take “clean sleeping” one snooze further and enter: “beditation”, a buzzword coined by business coach and author Laurence Shorter in The Lazy Guru’s Guide To Life (Hachette).

“Morning mindlessness” rather than mindfulness is the aim: breaking the habit of waking up in panic or task mode, instead taking a moment to listen to thoughts and let them pass. Task mode sees beta brainwaves kick in and cortisol released, all risking adrenal exhaustion. Shorter argues that beditation is like interval training and leads to greater productivity. Going to the land of nod is often 34 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

easier said than done. Perhaps you need a sleep vacation?

Sleep retreats are multiplying rapidly and are a mix of science, spa treatments and slowing down. Take Corinthia London’s Mindful Sleep package (www.londoncorinthia. com), one of the most exclusive in the capital with special sleep pods in their award-winning ESPA spa. Or how about the Swiss precision approach at Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in Zurich (www.resortragaz.ch), where their diagnostic programme includes a polysomnography and followup wellness programme? More exotic is The Anam’s Sri

BEDITATION is like interval training and leads to greater PRODUCTIVITY. Mara “Sweet dreams à la carte” concept in Vietnam (www. theanam.com). A stay in the new “high touch, low-tech” hotel includes Irish linen bedding, goose down pillows and some sun too (that always works for us). Closer to home, in Carlow, Lisnavagh regularly runs sleep retreats.

Organiser Ally Bunbury says, “All the retreats are designed as a drawing in, restorative time, with fires crackling in the dining room and a library with deep sofas and lots of good books to curl up with.” (www.lisnavagh.com). Based in Dun Laoghaire at My Yoga Body, Orla Fitzgerald, a highly-qualified acupuncturist, medical herbalist and yoga teacher believes, “the root causes as to why someone is not sleeping are varied and there is no one treatment for all. I use a combination of acupuncture, herbal medicine and yoga to treat each person individually. As part of the yoga treatment module, I teach simple pranayama (yogic

breathing techniques) and encourage people to practice yoga nidra (yogic sleep), both of which work to relax the body and the mind, encouraging the nervous system into a “rest and digest” state, which is crucial for good quality sleep.” (info@tranquil.ie)

CRYSTAL CRAZE “I currently carry a black obsidian skull crystal — it’s for protection and strength. I’m really into crystals. I buy them for my staff,” so Victoria Beckham told Vogue recently and she is one of many celebrities including Katy Perry, Cara Delevingne and Alexa Chung who frequent the LA crystal merchants Spellbound Sky to stock up on rose quartz and amethyst. If you’ve dismissed this as too new-agey, look out for crystal-infused skincare that is poised to expand this year. Dr Hauschka’s Soothing Intensive Treatment (at Avoca) makes the calming properties of black tourmaline into a mist, while Aurelia’s Brightening Botanical Essence (at Space NK) made from quartz and rose quartz-infused waters blurs the lines between wellness and beauty. Nails Inc has just launched the “Mindful Manicure” with a range of four varnishes infused with crystals. The Spa at The Shelbourne’s best-selling Elemis Pro Collagen Quartz Lift Facial promises reduced wrinkles and added firmness. Further afield, the Chilean lapis lazuli massage at the trendy Faena Hotel Miami Beach (www.faena.com) releases tension. Says crystal expert Jacquie Burgess, who is based in Tullow, “Mainstream health and beauty is finally catching up with the therapeutic use of crystals — this is probably because of an increasing awareness that they really work for both energetic and physical wellbeing. Also, there is a much wider acceptance from conventional science of subtle energies. As a psychotherapist and medical herbalist, as well as working as a crystal therapist for nearly 30 years, I’ve found that there are great benefits to be gained from the crossover of these therapies.

For example, I might add an energised crystal to a herbal formula or to an oil for a healing salve, while rose quartz can bring a feeling of safety and comfort in a counselling session.

In the home or work place, quartz crystals are very useful in combating electromagnetic interference. Complex electrical circuitry and the use of multiple devices can negatively affect us, especially if our health is already compromised through illness. Placing a large natural quartz crystal in front of a television or computer monitor will screen some of that interference. As a beauty aid, rose quartz in beneficial for a clear and healthy complexion.” (www.jacquieburgess.com)

SALT GROTTOS Spas, and their treatments are often a guide to what’s trending. And you know something is officially a “thing” when some of the most luxurious are introducing salt grottos to their remit. Grand Hotel Tremezzo’s T Spa in Italy, that of the Kulm Hotel in St Moritz and Le Grand Bellevue, Gstaad all endorse spelotherapy. Otherwise known as halotherapy, salt therapy has been around for a long time especially in Eastern Europe, where the treatment is routinely recommended by doctors and covered on health insurance. Now many resorts are recreating the microclimate similar to an underground mine. Monart’s Natural Alpine Salt Grotto features an aerosol salt system that produces tiny salt particles which penetrates the entire respiratory system from sinus to lungs. It’s akin to being on the beach on a humid day, though with ten times more benefits minus the windswept hair. At home, the Higher Nature Salt Pipe (from Wholefoods) can be used up to t20 minutes a day and is especially effective for chest infections in both children and adults.

WELLNESS INFLAMMAGING Low-level inflammation, now referred to as inflammaging, in the body has been proven to have a huge effect on the ageing process. It occurs at different levels and rates for different people, but it is thought to be the underlying reason behind collagen and elastin breakdown. There is already an abundance of topical applications that concentrate on repair and protection on the market. Chantecaille has been one of the main exponents and their Magnolia, Jasmine & Lily Healing Emulsion or Flower Harmonising Cream, are specifically designed to combat inflammation. Patricia Molloy, owner of The Derma Clinic Blackrock, explains, “New dermatology data indicates that the main cause of skin inflammation is due to both ultra-violet and free radical exposure. We recommend SPF50 to be worn every day and if spending time outdoors to be re-applied every two hours. To protect from free radicals vitamin C at a level of at least ten to 15 per cent will diminish the effect of damage.”

She continues, “Celtic skin is very prone to inflammation due to the lack of natural melanin so it is imperative we protect it, otherwise inflammatory conditions occur such as rosacea, broken veins, sun damage and acne occur.” (www. dermaclinic.ie) REN’s Flash Defence Anti-pollution Mist will protect against free radical damage and can be used over make-up to revive radiance. Elizabeth Arden’s Prevage City Smart SPF50 Hydrating Shield also neutralises the impact of environmental stress. Of course, inflammation can also be caused by an over-indulgence in cosmetic procedures.

“A very important point to remember is that modern day medicine is such a new science that we don’t have all the answers to “how much is too much?” especially when it comes to ablative treatments like lasers and peels,” says Dr Rosemary Coleman, consultant dermatologist with a special interest in aesthetic and laser dermatology at Blackrock Clinic. “I definitely advise my patients against over-lasering their skin. While Retin A cream is a scientifically proven anti-ageing (and anti-skin cancer) treatment, it’s common to those who overuse it having low-grade inflammation, peeling and erythema. I warn them against stripping or insulting their skin with too much inflammation.” It is worth noting inflammation has much a lot to do with nutrition too. Says Dr Coleman, “The skin is the body’s largest detoxifying organ. I notice that patients’ inflammatory skin conditions flare up in the week after Christmas and Easter. Over indulgence in wine (“liquid cake”) and a high sugar diet are contributory factors and possibly nightshaderich diets that include tomatoes, peppers and aubergines.”

SMART BEAUTY We’ve already incorporated gadgets such as the Foreo Luna Go and the Clarisonic Mia Fit into our routine. Early adopters will soon ditch their Mason Pearsons in favour of the Kerastase Hair Coach by L’Oréal (launching this year) a smart brush with an inbuilt microphone that records the sounds of dry, frizzy or breaking hair and aims to teach the user how to brush properly. Remember the talking mirror in Snow White? At the recent BeautyTech Summit held in Las Vegas, one major innovation was the HiMirror – the world’s first smart beauty mirror that takes a photo of your skin, then provides an analysis of superficial flaws such as sun damage, pores and wrinkles, recommending products to fix them. It hasn’t been programmed to tell who is the fairest of them all (yet), but the upgraded model has different environmental settings so you can see how your skin will look throughout the day. It’s an indication of where

KEEP UP! EPIGENETICS: Beauty is going bespoke and leading the way is GeneU who launched U+ a service that reads a consumer’s DNA in 30 minutes to match their skin to specific products. Founder Chris Toumazou is currently working on epigenetic tests, “for people who care about their skin future rather than their skin history”.

DERMA-PLANING: Widely used in Asia to improve the tone and texture of your face.

Theresa Yee, senior beauty editor at trend forecaster WGSN, says, “It gives you an incredible, fresh-faced glow.

In Asia they follow with facial soap rather than cleanser, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the traditional bar makes a comeback here, too.”

MICRO-CHANNELLING: Creates tiny channels in the skin so that active ingredients can be delivered deeper into the dermis layers for better results.

Radara is at the forefront of this trend with their eye patches containing tiny plastic structures that create channels in the skin to deliver pure hyaluronic acid serum.

TELOMERES: They have been compared to the plastic tips on shoelaces, which protect our genetic data from deterioration.

As a cell ages, its telomeres naturally shorten and fray but mental health and lifestyle factors may accelerate the process. Dr Elizabeth Blackburn’s best-seller The Telomere Effect is the seminal read on this subject.

MAGNETIC MASKS: Some of the latest face masks are Dr Lancer’s Younger Revealing Mask Intense and Dr Brandt’s new Magnetight Age-Defier Magnet Mask. These masks contain metal particles, like iron, that can be removed using a magnet. The process of applying the magnet creates a low-grade electromagnetic current that helps with skin rejuvenation.

BONE BROTH: Sober raves and juice crawls have replaced alcohol-fuelled activities. Enter bone broth; the new digestive superfood. This “liquid gold” strengthens the immune system, improving skin and joint care and aiding sleep. Try Sadie’s Kitchen bone broth made by local entrepreneur Sarah Kiely as a replacement for stock in soups, sauces and stews. (www.sadieskitchen.ie)

we’re heading with more and more gadgets that will help us to self-treat and self-educate rather than rely on doctors and other professionals. Stanilaus Vandier, co-founder of Wired Beauty website, believes that future generations, “won’t be relying on a top-down approach, with major brands and beauty consultants telling them what their beauty regime should be.” Wearable technology and data analytics will be the tools of choice to monitor and measure results.

HiSkin users can evaluate the skin on a deeper level, in much the same way as Samsung’s S-Skin tool, though the latter goes one step further using a micro-needle patch that penetrates the skin for more specific readings (of redness, melanin) and then offers LED light settings to rid dark spots. LED Treatments are much in vogue. Dr Coleman explains, “LED light therapy has a role for its antiinflammatory properties but it is labour-intensive. The most frequently used LEDs are red (anti-inflammatory) and blue (anti-bacterials) though there are other coloured lights with different wave-lengths. LEDs are also used in skin cancer treatments, to treat acne and as a photodynamic therapy. Fifteen minutes exposure to a red light can have the same uplifting effect as a short stay on the beach.”

COLOUR CONSULTATIONS La La Land has sparked a reported 44 per cent increase in the sale of the colour yellow since its release. Compound this with new season collections in rainbow hues complemented with bright make-up as seen on the catwalks at Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs, and it amounts to a colour comeback. Rainbow highlights in both hair and on the cheek waver between the so-called mermaid and unicorn looks. It’s all very 1980s with the era’s stalwart companion – Colour Me Beautiful – helping to navigate the trends.

Helen Venables, managing director of House of Colour, says it’s not about wearing bright colours, rather about wearing the right colour. Monaghan-based House of Colour consultant and stylist Maria Mackin can help with

everything from de-cluttering your closet to finding the perfect neutral, as well as choosing the right season (www. houseofcolour.co.uk). She finds that a consultation will often have a huge impact on a client’s mood and confidence.

Coincidentally, you may find tinted crayons at your local beauty counter. They are part of the colour camouflaging trend that uses colour theory to counteract problems. Go green and yellow for redness, purple for sallowness, and battle dark circles with peach and orange.

SUPER SUPPLEMENTS Looking good is moving beyond creams and serums as supplementation becomes more precisely targeted.

Imedeen was a forerunner, which we all took in the hope of looking like brand ambassador Christy Turlington.

Pioneering nutri-ceuticals brand Beauty Beneath is at the vanguard of smart supplements, seeing them as preemptive care to future-proof skin. A good place to start in understanding the benefits is by reading Dr Aileen Burford-Mason’s best-seller Eat Well, Age Better. The renowned immunologist, and graduate of UCD, now living in Canada, explains how the food chain has been stripped of nutrients such as magnesium and selenium, meaning our diet is not as rich as it was. Says Dr Rosemary Coleman, “I do agree with supplementation but advise caution when it comes to quantity and quality. Don’t go into it willy-nilly.”

Potions as well as pills are becoming the norm.“Through my own research I have come to endorse collagen drinks like Dermacoll that have become more refined and therefore effective,” says Dr Coleman. Start making room for Pillo – a robot that dispenses pills when it recognises a user’s face and digital profile. Elizabeth Hancock, a global beauty consultant says that by 2026, “Robots ike these will become part of our home beauty regime, monitoring biofeedback about our hair and skin to 3D print specific beauty pills that address our needs on a particular day.” ^ THE GLOSS MAGAZINE | March 2017 | 35

Cotton mac with marabou feather trim, PRADA. Black fine-gauge wool polo-neck sweater, PRADA. Mykonos pearl drop earrings, THEIA, at Brown Thomas.

INSPIRING WOMEN

She dreamed of being a dancer, but as an actor Lisa Dwan has taken her one-woman Beckett Trilogy from the West End to New York – not bad for a second act. She talks to CATHERINE HEANEY about life on the road, pursuing her dream and coming home to the national stage…

Photographed by CONOR HORGAN

THE GLOSS MAGAZINE | March 2017 | 37

O

INSPIRING WOMEN n a cold Dublin day, Lisa Dwan is busying herself in her temporary home near Baggot Street Bridge. The Athlone-born actress has been back for two months, playing Anna Karenina at the Abbey and rediscovering the city she left 16 years ago. The homecoming has been all the sweeter for being a long time coming: she left partly because, back then, she couldn’t get auditions for serious theatrical roles, being told repeatedly that she was “a TV actress”. So getting the call to play the lead in Marina Carr’s adaptation of the Tolstoy classic was more than just a great part. “They’re inviting me home, I thought.

I couldn’t say no. It was my dream come true.” While in Dublin, she has made a haven for herself in the elegant f lat where she is staying – today a fire blazes in the hearth, the smell of freshly brewed coffee hangs in the air and a washing machine thrums gently in the background. But then, having spent the past three-plus years on the road, Dwan knows all about creating a home wherever she finds herself. “I love making cities my own,” she says, “and one way I do it is to create little meaningful relationships wherever I go. They’re usually with the barista or the newsagent or the stage-door guy – I love being known by people, and knowing others.”

A couple of hours in her company, and you start to understand why. There’s a magnetic quality to Dwan, in person as well as on stage, and her petite dancer’s frame belies a powerful presence, never felt more keenly than when she fixes on you with those huge eyes. Her success, though, was far from overnight and, as she tells it, came about in spite rather than because of her arresting looks. “I’m a blueeyed, blonde, pretty girl and that puts me in a particular box.

You wouldn’t look at me and immediately think “Hmmm … Beckett actor.” It has taken a particular kind of mettle – countless hours of graft and every ounce of that charisma – to get her to where she is today. She herself calls it “defiance”.

Having gone to ballet school, Dwan was on course to become a dancer until injury put paid to her dream. Knowing that she still wanted to perform, she “fell” into acting instead.

“I craved that live experience,” she says. “What happens in a theatre is just so … so… punk rock! I think that it’s the most radical, exciting, dangerous space. It’s my church, and I adore it.”

But it was one that still proved elusive, even after she moved to London. So, like countless actresses before her, she paid the rent by doing a series of day jobs – in publishing, marketing and PR (she launched the Onesie) – until one day, by accident she still believes, she was sent the script of Samuel Beckett’s one-woman play Not I. Famously one of theatre’s most challenging roles, Not I features a spotlit disembodied mouth speaking a monologue “at the speed of thought” and involved Dwan being bolted into a harness and summoning an almost primal voice of virtuoso range, night after night.

Her breakthrough came with a production at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2013, and so began a worldwide theatrical phenomenon: queues around the block for tickets, sold-out houses from New York to Paris to Sydney, and huge critical acclaim. Life changed. She was hailed as the modern face, and voice, of Beckett, with the celebrity admirers to prove it. Baryshnikov turned up to her dressing room in Paris; Nick Cave was in the audience in London; after her shows in Toronto, the singer Feist would take her out to gigs to let her hair down.

It all sounds terribly glamorous, but Dwan is quick to dispel any illusions. “Truthfully, you’re on your own a lot.

When I perform, I squeeze every little cell that’s available to

38 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

Black fine-gauge wool polo-neck sweater, PRADA. Crystal brooch, BEN AMUN, at Brown Thomas.

Green print skirt, Conscious Exclusive, at H&M. Shoes, Dwan’s own.

IN HER OWN WORDS ON HOME LIFE: I do nothing by halves, so when I have a dinner party, it’s OTT and I invite far too many people. And when I’m nesting, it’s apple tart and bone broth and making soups and stews, and lighting candles … I make a home, even though in three days I have to go again.

ON LOOKING AFTER MIND AND BODY: I meditate, I eat healthily, I seek out the good life. When I was in New York, Zadie Smith got me into Soul Cycle, and I turned into a total Soul Cycle addict. When I’m at home in London, I run on Hampstead Heath. My one big indulgence is coffee; I root out really good coffee shops wherever I go.

ON YOUNGER ACTORS: We need to keep opening the doors. All I’m interested in is reaching out to the next generation and saying, “Here, this is what I did, this is how I did it, how can I help you?”

INSPIRING WOMEN me –the audience has it all. It’s an ultimate giving. And you can come back very empty after an experience like that of a night.”

Those lonely moments aside, she is careful to acknowledge the extraordinarily lucky position she finds herself in, and to be grateful for her international circle of friends and the “major gifts” she has had in her life.

One such gift is the f lat she bought a couple of years ago in London’s leafy Hampstead. She had two months to buy, renovate and furnish it between legs of her tour, and even though she hasn’t been able to spend much time there, she says that having a home has been the anchor that has allowed her her strike out. “I don’t think I’d be in the position I’m in now without it. It sounds stupid, but for me to know that somewhere there’s a bed that I have a receipt for – I may not have slept it in for two years, but it’s my bed. And I own a couch, and I own a table. I own utensils!” she laughs.

Still, it doesn’t look as if those utensils will be put to use any time soon: next up she’s back to the US to lecture on Beckett at NYU and Princeton, before returning to Dublin in June to bring her latest production No’s Knife (another Beckett piece that she adapted herself, and performed to mesmerising effect at the Old Vic last year) to the Abbey. She’s also writing a book and developing a new piece. It’s more than the young girl from Athlone, “dreaming out the window of some sort of escape to another life”, could ever have imagined.

But that’s Lisa Dwan all over: determined, defiant, forging ahead, a force. ^ Lisa Dwan will perform No’s Knife at the Abbey Theatre from June 10 2017. Visit www.abbeytheatre.ie for details and tickets.

“I’m a blueeyed, blonde, PRETTY GIRL and that puts me in a particular BOX. You wouldn’t look at me and think Beckett actor.”

Floral print halter-neck dress, DUBLIN VINTAGE FACTORY, 57 Smithfield Square, Dublin 7. White Manoyia leather senakers, IRO, at Seagreen, Monkstown, Co Dublin and Ranelagh, Dublin 6

Above: Multi-colour lace maxi dress, PHILOSOPHY DI LORENZO SERAFINI, at Havana, Donnybrook, Dublin 4. Blue crystal and pearl earrings, ALEXIS BITTAR, at Brown Thomas.

Photographed by Conor Horgan. Assisted by Simon Walsh. Styled by Aislinn Coffey. Hair by Neill Ryan for Brown Sugar. Make-Up by Anna O’Callaghan; annaocallaghan@gmail.com. Shot on location at The Haddington Hotel, 9-12 Haddington Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

THE GLOSS MAGAZINE | March 2017 | 39

FIRST PERSON

S

ix years ago, I gave birth to my third baby. My mum had been with me at the hospital, and as we gazed at my new daughter, we believed all was well with the world.

However, little did we know our world would be turned upside down just four days later. My mum was helping to look after my other two daughters while I recovered in hospital from the C-section and she rang me at tea-time on the Saturday just before she put my girls to bed. As she said goodbye she told me loved me, as she had done most days of my life. It would be the last time she ever said my name. After reading my daughters a story her brain, without warning, just bled away the life she, and all of us, had known. She was rendered immediately and permanently paralysed and brain damaged.

Although she continued to live for the next five and half years, her life effectively ended.

My dad, brother and I were thrown into deep grief and her friends lost a friendship that had warmed their lives for nearly half a century.

We cared for Mum, and I began my “sandwich years”, caught between the responsibilities of caring for her and three young children. For the first year, I spoon-fed both my mum and my baby, changing their nappies and only gauging their feelings through their eyes.

Eventually, balancing the responsibilities became an everyday reality. You live and grieve and do the dishes and feed your children and whole minutes go by, and hours, then days, when you are so busy dealing with the reality of life, the blade of grief stays blunt. Regardless of how you feel, you have to be a mother and a daughter, f licking from grief to dishes, from grief to cuddles, from grief to emails, from grief to laughing with your friends, until grief has woven into the fabric of your life like a thread, stitching all the parts of you together. Thankfully, also stitched into the fabric of my life was the support of my friends.

names, she remembered that she loved them.

When everything else is gone, love remains.

They made me an honorary member of The Girls, treating my girls like grandchildren, showering their love on them on behalf of my mum. I could no longer have her, so my mum’s friends stepped up to help fill the gap she left.

I had often envied that tight unit of friendship. Having moved around the world, I couldn’t imagine such a unit for myself. But then I realised I had gathered friends from many aspects of my life, an army of women who battle alongside me, celebrating my victories and sharing my loss. I don’t have The Girls that meet every Tuesday night. But I have My Women – amazing friends who get me through the day, and make me laugh into the night. A weird and wonderful group of strong and sassy women. And it was to these friends I turned. I had witnessed the power of friendship as the mainstay of my mum’s life, and they have become the mainstay of mine. My friends shone a torch when there was no other light, helped me map-read when the boundaries blurred. As the pull of responsibility drained me of colour, they threw paint splashes on my washed-out canvas. Work provided a space for me to find a creative outlet. Friendship provided a place for me to find an outlet for me. A place where I was not a mother or a wife or a daughter or a writer. A place where I was just me, and loved and appreciated for that.

From the moment my sandwich years began, my friends held the hand that missed my mum’s so much. Having amazing women in my life – Mum’s friends and my own – meant I would be mothered still. I would not have survived the sandwich years without them.

Via The Girls, I was able to see Mum not just as a wife and mother but as a person who was loved because of who she was, not what she was. I want my daughters to see that they are loved by the family they are born into and the one that they will form, but that they will also be loved by the family they create for themselves, with friends. And if they see me as a person, not just a mother, they will know that despite all the labels they may have in life, they will always be themselves first.

Just as my mum’s friends became my family, so my close friends are my children’s family. They will be there for them when my girls can’t (or won’t) speak to me. They will mother them alongside me, because they are the sisters I would have chosen and the family I have created.

My sandwich years were the toughest of my life, learning to care for the person who had cared for me the most, and trying not to get stretched so thin by everyone’s needs that I disappeared. Mum died in my arms a year ago, and as I gave the eulogy at her funeral I looked out at the crowd, and felt the wave of love from her friends and my friends, joined together for Mum and for me. It is only with such support that we can survive life’s difficult times. ^ Alana Kirk is author of The Sandwich Years, published by Hachette Ireland, V8.99.

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

When ALANA KIRK’s mother suffered a stroke that left her paralysed, it was her support network that proved invaluable and inspired her to write a moving celebration of maternal love

I learned many lessons from my mum over the years, but the importance of building UNSHAKEABLE FRIENDSHIPS was one of the most important.

I learned many lessons from my mum over the years, but the importance of building unshakeable friendships was one of the most important.

When I was young, I would look forward to Tuesday nights when “The Girls” met. The Girls consisted of my Mum and her closest friends who had found each other as they started out in married life, weaving in and out of each other’s houses and knitting their lives together. These Girls became Mum’s family, and as a result, mine. I called each Auntie and was loved by each. The Girls continued to meet every other Tuesday 40 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

night for over 40 years, and during that epic epoch of sisterhood, they laughed and loved and lamented through every conceivable experience together – marriages, divorces, affairs, children growing, children dying, children getting married, children getting divorced, grandchildren, health scares, financial ruin. It was a soap opera without the credits.

When it was Mum’s turn to host, I would wait up until they all arrived in a f lurry of perfume and blue eye-shadow, and would sit on the stairs and listen to howls of laughter through the lounge door. Sometimes it went quiet, and perhaps those were the times when hushed words of comfort were being handed out with the biscuits. The Girls, by this time all in their 70s, continued to meet right up until my mum’s stroke.

Ringing to tell them the news was devastating. I don’t think I understood the depth of their friendship, or the responsibility they would take upon themselves to help us care for Mum. They were a constant presence in our lives as we cared for her, and in a funny way they still met as The Girls, coming to sit with Mum every other Monday Kirk’s night to allow my Dad to go out mother with “The Boys” (average age, Pat with grand83.) They would do her hair and daughter paint her nails, bringing her Poppy. presents and love. She had no memories to go along with their faces, but her face lit up when she saw them and although she couldn’t remember their

HANDCRAFTED LUXURY

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BUSINESS NEWS

MAKING IT HAPPEN Backing women business leaders

FRESH THINKING

TIME TO TALK ABOUT MARZIPAN AND GLASS CHAIRS?

T

alent and hard work will out. That’s the meritocratic belief that motivates most of us in our careers. There is, fortunately, good reason to believe it. In just a generation, Irish women have rolled back the frontiers and risen to the highest positions in male-dominated worlds. It is no longer exceptional to see a successful woman in any walk of life, and why should it be?

That is, of course, until we look at gender balance in Irish boardrooms.

Almost ten years ago, I wrote an article that pondered why many talented female executives found their careers stalled two tiers below board level (the “marzipan” level) or what is globally recognised as C Suite-1.

I questioned why talented and successful women were not being invited to bring their knowledge and leadership to the boardroom table? Shattering the glass ceiling entirely might take time, but for glass chairs to sit empty simply made no sense.

In the decade that followed, we went through and have just about recovered from, a global and national economic calamity. Groupthink at the very highest level was a key culprit. The solution, welcomed at the highest levels, was diversity of thought, experience and gender. Boardrooms would never again be strongholds of constricted, hegemonic thinking. So why does it still feel as though we haven’t

moved on at all? When a recent survey from international research think-tank Catalyst finds that just ten per cent of ISEQ board directors are women, isn’t this an indication that we are still only paying lip service to diversity? I know from working with high-profile Irish and international clients that businesses work really hard to embrace the concept of diversity. They do so out of enlightened self-interest: there is overwhelming evidence of the value it brings to any organisation. So perhaps it is just a case of waiting a little longer? As the talent pool grows, won’t the percentage of female board members grow with it?

Personally, I don’t subscribe to this view. Companies need to be corporate champions. This means looking beyond the obvious and into areas where women are making vital contributions – academia, creative industries, healthcare, tech, consumer, law, NGO and community sectors – and, yes, disciplines such as law and finance too.

Let’s hope that, in ten years time, if I am writing about marzipan and glass chairs, the article will appear in the baking or interior decorating section or, even better, I may have added the role of globetrotting food critic to my CV. Ruth Curran is Managing Partner of MERC Partners, Global Chair of IIC Partners and on the Diversity Committee of AESC.

42 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

With exports the primary Julie Sinnamon driver of economic success, it’s not surprising that export success remains high on Enterprise Ireland CEO JULIE SINNAMON’s agenda for 2017, with EIsupported companies having achieved the ¤20 billion in exports mark for the first time in 2016.

Also with her eye on overseas potential, is TARA MC CARTHY, a leader in the agri-food industry for 20 years and who recently took up the role of chief executive at Bord Bia. A graduate of NUIG and UCD, and recipient of the Tara McCarthy NUIG Alumni Award 2017 for Business & Commerce, her target is to drive exports to ¤19 billion by 2025.

A world leader in medical technology, services and solutions, Medtronic plc, headquartered in Dublin, is also one of Ireland’s biggest exporters, ranked – along with Microsoft, Google, Apple and Smurfit Kappa among others – in the top ten in the TOP 250 Exporters 2015 report, Bronwyn Brophy produced by the Irish Exporter Association and specialist bank Investec. BRONWYN BROPHY leads Medtronic’s Early Technologies division for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

BOARDS WATCH

THE TALENT SPOT STEPHANIE MEADOW, INVESTEC Irish Olympian golfer, 25-year-old Stephanie Meadow, is the latest sports personality to join Investec’s prestigious stable of sponsorships.

The business of sport is gathering momentum; currently corporate sponsorship is estimated at c100m but it’s climbing fast. Supporting competitive athletes demonstrates good corporate responsibility and, as female athletes increase in influence and affluence, carefully-targeted partnerships are enabling brands to reach niche consumer groups, making this potentially a golden era for expanding traditional sponsorship models.

IN THE NEWS

LEARNING TO TAKE THE LEAD Ireland report MÁIRE GEOGHEGHAN-QUINN stressed the importance of possessing hard facts (“where constraining assumptions are relentlessly tackled by data”) in underpinning the effort to proactively empower women to realise their full potential. “One of the most interesting findings of this report commissioned by the group, is that in Ireland more women tend to be in executive director roles in companies where the CEO is female, by comparison with those where the CEO is male. This suggests the need for female role models and mentors. One of the speakers at the 30% Club Ireland event, LADY BARBARA JUDGE, the first female chairman of the Institute of Directors in the UK, stated that one of her key priorities in this role was to open doors for women to become chief executives. With a long and distinguished career in law and banking behind her, and reportedly “the best connected woman in Britain”, for every board Judge serves on, her stated In

a

recent

30%

Club

policy is to place at least one other woman, though preferably three, on the same board. “One woman is an oddity, two is ok – but at three you’re not “women” rather it’s just “people”, and once you’re just people the dynamic changes.” On the need for mentoring, she is an advocate for ambitious women having a supportive group from which to seek wise counsel; “Everyone needs their own board of directors.” The difference between mentors and sponsors, Judge clarifies as, “Mentors talk to you, sponsors talk about you.” On women wanting to be CEOs, she stresses the importance of instilling self-belief at an early age; “Women who study maths earn one third more than those that don’t.” On the influence of her mother on her career, when Judge said she wanted to be an actor, the “only acting I was allowed to do was in front of a jury.” Lady Barbara Judge

Miller Brothers Stone, Charvey Lane, Rathnew, Co. Wicklow | T: 0404 32222 | sales@millerbros.ie | www.millerbros.ie

It’s time to update your everyday look – with a dress. Here’s our seven-day guide to getting it right Photographed by DAYMION MARDEL | Styled by LUIS RODRIGUEZ

SENSIBLE SANDALS Dress down an embellished dress with casual sandals.

Surprisingly chic and polished, the flatform will be your SS17 summer staple.

Black silk satin wrap dress with velcro closure, d3,900; black and white Crisscross leather and rubber platform slingback sandals, d542; all PRADA. Black calfskin flap bag with Dior signature in aged silver, d2,550, CHRISTIAN DIOR. Silver Spiral earrings, price on request, ALTUZARRA.

LAYER UP Team your dress with a T-shirt and loafers for an effortless, casual look.

Green silk midi dress with panels and pleating, price on request, BOSS HUGO BOSS. Blush short-sleeved T-shirt, Boutique, d34, TOPSHOP. Beige cotton trench coat with oversized pockets, d175, & OTHER STORIES. Powder pink Le Pliage Héritage leather bag, d710, LONGCHAMP. Silver Nautilus watch, price on request, PATEK PHILIPPE at Boodles, 71 Grafton Street, Dublin2.

Jewellery, model’s own.

BOMBER RAID A voluminous puffer jacket contrasts with the defined silhouette of a bodycon dress Black jersey mix dress with transparent bodice panel, d475, MAX MARA. Black cropped puffer jacket, Ivy Park, d140, TOPSHOP. Black beaded leather platform sandals with velcro closure and canvas straps, d850, VERSACE. Silver Nautilus stainless steel watch, price on request, PATEK PHILIPPE, as before.

LOW DOWN Keep your hemlines demure.

Wear a dress with spring boots, as seen at the runway, or with a pair of ballet flats.

Cinnamon cotton trench coat, Limited Edition, d110, MARKS & SPENCER. Nude Peony three-tier embroidered dress, d3,050, SIMONE ROCHA. Nude cotton mix knitted pants, d800, CHRISTIAN DIOR. Pink satin ballet shoes with velvet ankle ties, d25.95, ZARA. Red and black colour block leather tote bag, Carolyn Donnelly The Edit, d99, DUNNES STORES. On model’s right arm: Gold Tiffany T square bracelet, d6,200, Tiffany & Co. On model’s left arm: Black East West two-hand leather and stainless steel watch, d4,250; Gold Tiffany T chain bracelets, d6,650 each; all TIFFANY & CO. Rings, model’s own.

ALL WHITE Fall in love with white from head to toe. Wear yours with a utilitarian coat during the day, switching for something embellished for evening.

Off-white Cavalcadour Morning print technical silk knit dress, price on request; black calfskin belt, d1,100; both HERMĂˆS. Beige Christopher wool and cotton coat, d840, ALC; www.alcltd. com. Deep brown saffiano and nylon bucket bag, d49.95, ZARA. White Crisscross polyester and patent leather wedge slingback sandals, d542, PRADA. Silver Oyster Perpetual stainless steel watch, d5,350, ROLEX, at Weir & Sons, 96-99 Grafton Street, Dublin 2. Rings, model’s own.

SHIRTING THE ISSUE The classic shirtdress is this spring’s wardrobe essential.

Layer yours with a great shirt or a fine-gauge knit.

Blue and white striped cotton shirt with tie sleeves, d22.95, ZARA. Blue Dreamy Oxford cotton striped shirt dress with embroidery detail, d165, GANT RUGGER; www.gant.co.uk. Yellow Toupet horsehair and butter calfskin bag, d7,900, HERMÈS. Light blue mineral stretch nappa lambskin pull-on sneakers, d720, CÉLINE. Jewellery, model’s own.

Photographed by Daymion Mardel.

Styled by Luis Rodriguez. Assisted

by Alexander Boutin.

Make-up by Brian Duprey at Judy Casey for MAC. Cosmetics. Hair by Hervé at Sarah Laird for Davines.

Prop styling by Anthony Asaro and Kendyll Legier at Art Department.

SPRING TWEED The ultimate fabric for spring? Light tweed makes the transition easy.

Light blue floral silk midi dress with ruched sleeves, d1,222, TIBI. Multi-coloured tweed jacket, d5,285; white and silver printed baseball cap, d703; white and gold Fantasy glass pearl belt, d5,045; all CHANEL. Burgundy appliqué Dinky bag, Coach 1941, similar styles from d650, COACH. White Medusa zip-detail sneakers, d425, STELLA MC CARTNEY.

FASHION

TENDENCIES

Need a cultural fix? PENNY McCORMICK previews four fabulous fashion exhibitions

MICHAEL KORS

WHAT TO SEE: As New York’s most exclusive social event, an invitation to the Met Gala is coveted in fashion circles. Former Vogue staffer and gala organiser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff (now stylist to Melania Trump), has said of the selection process “No money, no come-y”.

This year’s co-chairs are Pharell Williams, Katy Perry and Anna Wintour and the gala officially opens the Costume Institute’s Spring Exhibition: Rei Kawakubo and the Art of the In-between (May 4 – September 4, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York; www.metmuseum. org). Featuring 120 examples of Kawakubo’s designs for Comme des Garcons, dating from her first Paris runway show in 1981 to her most recent collection, the exhibition is in keeping with Kawakubo’s design ethos of challenging ideas about fashion.

Says Kawakubo, “The modes of expression that have always been important to me are fusion, imbalance, elimination, and absence of intent.” Do visit the Gucci-commissioned mural by illustrator Jayde Fish in the heart of Soho on Lafayette Street. Complete your fashion fix with a visit to Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern at Brooklyn

WEAR WHERE: COCKTAILS AT BEAUTY & ESSEX

Black lace-trimmed camisole, c24.99, H&M. Brushed gold necklace, c45, COS. Black Antigona pochette with red detail, Givenchy, c420, Brown Thomas.

52 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

WHAT TO READ: Beauty editor, and enfant terrible Cat Marnell charts her drug addiction and career as a columnist in How To Murder Your Life (Ebury Press).

covers. There’s still time to catch the mixed media show Hair:

by Sam McKnight at Somerset N O House until March 12. Do D LON earmark the V&A’s blockbuster exhibition Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion opening on May 27. The exhibition marks the centenary of the opening of Balenciaga’s first fashion house in San Sebastian.

It will feature iconic pieces and trace the courturier’s influence on fashion designers from Molly Goddard to Simone Rocha and JW Anderson among others.

WHERE TO STAY: Flirty florals, savvy colours, French windows and well-groomed rooms all combine in the exquisite townhouse that Number 16 is NUMBER 16 (12 Sumner WHAT TO SEE: I admit to following Place, Kensington; www.firmdalehotels. princess.diana.forever on Instagram (135k com). Co-owned by Kit Kemp, it’s an ideal followers) and in this the 20th year after base for culture and shopping and with her death, be prepared for some poignant only 42 rooms and exquisite décor it feels memorials. Diana: Her Fashion Story traces more like the home of a flamboyant relation her style evolution from demure romantic than an actual hotel. Nearby are the looks to the chic Catherine Walker outfits fashionable eateries of The Ivy Chelsea that made up Diana’s working wardrobe Garden (195-197 King’s Road) and of the 1990s. Highlights include the Daphne’s (112 Draycott Avenue).

Victor Edelstein gown worn to the Check out Ralph Lauren’s new White House when Diana danced café on Regent Street. As with John Travolta, while fashion an alternative flop and drop, sketches by her favourite designers THE LIMETREE HOTEL (135 explore their close relationships. The Ebury Street) is that oxymoron; exhibition at Kensington Palace is a lovely, budget-friendly B&B complemented by a special garden in Belgravia perfectly poised for some chic shopping inspired by the Princess’s life, image in neighbouring Elizabeth and style – with a palette of tulips, Street. Invest in some jeans by narcissii and a carpet of forget-me-nots. guru Donna Ida, treat yourself Synonymous with Diana’s short, slickedto Jo Loves Red Truffle 21 and back hairstyle is Sam McKnight, who in then book Santini (29 Ebury Street) addition to travelling with the Princess, for supper. has chalked up an impressive 190 Vogue SIMONE ROCHA

NEWK YOR

Museum where O’Keeffe’s wardrobe rather than her flower paintings are the focus, with photographs by Leibovitz, Cecil Beaton and Andy Warhol (200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn; www.brooklynmuseum.org, from May 3 - July 23). For film fans Adrian: Hollywood and Beyond will appeal with designs from legendary costumer Gilbert Adrian whose clients included Katherine Hepburn, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo (Fashion Institute of Technology; www. fitnyc.edu/museum).

WHERE TO STAY: The LUDLOW HOTEL belongs to hotelier Sean Macpherson whose portfolio of soigné addresses includes The Bowery and The Jane. It’s a cathedral of cool with an industrial vibe; the lobby décor being defined as “Trustafarian meets Miss Havisham”.

Rooms, though small, offer amazing views.

(180 Ludlow Street, New York 10002; www.ludlowhotel.com). Do book Beauty & Essex for brunch or dinner. Its quirky oneoff pieces and art complement a tasty menu (146 Essex Street, New York 10002).

ROGER SMITH HOTEL is pitch perfect for midtown shopping putting you within a bagel-throw of Fifth Avenue boutiques and the Rockefeller Center (501 Lexington Avenue, New York 10017, www.rogersmith. com). New England décor, an in-house art gallery and rooftop bar are some of the creative touches. Pick up Booth Moore’s Where Stylist’s Shop (Regan Arts) for insider help, though drugstore shopping is my favourite activity. Stock up on Marc Jacobs Beauty, Courtney Somer’s Lake & Skye oil blends and Dr Dennis Gross’s Alpha Beta Glow Pads.

Roger Smith Hotel

WEAR WHERE: LUNCH AT DAPHNE’S

Light pink oversized trench coat, c100, River Island. NARSissist Unfiltered II cheek palette, NARS, c45, Brown Thomas. Grey court shoes with ties, c29.99, H&M.

WHAT TO READ: Defiance: The Life and Choices of Lady Barnard

by Stephen Taylor (Faber & Faber) recounts the love life of the Georgian socialite two centuries ahead of her time.

Hotel Fabric

Hotel de Witte Lie

ERP

Cire Trudon) combine with vintage objets all lovingly sourced at neighbouring brocantes by hotelier Pierre Moussie’s wife Elodie.

Breakfast on your balcony (room service is the same price as the bar) and the inhouse brasserie is clubby and sympa. Within walking distance for dining are the elegant Brasserie Barbès (2 Boulevard Barbes) and Le Mary Celeste (I rue Commines), while Merci concept store (Boulevard Beaumarchais) and one of the many Première Pression Provence are good for present shopping. Where Hôtel Providence is dark and mysterious, HÔTEL FABRIC a good value, fun and colourful boutique hotel housed in a former textile factory in the heart of the Oberkampt (31, rue de la Folie Mericourt, 75011, Paris; www.hotelfabric. com). Its 33 rooms are all different, combining industrial elements and patterns with an à la carte menu of facilities that includes a hammam, mini-spa and sports therapist. Its location is an easy walk to the Marais and Canal St Martin and very close to the Popincourt market.

I’ll stock up on Mariages Frères tea, a stripey tee at Maison Labiche (24, rue de Poitou) and some A313 Vitamin A pommade and David Mallet’s hair serum.

A trip to Caudalie’s Marais boutique also yields a spa upstairs (8 rue des Francs Bourgeois). In the Haut Marais, Christophe Lemaire’s boutique (28 rue de Poitou) gives good browsing.

LOUIS VUITTON

WEAR WHERE: CLUBBING AT SILENCIO

Ardente Rouge Allure Luminous lip colour, Chanel, c34, Debenhams. Black sculpted cotton blazer, c145, & Other Stories. Gold and silver Icon stud earrings, Marc Jacobs, c50, Brown Thomas.

WHAT TO READ: The End of Eddy by Édouard Louis (Harvill Secker) is a vivid account about homophobia. Less confronting is Jojo Moyes Paris for One and Other Stories (Penguin Michael).

WHAT TO SEE: Although Martin Margiela retreated from the fashion world eight years ago his influence on many contemporary designers is undeniable.

With a predilection for deconstruction, he was anointed as the “true protagonist” of fashion week (AW2016-7), reason enough for MoMu, one of Antwerp’s shrines of chic, to showcase his masterpieces. The exhibition Margiela – The Hermès Years looks at the daring marriage between Margiela and the Parisian powerhouse that began in 1997, raising a few eyebrows, with the remit of breathing new life into the brand. During his six-year tenure as artistic director, Margiela’s designs for the Hermès woman were about timeless luxury in a monochrome colour palette. Once you’re up to speed on his designs do investigate the other members of the famous “Belgium Six”, two of whom – Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester – live in Antwerp and may be spotted on the streets. Other designers Dirk Van Saene, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Marina Yee all received their diploma from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp.

WHERE TO STAY: The bijou ROOM NATIONAL (Nationalestraat 24; www. roomnational.com) comprising only two suites and one large double bedroom, is next door to the MoMu and close to the Modepaleis flagship store of Dries Van Noten, so it couldn’t be more convenient to the fashion district. BOULEVARD LEOPOLD (Belgielei 135, www.boulevardleopld.com) is another central B&B with three individually-decorated rooms that also has an apartment suitable for families or longer stays. As for boutique hotels – take your pick from the minimalist hideaway HOTEL JULIEN (Korte Nieuwstraat 24;

www.hotel-julien.com) that has an excellent spa or the gloriously creative HOTEL DE WITTE LIE (Keizerstraat 16; www.dewittelelie.be) – each room has wallpaper more lovely than the next, with Bisazza tiling in bathrooms.

It’s hard not to have fun in Antwerp, though that might have something to do with the waffles and white beer, as well as its accessibility for first-time visitors.

Get your bearings and indulge in some people watching at Verso Café (Lange Gasthuisstraat 9) before enjoying the niche fragrance and fashion remit of Verso itself; an institution in Antwerp. Bourla is another favourite vantage point for savouring the street style (Graanmarkt 7) and its neighbour Graanmarkt 13 is a onestop shop for coffee and shopping. Fancy a light lunch? Then the organic bistro Native (Muntstraat 8) is for you, while for dinner The Jane (Paradaplein 1) or Dome (Grotehonstraat 2) are both dress-to-impress Michelin-starred restaurants. As for shopping, Christian Wijnants flagship store (Steenhouwersvest 36) is definitely worth a look as it unites his love of art, nature and design as is Coccodrillo for shoes (Schuttershofstraat 9) and Labels Inc for recent and vintage designer pieces as well as designer samples (Aalmoezenierstraat 3a).

The Diamond District that built the city is ten minutes away by tram, not forgetting the many museums. For classicists, Rubens House is a must-see (Wapper 9-11). ^

WEAR WHERE: COFFEE AT VERSO

Black Dani studded mules, c175, Michael Kors, Dundrum Town Centre. Black one-shoulder silk frill top, Marques Almeida, c460, Brown Thomas. Grey rubberised leather folded shoulder bag, c135, COS.

WHAT TO READ: Apart from Georges Simenon, Antwerp born Jeroen Olyslaeger’s bestselling Will is set during WWII. Lize Spit’s It Melts, about childhood in a small village, has been translated.

THE GLOSS MAGAZINE | March 2017 | 53

DRIES VAN NOTEN

ANTW

PARIS

WHAT TO SEE: While the rue du Bac remains my favourite haunt in Paris, it’s good to discover some new districts and museums. One such gem is Musée Bourdelle, filled with works collected by sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, in a leafy setting. Having hosted a special retrospective of Madame Grès in 2011, it’s the setting for Balenciaga, L’oeuvre au noir (March 8 – July 16, Musée Bourdelle, 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle, Paris 75015).

Celebrating the alchemist of haute couture, as the title suggests, black had spiritual underpinnings in Cristóbal Balenciaga’s work and was more than a colour. He saw black simultaneously as vibrant, opaque, transparent, matte and shiny, transforming it into his signature shapes; the barrel line, the balloon, the semi-fitted, the tunic dress and the sack dress. Juxtaposed with the statues on display this monochromatic collection of dresses and accessories forms part of a complete Spanish season this year.

Habits aux couleurs de L’Espagne at Maison Victor Hugo (21 June – 24 September) and Mariano Fortuny at the Palais Galliera (October 7– January 7). If visiting Musée Bourdelle, combine with a visit to the Sunday Montparnasse art market.

WHERE TO STAY: The HÔTEL PROVIDENCE is tucked in a quiet corner of NorMa (a portmanteau of the North Marais) as the locals call it. And this address is a treasure trove. House of Hackney wallpaper, Madeleine Castaing carpets, mosaic tiling and bathroom products

by Ramdane Touhami (of

FASHION

R

AH

HALLI WE

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Buffet

THI S M O NT H

WE’RE USING ...

SIMONE ROCHA

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BEAUTY

SMALL PLEASURES

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here’s always something appealing about a mini beauty buy. If you travel regularly, or like to always have your favourite things with you, size does matter. Who can resist TOM FORD’s cute Lips & Boys lipsticks, for example, or a neat travel-size mascara? With perfume, particularly, it’s ideal to be able to try out small samples until you’re sure you really love something.

If you too are whimsical about scent and don’t want to confine yourself to just one, it’s the way forward. Giant bottles of fragrance are all very luxurious, but a tad impractical — if you adore a perfume, you never want to be without it. This is all a way of justifying the cost-per-wear of CHANEL’s justlaunched limited edition set of the Les Exclusifs fragrances (c280). Each one is a perfect symphony of scent, and now you can wear a different one each day according to your mood — fresh Gardenia for daytime, perhaps, with a hint of smokey, sultry Coromandel at night. The set of 15 mini bottles is supremely collectable. The stylish LOUIS VUITTON fragrance collection is cleverly bottled in travel-friendly 100ml bottles, adding instant glamour to your plastic bag. Along the same lines is JO MALONE LONDON’s premium line, Cologne Intense, and seven of these are now available in smaller bottles (c90, 50ml) so you can have your favourite with you at all times; from April the popular Rare Teas collection will also slim down in size to 75ml; they’re currently in whopping 175ml bottles that look wonderful on a dressing table. From this summer, ARMANI/PRIVÉ launches smaller bottles of some of its bestsellers, including Rose Pivoine. Other goodto-go scents are its 30ml ROGER & GALLET bottles, which you can grab at the airport as you go: the brand quietly works with excellent perfumers, so you get great Chanel Les Exclusifs bang for your buck. Pack them all into a Discovery Set VICTORIA GREEN beauty bag – large enough for all our ever-growing list of essentials, waterproof and hangable, they’re widely available and really good value for money; from c18.99, at pharmacies; www. victoriagreen.co.uk.

54 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

MATTE LIPS Super-matte lipsticks continue to grab all the attention on the beauty desk: who could ignore LANCÔME’s Matte Shakers (right), the decideldy grown-up version of their Juicy Shakers? These are pocket rockets of full-on colour to zip on at whim. c19.50. And NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils are the height of matte artistry. We love the 28 unpredictable shades, including raisin-brown Dirty Mind; the names, all inspired by Prince songs; and the formula, which is creamy yet long-lasting. c26.50. We’re also drawn to the new breed of squeezy tubes of lip colour inspired by art shops – try BOBBI BROWN’s Art Stick Liquid Lip (c27, in 16 shades), and MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Acrylip (c22). They’re just what lip colour should be – fun as well as fabulous.

DEEP CLEAN Since Japanese brand SHU UEMURTA left Ireland a few years ago, I’ve had panicked emails from Cleansing Oil devotees trying to track it down. While Selfridges in London still stocks some Shu, the US website, www.shuuemurausa.com, is now your best bet. Alternatives we recommend include L’OCCITANE’s gentle Shea Butter Cleasning Oil (c20), and KIEHL’S silky new Midnight Recovery Botanical Cleansing Oil (c32), lightweight and lovely, with evening primrose and lavender.

RAISE YOUR HAIR GAME A pre-shampoo treatment? Really? We had doubts too.

It has taken us, frankly, months to remember to use Kérastase Resistance Soin Premier Thérapiste (c25) before shampooing, and with some reluctance – the last thing we need is another layer of grooming in the morning. However, we have to admit it’s one of very few things that make a difference to our wayward hair. If yours is battered from over-colouring, styling and general angst, this is excellent for smoothing and brightening, making it feel like you had a pro blowdry.

Especially good for fine hair, instead of weighing it down with conditioner.

TAKE 3: LASHES

� � 3

Our tester raves about L’ORÉAL PARIS False Lash Superstar Mascara, c16.95, a two-ended volumising and lengthening formula that lifts and fills to impressive effect.

We also rate ELIZABETH ARDEN Lasting Impression mascara, c26. Mascaras are something Arden do extremely well, and this one gives lush lashes; we like the soft brown shade for spring.

YSL The Shock mascara, c33, is a volumising formula with a wider brush to ensure maximum lashes: this is your new evening out essential.

ART OF BEAUTY Brown Thomas ventures into exciting new pastures next month with the opening of the Beauty Lounge, a standalone salon on Clarendon Street, directly behind the Grafton Street store, bringing us early-morning blowdrys plus manis, pedis and brow treatments. It’s set to make going from work to play a whole lot easier, and more glamorous. Also check out the Brown Thomas spring event, Art of Beauty, which sees international make-up artists and experts visiting all stores throughout the month.

And there are plenty of delicious new launches to make our hearts beat faster, from the return of the glorious VICTORIA BECKHAM

X

ESTÉE LAUDER collection, to CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN’s first eye collection, and CHARLOTTE TILBURY’s new face masks.

BEAUTY THIS MONTH WE’RE WEARING ...

CHANEL’s Rouge Coco Gloss reinvents the humble lip gloss and makes it magnificent. In 24 delicious shades, from Burnt Sugar to Melted Honey, they glide on with a chunkier sponge applicator, and remain silkily in place without stickiness, even on the windiest Irish day. Try the lip-changing top coats to transform any lip colour. Genius. c30.

TREND SPOT ...

SIMONE ROCHA

Fashionable erogenous zones vary each fashion week, but the current focal point is hard to miss: on every red carpet during awards season, plunging necklines revealed expanses of décollétage that go far beyond the chest area, as seen on Emma Stone in plunging Chanel at the BAFTAs, and Nicole Kidman and Beyoncé at the Grammys.

Beauty routines clearly now extend far below the face. While Hollywood stars have a retinue of surgeons at their disposal, such daring necklines are a good reminder to moisturise from the neck down as well as up: SISLEY is particularly good at potions for the neck and chest; try Restorative Body Cream, which makes your skin smell gorgeous as well as smoothing it. A soothing, fast-absorbing oil will also do the job: we always return to BARE CHIC SKIN’s Glistening Body Oil (c55): it’s pure and glossy and made in Galway; www.barechicskin.com.

PEACH IS THE WORD Whether you call it coral, apricot or cinammon, there are distinct shades of orange warming the season’s beauty looks, as seen at the Erdem show, where cinammon-warm lipstick was used on lips, cheeks and eyes. We’re battling with memories of wearing bright mandarin lipstick in the ‘1980s (complete with tangerine eyeshadow and vast orange earrings ...) but we’re trying to move on and embrace peachy shades such as Tom Ford’s Cheek Colour in Love Lust (above, c60), as they’re really flattering.

T

NATURAL SELECTION

here’s no mistaking the new focus on natural in beauty right now: more and more launches that land on the beauty desk feature ingredients lists filled with superfoods, from honey and kale to berries, all claiming to have life-giving, skin-smoothing properties.

The appeal of organic and “free-from” is getting broader. According to research commissioned by the Organic Trade Board, under-35s are the “most engaged and active” organic consumers, moving away from chemicals and silicones and looking for things that are pure, but that work. A caution: always read the small print to ensure things are as pure as they look to be: if silicones are high up the list, it’s not particularly natural. Try doing a beauty bag “detox”. Tried-and-trusted names like Burt’s Bees and Trilogy endure for a reason. We’re also delighted to see a broader offering in terms of natural fragrance. If you’re trying to cut down the chemicals, toxins and synthetics in your life, here’s a hotlist of naturally beautiful items:

THE SKINCARE Honey is having a moment as a skincare ingredient. We have a soft spot for Burt’s Bees: its Hydrating Lip Balm with Coconut & Pear (c3.95) is pleasingly cheap and cheerful; their new Intense Hydration skincare range, with clary sage, is under c20. Try also Egyptian Magic All Purpose Skin Cream (available at Boots.ie, c39.99), with honey and bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis. www.egyptianmagic.com

THE TREATS

THE MOODENHANCERS Aveda’s cult Blue Oil is now called Cooling Oil Balancing Concentrate, and it’s entirely naturally derived,with organic peppermint and blue chamomile. Use as a calming massage oil, footbath or on pulse points throughout the day. c34.50, from March 28 at salons and stores. Neom’s first fragrance Energy Burst eau de parfum is all about its effects on body and mind: its lemon, grapefruit and mint notes are uplifting clean and energising, and it’s all natural. c59, at www.neomorganics.com.

House of Intuition’s Bath Bag (c11) is a nifty collection of bits and pieces for a detoxifying bath; handy for travel, too. At www.thisisbeautymart.com.

Prismologie Green Epoch Bath Oil with Vetiver and Jade smells as good as it looks, and makes the most mundane bathroom a place of luxury. c50 at www.beautymart.com

THE DAILY ESSENTIAL

THE FRAGRANCES

THE SHOP

Travel-friendly Jo Browne Natural Solid Perfumes are made in Carlow using organic beeswax, with three female and two male fragrances, from c24 at www.jobrowne. com. The Acorelle collection of nine organic fragrances, developed with perfumers in Grasse, is popular in its native France.

This entirely natural, certified organic range of perfumes highlights the different qualities of essential oils.

From c15 for a roll-on.

At www.vclaire.ie

Discover Danish brand Badeanstalten, Estonian herbal brand Dr Konopka’s and Ella + Mila chemical-free nail polish at Skinfull Affairs, recently arrived in Dublin, stocking intriguing natural and environmentally aware brands from around the world that are currently under the radar.

Treatments on offer include YonKa facials (from c25), manicures, brow threading and tinting (all from c15). 34 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2. www.skinfullaffairs.ie ^

Dr Hauschka Facial Toner, c27.45. Ideal for men and women (soothing after shaving). Keep this oil-free tonic on your desk to revitalise skin skin during the day. www.drh.ie.

THE GLOSS MAGAZINE | March 2017 | 55

BEAUTY

A BREATH REATH OF

Artist Quentin Jones, designer of the Izia campaign

The scent of flowers, everyday and exotic, are replacing the sugary, spicy scents of the last two years, writes SARAH HALLIWELL

We’re returning to the great outdoors. For too long, sugar and spice has dominated the perfume aisles – it’s time to spring-clean your scent wardrobe. The finest “noses” are turning to gardens for inspiration, and the results are dazzling; the equivalent of choosing one beautifully made leather bag rather than a cupboard-full of pale imitations.

FRÉDÉRIC MALLE’s new Superstitious (at Brown Thomas from April) is a collaboration with designer Alber Elbaz, who was adamant he didn’t want anything sweet: “Alber said, ‘Today, everyone eats nothing but smells like cake’,” Malle tells us. “People always want to smell of something they’re not allowed; in the 1970s it was opium.”

Malle and master perfumer Dominique Ropion have continually delivered symphonic florals that hit heady new heights: if you’ve ever breathed in Portrait of a Lady or Carnal Flower, you’ll know what we mean. Superstitious is Ropion’s follow-up to Portrait, and it’s the most exciting perfume launch of the year. “It’s made using the kind of architecture we don’t use any more, because it’s very expensive to make and it takes a very good perfumer to make it,” explains Malle. “Alber’s dresses are classical, elegant, and so I wanted something like that. The woman always comes first when she wears an Alber dress.“ Gloriously grand and all-embracing, in the style of classics like No 5 and Arpège, Supersititious captures the smell of a dress and the body’s warmth. Its natural lavish floral accord, a profusion of jasmine essence and ylang ylang, is contrasted with feisty aldehydes “like a metallic dagger”, on a strongly vetiver base with a touch of patchouli and plenty of amber and labdanum: “It’s very floral and a very rich perfume,” notes Malle.

SISLEY’s Izia (see far right) brings to life the rose garden of the d’Ornano family’s Loire Valley home, just as Chanel perfumers have drawn on Coco’s holiday home, Bel Respiro, and Christian Dior was inspired by his elegant From top: Jo Malone Blue Hyacinth and Garden Lilies; Clarins Eau des Jardins; Kilian's Playing with the Devil; Frédéric Malle's Superstitious.

56 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

Provençal garden, La Colle Noire. Aerin Lauder’s elegant cologne collection (c160 each, at Brown Thomas) conjures up a variety of gardens, including her grandmother Estée’s beach-side garden on Long Island, filled with white roses.

“My earliest memories are related to scent. I remember walking into my grandmother’s house always to be greeted by a large arrangement of fragrant white flowers – often roses or tuberose. Each fragrance embodies my love of roses in a different way.” Bamboo Rose conjures up the formal gardens in Japan, also a source of inspiration for Kilian Hennessy, for his KILIAN perfumes (including Playing with the Devil, below left, c205 at Brown Thomas): “I went to Kyoto 15 years ago and I still have the very vivid memory of its karesansui [dry rock gardens],” says Hennessy.

“There is a minimalist yet very rich aesthetic in these gardens that continue to resonate with me today.”

“It's very expensive to make and it takes a VERY GOOD PERFUMER to make it.”

As so-called “niche” perfumes become more widely available, we’re getting to smell floral scents that truly defy expectations: ROJA DOVE’s wonderful peppery Rose, and uncompromisingly luxurious Lily Pour Femme (c300, at Parfumarija, Dublin), are two cases in point.

The Bloomsbury Set’s country retreat, Charleston House in Sussex, was the starting point for JO MALONE LONDON’s spring collection. The six fragrances include Leather & Artemisia, and Tobacco & Mandarin, along with Blue Hyacinth and Garden Lilies (top left, c56). In the hands of perfumer Yann Vasnier, these humble flowers are elevated and made elegantly complex: Vasnier is behind many of the stunning Arquiste scents (available at Parfumarija) and Tom Ford Private Blends such as Santal Blush … (we’ll skip over a 2012 scent he signed called Donald Trump Success

by Trump).

The best florals aren’t necessarily madly expensive. In CLARINS Eau Dynamisante (c42) celebrating its 30th anniversary, orange, coriander, caraway, Amalfi lemon, petitgrain and rosemary lend a spicy twist to the carnation note while limited edition Eau des Jardins (c42) is resonates with green leaves, wild rose and organic beech. There’s never been a better time to do an olfactory detox ...

LA VIE EN ROSE Sisley’s new signature scent Izia is the new signature scent of Countess Isabelle d’Ornano (Izia is the Polish diminutive for Isabelle and how the Polish-born co-founder of Sisley has always signed her personal correspondence). The inspiration – the delectably scented rose that grows in the garden the Countess created at her family home in the Loire valley, where she planted cedar trees, hydrangeas, honeysuckle, wisteria and these roses, sheltered by the cedars. Over time, their label faded, their variety now forgotten. The pink d’Ornano rose blooms for two weeks in late May, unfurling gold-flecked petals to reveal its golden heart and release its distinctive, heady scent.

Isabelle d’Ornano sent a bouquet of these unopened roses with their stems wrapped in damp newspaper to renowned French nose Amandine Clerc-Marie, and asked her to reinterpret their unique scent as a fragrance.

The result is far from a single-note rose fragrance: Izia is complex and sophisticated, opening with the sparkling freshness of white bergamot, freesia and tea, accentuated by the lemon notes of pink peppercorns. It develops into a sensual heart of pear, jasmine, peony and lily-of-the-valley, with green angelica adding leafy nuances to the mix.

Its lingeringly musky amber base is accompanied by the woody warmth of cedar. Izia is a deeply personal and individual creation – this unique rose blooms at a specific moment in a specific place – with a distinctive and elusive scent.

Izia’s pink and gold tinted bottle was sculpted in glass by Polish artist Bronisław Krzysztof while British artist Quentin Jones created the dynamic campaign visuals. Sisley has always been wholly a family affair, so who better to represent the modern face of Izia than Isabelle d’Ornano’s ravishingly beautiful red-haired grand-niece, Sonia. Izia, from ¤81.

JEAN GROGAN

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BOOKS BEDSIDE TABLE

MANUSCRIPT, INTERRUPTED

What is SARAH DUNANT reading?

“I

f you are going to be unhappy, be unhappy in Paris,” is one of the best pieces of advice I have ever been given. This wisdom came at a time when I was in much need of a fresh perspective. For the past five years, I had been living it up as a PR girl in London, discussing Versace with Tara Palmer-Tomkinson at the Cabaret Club, nibbling canapés with Joan Collins and Simon Callow at the Savoy, having my aura read

by Pat Cash and sipping cocktails at the Landmark with Dr Thomas Stuttaford of The Times. The candle was burning at both ends but I was thriving.

However, when my father died at home in Ireland following a short illness, I found myself at a crossroads that I had heard about but never really believed existed. It was my own Bermuda Triangle.

I remember standing on St Martin’s Lane, utterly stricken by grief. It was the time for solitude, or as some call it, “a personal sabbatical”.

So, why Paris? Why not? There I could coach myself back into the positive frame of mind that I was so used to. But what would I do there? I had no clue, and yet I knew I was on the right track when I arrived at the sweetest (postage stamp-sized) apartment on rue Saint Dominique, a whisper’s breath from the Eiffel Tower. It was there, at a small wooden table in the bright yellow kitchen, that I began to write The Inheritance.

I hadn’t planned the book. It just happened. Writing away sadness and daydreaming plot lines as I pedalled my old fashioned high nellie bicycle around the beautiful

I arrived at the sweetest APARTMENT on rue Saint Dominique, a whisper's breath from the EIFFEL TOWER. streets of Paris. Slowly my inner happiness returned, proving to me that affirmative, uplifting surroundings do increase your chance of rediscovering genuine contentment and brighter possibilities.

My book is about an Irish girl, Anna Rose, who goes to work in London for the fabulous “PR Queen” Gilda Winterbottom. At an absurdly opulent party hosted by the Hollywood actress, Sofia Tamper, Anna meets George Wyndham, a dashing art dealer and heir to his ancestral estate in Scotland. Anna and George very quickly fall in love only to find themselves cornered into an impossible 58 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

PHOTOGRAPH BY SUKI STUART

Conceived in Paris over a decade ago, Ally Bunbury's debut novel merges her high-flying career experiences in PR with childhood memories of life in Co Monaghan

situation involving the ravishing but utterly spoilt Sofia, and with his inheritance under threat, George is forced to make a terrible choice. The story takes place in London, Paris, Ireland, Scotland and LA, so there were quite a lot of mental air miles involved! I merged my experience of the PR scene with my memories of growing up in an old rectory in Co Monaghan amid rolling drumlins, and my mind often wandered there while writing the book, which I wrote over a long period of time. When I returned to Ireland from Paris, I met [writer and historian] Turtle Bunbury — and fell in love — it was my turn for a true romance. We married and soon our darling daughters arrived. Ten years later, I came up for air and decided that it was time to take hold of my identity once more. And so my book was conceived in Paris but not actually born until this year. Finishing it brought an enormous sense of closure about the loss of my father, even after so long, and though it is entirely a work of fiction, I have much to thank The Inheritance for. ^ Bunbury’s debut novel, The Inheritance (Poolbeg, d16.99) is out now. www.allybunbury.com

Historical novelist Sarah Dunant (The Birth of Venus, Blood and Beauty) describes the rise of the Borgia family, led by brilliant, unscrupulous Cesare Borgia, bringing vividly alive 16th-century Rome and Florence. Enter Niccolò Machiavelli, a young diplomat fascinated by Cesare, and we witness history in the making. Virago, C19.99.

THE RELIC MASTER by Christopher Buckley With American political reality satirising itself, comic writer Christopher Buckley backflips into the past with this exuberant novel on relic fever in 16th-century Germany.

It's a smart, tart tale of relic master, Dismas, careering across Europe with the artist Dürer (brilliant, vain, competitive), to substitute the “real” shroud of Jesus with a fake one by Dürer.

A timely reminder that avarice, corruption, and barefaced lies remain constants in history, I see Trump’s orange thatch as a future relic.

Simon and Schuster, C14.50.

THE PRINCE by Machiavelli.

This little book sits by my bed because whatever the news, Machiavelli always has something to say. Recently I got to know him better while writing my latest novel and found him to be quiver-sharp, wickedly funny and with a keen eye for the ladies. His achievement was to see power for what it was and describe its successes and failures. He wrote the book in exile after a coup in Florence. He never got his job back but we got The Prince instead.

Penguin Classics, C8.99.

THE BIG SLEEP AND OTHER NOVELS by Raymond Chandler I became hooked on the character of Philip Marlow as a teenager; that irresistibly laconic voice of the white knight private eye on the mean, sprawling streets of 1940s Los Angeles.

When I can’t sleep at night, the wit of Chandler’s style and his razor-sharp plotting still works its magic. One gripe. I still don’t quite know who killed the chauffeur in The Big Sleep. If you think you know the answer, let me know. Otherwise just lie back and enjoy every word of it.

Penguin Modern Classics. C14.99.

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COOKING AND BAKING

VACUUM CLEANERS

LAUNDRY

DISHWASHERS

COFFEE MACHINES

REFRIGERATION

WINE

I

nnovative winemakers are a bit like surfers. When conditions are f lat calm they’re nowhere to be seen.

Then come ripples building into breakers and before you know it, a massive wave is being ridden so skilfully by a bunch of daredevils that it takes your breath away. That’s the state of play in South African wine right now.

“This new movement has been steadily gaining momentum for the past six or seven years,” says Dr Éilís Cryan whose Galwaybased company Kinnegar Wines has become Ireland’s leading importer of the Cape’s best bottles. “It’s incredibly exciting.”

The young guns have changed the focus and f lavour of South African wine. Whereas traditionally the industry developed around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, they first seized on Swartland, a hot region to the north associated mainly with bulk wine, to show what they could do. A 2010 symposium, “The Swartland Revolution”, generated so much enthusiasm that before long young winemakers from other parts of the Cape were joining in.

Rather than work with the popular international varieties that have dominated South African production – Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot – they experiment with less familiar material, often concocting fascinating blends.

Semillon, Muscat, Roussanne and Viognier are favoured white grapes alongside the Cape’s undervalued glory, Chenin Blanc.

THIS WONDERFUL LITTLE PLACE ...FLOREN C E

Since his student days KIERAN O’BOYLE, head of Bonhams, Ireland, has been drawn to Florence where he discovered Cantinetta Antinori

F

or the last 20 years, Florence has been like a long distance friend of mine; familiar yet exotic, and always a pleasure to see. I first visited this magnificent Renaissance city in 1997, during my first year in college. I had a typical student experience and ended up working in the San Lorenzo market selling leather jackets and handbags to tourists, scraping together enough lire to have a good time, while meeting people from all walks of life. The backdrop to this summer job was the city’s architecture, sculptures and large piazzas. The history of art books I had been reading in UCD were vividly brought to life; I was in awe and it captured a piece of me.

Since then, I’ve returned often and was fortunate to have an extended sojourn when I studied portrait 60 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

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painting in oils at The Florence Academy of Art in 2008. The academy teaches classical methods of painting in the realist tradition. Visiting the studio every day while connecting with the methods of Old Masters in those surroundings will always be a treasured experience. Nowadays, I only have time to fingerpaint with my daughter, Emily, and son, Oisín.

Because so much of Florence is pedestrianised, it’s the perfect size to enjoy on foot. I remember ambling through narrow, cobblestone streets and looking up at apartments where open windows revealed original frescoes on the ceilings. A 20-minute walk from the Ponte Vecchio, past the Pitti Palace, finds you out in the hilly, Tuscan countryside, away from the bustle. My preferred sanctuary is the Boboli Gardens – they are vast – offering great views of the city and plenty of spots to relax in the shade, on a warm summer’s day.

It might seem odd to say about such a beautiful city, but some of my best memories of it are in the dark! The prominent buildings and monuments are lit up at night, adding a sense of drama. My favourite trip was with my wife when we were newlyweds. We loved strolling by the Arno in the evenings, crossing the Ponte Vecchio, getting lost in the network of narrow streets, and happening upon typically understated, yet exceptional,

EY

South Africa’s new wave of winemakers are creating new flavours and fascinating blends that impress MARY DOWEY

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CAPE CRUSADERS

Y M A RY EB D Newly-appreciated red grapes include IN Cinsault, Grenache, Tinta Barroca and Mourvèdre while interest is maintained in more widely planted Syrah and South Africa’s longstanding red speciality, Pinotage.

Who are these mavericks? Too numerous now to list in full but there’s no doubt winemakers like Eben Sadie, Adi Badenhorst, Chris Alheit and Chris and Andrea Mullineux have been particularly inf luential. Rosa Kruger, a viticulturalist travelling around the Cape to seek out abandoned vineyards whose old vines yield magnificently concentrated f lavours, is also a key figure in South Africa’s new wave.

“The newcomers are well educated, widely travelled and open-minded”, says Éilís Cryan. “Some have been mentored by top winemakers while working in established estates where they’ve been allowed to run their own small projects as a sideline until they’re ready to set up on their own.” Most don’t own any vineyards, preferring to source high-quality grapes from the best terroirs. They work on a small scale in a low-tech way, often following organic or biodynamic practices and intervening minimally in the vinification process.

This hotbed of innovation has produced heaps of individualistic wines, infinitely more memorable than most of the South African offerings on supermarket shelves.

They’re more expensive, admittedly, but then quality rarely comes cheap. Look out for them in the best specialist wine shops as well as many leading restaurants including Chapter One, Patrick Guilbaud, Forest Avenue and Ely wine bars.

One last thing. The Greatest Cape, a revelatory tasting which brought half a dozen trailblazers to Dublin last September, is due to return later this year. Catch it if you can. ^ @MaryDowey

AA BADENHORST SECATEURS CHENIN BLANC, SWARTLAND 2015.

This well-priced white has fresh pear flavours and a creamy texture. Delicious with light, fruity first courses.

Alcohol 13.5%. www.jnwine. com; Corkscrew, Dublin 2; Whelehans, Loughlinstown; 64 Wines, Glasthule; Dicey Reillys, Ballyshannon, 015.

BOTANICA CHENIN BLANC, CITRUSDAL MOUNTAIN 2013. Ginny Povall’s stylish Chenin is layered, rich and poised. Pair with pork roast with pears or a pumpkin risotto. Alcohol 14%. www. mitchellandson.com, Mitchell & Son CHQ, Dublin 1, Clontarf Wines, Dublin 3; Redmonds, Dublin 6; www.kinnegar.com, 029.90.

TIM MARTIN HITCH MOURVÈDRE, SWARTLAND 2015. Ex-financier Tim Martin’s is an accomplished newcomer. Deep in colour, flavour and concentration, Hitch will shine with a hearty stew. Alcohol 13.5%. www. wineonline.ie; Corkscrew, Dublin 2; Clontarf Wines, Dublin 3; Baggot St Wines, Dublin 4; 029.99.

Florence as seen from the Boboli Gardens.

Right: Cantinetta Antinori.

restaurants that never failed to serve delicious food. Or the city’s enoteche – wine bars – serving tasting platters of cheese, salami and cold cuts. Traditionally, Florentine cuisine is defined by its quality ingredients and simple execution. A particularly memorable find was when we wandered off Piazza Santa Maria Novella and came across Cantinetta Antinori (Piazza Antinori 3, 50123), a small intimate restaurant, in an historic 14th-century setting. We ordered everything the waiter recommended and it did not disappoint. The food was amazing, complemented by a wine list that reflects the Antinori family’s prowess. They have been making wine for over 600 years. ^ Bonhams’ jewellery experts will be in Dublin on March 9 and Belfast, March 16, providing complimentary valuations.

FO

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FOOD D ES

EIN E

PURPLE REIGN? As a former self-confessed foodista, Trish Deseine now

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BY T R I S H

prefers fabulous ingredients to fashionable trends

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y name is Trish and I’m a foodista.

At least I used to be, or perhaps I am just kidding myself and I really am still irrevocably addicted to the frantic trendspotting side of food culture. “Foodista”, a mix of food and fashionista, was a term my French ELLE editor used to describe me when my Little Black Dress and Other Recipes was published.

It is a cookbook where the recipe chapters follow the structure of our wardrobes – classics, accessories and, of course, the little black dress, or the timeless dish that always makes you look good. For keen cooks, cooking repertoire as fashion wardrobe is a metaphor which still rings true, only now what we cook has become just as revealing of our style and our identity as what we wear.

In France at the start of the noughties, before the grip of the internet took hold, I had a headstart on the future foodie hordes. Cooking was considered antifeminist and my frowning Parisian girlfriends saw my love of food and cooking not only as excessive but as the ultimate sister letdown. But I was a working mum with the luxury of childcare, hardly chained to my stove in a f lowery pinny, with baby on my hip, making pot au feu all day. Cooking was my passion, not drudgery, and their snooty disapproval merely left me even freer to indulge my obsession with finding the latest exotic ingredient to arrive at Selfridges, Harrods or La Grande Épicerie du Bon Marché. Back then it was London and New York inf luencing consumers in Paris, so I was naturally tuned in to everything interesting happening there, as well as rejoicing in French chefs’ creations at home.

These days it is impossible to keep up, let alone cook with everything “new”, especially as new in Dublin will bear no resemblance to the latest fad in Tokyo, Paris – or even Galway. We might taste intriguing fashionable ingredients on restaurant menus, but do they ever make it onto the shelves of our local shops or the stands at our farmers’ markets? This is where the buyers behind some of our best-loved food shops feeding Irish foodista habits come in, and thank heavens for those foodie dreammakers. Fallon & Byrne lead the charge, with the satisfying labyrinth of high shelves in their beautiful Dublin store, crammed with the most enticing and inspiring packets, boxes, tins and bottles. You feel you could get lost for hours in there, notebook in hand, blissfully making up dishes and menus. Avoca also offers a nicely curated collection of cult and latest brands and I love snooping about Sheridan’s

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEIRDRE ROONEY

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PURPLE POTATO CHIPS AND POWDER

A little patience is required here. Make sure you don’t have your oven too hot and keep an eye on proceedings.

For 4 • 300 – 400g purple potatoes • Salt and pepper 1. Peel and steam the potatoes. Mash them to a fine purée and leave to cool.

2. Heat the oven to 90˚C. Spread the potato purée thinly over a silicone sheet and leave to dry and harden in the low oven for about two hours. By this time it should be crisp and dry. Do check in on it as ovens vary.

3. Remove from the oven, season with salt and pepper and break into strips for nibbling or blitz in a mini blender for powder to use in the recipe below, left.

in Galway, Rua in Westport and Arcadia in Belfast. But my favourite is Ardkeen Quality Food Stores in Waterford, where pantry ingredients from around the world sit side by side with an impressive range of Irish produce.

This year, among the usual f lood of food trend articles, it was predicted somewhere that purple food would be “big” in Ireland.

Certainly part of the good food news last year was the arrival on the scene of Maria Flynn’s Ballymakenny Farm heritage potatoes, including the spectacular purple variety “Violetta”.

Not only is their colour fabulous, but their firm texture and slight nutty taste are good too (find them at Fallon & Byrne). So, as a nod to the trend, here are some rather cheffy purple potato recipes which should immediately turn you into a willing 2017 food fashion victim, wow your lucky guests and perhaps even score you a few likes on the old Instagram. ^ @TrishDeseine

MONKFISH WITH PURPLE POTATO POWDER, PRESERVED LEMON AND PURSLANE

This recipe is a home cook version of one I watched demo-ed by Italian chef Riccardo Camanini many moons ago in Paris where purple potatoes have been around for quite a few years! Although the potato paper takes a while to make, the assembly of the dish is pretty simple. If you feel it needs a few carbs, you could always steam some rice to accompany.

For 4 (30 minutes preparation; 20 minutes cooking) • 4 pieces of monkfish • 4 small handfuls of purslane • Edible flowers or beetroot shoots for garnishing • Olive oil • Potato powder (see above right) • Salt and pepper

mayonnaise. Wash and spin the purslane and reserve both.

For the lemon emulsion • 1 egg yolk, • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil • 1 tablespoon preserved lemon purée

3. Spread some lemon emulsion in a stripe on the plates, place the purslane on top and decorate with the flowers.

1. Make the lemon emulsion; mix the egg with the lemon then whisk in the oil as for a

4. Take fish, rub in a little oil and rub with potato powder on a flat dish.

2. Heat the oven to 200˚C. Season the fish, place on baking parchment on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked through but still firm to the touch.

3

VIOLETTAS WITH THINLY SLICED SPICED BEEF AND MELTED DURRUS ÓG

Violettas are so ridiculously pretty – purple inside and out – that you really do not need to faff around with them much at all. In this raclette-style dish, the deep wine colour of the spiced beef looks lovely with the steamed spuds and gooey melted Durrus. Serve this as a cute weekday supper for friends, with pickles and a big fresh salad on the side.

Bask in the compliments!

For 4 • 1kg violetta potatoes, scrubbed, steamed • 75g butter • 1 Durrus Óg • 10 thin slices of pastrami or spiced beef.

1. Heat the oven to 180˚C. 2. Crush the potatoes with the butter and put into an ovenproof dish.

Tear the beef into pieces and press it into the potatoes here and there.

Slice the cheese and lay over the top.

3. Cook until the cheese is bubbling, remove from the oven and serve immediately.

THE GLOSS MAGAZINE | March 2017 | 61

LADY LUCK

Vanessa Seward’s fashion credentials are as impeccable as her ready-to-wear collections.

PENNY McCORMICK talks to the designer about living in Paris, working with Karl Lagerfeld and Tom Ford and why her Latin heritage informs her wardrobe choices

“I now have four stores,” says Vanessa Seward, 46, proudly as I catch up with her on the day her new Notting Hill store opens. “Et me voilà à Londres,” she giggles and continues in a mix of English and French, “It’s exciting. The store has been designed by the same architect as all my stores – Laurent Deroo – he’s very talented. I knew him from my time at APC, however he has adapted his aesthetic with my own.” The result is a sleek marriage of stone and wood with brass lighting; the brand’s signature midnight blue colour prevails. Cushions and hangings are reminiscent of Argentinian gaucho sashes – a nod to her family origins, and the music has been selected by her husband, the producer and composer Bertrand Burgalat. She has two stores in Paris and one in Los Angeles and her designs can be found at Seagreen, Monkstown. “Retro modern” is how I would describe the look as well as the clothing. Seward's designs are worn by the likes of Drew Barrymore, Julie Delphy and Léa Seydoux; women of character with a wardrobe that signals their non“fashion victim” status. Self-deprecatingly, Seward emphasises her good fortune frequently though her enviable career success is the culmination of an impeccable design trajectory and a personal style evolution that began at home.

Her mother’s obsession with fashion clearly nurtured Seward’s vision.

As the wife of a diplomat she was forever going to parties in an assortment of Gina Fratini and Ossie Clark dresses that left a lasting impression.

“Even if my mother definitely gave me the basics and a love of glamour, I have two older sisters as well. We were all into watching golden oldie films – it was our thing,” says Seward about her peripatetic childhood spent between bases in Argentina, London and Paris. Her father was the Argentinian ambassador to London and she attended a convent school in St John’s Wood. “My mother spent her life at the hairdresser – she lived to go out and my sisters and I were in total admiration of her.” Scroll through Seward's Instagram account [24K followers] and the seventies predominate, with vintage images of Jerry Hall, Sylvia Kristel and Charlie’s Angels providing a glimpse of her other style icons.

62 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

This Glossy Life PROUD OWNER Seward outside her Los Angeles store on Melrose Place, West Hollywood.

THIS GLOSSY LIFE

It’s no surprise that Seward rebelled sartorially against her strict convent uniform and, in her teenage years, column inches were dedicated to her flamboyant clubbing style which she has admitted was to detract from her innate shyness. She decided to parlay her personal style and interest in fashion into a career and after studying at Studio Berçot in Paris she joined the accessories department of Chanel, though at the time she would have preferred a cooler brand such as Martine Sitbon. “I worked with Karl Lagerfeld when I was 21. He was a really great boss – so nice with all his team yet so busy at the same time,” Seward reminisces. “At that time he was designing across four houses – Fendi, Chanel, Chloé and Karl Lagerfeld. He just seemed so quick and witty. When I think about it, I didn’t realise how lucky I was and took it for granted.” By night she frequented Les Bains Douches and Le Palace and by day she was kept busy (it was the era of the Supermodels). “There were 200 outfits per show and piles of accessories. You didn't think too much about prices when you were working on something. But I think I was a bit dazed – I thought it was normal to see Anna Wintour all the time.”

Lucky break number two was her next job. After nine years she crossed rue Gambon for le rive gauche. Seward went to Yves Saint Laurent, at the time under the direction of Tom Ford. “I was with him for three years and he was very impressive – very smart, good looking and it wasn’t the same as Chanel. It was the beginning of marketing in fashion,” reflects Seward. “Chanel wasn’t commercial and there was no marketing department, whereas at Yves Saint Laurent all that existed. Tom was already working like that so I saw a completely new aspect and it was the first time.

His aesthetic was sexy, perhaps overly so, but it was strong and brought another perspective.” Lucky break three was when she took the reins of the couture label Azzaro, [known for its 1970s-style eveningwear], as artistic director when the founder died in 2003. “Azzaro was my most important formative experience. It was my first time at the helm.

What I loved is that I learned all about a flattering way to cut – I don’t like too many details unless they are necessary,” she says enthusiastically. “I care about the cut – it makes the difference. I learned about tricks to make legs look longer and waists smaller. There were ten commandments used for every fitting.”

64 | March 2017 | THE GLOSS MAGAZINE

SEWARD STYLECATIONS LONDON: The Connaught; it’s gorgeous and I love staying there (1 Carlos Place, Mayfair, London).

PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON GLASSER

SEWARD'S STYLE Clockwise from right: Streetstyle heavy-hitter and fashion influencer Natalie Joos wearing the iconic "Poppy" dress. Seward with her husband, Bertrand Burgalat. Seward with her mother and sisters, featured in Madame Figaro by Marian Dupuis. Seward, in the window of her Paris store, wearing her lucky shamrock dress.

Images from Seward's instagram account; @vanessaseward

From couture she was drawn to contemporary styling; collaborating with the APC founder Jean Touitou and helping to define the brand’s appeal – described as the sweet spot between cool and hip. Launching her own label seemed an inevitable progression though Seward admits she was hesitant. “I discussed my plan to launch with Jean Touitou and we really studied the gap in the market.” That being what she defines as a sensible price point (average cost ¤400) and classic designs. “We’re not cheap but we’re cheaper than luxury labels and what I like is the quality; it’s intelligent luxury as we don’t compromise on quality, production or style.” She also admits that she would not have taken the step without the support of Touitou.

“Obviously I don’t have the same team as at Chanel but I am very fortunate to share the resources of APC – their workshop, production and scheduling. It has alleviated many of the stresses associated with a new label. Without them I don’t think I would have gone solo.” Again Seward is conscious of her good fortune. “I’m lucky that I am not like other designers who perhaps are stuck with brands and wishing to launch their own label. I am not bound to other houses and need someone like LVMH to invest in me. I am not going to leave VS (how she refers to her label) this is my final post and I want it to be a success.” The latter seems assured; Carine Roitfeld was one of her first fans when she debuted two years ago, and family support has been invaluable. “My husband is very involved; he doesn’t compromise in his own work and he helps me with my battles. When you are creating a brand it’s important to forge an identity and he has been there to keep that strength. He

IN MY MAKE-UP BAG LAURA MERCIER tinted moisturiser; I put it on with her sponges ◆ LAURA MERCIER eyebrow brush ◆ LAURA MERCIER crème cheek colour ◆ SHU UMERA powder compact; I like it as it comes with an incorporated brush which makes application very easy ◆ DIOR Show Iconic mascara ◆ SISLEY transparent tinted lipstick ◆ CHANEL eyeshadow 14 Mystic Eyes and ebony eye pencil.

PARIS: Le Rouquet Café on Boulevard SaintGermain. It’s opposite my store and we had our opening party there. It’s very 1950s and I adore the decoration (188 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75007 Paris).

LOS ANGELES: I always stay at the Sunset Tower; as a "golden oldies" film fan it’s one of my favourite haunts (8358 Sunset Boulevard, 90069).

ARGENTINA: In Buenos Aires, the Edificio Kavanagh is a 1930s Art Deco masterpiece. has great taste, of course, and I do like a man’s point of view – perhaps that’s my Latin side coming out. I sometimes feel in fashion as if we dress for ourselves and others in that world, while those outside don’t really understand it.” This pragmatic approach is also mixed with a flirty perspective.

If Tory Burch has distilled waspy American style (and also had a strong maternal influence), Seward offers us nostalgic Parisian classics with a hint of sexiness. “After 35 years in Paris I am completely assimilated. I have travelled a lot but I am that thing everyone wants to be –Parisian.”

Living in the 17th arrondissement, she makes no apologies for saying, “I like it when your husband or partner finds you seductive. For this reason I like a man’s point of view. There is no point in investing in a piece if your partner is not going to like it. Clothes should make you feel confident and sexy.”

This season’s offering is a case in point. In the mix are peasant dresses, crocheted caftans, chambray button-down shirts worn with denim culottes and wearable shorts paired with patriotic, striped sweaters. “I want my clothes to be timeless. My inspiration was the Riviera and the same silhouettes as Bardot and Birkin wore. St Tropez of the 60s and 70s was on my moodboard. The clogs probably come from summers I spend in the Pyrenées. I wanted easy glamour – the mix of the long dress and the basket – it can be broken down.” Yes, it’s eminently wearable while the handmade baskets are the result of a collaboration with artisan Jason Glasser with whom she worked at APC. As for her own wardrobe, she admits, “It’s a reflection of my brand.

I don’t change my wardrobe each season – I keep things, bring them out but wear them in a different way.” Staples include, “A trench, a pair of high-heeled boots for winter and sandals for summer which are comfortable, and a flattering pair of high-waisted jeans (one of her signatures).” While she tells me her beauty essentials are “lipstick, mascara and eye brow brush.”

Finally, I ask Seward about my favourite design – the shamrock dress and its inspiration. “Yes, it’s from my first collection,” says Seward. “I’m superstitious and I thought the print was so beautiful. It’s funny it wasn’t an obvious choice but I wanted it for luck. We didn’t order that many and so it sold out in two minutes as it was worn on many French actresses and was featured in lots of magazines as being emblematic of the collection.” That Seward might have had some Irish luck to help her is a romantic notion though fans will be glad to hear the print is making a comeback. “All I can say is that we are bringing it back for the autumn/winter collection but in a different colour way.” I’ll see you in the queue ladies. ^ Vanessa Seward is at Seagreen, Monkstown.

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