The Gloss September 2016

AUTUMN ARTS BASHES / FRENCH FANCIES / FEELING EXPOSED / LIP SERVICE / HOW TO DRESS NOW / FOOD, WINE & BOOKS

MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016

with THE IR

ISH TIMES

EXCLUSIVE FASHION INTERVIEWS ELLE MACPHERSON VICTORIA BECKHAM CHRISTINE NAGEL

HOLLYWOOD to KILDARE THE MAKING OF A WORLD-CLASS MUSEUM

THE BIG

FASHION ISSUE

NEW SEASON TREND REPORT + STYLE AT EVERY AGE + WHAT BUYERS ARE BUYING

PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRUCE WEBER

CHANEL BROWN THOMAS, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN 2

www.chanel.com

CHANEL BROWN THOMAS, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN 2

www.chanel.com

Black turtle-neck wool sweater; black textured splitfront skirt; both COS. Rose and black oversized wool coat, EMILIA WICKSTEAD. Grey suede mules with black tassels, JIMMY CHOO.

NEXT ISSUE

THURSDAY OCTOBER 6

INSIDE THIS ISSUE 12 HUNTING & GATHERING This month we're embracing bold sophistication in eye-catching red

16 THE LOWDOWN Need-to-knows in beauty, dining, culture and fashion

24 MOODBOARD Susan Zelouf is stripping off to reveal what's underneath

26 MY GLOSSY WEEKEND Hermès master perfumer Christine Nagel escapes

52 FIRST PERSON One woman's poignant tale of battling the baby blues PU B L IS H E R

58 FASHION

50 AN EXCHANGE OF VIEWS A baby boomer and a millennial compare lives

B E AU TY E DITO R

Chanel's No5 remix, luxury beauty and backstage

SA RA H H A L L I W E L L ART E DITO R

trends from LFW

L AU RA K E N N Y ASS ISTANT E DITO R – FE ATU RE S

72 LET'S DO LUNCH

SA RA H B R E E N

Prolific novelist Jennifer Johnston shares her childhood memories over crab in Cavistons

essential trends this autumn

into their wardrobes

STY L E E DITO R

AISLINN COFFEY

68 BEAUTY BUFFET

Velvet, animal print and

incorporate autumn's key trends

E DITO R

SA RA H M C D O N N E L L

season's statement pieces

30 HOW TO DRESS NOW

Four chic Irish women

JA N E M C D O N N E L L

Go big or go home with this

Paris for rural Normandy

38 NEW SEASON, NEW CLOTHES

SEPTEMBER ����

H A N NA H P O P H A M ASS ISTANT E DITO R

SA RA H G E RAG H T Y ADVE RTIS ING SAL E S DIRE CTO R

T RAC Y O R M I STO N

75 FOOD

ON THE COVER

Trish Deseine on how French women do the food shop in style

Black, white and red double-breasted coat with gold buttons, Louis Vuitton. Black polo-neck sweater, Carolyn Donnelly The Edit at Dunnes Stores. Stainless steel Nautilus watch, Patek Philippe at Weir & Sons.

76 THIS WONDERFUL LITTLE PLACE Elle Macpherson's favourite Sydney restaurant

78 THIS GLOSSY LIFE How Marilyn Monroe became the catalyst for an Irish museum

8 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

ASS ISTANT E DITO R

STAY IN TOUCH Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @theglossmag for around-the-clock glossy updates, or like THE GLOSS Magazine on Facebook. Find daily updates on our website, www.thegloss.ie, and visit www.lookthebusiness.ie for our latest business events, career and style advice.

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CO N TRIB UTIN G EDITO RS

Polly Devlin, Noreen Hall, Antonia Hart, Catherine Heaney, Penny McCormick, Aoife O’Brien, Peter O’Brien, Therese Quinn, Luis Rodriguez, Natasha Sherling CO N TRIB UTIN G PH OTO G RA PH ERS

Michael Dwornik, Neil Gavin, Renato Ghiazza, Olivia Graham, Neil Hurley, Lisa Loftus, Barry McCall, Joanne Murphy, Liam Murphy, Amelia Stein, Suki Stuart THE GLOSS welcomes letters from readers, emailed to letters@thegloss.ie. THE GLOSS is published by Gloss Publications Ltd, The Courtyard, 40 Main Street, Blackrock, Co Dublin, 01 275 5130. Subscriptions Hotline: 01 275 5130.

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ER B M E T SEP

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Nodels at FASHION WEEK ... dogs as DESIGNER MUSES ... fruit is the new FLOWERS ... and Kate Moss’s GREEN THUMB ...

ashion month has commenced! If you don’t recognise many of the models on the catwalks, don’t worry. There’s now a tendency on and off the catwalk for “nodels” – aka civilians who emphasise the clothes or location instead (see Net-a-Porter’s ad campaign that presents five fresh faces in Soho New York). This, it seems, is normcore taken a bit further.

A DOG’S LIFE: Neville, Marc Jacobs’ bull terrier, at home in Architectural Digest.

   Catwalks, meanwhile, are increasingly competitive design creations in their own right. Witness the recent SS17 collections. Dior Homme’s featured a looping rollercoaster studded with lights, while Prada plumped for sloping mesh ramps with psychedelic colours. How to top Louis Vuitton and NICOLAS GHESQUIÈRE for using the backdrop of OSCAR NIEMEYER’s Niteroi museum in Rio for their Cruise collection? All eyes will be on KARL LAGERFELD’s bi-annual transformation of the Grand Palais in Paris (last season it was an airport) as well as TOMMY HILFIGER whose epic presentations at the Armory New York are always crowdpleasers. Last season he transformed it into a cruise ship (The Hilfiger Line) reminiscent of the Titanic ...    Responsible for many iconic catwalk styles and haircuts, momentum is gathering for “Hair by SAM Mc Knight” the major exhibition at Somerset House from November. When McKnight’s not snipping, he’s snapping photographs of his garden for Instagram (@sammcknight1) where his love of horticulture is noted. His blog is a must for fashion addicts: he told The Telegraph he always sends KATE MOSS bulbs for Christmas and a camellia for her birthday.

She’s also an avid gardener. Who knew?    Proof perhaps that the pinnacle of fashion is a lonely business … the number of designers who use their pets as muses. CAROLINA HERRERA has dedicated a bag and a print to her toy poodle Casper, ANNA DELLA RUSSO credited Cucciolina her minpin as inspiration for her H&M collaboration, while GRACE CODDINGTON dedicated a chapter to her Persian feline friends (Pumpkin, Bart and Blanket) in Grace: A Memoir and also wrote The Catwalk Cats. Karl Lagerfeld’s Choupette has starred in a car campaign and Shu Uemura collaboration. Meanwhile, Neville is a cover star on this month’s Architectural Digest – he’s MARC JACOB’s bull terrier whose own Instagram account (@nevillejacobs) has 150k followers, while the Emperor (aka VALENTINO GARAVANI) is never without his eleven pugs. Mimmo also has an Instagram account (@mimmothedog) – that’s STEFANO GABBANA

10 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

and DOMENICO DOLCE’s pampered golden Labrador who also comes as a stuffed toy. Time to launch Dogue?    Before GWYNETH PALTROW decoupled from Goop, the lifestyle brand joined forces with Net-A-Porter for its annual summer party in Amagansett in the Hamptons.

We noted the details: al fresco affair with sofa and coffee table seating, a band taking centre stage and a surprise dance troupe. Other features included a custom tequila bar, with guests enjoying tarot readings and live illustrations.

The latter is huge right now with Tory Burch, Jo Malone and Tiffany & Co just three brands using artists at parties.

Meanwhile, floral trends continue towards the undone or incorporating brand colours. At Acqua di Parma’s centenary in its titular city, guests delighted in cream and yellow roses decorating chandeliers, while at Ferragamo, masses of red geraniums in terracotta containers reflected the maison’s luxe wrapping, though it was noted at a Prada dinner (at Fondazione Prada) that flowers were off the menu. Instead, platters of cherries and strawberries wowed guests and pleased calorie counters. LULU POWERS – caterer for MADONNA and HERB RITTS – predicts a return to the 1980s with retro food, caviar carts and masseuses for sore feet. Lots of glassware emphasises the sparkle but do look out for RFID technology (barcodes) – making an entrance for personalised guest experiences.    Apart from reading our Look The Business features, how does a woman look credible and charismatic in power?

Time to review First Lady Chic. Much has been made of THERESA MAY’s love of leopard print, ROLAND MOURET, Amanda Wakeley and kitten heels. NICOLA STURGEON has a preference for LK Bennett while HILLARY CLINTON is being advised, apparently, by

ANNA WINTOUR on her campaign wardrobe. She’s been more colourful of late but still favours “pant suits” and is clearly emulating muse ANGELA MERKEL’s matronly modus operandi. One of the most fashionable PM’s was HELLE THORNING SCHMIDT of Denmark (now chief executive of Save the Children). She was renamed “Gucci Helle” such was her love of designer clothes and selfies (with Obama and Cameron). When JULIA GILLARD was in power in Australia, she was derided for her “ill-fitting boxy suits” though her hair was always immaculate. Making a style statement, Peter Pilotto or Roksanda is favoured – both MICHELLE OBAMA and SAMANTHA CAMERON wore the designers, while Rome’s new mayor VIRIGINIA RAGGI’s glossy blowdry is paired with softly draped tops and well-tailored trousers. NANCY PELOSI frequently kept it classic in Armani. Our evergreen “best dressed” nomination is CHRISTINE LAGARDE – always chic and capable.    Arguably one of the most iconic Vogue front covers of all time was “supers” Linda, Cindy, Tatjana, Naomi and Christy photographed by PETER LINDBERGH. A similar image had been rejected by former editor GRACE MIRABELLA during her tenure at US Vogue as she didn’t like the raw, natural aesthetic – the opposite of 1980s glam at the time. Interestingly Lindbergh was chosen by GIORGIO ARMANI to launch his “New Normal” campaign and collection, all about timeless classics, emphasising the message that “beauty is ageless”. If you are in Rotterdam, do visit the exhibition; “Lindbergh, A Different Vision of Fashion Photography”, from September 16.    As the nights close in time to curl up with a good book. Do read Kick by PAUL BYRNE (WILLIAM COLLINS) about the tenacious KATHLEEN “KICK” KENNEDY, her wardrobe, visits to Lismore Castle and her tragic affair with PETER FITZWILLIAM. “Good things happen to those who hustle,” so said Anaïs Nin. Hustle is a practical guide to look at life through a new lens – pertinent for this time of year. More than a mantra this is an inspiring, fun read written by US entrepreneurs PATRICK VLASKOVITS, JONAS KOFFLER and NEIL PATEL.    We can’t wait to see ELIE SAAB’s designs for The Rug Company. Lebanese designer Saab follows in the footsteps of VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, PAUL SMITH and DIANE VON FURSTENBERG. And trekkies should start queuing for MAC’s Star Trek Limited Edition collection. Beam us up, Scottie! ^

the new N°5 CHANEL.COM

# YOU KNOW ME AND YOU DONT

NINA RICCI

HUNTING

STAR RING ROLE

LEADING LADY

JASON LLOYD-EVANS

Nothing commands attention like a daring, look-at-me shade of red. Worn head-to-toe, it signifies strength and power: you don’t mess with a lady in red. No coincidence then, that, despite being the Democratic nominee, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has favoured the shade on the campaign trail. The AW16 catwalks were peppered with pops of scarlet, ruby and rose from a dramatic, tiered cape at Gucci to a fulllength satin gown at Moschino.

And Chanel’s new Rouge Collection No1, created by new global creative make-up director Lucia Pica, is based entirely on red – “I’m obsessed with it”, says Pica, who loves red’s power and audacity, its ability to provoke a reaction.

Stay true to the shade, but reduce the amount of real estate you give it – a slick of lipstick in Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in Feu here, a sweep of Chanel nail polish in Le Rouge Radical there – and you’ve got it covered. Avoid looking overly “done” by opting for dewy skin, delicately mussed hair and oversized accessories. The spackled, lacquered Melania Trump look is definitely not what you’re going for.

12 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

A R N O T T S - H A RV E Y N I C H O L S - D U B L I N

GATHERING

NINA RICCI

Channel the Trend 1

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JASON LLOYD-EVANS

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DARE YO U

BOLD SOPHISTICATION 1. Red Adam circular wool rug, d85, at IKEA. 2. Playing cards, HAY, d10; www.makersandbrothers.com.

3. Red floral drop earrings, SIMONE ROCHA, d295; www.matchesfashion.com. 4. Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick in Orange Seventies, YSL, d33, at Brown Thomas. 5. Red ankle boots, d59.95, at ZARA. 6. Red tie-front sweater, d60, at WAREHOUSE. 7. Red embellished-collar crêpe dress, NO 21, d812; www.matchesfahion.com.

8. Red leather box, d495, WWW.MIUMIU.COM. 9. Nail Polish in Le Rouge Radical, CHANEL, d25, limited edition, at counters nationwide. For stockists, www.thegloss.ie

14 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

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LOWDOWN

Top Hats

THE GLOSS

WHAT’S TRENDING NOW Showing Initiative PEAK OF CHIC With his new lifestyle brand Dar Sol, photographer and all-round style arbiter Daniel Holfeld is bringing a blast of Moroccan style to Irish shores. And, his thick, shag pile, Berber rugs had us at hello!

We first spotted one in J Crew president Jenna Lyons’ iconic New York home. These rugs, also known as Beni Ourain rugs (they’re handmade from sheep’s wool, historically by the women of the Beni Ourain tribes from Morocco’s Atlas Mountains) are our Black border wool latest interior obsession. rug, ¤1,100; www.dar-sol.com. www.dar-sol.com

Multi-tasking Joanne Hynes is the latest Irish designer to be snapped up by Dunnes Stores in a bold strike to further enhance the brand’s strong accessories offering. Her 100+ piece collection launches on September 18 in six stores. She reveals the highlights: “Simple, strong, wearable shapes, very glamorous accessories and neckpieces and collars.” Her favourite thing of all: ”My glam over-the-knee socks”. www.dunnesstores.com

16 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

JUST ONE THING …

If you only buy one new lip colour this season, make it a bold one. MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lip Colour in Dance with Me (c28) looked incredible on the catwalks and is amazingly longlasting. Also try Giorgio Armani’s new Lip Magnet (left, c29, at Brown Thomas from September 28) for the richest, most velvety lips, and YSL’s classic Rouge Pur Couture The Mats (c33) in Alternative Plum.

GUCCI

PRADA AGNES B

Green heart-eyes brooch; fuchsia padded bowler hat; both Chanel.

DOLCE & GABBANA

CHANEL

Hat wearers rejoice, headgear is having a moment. Karl Lagerfeld made the bowler cool again with his quirky padded incarnations at Chanel while elsewhere berets, beanies, fedoras and floppy hats all popped up on AW catwalks.

The stylish way to hide a bad hair day.

ON THE SILVER SCREEN THIS MONTH:

BRIDGET JONES’ BABY sees one of film’s most relatable heroines (played

by Renée Zellweger) separated from Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), unexpectedly expectant, with Patrick Dempsey as her dashing new love interest. Emma Thompson writes and co-stars, September 16

THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY offers an unprecedented look at the creation of two of New York’s most exciting cultural events: “China: Through The Looking Glass” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the 2015 Met Gala.

The documentary follows Vogue editor Anna Wintour as she plans the exclusive party. Opens September 30.

THE GLOSS hosts the Irish premiere on September 21. See page 55 for details

Dublin BOSS Store 67/68 Dublin Grafton Street

HUGO BOSS UK LTD. Phone +44 (0)20 7554 5700 hugoboss.com

LOWDOWN Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio nails the trend.

ARTS BASHES

STYLE ARBITER Jewellery designer Tom Wood’s in-demand signet rings are top of the fashion pack’s wishlist.

PINKIE RINGS

Glossy favourite Suzanne Donegan’s Mannin Fine Jewellery collection comprises modern interpretations of classic pieces. Donegan’s signet rings are destined to be future heirlooms.

The traditional signet ring has been given a fresh style update. Historically, these rings were used as an official signature by dipping the monogram part of the ring into hot wax and sealing an envelope.

Wear yours on your left-hand little finger (unless you’re left handed, in which case, swap for your right).

1. Gold-plated Bespoke signet rings, d65 each; www.stellaanddot.com.

2. 18ct gold ring signet ring with black onyx, Tiffany & Co, d3,700, at Brown Thomas.

3. 22ct gold-plated square signet ring, $452; www.manninfinejewelry.com.

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Four talented female artists from different disciplines have united to create CROÍ, a group specialising in modern artworks for interiors, offering bespoke and original fine artworks in print, glass, textiles and sculptural ceramics. Croí launches at the Origin Gallery on September 29. www.croiarts.com

CULTURE NIGHT returns on September 16, when 1,400 venues across the country open their doors to 40,000 culture vultures for just one night. Expect theatrical delights, fascinating artists like Pauline Bewick, music by Heathers and colourful illuminations, all over Dublin city. www.culturenight.ie Veterans of MOMA and the Centre Pompidou, lifelong friends KIKI SMITH AND BETTY WOODMAN (right) exhibit at the Irishowned Galleria Lorcan O’Neill in Rome later this month. Their dreamy illustrations and wildly colourful installations are worth the trip to Italy. From September 21.

The country’s longest running arts festival, CLIFDEN ARTS FESTIVAL never fails to impress. This year,

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performances by Hermitage Green, Phil Coulter and an award-winning show by Aidan Dooley depicting the heroic tale of the Antarctic explorer Tom Crean are among 200 events taking place along the rugged Galway coastline. September 15-25. www.clifdenartsfestival.ie

Instaglam Our favourite eye tip this season comes from Caroline Young, director of artistry for Laura Mercier. It’s dead easy and you only need two things: “Colour your lashline crudely with black Kajal d’Orient (below) and blend with a finger. Then push on some Baked Eye Colour in Black Karat (right) with a finger for a quick, no-fuss smokey eye on the go.” If you have more time, wet a brush and paint on the eye colour like glitter onto lashline – it gives a liquid gold effect.

CANE AND ABLE

Feeling Rough?

Take your duvet day, in a duvet.

Bunker down with season six of Cold Feet on ITV later this month or Westworld, set in a futuristic theme park, starring Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris and Thandie Newton, coming to Sky Atlantic in October.

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The preppy and timeless cane trend in furniture and accessories is spreading like wildfire. Led by industry stalwarts Hermès and Stella McCartney, expect it to be everywhere this season.

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1. Elyse shoes, Stella McCartney, d760, at Brown Thomas. 2. Gronadal cane and ash rocker, d175, at Ikea.

3. Sofa Sellier in cane, walnut and calfskin; 4. Rafael Moneo’s Oria cane and oak chair; both Hermès, launched at Milan Design Week 2016.

18 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

LOWDOWN MICHAEL DWORNIK

EXTRAORDINARY EXHIBITIONS

Downtown Hotspot Planning a trip to NYC? Built in 1881, The Beekman was one of Manhattan’s first skyscrapers and is now home to a hip hotel of the same name, which opened last month following a $350m renovation. This architectural gem has 287 rooms, 45 suites and two penthouses with terraces overlooking One World Trade Centre and the Woolworth Building, plus restaurants by Tom Colicchio and Keith McNally. The Beekman, 123 Nassau Street, New York; www.thebeekman.com.

L’IMPERTINENT ABSOLU AT PETIT PALAIS IN PARIS: Oscar Wilde spent his last days in Paris, but has never been honoured in France. For the first time ever, an exhibition at the Petit Palais celebrates the life and work of this hedonistic and devilish genius. More than 200 documents, manuscripts, photographs, drawings, personal items, portraits and artworks from Ireland, the UK and around the world have been gathered together to applaud Wilde’s brilliant talent and wit. September 28 - January 15. www.petitpalais.fr THE SOLOMON GALLERY hosts “Contemplation Of An Old Beit Family Photograph”, an exhibition by American artist David McDermott of McDermott & McGough, which Glenn O’Brien of Andy Warhol’s Factory will open tonight.

McDermott and McGough are known for their refusal of modern living and using Victorian photography methods. September 3-12. www.solomonfineart.ie

Go for the Glow Layers of foundation and contouring are not the way to go this season: it’s all about making skin gleam. Aim to use the smallest amount of the most natural-looking base, with strategic use of concealer. The new breed of Asian-inspired cushion foundations, such as Lancôme’s Teint Idole Ultra Cushion (¤38), make it easy to tap on just the lightest touch, and are brilliantly portable, too.

The Outsource Queen BALENCIAGA

Time-poor, convenience-loving app-aholics will enjoy the latest laundry start-ups offering door-to-door services. Laundrie and Sproose are mobile apps that dispatch drivers to pick up your laundry and dry cleaning from home or work.

A clever solution to a first world problem.

CASHMERE COUNTER

20 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

SONIA RYKIEL

MATCHY MATCHY GIVENCHY

CLOSER TO HOME: The humble knit has become the IT piece for AW16. Fintan Mulholland’s collection makes us want to wear sweater dresses again. Stock up for autumn at www.fintanmulholland.com.

BALENCIAGA

Jean Colonna put his stamp on fashion in the 1990s and became widely known for minimalist grunge with a seductive touch.

Returning to basics, designs at his contemporary Paris boutique are both wearable and affordable.

Key pieces are sheer, finely knit cashmere, all sourced in Nepal.

Open Wednesday to Saturday, 12pm to 7pm. 22 rue Debelleyme, 75003.

Demna Gvasalia’s debut collection for Balenciaga caused a stir, with models strutting down the catwalk in matching boots and skirts in busy prints and patterns. Also embracing the matchy-matchy look this season were Sonia Rykiel and Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy.

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LOWDOWN SMALL WONDERS

The healthiest, freshest Parisian treats

WILD & THE MOON serves delicious smoothies, vitality shots, juices and salads in bright and airy surrounds. 55 rue Charlot, 75003 Paris; www.wildandthemoon.com CLOSER TO HOME: Add PIPLY, the newly-opened healthy takeaway from the Brother Hubbard team, to your speed dial for nutritionally balanced dishes such as sweet potato falafel and baked chicken wings. Serving Dublin 8, 6 and 2. www.piply.ie

Back to School What do you do next if you’re a multi-award winning A-lister actor who has everything? You go back to college (Central Saint Martins, of course) and launch your own fashion range. Antonia Banderas’ new eponymous clothing line for cool Nordic label Selected Femme/Homme reflects his personal style, featuring wadrobe classics like overcoats, biker jackets and great shirts in greys and blacks. Available now. Selected Femme/ Homme, Dundrum Town Centre and stockists nationwide.

Children’s rooms are getting a facelift. We love the remastered iconic characters of Alice in Wonderland brought to life on this House of Hackney wallpaper Alice In Wonderland wallpaper, £145stg a roll; matching cotton and fabric, originally designed satin fabric, £85 a metre; both

by Arts and Crafts artist, CFA Little House of Hackney at www. houseofhackney.com.

Voysey in the 1920s.

A new spot on our radar is KID, a design-led concept store on the top floor of the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, Dublin 2, offering emerging and established Irish brands like Bold Bunny, Frank and Nora and Plepleple. Online, newly launched www.younghearts.ie, has a beautifully curated selection of clothes, toys, nursery decor and gifts for the 0-6-year-old stylish set.

Interior designer Jonathan Adler has been announced as Creative Director for Fisher-Price. His designs will debut in autumn, and will include nursery décor, newborn toys, crib bedding and infant apparel.

“Babies – and parents – deserve baby gear and toys as stylish as they are,” he says. Hear hear!

Another collaboration we’re excited about is Red and white Fairisle sweater, Julia Restoin Roitfeld X Mini River Island. The ¤47, denim jeans, 30-piece collection, which launches soon for babies ¤20, white cotton blouse, ¤26; all to five-year-olds, includes quirky lace dresses, tiny Julia Restoin leather jackets, cashmere cable-knit sweaters, Roitfeld X Mini River Island. hard-wearing denim dungarees and more. Too cute.

LOEWE

Stop at BOL PORRIDGE BAR for a sophisticated bowl with savoury or sweet toppings like edamame or chocolate.

76 rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, 75010 Paris; www.bolporridgebar.com

BALENCIAGA

STYLISH BITES: WHERE TO EAT AT PFW

CLOSER TO HOME: Blackrock’s The Mellow Fig has opened MELLOW OUT, an ice cream bar and deli serving bircher muesli topped with yogurt to early risers. 57 Main Street, Blackrock, Co Dublin; www.themellowfig.ie

Dublin Decay Urban Decay’s new standalone store is due to open on Dublin’s Grafton Street in October. In the meantime, feed your addiction with the new Moon Dust Palette, containing eight sparkly shades of the brand’s cult iridescent eyeshadow, ¤40 at Debenhams.

At LE MARCHÉ DES ENFANTS ROUGES, the oldest covered market in Paris, shop for fresh produce or grab a bite to eat at one of its many wonderful cafés. 39 rue de Bretagne, 75003; www. marchedesenfantsrougesfr.com

CLOSER TO HOME: KILRUDDERY MARKET, held in the estate’s stableyard and grainstore, offers artisan treats and old fashioned hot chocolate to ease you into autumn weekends. Open Saturdays 10am-4pm. www.kilruddery.com

22 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

CHAIN GANG Chain details are big for accessories, as seen everywhere, from bags at Balenciaga and Michael Kors to sunglasses at Jimmy Choo. Invest in something new or get in on this update with a quick trip to the hardware store.

Chic boutiques: Where to shop at PFW THE BROKEN ARM is named after a Marcel Duchamp piece that illustrates the blurred line between art and life. Laid out in clean Scandinavian lines and flanked by untreated wooden shelves, the carefully curated collection includes designs by Raf Simons, Prada, Loewe and Vêtements. The bustling café is ideal for people watching. 12 rue Perrée, 75003; www.the-broken-arm.com.

CLOSER TO HOME: Cork’s fantastic SAMUI is now stocking both Dries van Noten and Marni, adding to their impressive designer offering which includes 3.1 Phillip Lim and Alexander Wang. www.samuifashions.com

MOODBOARD 2

“IF WE WERE MEANT TO BE NUDE, WE WOULD’VE BEEN BORN THAT WAY.”

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OSCAR WILDE

I’m reeling at the $170m price tag on Modigliani’s “Reclining Nude”, auctioned by Christie’s.

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THI S MO N T H T H E M O O D IS:

NUDE

I’m draping myself in a relaxed high collar midi-dress in camel crêpe by www.kaarem.com.

“I CAN BE NAKED AS LONG AS I’M WEARING THE RIGHT PAIR OF SHOES.” ANNA DELLO RUSSO

SUSAN ZELOUF strips off Even as a child, I had a reputation as a free spirit. Nicknamed Pants Down, I preferred running around the backyard buck naked to sporting the structured sailor suits my mother struggled to dress me in. Studying for a university degree in theatre arts honed my innate immodesty; a vital part of an actor’s arsenal is the ability to be private in public, so working my way through college as a nude model for life drawing classes felt natural.

Artists seemed to prefer bigger bodies, the folds and creases creating an interplay of light and shadow, and as a zaftig 18-year-old, the compliments I received at the end of class equated to a generous tip on top of the hourly fee. So why is it that while it’s second nature to play strip poker with Joe Cocker’s You Can Leave Your Hat On grinding in the background, I feel vulnerable with a nude lip in lieu of a bitten red, exposed in a bodycon dress in a trending shade of blush, powerless in a fresh French manicure?

Nude may be the new black, but wearing it demands a thicker skin.

The history of the nude in Western art can be traced back to the ancient Greek games beginning in 776 BC, when male athletes competed in the buff, a stroke of marketing genius that, applied now, would have exponentially boosted ratings in Rio’s summer Olympics.

Before advertising, internet porn and Photoshop, Greco-Roman marble nudes based on idealised proportions and geometric clarity celebrated a perfected version of the male human form, with wide shoulders, narrow hips and a small penis considered most aesthetically pleasing.

Disrobed athletic bodies acted as stand-ins for gods and heroes, embodying all that was best in humanity: health, youth and even moral superiority.

The evolution of the female nude followed a different trajectory, with fertility a significant part of the artistic equation. Breasts, bellies and behinds swelled and shrank, depending on prevailing ideas of what was beautiful and desirable. Kim Kardashian’s Hottentot Venus derrière can be

24 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

considered cultural appropriation, jacked from African American ideals of beauty, but the predilection for fetishising body parts is traceable from cave paintings to GQ covers.

The Little Nude Dress may require judicious draping and weekly Pilates to successfully pull off, but before you run out and buy a pair of Prada patent leather pumps in nude beige or Louboutin Nude Collection f lats in your skin tone to wear with a champagne silk slip dress, let’s examine the semantics and tease out the distinctions between being nude and getting naked.

While nude describes a state of undress, it implies choice, a voluntary stripping off versus being stripped. In both cases, frocks are peeled off, but naked feels vulnerable; nude conveys personal power. Nude doesn’t seek the viewer’s approval; instead, it is self-possessed, inviting, provocative, challenging, seductive. Nakedness feels inextricably bound to shame, beginning with Adam and Eve’s naked aha moment. According to fashion and costume designer Peter O’Brien: “Nude, or beige/champagne/ taupe/greige were once the colours of choice for women of exquisite and understated taste – Grace Kelly, Babe Paley, Slim Keith, CZ Guest.

How things have changed! I blame Marlene; her nude souff lé gowns designed by Jean Louis, with M deciding on the placement of every bead, revealed nothing. The Beyoncé, Rihanna etc nude tulle dresses one sees on the red carpet reveal everything; were they naked, they would somehow seem less objectified.”

Going nude requires a willingness to expose our deepest selves, to undress and tenderly embrace our perceived f laws. This month, why not take the opportunity to experience ourselves in the raw, naked and nude?

Shed the summer gear and parade in the altogether, with or without Pilates.

This ritual is for our eyes only. Skin, whatever shade of nude, might just be the foundation garment we’ve been shopping for. ^ @SusanZelouf

THIS MONTH’S MOODBOARD I’M GOING NUDE, only better, in nothing but a pair of Prada patent leather pumps (1).

I’M ALL AFLUTTER in a champagne feather wrap (2)

by Jenny Packham.

I’M WRESTLING demons with my bare hands in Butter London’s Hen Party nail varnish (3).

I’M OBSESSING over Louboutin’s nude flats for mixed races (4), for the ballerina in all of us.

I’M WATCHING time fly in a rose gold Burberry watch (5).

Good news: www. lordandtaylor.com now ships to Ireland!

I’M FOLLOWING @browngirls doballet (6), the blog behind Mahogany Blues’ genius line of diverse nude leotards.

SOCIAL LIFE CHRISTINE NAGEL Swiss perfumer Nagel joined Hermès in 2014 and is the nose behind Galop d’Hermès, a new fragrance blending notes of Doblis leather and rose.

Galop d’Hermès, d225, 50ml.

The French town of Calvados.

Below: Market-fresh vegetables.

The Normandy coast. Above: the Hermès boutique in Deauville.

My GLOSSY

M

y weekend starts on Friday evening when I leave Paris for my beloved Normandy.

I adore Normandy.

There is no such thing as monotony here: the constantly changing sky, the flamboyant greens of the earth, the fluctuating greys of the ocean. This for me is a change of rhythm, a time to rest and let go. I love the countryside. Nature inspires me.

My house is in Calvados, the region behind Deauville.

Calvados is often called the countryside of Paris as it is not too far away from the city and perfect for weekend trips. There are stud farms, seaside resorts, charming villages with traditional architecture and wonderful local produce; cheese, cider and, of course, Calvados.

A perfect weekend is spent with my husband, my children, family and friends. I am doing some work on my house at the moment, but when it is finished it will be all brick and red cedar wood, a modern take on the traditional.

SATURDAY The first thing I do on Saturday mornings is walk around my garden. Like a fragrance, a garden is a harmony of scent, essence and colour, a constantly changing composition I love to observe. I get up early and always have my breakfast looking out at the garden.

This is a magical, silent time.

Then I go to the market. There are wonderful markets in Normandy. I meet amazing people, some of whom have become friends. They tell me about

WEEKEND

I get up early and again wander around the garden. I return to the market to buy croissants for the children.

I love to cook lunch. There is a clear link between the world of flavours and the world of scents. As I am naturally curious, I am interested in all the cuisines of the world, but I have a slight preference for Italian cuisine. You can’t escape your origins.

Sometimes we visit one of the friendly little restaurants along the coast. My favourite is a tiny restaurant called L’Étoile des Mers in Deauville. The owner Lydia is the daughter of a fisherman and she only opens the restaurant for lunch. I have not eaten better fish anywhere.

After lunch, I love to visit the remarkable cliffs at Trouville. They are called the “roches noires,” the black rocks. You can walk for miles on trails and paths in a beautifully preserved natural park.

Depending on the weather and the season, Sunday afternoons are spent lazing about and reading, inside or out. We leave for Paris in the early afternoon to avoid traffic jams which I hate, and to make the most of Paris at the end of the day.

I like to go out in Paris on Sunday evenings, but only to very small places. There is a restaurant I love in Montmartre, on the rooftop of the Terrass hotel, which has a magnificent view over the entire city.

A long bath on Sunday evening allows me to think about the coming week. I organise my thoughts and anticipate what’s ahead. ^ In conversation with Noreen Hall.

Hermès’ new master perfumer CHRISTINE NAGEL escapes Paris for Calvados in rural Normandy their produce in such poetic and interesting ways. My favourite market is the one in Deauville, on the Place du Marché. It is a traditional half-timbered market bursting with colour. Everything is fresh and tempting.

Deauville itself oozes style. The hotels, boutiques and restaurants are elegant. It is like a little Paris with a magnificent beach.

“Depending on the weather, Sunday afternoons are spent LAZING ABOUT and READING.” My perfect Saturday lunch is one that brings together the people I love. Whether there are two of us or 20, my house is open to all. As I am half Italian, my most idyllic Saturday afternoons are spent catching the sun, the kind of sun and light that colours the skin and brings out scents. When I go to Calvados in the winter, I often sit reading by the fire. On Saturday nights I am happy whether at home or out with friends.

26 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

Nagel in her Calvados garden.

SUNDAY

LOUISE KENNEDY

BROWN THOMAS

LOUISE KENNEDY

56 Merrion Square

88-95 Grafton Street

9 West Halkin Street

Dublin 2

Dublin 2

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+353 (0) 1 617 1171

+44 (0) 20 7235 0911

www.louisekennedy.com

How to DRESS NEED-TO-KNOW LOOKS

NOW

DOLCE & GABBANA

SIMONE ROCHA

AMELIA WICKSTEAD

GIVENCHY

Velvet is key, prints are cheeky and colours are sophisticated. Autumn clothes are totally irresistible, says AISLINN COFFEY

DRIES VAN NOTEN

ISABEL MARANT

FASHION

Animal

PRINTS

Animal prints, predominantly leopard, are seasonless and so keep on coming back. A modern neutral – they comprise brown, beige, and black, after all – they add a little fashionable flair to your wardrobe and can be worn with almost anything.

Be brave, taking inspiration from Ms Moss, and go big with something like a coat.

Otherwise, nod to the trend with inexpensive animal print accessories.

Pink

PREEN

TASTIC This season’s pink is fresh and modern. The first signs of the shade’s resurgence came in 2012 when Raf Simons sent the most glorious pink coat down the Jil Sander catwalk. Simone Rocha, Preen and Emilia Wickstead’s collections all had smatterings of delicious pink in coats, dresses and knits. Even the floors in Wickstead’s showrooms are covered in pink wool carpet and marble. Think pink indeed.

30 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

Chunky-knit sweater, ¤89; side-split skirt, ¤99; both at Cos, 6-8 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2.

Leopard print coat, Stella McCartney, ¤1,435, at Brown Thomas.

THOMASSABO.COM

IRELAND@THOMASSABO.COM

DIOR

BURBERRY

FASHION

Baroque

DOLCE & GABBANA

GUCCI

ETRO Silk jacquard and ostrich feather evening coat, Matthew Williamson; www.orchardmile. com.

Super-sized

Show

DOLCE & GABBANA

BALENCIAGA

PUFFER JACKETS

COATS

Fashion’s coolest designers have given in to comfort over style: the oversized puffer. Designer of the moment Demna Gvasalia for Balenciaga and Stella McCartney have both produced the most wonderful 1990s-style renditions, copies of which have already hit the high street.

The opera coat is back. This modernised classic evening look is perfect for any elegant lunch or evening soirée. Invest in a beautiful topper before party season arrives – embellishments and collar details are key.

32 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

DOLCE & GABBANA

STELLA MC CARTNEY

PRADA

Brocade became something of a phenomenon this season, deployed by Mrs Prada, the in-house team at Dior and Christopher Bailey at Burberry, as well as fashion’s new renaissance man, Alessandro Michele for Gucci. Keep the silhouette lean – too much volume will make you look like a large sofa – and wear with modern black leather accessories.

Black velour puffer jacket, 040, at Penneys.

Black suede padded jacket, Limited Edition, 0109; at Marks & Spencer.

PRADA

BROCADES

Marc Cain FP.indd 1

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

PREEN

FASHION

LOEWE

Blue velvet shoes, 089, at Topshop. Pink velvet jacket, 0109; matching trousers, 054; both Per Una at Marks & Spencer.

Handkerchief

HEMLINES

ROCHAS

Multiple models trotted down runways in midi-length dresses and skirts – the thing they all had in common? A handkerchief hemline.

34 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

SIMONE ROCHA

SKIMMERS Cropped trousers have had their moment – now is the time for floor-sweeping pants. They can either be modern and dramatic (think wide-leg and gloriously oversized) or fabulously glamorous (high-waisted 1970s-style).

CÉLINE

Floor

ERMANNO SCERVINO

LIST

DRIES VAN NOTEN

Check Check is the season’s most surprising comeback kid with houndstooth, Prince of Wales and tartan popping up everywhere. Embrace the androgynous look in brogues or add a bright lip for a touch of femininity.

Grey asymmetrical wool skirt, JW Anderson, 0655; at Brown Thomas.

CÉLINE

Check wool coat, 0250; at Warehouse.

3.1 PHILLIP LIM

NINA RICCI

VALENTINO

ALBERTA FERRETTI

LOEWE

Velvet was impossible to ignore on AW16 runways, as designers including Valentino, Derek Lam and Alberta Ferretti showed this lush fabric in exciting colours and cuts. Underground it’s definitely not.

LOUIS VUITTON

RULES

DEREK LAM

Velvet

FOR EVERY UNIQUE WOMAN Jewellery that celebrates the uniqueness of women

Discover the new autumn collection at Pandora.net

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

WE BOUGHT Dries Van Noten: opulent velvet pieces, leopard prints; pearls and feathers. The trend for ruffles continues. We’re taken with No 21’s interpretation, where big bows embellish dresses and shirts. I’ve invested in Balenciaga’s black neoprene Race Runners (2). THE ACCESSORIES New to Samui is Rosantica by jeweller Michela Panero: traditional Romaninspired designs with directional shapes (1). And anything feathered makes us happy. Cutuli Cult Italian cashmere scarves with fur trim are supersmart. HOW TO WEAR IT ALL Mix it up. Pair feminine ruffles with masculine tailoring; sequins with tweed. The front half-tuck is the coolest way to wear your shirts, tees and sweaters. A neck cuff is a simple 2 but stunning way to add drama to a simple dress or top.

WHAT DID YOU BUY?

Fashion buyers spill the beans on their favourite pieces for AW16 for AISLINN COFFEY

MARGARET GALLAGHER Les Jumelles, Galway

1

1

WE BOUGHT Boxy shapes and dropped shoulders from Isabel Marant, Haider Ackermann and Paco Rabanne. Oversized dressing is key and metallics are big news. If the season can be summed up in one fabric, 2 it’s velvet. HOT LABELS Coach: the latest collection has an edge not typically associated with the brand (1). Khirma, launched by former NY fashion editor Khirma Eliazov, features statement clutches. Brandon Maxwell: we picked up this NYC-based brand exclusively – sophisticated and timeless. THE ACCESSORIES Zips, studs and rivets are back. Hot pink took a starring role in a number of key collections, from the new satchels at McQueen to suede sandals at Paul Andrew. AW16 shoes are all about texture: velvet, shearling and faux fur. Gorgeous trims in rainbow colours adorn styles at Gianvito Rossi, Joshua Sanders and Loeff ler Randall. HOW TO WEAR IT ALL If your wardrobe is neutral, invest in an eye-catching bag. Leopard print is essential. Mix winter f lorals with animal prints. Transform eveningwear into daywear by layering over a chunky knit or crisp shirt underneath a party dress. Add heavy-duty f lat boots for a boyish silhouette and modern twist (2).

WE BOUGHT Leather jackets by Rick Owens, investment pieces that never date and will see you through season after season. We are also loving bold colourful prints this AW with brands such as Carven and Goat featuring the trend throughout their collections. Lastly, there is no better fashion investment than a good pair of winter boots. Our favourites are Acne and Alexander Wang (2) styles that wear well and look even better. HOT LABELS Natan, Mila & James and Annette Gortz. THE ACCESSORIES Carven faux fur collars (1) to mix and match over your winter coats. A Fabiana Fillipe statement necklace and bottle of Molecules perfume – a must-have signature scent. HOW TO WEAR IT ALL Bring your wardrobe of neutrals to 2 life by adding a pop of colour. Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication – less is always more. As always, good underwear is key.

36 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

KATE O’DWYER Kalu, Naas WE BOUGHT Statement capes, sharp shirts, tailored trousers HOT LABELS Osman, Safiyaa capes (1), Ter et Bantine accessories Metal waist-cinching belt, La Fée Parisienne cashmere oversized knit, 1 a Plein Sud fox fur collar, great boots.

2

WE BOUGHT Classic parkas.

We’ve stocked Yves Salomon’s Army range for a number of years, they have lasting appeal.

Our collection of authentic kimonos is particularly lustworthy. HOT LABELS Spanish designer, Jorge Vázquez. Expect rich jewel tones, layered lace, sequins, and some exquisite embroidery on sheer dresses. THE ACCESSORIES Rochas tote bag: a classic tote with a subtly shiny finish. Loulerie Rainbow Moonstone ring (1). HOW TO WEAR IT ALL Layer it up. A fine-gauge knit is the perfect outfit base and is a little more luxurious than a standard thermal. Sequins as daywear: don’t limit your sparkle to after hours, especially during winter.

Lurex and metallic brocade are fantastic daywear options too. Invest in a good leather jacket.

Regardless of the style (biker, oversized, waterfall) it’s a hard-wearing material that only gets better with age. Pair a structured Isabel Marant Étoile biker style (2) with a formal dress to add a little rock ‘n’ roll edge.

SHELLY CORKERY Brown Thomas WE BOUGHT Jackets from Balenciaga and Vetements with volume on the shoulders which will continue into next season. Midi length A-line skirts with a focus on the feminine silhouette. Outerwear is key.

HOT LABELS Vetements, Ellery and Loewe are all brand new to Brown Thomas Dublin. HOW TO WEAR IT ALL Have fun with proportions – an oversized dress worn with shrunken jackets and cinched-in waist. Don’t be afraid of clashing prints. Blur the lines between street style and couture fashion – team your lace evening dress over a pair of raw edge denim jeans. THREE ACCESSORIES The Gucci Marmont Bag (1), Prada wedge-heel knee-high 1 boot and Miu Miu crystal embellished headband (2).

2

RUTH SPENCE Envoy, Belfast OSMAN

PHILIP LIM

ANITA BARR Harvey Nichols

TRACY TUCKER Costume, Dublin 2

JORGE VÁZQUEZ

Tell me,

1

DRIES VAN NOTEN

CLODAGH SHORTEN Samui, Cork

1

LOEWE

FASHION

THE TRENDS Leopard print by Dries van Noten, aviator bomber jackets by Engineered Garments FWK, hiking boots by Acne (1) and Guidi. HOT LABELS Visvim, Hyke; both Japanese designer accessories. Rosa Maria stacking rings, Maria Rudman reindeer hide and pewter cuffs, the 1 Mansur Gavriel bucket bag (2).

2

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LAUNDRY

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REFRIGERATION

Sheer tulle camisole, ¤95; black culottes, ¤390; both EDEL TRAYNOR. Photographed by Daniel Holfeld.

Make-up by Anna O'Callaghan.

RUN WAY TO R E AL L I F E :

EXTRA WIDE CULOTTES “I love clothes and design but my everyday style is minimal and functional. These culottes are part of my AW16 collection and were inspired

by Colin O’Brien photographs of traveller kids in London in the 1980s.

They were wearing hand-me-downs, which they’d made their own, and I liked the idea. The sheer cami is also one of my own designs. I like the outerwear-asunderwear trend and it gives the whole look a feminine touch.

It’s annoying to see clothes cheaply made and churned out on the high street.

The culture of wearing something once and throwing it out doesn’t sit well with me.

Everybody looks like everybody else.

I won the Future Makers award from the Design and Crafts Council in June and made a black culottes jumpsuit with leather accents to wear to the event. I loved it. I have a black Danielle Romeril dress from her SS14 collection that has served me well.

I think Roisin Murphy and Angela Scanlon both have excellent personal style. I’d like to see FKA Twigs wearing Edel Traynor, but I might have to push my designs a bit more!”

Edel Traynor is at [Made], Powerscourt Centre, Dublin 2 and Dipili, 6 Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1; www.edeltraynor.com

CHLOE

Fashion designer EDEL TRAYNOR lives to layer

NEW

Proving that true style is ageless, four Irish women demonstrate their ability to incorporate AW16 trends into their existing wardrobes

season,

38 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

PERSONAL STYLE Black jersey cape dress with hand-beaded embellishment, ¤1,595, LOUISE KENNEDY. Photographed by Daniel Holfeld.

Make-up by Anna O'Callaghan.

R UNWAY TO R EAL L I F E:

DRAMATIC CAPE DRESS

new

ALEXANDER MC QUEEN

ORLA MURTAGH, wife of horse trainer Johnny Murtagh, likes to wow Comfort is my priority when I’m at the races because I need to be able to run around. From jockey’s wife to trainer’s wife my style has definitely changed – I can’t wear high heels anymore! But I do love to dress up when I can, especially for the Longines Irish Champions Weekend, which is on next weekend in Leopardstown and the Curragh, and is one of my favourite events in the racing calendar.

Louise Kennedy’s designs are clean and elegant and I always feel good in her pieces. The red embellishment on the sleeves of this dress caught my eye immediately. I could see myself wearing it to the British Champions Series dinner at St James’s Palace. It’s so dramatic, but so comfortable.

I’m not a label-conscious person, nor am I loyal to any particular brand. In London, I love shopping on the King’s Road and Bond Street. I also like the personal shoppers at Brown Thomas, Kildare Village and Gallery 9 and Kalu in Naas, where I bought a beautiful outfit for the Melbourne Cup. Last year at Ascot I wore a tangerine Givenchy dress and paired it with a Esther Louise Millinery hat.

This season, I’m looking out for a ladies’ trilby hat and some new ankle boots. I also need to invest in a smart black handbag.” www.irishchampionsweekend.ie

CLOTHES

PERSONAL STYLE STRAP

RUN WAY TO R E AL L I F E :

PINK POWER “I love to buy coats and I’ve hung on to many over the years. A favourite in my wardrobe is a black llama mink coat that I bought in the 1976 fire sale in Switzers. My husband George and I went to Canada three years later and it served me well. I still wear it several times every year.

Another good investment is an Un Jour Ailleurs jacket that I bought in Brussels in 2011. I initially wore it representing the Irish Haemochromatosis Association at the European Parliament but it has since become a wardrobe staple.

The shade of this Max Mara coat immediately caught my attention – it’s a modern neutral. I’m currently eyeing up a very smart black and white coat in Hobbs, which I know will go with anything.

I will wear it with my black leather Paula Rowan gloves, a Christmas gift from one of my sons.

My husband George was diagnosed with haemochromatosis in 2000 and died six weeks later.

Early diagnosis is crucial so I’ve become a passionate campaigner for awareness of this disease, which affects one in 83 Irish people. It’s given me a new focus.” www.haemochromatosis-ir.com

GENNY

Retired chemistry teacher and charity campaigner MARGARET MULLETT mixes old with new

Pale pink coat wool coat, ¤709; cream silk blouse, ¤119; grey tweed trousers, ¤175; all MAX MARA at Brown Thomas.

Photographed by Doreen Kilfeather.

Make-up by Lancôme, Brown Thomas, Dublin.

40 14 | September 2016 2009 || T TH HE E G GLLO OSSSS M MA AG GA AZZIIN NE E

Photo Michel Gibert, used as a reference only. www.gudea.fr / TASCHEN.

French Art de Vivre

Episode corner composition in 2 mm thick solid leather, designed by Roberto Tapinassi and Maurizio Manzoni.

Tiss bookcase, designed by Bina Baitel.

Ovni cocktail tables, designed by Vincenzo Maiolino.

European manufacture

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

3D Interior Design Service

www.roche-bobois.com

PERSONAL STYLE

RUN WAY TO R E A L L IF E :

BLACK ONLY JULIE KELLEHER, artistic director at the Everyman Theatre, Cork, favours black “I work in a creative environment so day-to-day I’m usually in black leggings and jersey dresses. But for opening nights, I like to go all out and wear a dress and heels. People certainly don’t dress up for the theatre as much as they used to. But I think that’s a good thing – it makes it more accessible.

I feel most comfortable in black, but these pieces I’m wearing all have different textures and shapes so the overall look is still interesting. This Rick Owens jacket was the start of a love affair for me and the dress, by Sacai, on close inspection, has the most stunning details. It was out of character for me, but I wore a red Caroline Kilkenny dress to The Irish Times Theatre Awards last year and felt amazing in it.

The shopping scene here in Cork is excellent, not just for high-street brands, but also because Cork has independent boutiques like Brocade and Lime and vintage shops such as Miss Daisy Blue and Devilish Designs. The stock in Samui is incredible too – it feels really curated. I’m currently lusting after a pale pink Acne wool coat I spotted there.

George Hanover, an actress who appeared in Factory Girls at the Everyman last month, is the most stylish woman I know. She has some really unique pieces and wears them beautifully.” www.everymancork.com

42 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

Black leather jacket, RICK OWENS, ¤1,295; black pleated dress, SACAI, ¤775; black leather boots, AF VANDEVORST, ¤750; all at Samui, 17 Drawbridge Street, Cork.

Photographed

by John Allen.

Hair by Staunton Byrne, 9 Holbar House, Village East, Douglas, Co Cork. Make-up

by MAC at Brown Thomas, Cork.

INDOOR LIVING

By The Orchard

BY THE ORCHARD

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BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

FASHION NEWS

Wardrobe

BY AISLINN COFFEY

High Street RETHINK Design director of Warehouse, Emma Cook is taking the brand in a fabulous new direction DAY? I wake early as I have a small

baby. Home is in East London with my husband and children, not far from the office. I’m at my best in the morning, so like to get an early start. WHAT INSPIRES YOU AS A DESIGNER? I think female designers design for themselves and for the women around them. I’m constantly inspired by the now. THE INSPIRATION FOR

YOUR

AW16

COLLECTION?

We worked on three separate concepts for the AW16 launch collection – all different in colour and print, but quite similar in silhouette and spirit. I like an odd mix of colour or a clash of patterns.

I also think that with so much colour and print the silhouette needs to be simple, classic, and easy to wear. HOW DO YOU KEEP MAKING YOUR “SIGNATURE” PRINTS MODERN? What keeps fashion

interesting and relevant is the speed at which it changes. The things that excite me and inspire me are constantly changing: that change keeps it modern.

YOU HAVE GREAT PERSONAL STYLE, DOES THAT TRANSLATE INTO YOUR

French vocab:

CHIC

It was over a glass of wine with husband Greg that Sadhbh Fahy decided to give up her life in Paris, where she worked as an events manager at Apple, and follow a dream.

“The idea of opening my own shop had been percolating for years,” says Fahy. “Greg and I did a business plan and arranged to travel to Dublin for a weekend, prospecting locations and speaking to as many relevant people as possible. We gave ourselves ten days to make the decision.” The result is Electra; a boutique in Donnybrook dedicated to Fahy’s love of niche French labels.

“Electra is the daughter of Atlas and one of the seven Heavenly Sisters.

When I looked up the meaning,

I saw strength, femininity, sensuality, originality, brightness and elegance,” Fahy explains.

All possible descriptors of the accessories and clothing brands she stocks. Customers are happy to find Vanessa Bruno, APC, Maison Kitsuné, Christian Wijnants, Aurélie Bidermann and Ginette NY under one roof and the store’s minimal aesthetic lets the clothes shine. With 15 years living in the City of Lights, Fahy has Parisian style down to a tee: “Less is more.

Nice shoes, a good bag and carefree hair.” She admires the style of “Marion Cotillard, Kate Moss, Sofia Coppola and Garance Doré”.

As for the lifestyle change, yes she’s nostalgic for her days in Paris but she now relishes the sound of seagulls, access to family, leafy spaces for her children and, of course, a burgeoning business of her own. PMcC

46 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

COLLECTIONS? I believe you need to personally love what you are designing, but I’m not just designing for myself. We have a great team of quite different girls with different styles that all love fashion.

I think that input is the key. WHAT ARE YOU BUYING FOR AUTUMN? Indigo jeans with popper details (below, ¤89), a jacquard trench coat and a navy bouclé wool overcoat. WHAT DO YOU WEAR TO WORK? Generally jeans and a shirt. I have so many shirts which makes it really easy to get ready in the morning. YOUR FAVOURITE ITEM OF CLOTHING? An amazing hand-embroidered vintage shirt from a school prom in the 1920s. It’s amazing to see the love that went into making it. My best friend found it and my husband bought it for my 30th birthday. THE PIECE YOU WISH YOU’D NEVER WORN?

I have worn many bad looks in my past! But I don’t regret any – I felt good at the time. Fashion is meant to be fun. Cook’s collection at Warehouse is out now.

Painted floral shirt, c89; floral trousers, c155; floral jersey polo neck, c35.

Pink sweatshirt, c35; zebra jacquard skirt, c195; nude jersey polo neck, c46.

SHOPPING 101 SADHBH FAHY ON HER SHOPPING HABITS “I like to touch and try on clothes.

I did a clearout about ten years ago, selling lots of clothing on eBay. I bought a couple of good designer pieces with the money I earned. Now I buy more strategically, purchasing one or two good quality pieces per season. This way, over time, you build up your wardrobe.” ON HER FAVOURITE STORES “SugarFreaks in Barcelona for kids’ clothes, Wasteland in San Francisco for vintage, Colette and Spree and Le Bon Marché in Paris. I admire Louis Copeland in Ireland – their customer service is exceptional. Apple Retail for attention to detail and visual merchandising.”

ON HER WISHLIST “A beautiful navy Christian Wijnants coat and a burgundy Vanessa Bruno leather skirt.” Electra, 12 Donnybrook Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4; www.electra.ie

DANIEL HOLFELD

HOW DO YOU START YOUR WORKING

BUSINESS WISDOM

BUSINESS WISDOM DID ANYTHING IN YOUR FAMILY BACKGROUND INFLUENCE YOUR JOURNEY TO YOUR CURRENT ROLE? This is something of a confession but as a small child I just loved counting money – not necessarily for the purposes of spending it, but just to count it all up. I always wanted to be the bank when playing Monopoly and I think it just grew from there.

THE ACCOMPLISHMENT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF? When I left college in the early 1990s, I knew that marketing wasn’t for me and opportunities in Ireland were limited – 80 per cent of my class emigrated. That, combined with following my gut to pursue a career in finance, was difficult and it took me several years, some additional studying and many rejection letters to finally get my break.

HOW YOU APPROACH DIFFICULT SITUATIONS? I try to remain practical and look for a solution that will work for all parties. To do that requires listening carefully and understanding the situation.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO GET READY IN THE MORNING? Thirty to 40 minutes. I have developed the bad habit of hitting snooze at least twice.

FROM THE DESK OF ...

PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIEL HOLFELD

Katherine O’Brien

THE CV Katherine O’Brien graduated from DCU with a degree in international languages (Spanish and German) and marketing in 1991.

She held a number of treasury roles at Intel Ireland and Intel Corporation UK and was the European Treasury Manager for Global Crossing before joining AWAS (Ireland) as VP Treasury in 2009. She is a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK).

THE COMPANY? AWAS is a global leader in aircraft leasing and we serve every major and developing commercial aviation market from our Dublin headquarters and others internationally.

DESCRIBE YOUR ROLE: I am responsible for planning, organising and managing the treasury operations for AWAS, which has more than 220 aircraft on lease to 90 airline customers in 49 countries and annual revenues in excess of $1.2bn in 2015. I have been in the role for seven years.

BUSINESS PRIORITIES FOR 2016?

We have grown very quickly over the last few years and the focus now is on streamlining our portfolio in terms of the type of aircraft we own and the way in which we are financed.

HIGHLIGHTS AND CHALLENGES DURING YOUR TENURE? Highlights include overseeing the repayment of debt on a portfolio sale of more than 80 aircraft last year and devising and implementing multiple hedging strategies to manage the company’s exposure to interest rate risk. My biggest challenge seven years ago was walking into a newly created department in an industry I knew very little about. In turn, as I was able to put shape and structure to the treasury team, this became a highlight and the company grew from revenues of $700m in 2010 to almost double that in 2015.

VP TREASURY, AWAS (IRELAND) LIMITED A CHARACTERISTIC YOU BELIEVE A BUSINESS LEADER SHOULD POSSESS?

I think a true leader must have a compelling and achievable vision, combined with the clarity of thought and purpose to communicate that vision and motivate others to follow.

WHAT IS THE MOST USEFUL WAY TO ENGAGE CLIENTS? I think any meeting that can take place outside of the workplace is more conducive to building working relationships as it allows you to discover common areas of interest and find out what makes the other side “tick”.

ADVICE TO WOMEN WHO ASPIRE TO BE IN LEADERSHIP ROLES? Understand what motivates you – it is easier to excel when you are doing something you enjoy and are passionate about. You owe it to yourself to ensure that you place value on your contributions and capability. If there is something you want in terms of development or career, ask for it. Don’t assume the answer will be no as what makes you happier in your role, will ultimately benefit your organisation. You will not truly know your limits or capabilities until you push yourself outside your comfort zone. ^

MY WORKING LIFE:

THE WAY I DO BUSINESS 1. WORK/LIFE BALANCE Our workload can be quite cyclical depending on the level of transactions that are in progress. My preference is to leave the office on time and catch up with our US-based banks and lawyers in the evening. 2. MENTAL HEADSPACE At weekends I will hill run or go hiking. I also love live music so will go to concerts or gigs every couple of weeks. 3. BROADENING HORIZONS As Ireland is an aircraft leasing hub, most clients come here so the opportunity for business travel is limited.

However, my aim is to cover the globe as much as possible – short breaks to interesting cities have a positive influence on the brain! 4. LOOKING THE

BUSINESS It’s a formal working environment so I keep it simple with suits or skirts and dresses with a jacket. 5. PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE On Day 1 in my first job, a friend advised me to put the maximum I could afford into share schemes, pension and savings – I did and it’s good advice as if you do it from the beginning you won’t miss it. I am pretty proactive in terms of my investment choices and I am broadly aware of the fee levels and the difference in those charged on active versus passively managed funds.

T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E | September 2016 | 47

WARDROBE

SOMETHING OLD

NO38, Armelle Mitchell’s secondhand

shop on Dunville Avenue, in Ranelagh, combines mint condition pieces from recent seasons at incredible prices – Prada, Céline, Saint Laurent and Victoria Beckham are some of the many designer offerings which will add sparkle to your wardrobe.

“I always shopped at secondhand stores but felt they could be improved on. You should still have a boutique experience, even if you’re paying a fraction of the original price,” she explains. Part of No38’s charm is its compactness – and customers welcome Mitchell’s advice. “I would never let anyone walk out the door with something I know does not suit them or fit them. I never over-sell anything.”

Building a rapport with her clientele is part of her success – she knows what certain people want in terms of clothing and budget and alerts them when new stock arrives; it’s a very personal business. “I want to keep it small and I want to enjoy it. In saying all that, we hope that we will be selling online by the end of September. Customers have asked for it and we have to respond to that.” It’s no surprise when visiting the boutique that people cannot believe it’s a secondhand store. Says Mitchell, “That’s exactly how I wanted it.” PMcC No38 Dunville Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin 6; www.no38.ie

THE ONLINE ENTREPRENEUR “The reception has been terrific,” Sarah Byrne tells me of the newly launched e-commerce platform OPEN FOR VINTAGE. The easyto-navigate site comprises 26 boutiques and some 1,500 items including gorgeous Hermès, Balenciaga and Schiaparelli, a mix of modern and rare vintage pieces from the 18th century onwards, with prices ranging from ¤95 to ¤94,000 (for a diamond Rolex). “I think the dress collection is the most impressive. You can buy a stunning dress for ¤200 to ¤300.”

From Carlow, Byrne has been buying vintage since her postgraduate days in London in 2006.

Citing Grace Kelly and Coco Chanel as fashion muses, she admits that vintage items are often on the small side for her (she’s 5’ 9”). One of Open for Vintage’s many assets, in addition to authenticity and rigorous quality control, is its detailed sizing guides.

“The goal has always been to create and curate a marketplace of the world’s finest vintage pieces, from clothes to bags, shoes to jewellery,” she explains. “Vintage watches are becoming increasingly desirable.

A pre-owned Rolex Daytona would be a good investment as it is unlikely to devalue.

There’s a five-year waiting list for a new one.” PMcC www.openforvintage.com

48 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

ANDREW NUDING

THE SECONDHAND BOUTIQUE

DOREEN KILFEATHER

The vintage shopping experience evolves

Designer MICHAEL STEWART in the fashion studio at London’s RCA. “Recording a process allows me to review how I’ve arrived at a certain point – the patterns and threads in my work.” BELOW: This ochre floor-length dress is dyed with natural earth pigment. Stewart felted the wool himself.

DESIGNER in the Making When MICHAEL STEWART graduated from Limerick College of Art and Design in 2013, he wanted to further his fashion education, but studying fashion is an expensive business. That’s why, when Kildare Village stepped in with the offer of a ¤15,000 bursary, Stewart was in a better position to take up the offer of a longed-for place at London’s Royal College of Art. Stewart first came to the attention of Kildare Village when he submitted pieces for Into The Fold, a Kildare Village-sponsored exhibition of the work of talented emerging Irish designers, curated by Aisling Farinella, at London Fashion Week in 2015. The Fashion Bursary is a cornerstone of From The Isle, a project which focuses attention on fledgling artists, designers, culinary talents and craftspeople to, as Andrew Marshall, Business Director of Kildare Village says, “invest in the future of our promising young designers.”

The second year of Stewart’s MA in Fashion, considered the most prestigious among fashion professionals, begins this month, with energy focused on the graduation show in summer 2017, when Stewart will present his collection to peers, professors and the wider London fashion industry. That Stewart has an artist’s sensibility is clear, as he presents his influences (Shamanic practices, religious and spiritual ideas), his thought pattern and process (meditative, mindful) his approach to his work (devoted, intense) and its execution (resourceful, painstaking, handmade). “I go into the studio early in the morning, and I leave late in the evening. The studio experience is sometimes solitary but I love the cross-pollination which the environment of a multi-disciplinary art college presents too.”

Experimenting with tailoring techniques, old and invented, treating textiles, moulding fabric to make super-fluid shapes that seem to float on and flatter the body, fastened with handmade buttons, time passes quickly.

Stewart’s designs are original, beautiful, special. But they are also exciting and wearable. “I always ask myself: ‘Does this look new?’”This cerebral young designer may sit at the axis of art/fashion/craft but he’s aware of commercial realities too. When the fashion industry comes calling, as it surely will, he will be ready. SMcD

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PEOPLE

An

EXCHANGE of VIEWS Do millennials really have it easier than baby boomers did? ROSITA SWEETMAN (left) and SARAH MARIA GRIFFIN (right) compare lives and discover that, despite coming of age 40 years apart, their attitudes are not so different after all

Rosita Sweetman and Sarah Maria Griffin, photographed by Doreen Kilfeather, at Little Bird, 83 South Circular Road, Dublin 8.

“The BABY boomers let everyone down; MILLENNIALS are VAPID brats.”

SARAH MARIA GRIFFIN, 28, is a writer from Dublin. Her second book, Spare and Found Parts (HarperCollins) is out next month.

“The cultural identity of our generations feels heavily defined by our failures. The baby boomers let everyone down, generation X are disillusioned and sarcastic, millennials are vapid brats who take selfies in museums and won’t move out of home. Many of these sweeping generalisations refuse any of us leverage, conversation, any pause to empathise with one another. Any meetingin-the-middle. So I jumped at the chance to get to know Rosita Sweetman, a baby boomer and fellow writer.

Rosita and I talked and talked and talked. We looked

at our lives. We had more in common than I thought possible. She was so, so cool.

I read Generation X by Douglas Coupland when I first met my husband. He placed it into my hands, told me it was his favourite. It’s one of mine now, too – portraits of young deadbeats with dimming aspirations who make

50 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

up stories as a means of emotional survival. This is the book that defined the term. I am not from generation X, mind you, not one of the kids born between the mid 1960s and early 1980s. I’m 1988, and therefore a solid millennial – and I’m never allowed forget it, though there are many aspects of this branding that don’t sit easy with me.

I was ready to be apologetic for my age group when I first sat down with Rosita, but was quickly and warmly relieved. She had nothing but interest, support and empathy for the young, while I was shortsightedly expecting to be dismissed. She’s lived all over – first bouncing to London after finishing up at a convent

PEOPLE boarding school, then back to Dublin and then on to Tanzania, then further afield again: South America, India and Sri Lanka among others. This breadth of experience gives her a wise, gentle energy.

Over lunch at her home, Rosita recalls the journalists, writers and editors of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement gathering in Gaj’s on Baggot Street in the 1970s. She was one of more than 800 women at their first public meeting and tells me how the women of Ireland were galvanised. I well with pride, thinking of the weekly drinks I have with women in my own life, one word repeated again and again – repeal, repeal, repeal. As I sit at her table, Rosita asks me f lat out if I consider myself a feminist. I tell her I do. We’re united in this, generation gap or none. How far we’ve come is clear, what’s unchanged too, is stark.

I ask her if she uses the internet. She sighs, “Yes, too much.” I relate. The internet is such a huge historical advent, a cultural leap between us. She watches documentaries, keeps up with the news. This is where there’s truth, she tells me: “The internet lets everything get cracked right open.”

There’s no judgement in Rosita’s tone at any juncture.

At my kitchen table later in the week, I ask her coyly what she makes of selfies, curious to see if we’ll disagree.

She pauses a moment, shrugs, says people should take them if they want to, muses over how girls have always wanted to look beautiful. We talk about the glory of Topshop later in the day: Rosita wears dark magenta velvet platform sneakers that I recognise, having fawned over them in a shop myself. Her leather jacket is a deep blue, her hair bright blonde and pinned in neat curls, gorgeous tiny rings, made by her daughter, jewellery designer Chupi, on each finger. I aspire to her glamour, thinking maybe this is the first time I’ve truly met someone who I can say I want to be when I grow up.

When Rosita talks about living in Dar es Salaam she explains that she immediately got a job writing for the local English language paper – an unwillingness to slot in with the “colonial wives” of her social circle. Her former husband was an economist and with him she travelled, and worked. Rosita’s unease with taking advantage of privilege is clear: this is an acute perception of life abroad that I rarely see in people my own age. During my own three years living in San Francisco I was, in turns: an unpaid intern, a receptionist, a pet-sitter, and a nanny, masters degree under my arm, meaningless.

Rosita’s jobs after her education at Sacred Heart in Roscrea were mostly secretarial. She describes London in her 20s as different to how she sees it now: “You felt human in it still.” My first jobs out of school were pulling pints, shilling videogames in a shopping centre, folding clothes in a high-street store. As the recession opened its jaws, even these jobs fell away – then my friends fell away. Australia, Thailand, Japan, New Zealand, New York. Uncannily similarly to Rosita’s route to Dar es Salaam, my husband, then boyfriend, got a job at Facebook that took us to California.

While living abroad, Rosita and I both wrote. She describes sending off her manuscript for Fathers Come First in a brown paper envelope tied up with string, then six weeks later receiving an acceptance in the post, far away from her family and friends. The book would become an Irish feminist classic, reprinted recently in a gorgeous, stylish edition. I related closely to her writing

and submitting from abroad: that’s what I did too, with my memoir, Not Lost.

Rosita put down her pen professionally for much of motherhood, which she speaks of with great warmth, as a great time, how it adjusted her priorities: “You see the world in such a different way – how brutal it is. You have to get clever and get political.” She speaks of her children with such love and pride – the tenderness is contagious. I tell her I’d love to have kids of my own, but I have no idea when I’m going to be able to do it. None of my friends who are in their 20s have children. I feel these are things I should know by now, at 28, because they are things I want to do, but they are still dots on the horizon.

Talking to Rosita, all of my assumptions about the boomer generation were cast aside: we may have come of age in different times, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have something in common. Just because a woman is in her 70s doesn’t mean she’s going to brandish a crucifix at you. Quite the opposite. Maybe the solution to the Ireland we’ve been left is moving forward together, with the power that can only come from combining energy and hunger with wealth of experience.”

ROSITA SWEETMAN, 68, is a writer from Dublin. Her first novel, Fathers Come First, was published in 1972, and became a bestseller.

“I was nervous. I was meeting Sarah Maria Grffin – young, beautiful, clever, tall – for the first time. Sarah plunges straight into the politics of it all, the challenges her generation faces, with mile-a-minute analysis: “We’re being asked to be adults without having any of the things adults need – like houses and jobs. And being able to afford to have a family.”

“Our YOUNG people are TRAPPED in a bind so impossible they're not having BABIES?” Our conversations, over drinks initially, then lunch at mine two days later and then at hers two after that – go from serious to seriouser. There’s a lot going on for these millennials. Sarah, from the “leafier” end of Kilbarrack, says her generation is over-educated and underemployed. A survey last week showed one third of young people in the UK are in “insecure” employment, stripped of benefits, rights and, usually, meaning.

Another recent UK survey from the Resolution Foundation revealed they will spend £53,000 on rent before the age of 30. It’s madness!

Sarah says 90 per cent of her friends are working two or three jobs, nobody is managing to save for a house deposit and with ever-escalating rents, (“How do you save a deposit of ¤60,000 when most of your money goes to the landlord?”) and without job security, or even the possibility of being able to get on the housing ladder, very few are having babies: “Everyone’s broke.

Everyone’s trying so hard in their own career. It’s all delayed.”

As they see it, Sarah says, the old men in suits banjaxed the economy: “We’re all scared.” What’s going on? How could this smart young woman, a published book of poetry, Follies, a smashing memoir and a new

dystopian novel, Spare and Found Parts, coming this autumn, be afraid?

I’m trying to think – did we feel that fear in the 1960s and 1970s? I don’t think so; we were busy out on the streets protesting women’s rights, black rights, gay rights, end all war rights. Power to the people! There wasn’t this sense of powerlessness that millennials are faced with today.

Sarah is a blazing feminist, wearing her REPEAL [the eighth amendment] sweater with pride: “There is no medical procedure that would not be performed on a man because of religion, not one!” She adds that the abortion debate is a sombre one: “There’s a sadness there, of course there is, but the debate must be held."

She is not one of those returning emigrants who arrives back in Ireland and disses everything here; there was lots to dislike about America, she tells me. She’s wonderfully funny and honest about the loneliness of a small, empty, very expensive apartment, her husband working in Silicon Valley from dawn until dark every day: “America, so hard and so strange. We didn’t even have a bottle opener let alone friends.” Where buying fresh food was expensive, where meat was “grey sludge” and there was corn syrup in everything. Sarah leans forward, “You know in America they don’t have a word for ‘cop on’? They don’t know what it means’."

Mind you, as the late great Philip Larkin merrily quipped, “If the experience is painful enough you might get a poem out of it”; writing pieces for The Irish Times’ 'Generation Emigration' slot became Not Lost, the saving of her sanity, and her pathway from performance poet to fully-committed writer. Writing, which had been her escape, became her passion.

Actually, Sarah writes in a charmingly boomerish way – everything in longhand in big jotters, the pages carried around in a satchel, without so much as a photocopy as back up. She’s a girl with attitude – a demon video gamer, who happily walks miles through the city on her own, and a whiskey drinker: “Two is my limit. I do have that weird discipline.”

Now that’s a difference between us. I’m pretty sure discipline was not an outstanding feature of boomer culture; weren’t we all about giving disciplinarians the two fingers, smoking joints at the opera, shedding our bras? Discipline was considered a hallmark of the citadel of conservatism we were trying to smash. In retrospect, perhaps the baby was chucked out along with the bathwater; lack of discipline led to so many of the groups stalling, their ideas, and style hijacked by the mainstream, stripped of its political heart.

So much that was wonderful in the boomer years – the worldwide surge for freedom, sexual politics, racial politics, incredible music, Woodstock, the Beatles, the Sex Pistols, Joni Mitchell, Modern Art, the Women’s Movement – was either smashed or coopted. That consumerism replaced revolution and our wonderful young people are trapped in a bind so impossible, so stacked against them, they’re not even having babies? Characterising them as over-entitled and spoilt is a bit rich coming from a generation that destroyed an entire economy and has, so far, paid nothing for the disaster they caused but walked away whistling.

Boomer that I am, I’m on the side of the millennials.

More power to them. They need it.” ^

T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E | September 2016 | 51

FIRST PERSON

DARKER THAN BLUE

After the birth of her second child, Elena’s previously happy life began to unravel. Before long, the so-called “baby blues” had spiralled into a case of post-natal depression so acute it was threatening her life

D

Depression was always present in my family. Growing up in our house was unpredictable and traumatic. But it just spurred me on to make something of my life. I worked hard to escape the chaos. At one stage I was working three jobs as well as going to college, while saving for a house. When I met my partner Tom I knew he was the one. We clicked, sharing the same values, hopes and dreams. By the time I was 22 we had saved enough to put down a deposit on a lovely house, in an estate close to friends and Tom’s family. Soon we discussed starting a family, as we both loved kids and wanted to be young parents. Luckily it happened straight away and we were so excited about adding to our growing family (having already acquired two gorgeous dogs and a cat) and we looked forward to the imminent arrival of our little baby.

Kayla arrived three weeks early in a f lurry of panic. I had preeclampsia and the placenta separated, putting huge stress on my kidneys. I was given a general anaesthetic and our well thought out birth plan f lew out the window. Rather than being a joyous occasion it was a frightening blur – all wires and tubes and panicked voices. But soon I had my beautiful baby in my arms. I marvelled at her tiny hands, her perfect toes. I had a touch of the baby blues, but nothing worrying.

I struggled a bit with the mind-numbing exhaustion that comes with caring for a newborn. It passed quickly and we all fell into a normal routine, revelling in this new phase of our lives. Sometimes, when I looked at her, so small, so fragile, so precious, I thought about my own upbringing. I wondered how my parents could have failed to provide a stable, loving home. How could you not do everything to protect and nurture your child?

We settled into our new life and soon thought about having another child, a sibling for Kayla. Again it happened quickly and Aria was born just over a year later. She was a planned Caesarean section, so we were more prepared this time. I had her on a Monday and was discharged on the Wednesday, still sore and tired, but happy. However, the bliss was short-lived. Within hours of arriving home, Kayla was admitted to hospital with an extreme vomiting bug and I was left alone at home with my newborn. Alone, recovering from a Caesarean and anxious to stay on top of everything. Aria and Tom were only home

52 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

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FIRST PERSON from the hospital a few days when I was rushed to A&E – I was burning up, delirious, suffering from an infected uterus. So those first few weeks with Aria were difficult, with no time to relax into our new life as a family of four, no lazy days of recuperation and recovery.

Alone at home with two young kids and no energy, my daily bliss went to daily hell quite quickly. I wanted so much to be the perfect mother, the perfect girlfriend, the perfect housewife. And although I was managing very well, I couldn’t see it. Kayla was thriving in her new role as big sister and at two was such a confident, happy child, a real chatterbox. Aria was a good baby, always well cared for and content, the house cleaned to perfection.

Tom was constantly telling me what a brilliant job I was doing but I didn’t believe him.

I woke anxious and felt worried and tense every moment of the day. At night I had nightmares about losing or hurting the kids. I’d wake, exhausted and frightened, collapsing in a soggy heap when Tom left for work. But I kept going, bleaching and cleaning, reading storybooks, making meals, hanging out the endless baskets of washing. I mentally beat myself up, telling myself to pull out of it, berating myself for feeling like a failure. I began to feel trapped and anxious when I went to do the shopping, panic gripping my chest, catching my breath.

I avoided the playground, the mother and toddler group, even meeting friends. Some days I would get as far as the front door, sweating profusely, gagging for breath, heart palpitating, panic pinning me to the f loor, crying uncontrollably. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with me. What kind of a mother was I, when I couldn’t take the kids to the playground? What had they done to deserve this? The irrational thoughts came thick and fast and no matter what anyone said, I felt numb to their reassurances. When Tom asked what the problem was, I’m the problem, I said in my head. I am the problem. You would all be better off without me.

I truly had myself convinced that the girls and Tom would have a better life if I just disappeared, that I was poisoning their chances of happiness. I talked to no one, avoiding friends and family alike, caught in a vortex of self-doubt and self-loathing. I cried all day, huge, uncontrollable tears. Memories from my past haunted me and I believed I could never be a good mother, given my own upbringing. And yet, to the outside world, everything looked fine. The house was clean and warm, the girls happy and content. I bottled it all up and refused to talk, not to Tom, not to anyone. How could I tell them I fantasised about driving off a bridge, about slitting my wrists in the bath? And the guilt that those thoughts provoked was all-consuming. I felt like a terrible person.

I felt Tom and the girls deserved better, much better.

Tom pleaded with me to get help, so reluctantly I went to the doctor, where I glossed over the extent of my feelings. He prescribed anti-anxiety medication, but I couldn’t take the side effects. On the advice of the doctor, I went to see a CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy]therapist who managed to persuade me to open up a little. Not much, but enough for her to be concerned for my safety. So she recommended I be assessed in the local psychiatric unit. Here the therapist encouraged me to talk about my suicidal ideations. She made me spell

out my plans, my exact plans. They wanted to hospitalise me straight away for six weeks. I freaked. I couldn’t be away from the girls. That would kill me altogether. At the time, I couldn’t see the irony. Here I was, intent on taking my own life, but couldn’t bear to be separated from my girls for more than an hour. I insisted and insisted, so they signed me up to Homebase, a team of clinical professionals, who would call to the house every day for as long as necessary, to help me get back on my feet.

I agreed to this, all the while planning my own departure from this world. It was a Sunday night. I read Kayla a bedtime story and tucked her up in bed. I fed Aria and put her in the cot beside us. I was waiting for Tom to go asleep, so I could execute my plan. I had one foot on the f loor when suddenly Aria woke up screaming with a fever. I jumped to her aid, taking her into the bed between us, nursing her, tending to her. But I had missed my deadline. I lay awake for hours. Devastated that she had woken up. Devastated that she had just saved my life.

The next day, the Homebase team arrived, two lovely women who entered my life and gave me hope. I sat at the kitchen table, hugging my legs, tears streaming down my face. I was broken. A shell of a person, with no fight left in me. I couldn’t talk, I just nodded as they told me how they suspected I was feeling. They understood exactly what I was thinking and that was enough to get me through that day.

There were others like me.

And every day they came. I still couldn’t open up. Just facing people was such an effort but having them there offering me hope was enough. I slowly began to confide in them and opened up about my desperate feelings, my suicidal urges. They listened and reassured me that this was all normal. I wasn’t crazy. I was suffering from post-natal depression and it would pass. This switched a light on inside and in tiny ways I began to improve.

When they normalised my thoughts, I felt able to open up to Tom, who was supportive and patient. I reached out to a childhood friend, who took it upon herself to inject some fun and laughter back into my life. A woman from the mother and toddler group I used to visit had twigged vsomething was wrong. She encouraged me to confide in her. She too had walked this path and was out the other end. She too offered me hope. And so, with the intervention of friends and healthcare professionals and the adjustment of my medication, I slowly came back to life. Little by little I regained my strength, my self-belief, even my sense of humour. I began to look forward to visits from my friends and family trips. I was enjoying being a mum and a girlfriend again. Suicidal thoughts started to fade. I learned how to manage my anxiety and negative thoughts. Now I could enjoy life again, being goofy with the girls, affectionate and open with Tom. A year on, I couldn’t be happier. I wake up excited for the day ahead. I love my life, my children, my partner, my friends. I am so thankful to all those instrumental in my recovery. Thankful I got the help I needed when I did. So if you can relate to any of this, please reach out. Do not be ashamed or embarrassed. It is not too late to get help. You will get better. ^ In conversation with Justine Carbery.

“What KIND of MOTHER was I, when I couldn’t take the KIDS to the playground?”

54 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

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SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17

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Interesting and elegant Irish homes ◆

Architecture news, furniture finds and our pick of the latest interiors trends

Log on to WWW.THEGLOSS.IE for the latest interiors news, house tours and expert advice.

FASHION FILM SERIES

THE GLOSS

CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF

AT A GALA SCREENING To celebrate the tenth anniversary of THE GLOSS MAGAZINE we are delighted to invite readers and fashion lovers to join us for the first of our new FASHION FILM SERIES — the premiere of the year’s most anticipated fashion documentary, THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY, co-hosted by Audi Dublin International Film Festival, at Dublin’s LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA on Wednesday September 21 2016.

Every fashion lover should experience this unprecedented look behind the scenes of two of New York’s premier cultural events. The First Monday in May follows the creation of “China: Through The Looking Glass,” the most-attended fashion exhibition in the history of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the 2015 Met Gala, the star-studded fundraiser that celebrates the opening of the exhibition.

Acclaimed filmmaker Andrew Rossi follows Vogue editorin-chief Anna Wintour and Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton during the crucial eight months before the 2015 Met Gala, as they orchestrate the year’s most lavish party.

With unprecedented access, the documentary captures the collision of high fashion and celebrity at the Gala and, featuring a cast of renowned creatives including fashion designers Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier as well as a host of contemporary pop icons like Rihanna, dives into the debate about whether fashion should be viewed as art.

Please join us for a VIP cocktail reception, specially created for the event. Screening commences at 8pm sharp.

Tickets are ¤15 and are available at http://bit.ly/2biSRp9 This is a special opportunity to be among the first to view The First Monday In May which opens Exclusively at Light House Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin 7 on Friday September 30. Running time: 91 minutes

IT’S A

Pleasure Build your wardrobe from the inside out with the very best foundations ...

I

t makes sense that something worn next to the skin should warrant the same degree of attention that is devoted to what we wear on top. But, as we choose our winter wardrobe, rather than being our first thought, lingerie is too often the last. Consider the prospect of working from within and getting your shape right first. Now, promising every possible item of lingerie, from underwear that sculpts and smooths every shape, hosiery that flatters and sleepwear and lingerie with daytime potential, The Lingerie Room at Brown Thomas is unveiled in a new space, where luxury, comfort and discretion makes lingeriebuying a more pleasurable experience …

LOUNGE LINGERIE

DAYTIME POTENTIAL

Dream silk camisole, Simone Pérèle, d75.

As lingerie becomes part of our fashion wardrobe, Grand Central it is on show now more than ever – not just on the nightshirt, Hanro, d141. runway, but in reality. This look works beautifully at night but how to pull it off in broad daylight?

The answer is to use it as a layering option. A hint of camisole or bodysuit glimpsed under a dress; a bra worn under a jacket, a corset doing double-duty as a top, or even over a top, as seen below. A touch of lace, sheer or satin contrasts nicely with AW16’s heavier fabrics and feels modern and fresh. This season, street style also shows how to use the language of lingerie in a more all-out way with pyjama dressing, a slip dress, even a velvet dressing gown, in luxe crepe de chine or silk, adding a cool vintage feel.

Pyjamas by LoveStories.

NEW AND EXCLUSIVE

LOVE STORIES

Simone Pérèle.

Fashion editor Christine Centenara wears corset as outerwear.

Evoking the carefree spirit of the 1960s and 1970s, the new collection from LOVEStories revolves around decadent hotel stay-ins, blurring the line between underwear and outerwear with unstructured shirt and trouser sets, pyjamas and robes in jewel tones, and elegant and romantic lingerie separates, designed to be mixed and matched.

Brains behind the label, Marloes Hoedeman, captures the spirit of this bygone era perfectly with an enticing mix of fabrics – silky satin, brocade, sheer – and hues in rich purples and dusky pinks.

From top: Purple Jude pyjamas, d175; Slate Ritz robe, d160; Billy pyjama pant in Winetasting, d75; Hazel bra, d60; Dragonfly brief, d50. All by LoveStories.

THE BOTTOM LINE

FROM MINIMALIST ESSENTIALS TO THIS SEASON’S FULLER-BOTTOMED LACE AND SATIN BRIEFS ...

Ginger Crop, Elle Macpherson Body, d35; Lavender Rive Gauche, Chantelle, d35; Ultraviolet Brooklyn, Passionata, d23; Black Floral Ellie, Stella McCartney Lingerie, d49.95; Slate Lolita, LoveStories,d30.

PROMOTION

Wolford

GREAT SHAPES

WINTER SWIM

WHAT LIES BENEATH Versatile as ever, and always figureflattering, this season’s bodysuits and shapewear are key wardrobe staples. Modern corsetry is all about using luxury fabrics with technical innovation as shown in the Beyond Naked range of shaping undergarments by Wacoal: a masterclass in figure-enhancing comfort.

LIMITED EDITION Every woman has her Wolford favourites, indispensible styles for every day of the year and fashion classics for every outfit and occasion. This season, exclusive to The Lingerie Room at Brown Thomas, are three very special Wolford Limited Editions – Diamond Shine tights, body and skirt – with a fashion edge.

Just four of each Limited Edition available, from November, only at Brown Thomas.

Beyond Naked Macaroon dress by Wacoal, d78.

Stretch bodysuit by Elle Macpherson Body, d98.

Ink blue stretch lace bodysuit,

by Stella McCartney Lingerie, d89.95.

BRIDAL AND BEYOND

LINGERIE FOR THE BIG DAY

FOCUS ON

THE NON-WIRE BRA While there’s still a place for push-up bras and underwiring, a more natural bosom is this season’s silhouette. The prettiest are lace-trimmed. 1 Eternal Circle, Elle Macpherson Body, d51; 2 Black lace bralette, B.tempt’d, d20; 3 Black lace bra, Elle Macpherson Body, d48; 4 Miss Daisy bra, LoveStories, d50; 5 Meg Alluring bra, Stella McCartney Lingerie, d99.95; 6 Scarab Lovelace bra, LoveStories, d60.

1

2

6 3

5 4

Lipstick Pink Cheeky, Passionata, d21; Wine Shelby, LoveStories, d30; Blue Lace, LoveStories, d35; Purple Ciao Bella, B.tempt’d, d21.

Diamond Shine string body, embedded with 32,000 rivets for true sparkle, d300; Diamond Shine Velvet de Luxe opaque tights with sparkling hand-applied rivets, d400.

The Lingerie Room has a year-round swimwear department so even in the depths of winter you will find a chic selection of swimsuits, bikinis and holiday accessories. This season, cream of the crop is the new collection from Stella McCartney. The stripe one-piece is comfortable over hips and bottom without looking frumpy and has a flattering empire line plunge.

The two-piece stripe bikini (from November) is cleverly designed: thinner stripes and a high-cut leg on the bottom half have a minimising effect. If animal print is your thing, you will love this flattering and feminine bikini (from November)with its tiny straps and pretty tie-bra and briefs. The highly tailored one-piece, designed to hold you in, has an athletic vibe. Swimwear from d210.

Clara chemise, Stella McCartney, d215.

Choosing the best bridal lingerie will make the most of your dress, ensuring a perfect fit, graceful posture and comfort throughout your special day. The professional lingerie stylists at The Lingerie Room at Brown Thomas will assist you in selecting the right shape, dictated of course by the style of your dress and the support you need. Our stylists will help you choose those special pieces we all love to have for our honeymoon, from beautiful nightwear to the perfect sarong.

VISIT US

THE LINGERIE ROOM Come to The Lingerie Room at Brown Thomas, our luxury space where state-of-the-art private fitting rooms promise comfort, discretion and an expert unhurried complimentary service from our professional stylists. We deliver solutions for all occasions – from the everyday essentials to business to bridal – and for all shapes and sizes. Our personal lingerie stylists are dedicated to finding you your perfect lingerie, hosiery, shapewear, nightwear and swimwear.

To book your complimentary appointment today, please email lingeriedublin@brownthomas.ie or call 01 605 6666.

Seduce convertible bra, Calvin Klein, d70.

Celeste Basque, Simone Pérèle, d136.

NEUTRAL GEAR Beige silk shirt; beige oversized wool jacket; brown wide-leg wool trousers; all THE ROW. Burgundy velvet shoes, JIMMY CHOO. Burgundy snakeskin leather handbag, LONGCHAMP.

DRESS CODE Melon and offwhite long sleeve colour-block cashmere dress; brown Tuscan calfskin boots; both HERMÈS.

This season's keys pieces have a generous nature. Embrace a feeling of fullness Photographed by TOM CORBETT

Styled by LUIS RODRIGUEZ

COLOUR BLOCK Navy and black silk top; structured yellow silk dress; both Lennon Courtney at DUNNES STORES. Multi-coloured Le Pliage Losange fur and shearling scarf; brown and cream patterned calfskin boots; both LONGCHAMP. Black bone cuff; black lacquer bangle; both Elsa Peretti at TIFFANY & CO.

CUTTING THE MUSTARD Mustard silk shirt, CACHAREL. Light brown oversized wool trousers, TOPSHOP UNIQUE. Grey and silver metallic wool coat; single-strand faux pearl necklace; multi-strand faux pearl necklace; black quilted leather handbag; all CHANEL. Silver metallic platform oxford shoes, STELLA MC CARTNEY. Stainless steel Nautilus watch, Patek Philippe at WEIR & SONS.

HELLO, SAILOR Navy wool cape; black and white striped top; navy belted satin trousers; gold and navy satin shoes; all TOMMY HILFIGER COLLECTION. Gold cuff, ALEXIS BITTAR. Stainless steel Nautilus watch, Patek Philippe at WEIR & SONS. Gold drop earrings, CÉLINE.

HAT TRICK Camel ruched-sleeve cashmere jacket, MAX MARA. Burgundy cotton tunic, Carolyn Donnelly The Edit at DUNNES STORES. Light brown knit gloves, PRADA. Grey wide-leg wool trousers; black and white slingback leather shoes; both LK BENNETT. Black wool bowler hat, CHANEL. Burgundy leather handbag with tassels, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN. Stainless steel Nautilus watch, Patek Philippe at WEIR & SONS.

CHECK MATE Navy and white gingham shirt with mother of pearl buttons; navy and orange high-waisted wool-mix skirt; both VICTORIA BECKHAM. Yellow and black check wool cape with fur cuffs, PRADA. Herringbone stripe suede and sheepskin bag, LONGCHAMP. Crystal encrusted brooch, ALEXIS BITTAR.

ORANGE CRUSH Orange cashmere coat; black striped cashmere dress; both BOSS HUGO BOSS. Orange leather satchel, CELINE. Black studded leather boots, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN. Photographed by Tom Corbett. Styled

by Luis Rodriguez.

Assisted by Alexander Boutin. Casting by Holly Corbett at Bernstein & Andriulli.

Make-up by Brian Duprey at Judy Casey for MAC Cosmetics.

Hair by Bradley Irion at Artists by Timothy Priano for Redken.

For stockists, www.thegloss.ie

DIVINE HARMONY SERUM S U P R E M E S Y N E R GY YO U T H C A R E

When the land meets the sea, an eternal beauty is born.

Immortelle Millésimée is the flower that never fades.

Jania Rubens is the red algae with the ability to eternally regenerate. These two unique ingredients from Corsica are brought together in the new Divine Harmony Serum from L’OCCITANE. This highly concentrated formula contains 5,000 micro-drops, designed to improve all visible signs of skin ageing.

Cheeks and cheekbones seem plumped (91%**), facial contours appear more defined (78%**) and expression lines are visibly smoothed (93%**).

www.loccitane.ie *Patents pending in France. **Consumer test on 55 women using the Divine Harmony Serum for two months.

Beauty

NEXT GENERATION

N 5 O

SARAH HALLIWELL visits Grasse to sample a new version of the world famous perfume

I

t’s not the first time Chanel has revisited the original 1926 fragrance No5: in 2009, Jacques Polge created Eau Première, softer and lighter than classic No5 with an emphasis on the lemon and vanilla notes. Now his son, Olivier Polge, already an established perfumer in his own right (Flowerbomb and La Vie est Belle are just two of his blockbuster hits), has come up with his own twist on the classic, No5 L’Eau, launching this month. “We have kept in mind that No5 is the bestselling perfume in the world.

And our aim is to keep this fragrance alive for ever,” says Polge. “So it’s about finding ways to rediscover No5 but keeping the essential nature of the perfume to tell a new and different story.

Each interpretation of No5 is different. All have kept the creamy oriental background.”

There are few perfumes that please everyone. One person’s idea of perfection can be too heavy, too sweet, overpowering or unmemorable to the next. No5 L’Eau pulls off a mission impossible: it’s a crowd-pleaser that’s distinctive, memorable and beautiful, with the unmistakeable air of the original classic. The fresh top notes, an accord of citrus – orange mandarin and bergamot – are made even brighter and sparkling with a concentrate of natural aldehydes that are particular to Chanel, that central burst of lightness and fizz with sophistication. I can’t imagine anyone smelling this perfume and not liking it, instantly. I’ve canvassed all ages, from fussy teenagers to grandmothers who adore the original, and the response is unequivocal. It’s feminine and pretty yet fresh and bright.

The secret of its success, for Polge, lies in the flower fields of Grasse, France. “Our raw materials keep the olfactive specificity. Grasse jasmine was a key ingredient chosen by Ernest Beaux in the 1920s. And the rosa centifolia grown in Grasse is also vital to the distinct nature of No5; rose damascena as grown in Bulgaria and Turkey does not have the same quality or scent.”

Lily Rose Depp, the face of No5 L’Eau, with perfumer Olivier Polge.

I visited the Grasse fields in May. The May rose, a key feature of Chanel No5, only blossoms once a year, for three to four weeks in May. It’s a very fragile flower and huge care is taken to harvest and process it very quickly to keep the quintessence.

The brief for the original No5, back in 1926, was luxury and mystique. This time, says Polge, “the freshness was the primary idea.” The challenge was to keep “the history and essential elements while presenting a modern No5”, just as Karl Lagerfield said about Chanel fashion: “The whole thing must be something of today … and rooted in the past.”

“No5 is considered an extremely rich perfume with a velvety background and smooth addition of vanilla,” notes Polge. “I’ve taken the scaffolding of No5 – this dazzling association of jasmine and rose and light powdery notes, with its density and richness – and made these less central, highlighting the freshness of the original structure. I wanted to also put aside the creamy aspect for a drier, woody, more dynamic context, something smoother and fresher, with notes of zesty orange and bergamot and also emphasising all the green and fruity aspects.” There are hints of ylang ylang and a woody cedar accord as background notes. For Polge, who views himself as both “a craftsman, but also a modernist”, this perfume is about originality as much as history. ¤89, 50ml. ■

Arriving at the fields owned

by Monsieur Mul, who grows roses, tuberose, iris and geranium purely for Chanel perfumes, the first sight was a No5 air balloon towering over the rose fields.

When picking, the flower must be completely open to release maximum olfactive molecules – warm it in your hand and gently tap and the flower will open. The smell changes entirely if you warm the flower by crushing it in your hand.

This 5g bottle of rose absolute represents hours of work.

��

N05 IN NUMBERS

Five kilogrammes of roses are picked per hour (1,500-2,000 flowers).

kilogrammes of roses = 1 kilogramme of concrete, the oily rose extract which forms a waxy mass. From this 1 kilogramme, 600 grammes of fragrant rose absolute can be extracted.

Each sack picked carries 50 kilogrammes of flowers.

There are 350 flowers in 1 kilogramme.

One week of labour = six kilogrammes of concrete.

T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E | September 2016 | 67

BEAUTY

Buffet

See the best new beauty and pictures from the latest launch events on our INSTAGRAM page @theglossmag

BY SARAH HALLIWELL

The comeback STELLA MC CARTNEY

The nude pencil is back on the essentials list. Beige liner along the waterline is a common trick to reduce redness, but we’re also seeing a lot of light pencil in a V shape at the inner corners of the eye, as seen at STELLA MC CARTNEY.

THE LIP FIX Innovative lip formulas for autumn range from non-drying mattes to the glossiest glosses. Our picks are: YSL Vinyl Cream Lip Stains (from mid-September) for full-throttle, dazzling colour; CLINIQUE Pop Matte Lip Colour (¤20), with inbuilt primer; TOM FORD Lip Contour Duo (¤49) for lipperfecting; and NARS’ unbelievable Velvet Lip Glides (¤26, from October) for elegant colours and a soft suede feel.

TAKE THREE LUXURY SKINCARE

JUST ONE THING… Sometimes, beauty products just stand out for their sheer beauty and brilliance. LINDA RODIN’s Olio Lusso facial oil is a thing of legend, and she’s followed it up with Lavender Absolute oils for face and body, and this collection of lipsticks, genius in their transparency, which have the original luxury oil in the formula, £28stg.

Available online at www. panachecosmetics.com

Fragrant Fall Exciting names are entering the scent world: the first collection of scents from LOUIS VUITTON (left, ¤200) is incredibly chic, in bottles by Marc Newson; Christian Louboutin’s, meanwhile, are by genius designer Thomas Heatherwick.

CHARLOTTE TILBURY’s first fragrance, Scent of a Dream, is madly seductive, with a rush of flowers. JO MALONE LONDON sums up the season with the stylish Basil & Neroli Cologne (from ¤54), which is bright without being overly girly, while TOM FORD kicks off a trend for green scents with his Extrait des Verts trio (¤188 each). Too much choice…

TRIED & TESTED

Dibs on Dabbs British superstar podiatrist Margaret Dabbs’ London flagship in Marylebone is a favourite with celebrities – and several devoted Irish clients who visit when staying at the Doyle Collection The Marylebone Hotel. Now we don’t have to travel to experience her Supreme Pedicure, but can book into Edvard & Pink, an extraordinary day spa spread over three floors of Dundrum

Town Centre, which won both European and Irish Spa Awards and was nominated in this year’s Irish Times Best Shops. Deservedly so – setting, staff and service are faultless. The pedicure includes nail clipping, shaping and buffing, thorough filing of hard skin with the MD-designed foot file, followed by a dry scrub to soften, before feet are plunged into warm water, then massaged with Intensive Treatment Foot Oil with antiseptic emu oil (from under the feathers of the emu!) making it perfect to help treat arthritis, scarring and stretch marks as well

68 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

LA MER The Moisturising Soft Lotion (c220) is the lightest, most luxe way to get deep hydration and glowing skin.

L’OCCITANE goes luxe with its rather special Immortelle Jania rubens collection, bringing together their Immortelle oil with red algae extract, both sourced in Corsica. As well as incredibly silky, nourishing formulas, this serum and cream are innovative in pairing luxury with practicality since they’re refillable.

L’Occitane actually grow this specially active algae in “aqua labs” in their south of France base. From c168.

SISLEY’s Mattifying Moisturiser with Tropical Resins, c98, is a balancing, hydrating solution.

as cracked skin and broken nails. Having a nail or foot infection is no barrier to having this pedi, by the way – the therapist will add Foot & Hygiene Cream with natural antifungal and antibacterial qualities into the mix. Nourishing Nail & Cuticle Serum also combines emu oil, tea tree and lemon myrtle to strengthen and protect the nail and cuticle and keep infections at bay. An expert polish application completes the treatment.

Margaret Dabbs London Supreme Pedicure (¤70, 60 minutes) and products are at Edvard & Pink, Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin 16; 01 215 7958.

SILVER LADY Metallic is a big thing this season, whether it’s gold nails or silver eyeshadow (we loved the crackled effect at Holly Fulton). The reflective gold- and silverdipped nails at Vivienne Westwood inspire us to go coolly metallic this season.

HOLLY FULTON

ROKSANDA ILINCIC

MARY KATRANTZOU

BEAUTY

THE RICH DARK LIP It’s a big glamorous lips season, no question.

From Roksanda to Mary Katrantzou, the beauty look was all about the lip colour.

Burgundy and berry rule – think the glossiest maraschino cherry, or else a strong matte.

Stock up on MAC CHERRY LIP PENCIL (used at Roksanda and Peter Jensen) and the sensational, super-longlasting Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolours (right, in High Drama).

Shapes are sharper: a 1940s-style focus on the Cupid’s bow was prevalent. Keep the rest of your make-up minimal: all you need is glowing skin and spiky lashes.

LAYERS OF LINER Eyeliner’s getting interesting again: try AW16’s sharper looks, with darkly glittering shades ringing the entire eye, coming to a sharp point at either end.

Try the artist’s trick of applying onto a closed eye to get the colour close to the lashline for an edgy finish.

ESTÉE LAUDER Double Wear Eye Pencil, 022.

MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lip Colour, 028.

GLOSS & GLASS

BACKSTAGE MUST-BUY

TRENDS TO TRY Brilliant lips, spiky lashes and glowing skin: the AW16 beauty report from backstage at London Fashion Week

LIGHT UP YOUR SKIN “It’s all about the gleam,” says MAC senior artist Lesley Keane. She recommends Mineralize foundation buffed into skin for shine. And MAC’s cult classic STROBE CREAM is arriving in new shades in November, including peach.

“I’m nearly out of Strobe liquid in silver,” Keane said backstage at Peter Pilotto. “It adds a cool iridescence to skin.” Almost every artist we met was using MAC STUDIO WATERWEIGHT FOUNDATION. “It’s perfect for a clean, minimal, matte look,” said Irish make-up artist Niamh Quinn at Danielle Romeril. “MAC NEXT TO NOTHING DEFINING POWDER removes shine, and I’m also using Cream Colour Base in Luna on highlighted areas: I never do make-up without it.”

70 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

MAC CLEAR LIPGLASS, 019.50.

COOL BEAUTY The “wind-chilled, weathered” look at Teatum Jones was pretty and natural-looking, with soft plum tones consistent on lips and cheeks.

At Mary Katrantzou, make-up artist Lynsey Alexander talked about a look that was “a bit cold” and used burgundy on lips and nails. Val Garland calls this “double-dipping”: a rich plum mascara echoes soft burgundy lips (a mix of three MAC lipsticks: REBEL, FILM NOIR and HANGOUT).

SPIKE IT UP Focus on lashes, the spikier the better.

From burgundy at BERARDI to azure at RICHARD MALONE, eyelashes were layered with texture and colour. For Malone, MAC experts blended HI-DEF CYAN Pencil with MIXING MEDIUM for this startling sky-blue effect.

RICHARD MALONE ANTONIO BERARDI

VICTORIA BECKHAM

MAC QuikTrik Stick, 036.50, limited edition.

TEATUM JONES

NOW

PAUL SMITH

MAC’s Studio QUIKTRIK STICK (left) might sound like something out of Dr Seuss, but it’s seriously sophisticated: this double-ended multi-tasker was tried and tested at every show, with artists scrambling to get hold of them. “I use it to contour and highlight, for lips, eyes and sculpting the skin,” enthused Val Garland backstage at Vivienne Westwood. At Paul Smith, it made light bounce off models’ skin: “It lifts the skin and makes it look glossy and fresh,” says MAC Senior Artist Rachel O’Donnell. “It glides on for a flawless finish.”

The “Perspex Effect” is everywhere, creating a clean and fresh high-shine look against dark winter clothes. Use the shiniest MAC Lipglass on eyelids to add dimension, as at shows like Peter Pilotto and Mary Katrantzou, and on lips, preferably over a matte cherry lipstick. Several layers of clear top coat on nails completes the look.

BEAUTY

Beauty Spice THE GLOSS gets a close-up of Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder

I

t was the most closely guarded beauty launch of the year. Sworn to secrecy, a small group of journalists assembled at Victoria Beckham’s Dover Street boutique on a sunny day in May. Beckham is tiny, poised on skyscraper heels, with hair in an artfully relaxed bun. Her enthusiasm for the collection is warm and genuine. “I’ve always dreamed of having my own make-up line,” she says. Estée Lauder approached her a year ago, and the process has been fast and furious. “When we first met, I gathered together a dining room table full of products I love – some discontinued. I was very specific, I knew exactly what I wanted.” There are four looks, inspired by places key to Beckham, from LA to New York: “I wanted to make it easy. I change my makeup, as well as my clothes, depending on where I am.” The hard part was editing the collection down from Beckham’s initial wishlist: this is just the beginning.

THE ETHOS Beckham has designed her perfect capsule collection for women of all ages. THE PACKAGING The fluted casing is inspired by the Lauder archive, and features the blonde-gold of all Beckham’s accessories. “I wanted it to look good in your handbag and your bathroom.” THE FORMULAS Beckham worked with new Lauder labs and every formula is a first, except the lipsticks.

Eyeshadows can be used dry or wet, for added intensity. Eye Foils are liquid glosses that feature an incredible new pearl that allows light through the entire formula. Beckham’s tip is to wear Blonde Gold on the inner eye. THE STANDOUT An instantly enhancing skin cream for facing the paps had to be included: “Every look starts with Morning Aura, a moisturiser/primer for perfect dewy skin,” explains Beckham. “Wear it under or over make-up, on the browbone, tops of cheeks and down the nose.” Naturally, her signature toffee lip colour is here, too: “I really think we have the perfect nude here – it’s not too brown or pale.”

THE VERDICT This is make-up of substance, with weighty compacts and formulas to dazzle make-up lovers of every age. SH

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PHOTOGRAPHED BY DOREEN KILFEATHER

12 1 EYE PALETTE, ¤80.

2&3 EYE METALS, ¤40 each.

4&8 LIPSTICK in Chilean Red and

Brazilian Nude, ¤40 each. 5 EYE FOIL, ¤34.

6 EYE KAJAL in Black Saffron/Vanille, ¤27.

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7 HIGHLIGHTER in Modern Mercury, ¤58.

9 MORNING AURA ILLUMINATING CRÈME, ¤82.

10 LIP GLOSS, ¤34. 11 LIP PENCIL, ¤27. 12 BRONZER,

¤58. All limited edition, from September 18.

13 VICTORIA BECKHAM LEOPARD SPOT ZIPPED POUCH, ¤560. All at Brown Thomas.

T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E | September 2016 | 71

LET’S DO LUNCH

by Anne Harris

Over crab claws at Cavistons, prolific novelist Jennifer Johnston shares childhood memories

“T

he only way in which things would have been any better would have been if my father hadn’t left us.” The lament of one abandoned as a child never loses its pathos. But this one is different. Jennifer Johnston’s father, Denis, left in 1938, almost 80 years ago. Is it possible it’s still raw?

There is nothing of the victim about Johnston. The last time I saw her was at the 2012 Book Awards where she received the Lifetime Achievement Award. At the time, the country was in one of its periodic convulsions about abortion after the death of Savita Halappanavar. Her speech was pithy. “This one’s for Savita,” she said. She didn’t need to say more. In literature and life she has never been afraid to confront taboos.

In her life now, she is confronting one of the biggest taboos. Old age, as Bette Davis said, is not for sissies. As we lunch she is trying, with her cousin Caroline Fitzgerald, to organise a launch for her new novel, is planning supper for

guests that evening and explains that her work is greatly impeded by settling into a new flat, though she is now happily ensconced near her son. Her second husband, David Gilliland, resides in a nursing home in the north.

All interviews, like life itself, follow a flux and flow like the seasons. Tentative spring followed, hopefully, by summer’s glad confidences. This interview was in pleasant autumn: Cavistons crab claws washed down by chilled Sauvignon blanc, panna cotta digested as smoothly as her episodic life story – two husbands, four children, six awards – including the Costa and the Booker – and my finger reaching for the “stop” button when the sentence bobbed to the surface with the aerodynamic of something long submerged. The information wasn’t news to me: absent fathers, brothers and emotionally absent mothers are the ghosts that walk her work. It was the urgency which surprised.

She had been explaining the difficulty of writers talking about their work. “What I want is to leave behind an 86-yearold block of me.” Clearly that idea of dozens of novels and plays melding into an ethereal block that is Jennifer Johnston, pivots on one great act of abandonment by her father.

72 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

Her parents’ lives, though totally Irish, were typical of JENNIFER those Anglo narratives – the JOHNSTON: Mitfords, the Guinnesses – Dublin-born Johnston we devour through theatre published her first or television drama, pre-war novel in 1972. In sagas where glamour was June, her latest, Naming The Stars, to sadness much aligned. was released Her father, playwright, war along with one of correspondent and television her classic works, Two Moons. producer, and her mother, actor and television producer Shelah Richards, had a tumultuous marriage. After many affairs, her father left and her parents divorced. It was a very Protestant life.

“In a way, if he hadn’t left us, nothing would have been different. My mother and he would have had their rows.

May, the maid, would say to me: ‘Don’t go in there.’ But he would never have gone to the BBC. We would have had our friends and relatives – my father had a battlefield of relatives from whom I have benefited.

“My mother worked to keep secrets. The first I knew of the divorce, which happened during the war, was during a row in art class with a girl called Diana Campbell. She said ‘Your mother and father are divorced.’ I said ‘No – he’s at the war.’ Our art teacher, Mainie Jellett, pulled us apart.

The following day, my mother called me into her room and said, ‘By the way, your father and I are divorced.’ It was only tough because nobody had thought to tell us. It left Shelah a woman alone.”

Jennifer Johnston is on good terms with her own first husband, Ian Smyth. “His mother was afraid he would marry a Catholic. Instead he married me.” He subsequently married Deirdre MacSharry, a longtime Cosmopolitan editor. “She’s elegant and clever, a far cry from me. I always send him the books. This time he sent a simple note: “It’s the best yet.”

I get the feeling this is the accolade that matters. And he is right. Most of her themes – war’s alarms, the folly of youth, the devastation of abandonment, the Big House, the disinhibition of old ladies, incest – are all contained in one small compelling volume. “And the maid,” she reminds me.

Of course, the almost forgotten phenomenon of Irish middle class life – Protestant and Catholic – the maid is the one in the middle who sees everything. In Johnston’s novels, she is something of a warrior in the war of attrition of family life, holder of the fort of family secrets.

Johnston talks of her “wonderful grandmother Adelaide, who tied herself to the railings in Stephen’s Green” and of whom “there’s a bit in all of the old ladies in the novels.” And of those who fed her fearlessness for the big subjects: “Right from the go, I have loved old men. I keep wondering why did they go to those terrible wars. As I write these books I get the answers. During the wars, people were thinking – something they hadn’t done since the Enlightenment.” But it was May, “a Catholic” who nurtured her feelings. She was doughty – temporarily fired for refusing to give a second helping of roast beef to Shelah Richards’ theatrical partner whom she couldn’t stand – and devoted to Denis Johnston “despite his behaviour”, repeatedly interrupting his funeral in St Patrick’s Cathedral, preoccupied with the theft of the family silver.

“We were lucky to have May,” she says. She undoubtedly is part of the reason Jennifer Johnston, now 86, is still the consummate artist, open to her own vulnerability, still trying to retrieve that part of herself she lost the day her father left. “It’s a sadness,” she says. But it has made marvellous novels. ^

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INTERVIEW

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BOOKS

Ear To The

My oldest sister had recently died and the challenge of living and working in a foreign environment for more than 30 years had passed. I needed to tackle something new.

I had studied art history and was teaching and working as a private guide. This often took me to the small city where van Gogh painted his greatest artworks and had his first breakdown. Every time I took friends or family to Arles, I wondered why we didn’t know more about the story of Vincent, the painter who cut off his ear; this episode without doubt the most famous anecdote in the history of art.

I began to look into what had brought this man to the height of his creativity and caused such a dramatic, bloody breakdown. Soon I realised that there were discrepancies in historical accounts, things that a local person could see but that an outsider might not.

I needed to look at the whole story afresh, as a detective might. To fully understand where he lived that tumultuous year, I used the method I had developed for my Irish research and created a database of the city of Arles in 1888, more than 15,000 strong. This helped f lesh out the lives of all the characters in van Gogh’s story, many of whom he painted. This database was the foundation for my research, which eventually yielded some groundbreaking discoveries, reported in the book, of course, and in a BBC Two documentary.

The media appearances for the book launch brought to the fore a familiar worry: what on earth was I going to wear? I have lived in France, where a certain sense of style is part of daily life, for 33 years.

It's not the fashion capital of the world: people living in Provence rarely need to dress formally, but they are always smart. Facing the challenge of what to wear for press and television appearances was not something I could undertake lightly. I was told “no stripes, no white, no busy patterns" and to wear bright colours. Oh dear! This disrupted entirely my plan to wear a jaunty French marine look.

I decided I needed some new clothes but quickly became disheartened. French clothes are made for petite women and rarely fit me. Eventually, I bought a few things and engaged a dressmaker for alterations. Wearing clothes that actually fitted for the first time in my life made a huge difference to my self-esteem and appearance. Most of my wardrobe staples have now had a new lease of life, thanks to the dressmaker’s transformations.

The book launch set me on three weeks of solid travel.

With little time to prepare, I had to pack efficiently.

I stuck to navy, adding colour judiciously. I used tissue paper to pack (it takes away the need to iron most things).

A few good accessories took me from day to night.

Attending the launch in Amsterdam was my longtime friend Emmanuelle, the daughter of shoe designer Robert Clergerie, who has taught me the importance of feeling good from the feet up. My final piece of advice?

Never underestimate the power of a pair of great shoes. ^ Van Gogh’s Ear – The True Story (¤16.99, Chatto & Windus) is out now.

GROUND

Using skills she uncovered while tracing her Irish roots, BERNADETTE MURPHY delved into Vincent van Gogh's past for her first book

M

y life changed this summer. In July, I stood in front of the world’s press in Amsterdam to announce a major discovery and launch my first book, Van Gogh’s Ear – The True Story, a forensic-style investigation of the night the Dutch painter famously cut off his ear.

I had undertaken this project in a very particular way, which stems from my being of Irish descent. After the death of my parents, I began looking into my family history. My paternal grandparents came from Ohill near Longford (Murphys) and Gartan Lough in Donegal (Conaghans). With no civil registration before 1864 and no census records prior to 1901, I had to look elsewhere to understand my Irish roots: land transactions,

“What brought this man to THE HEIGHT of his creativity and caused such a DRAMATIC, bloody breakdown ..." newspapers and electoral registers. I realised that rural families work in networks and those who left were sponsored by relatives or friends at home. To understand this, I created a large database of the parish where my family came from. Unbeknownst to me at the time, all of this would prove incredibly useful when I began working on my Vincent van Gogh book.

I live in a small Provençal village and when I started the project in 2009, I was at a turning point in my life.

74 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

BEDSIDE TABLE

What is ANNE-MARIE CASEY reading?

Before becoming a full-time writer, Anne-Marie Casey was a script editor and television drama producer. Her latest novel, The Real Liddy James, is the story of a glamorous and successful Irishborn attorney who is forced to leave New York for home when her seemingly perfect life starts to unravel. Hodder & Stoughton, ¤16.99 THE LONELY CITY Olivia Laing I first visited New York when I was 19 years old and I have never lost the sense of wonder I felt the day I saw that beautiful, iconic skyline for the first time.

It's always been a place of fascination and drama for me (so much so that I have set both my novels there) but now I’m older I'm more aware of how challenging life can be in intense cities. I found this an intriguing and very readable book about loneliness and art, inspired

by Olivia Laing's personal experiences.

Canongate, ¤22.50 VILLA AMERICA Liza Klaussmann This wonderful book came out last year to rave reviews and I’m sorry it took me until now to read it. Set in the French Riviera of the glittering 1920s, it is the story of an American couple Gerald and Sara Murphy, the real-life inspiration for F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, Tender is the Night.

But the brilliant thing about this book is that as a stunning portrayal of an unconventional marriage, you will enjoy it whether you know anything about the historical background or not.

Picador, ¤16.99 THE NEAPOLITAN NOVELS Elena Ferrante I’ve just come back from holiday having read The Story of a New Name, Part II of Ferrante’s stunning Neapolitan series.

For me, these books are best enjoyed when you have enough time to be completely immersed in the story.

The first book, My Brilliant Friend, sat on my beside table for ages as I tried to get into it in the exhausted half an hour before sleep, but I gave up (I found it hard to keep track of the characters) so it was not until last summer that I finally carved out the time to read it properly. I loved it. I’m looking forward to reading the final two. Europa Editions, ¤16.99; ¤17.50 respectively

FOO

ISH DES E

FOOD

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MAPLE-ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO WITH SPICY TOASTED PECANS FOR 4 (Preparation time: 1 hour; cooking time: about 55 minutes) 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into pieces • 2–3 tbsp maple syrup • 70g pecans • 100g unsalted butter• 1 tsp five spice powder • 1 litre chicken stock • 3–4 tbsp olive oil • 2–3 shallots, minced • 300g risotto rice • 125 ml white wine • 6 tbsp grated Parmesan, plus extra for shaving • 2 tbsp mascarpone • Salt and pepper 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C/Gas Mark 6).

Toss the pieces of squash in maple syrup until they are coated. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until tender. Set aside one quarter and blend the rest to a purée in a food processor. Season lightly and set aside 2. Toast the pecans in a frying pan with half of the butter, a pinch of salt, and the five spice powder.

Set aside.

3. Put the stock in a saucepan and bring just to a boil.

4. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add shallots, and cook until soft and opaque. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 1–2 minutes, just until the grains turn opaque. Deglaze with the wine and cook, stirring, until the liquid has completely evaporated.

5. Add a ladleful of stock and cook until it has evaporated. Add the remaining stock in the same way, letting each addition evaporate before adding the next. When all the stock has been added, the rice should be cooked but still a bit firm to the bite. Add the Parmesan, mascarpone, and squash purée.

6. Cut the remaining butter into cubes and stir into the rice. Garnish with the reserved squash pieces, toasted pecans, and shaved Parmesan.

MATCH YOUR MOOD

MATCHA GREEN TEA PANNA COTTA WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Inspired suppers provide an opportunity to prolong that holiday feeling into autumn, promises TRISH DESEINE

I

n France, this month everyone has that hopeful but nervous, back-to-school feeling with the term “la Rentrée” applied to all parts of life, literature, politics, fashion and food and not just the school year. The country famously slows to a standstill in August and even if you haven’t budged from your balcony or corner café since June, there’s a sense of renewal and a feeling of energy gained from soaking up the summer light.

In Ireland, if you can zap the stress of the daily lunchbox(es), it’s a wonderful time to cook for pleasure.

The last nectarines and peaches seem to be at their sweetest and the first grapes and figs are on their way.

Wild mushrooms too start to turn up at the market, so delicious with late crops of new season potatoes and fresh herbs, their roots established at last and now starting to take over our garden beds or spill out of windowsill pots.

Our tomato plants have turned into triffids and most will still be generously producing enough to add a splash of colour to a plate of leaves or a weekend fry-up.

This is the time to both try something new and embrace the abundance of the season. Something that caught your eye in a summer magazine, or a holiday market or restaurant, or a dish a friend cooked for you in their summer house. It’s a way of prolonging the feeling, of breathing a little freshness into last year’s routine and shaking up store cupboard rank and file with a few newcomers.

When I lived in Paris I was never short of inspiration.

It felt like one long Rentrée all year round. At times there were not enough books, not enough articles, not to mention dinner guests, to try out new dishes and combinations.

Perhaps my most practical creativity booster was La Grande Épicerie du Bon Marché, the beautiful Left Bank food hall attached to Paris’ most chic department store, both now owned by luxury giant LVMH. Before the internet f lashed new food trends and products into your mind the second they were invented, “La Grande Ép” was where I would head to see what was happening in the world of food. Imagine my delight when they asked me to produce a series of recipe books using the store as my pantry. Collecting ingredients for our photoshoots was like the Pretty Woman shopping scene, only for food, not frocks. Now the series has been collated into one book, C’est Bon: Recipes Inspired by La Grande Épicerie de Paris, and translated into English. I’m thrilled to give you a preview.

The matcha panna cotta is a good way to try out the sophisticated grassy blandness and gorgeous hue of an ingredient not everyone appreciates at first taste. A slick of dark sweet chocolate sets off the f lavour and pale jade colour perfectly and it’s a well-behaved dessert for a dinner party. Take care when using matcha green tea powder, use too much and your dish will be bitter; not enough and it will taste vaguely of soap. Taste regularly and adjust if necessary. ^ @TrishDeseine

FOR 4 (Preparation time: 15 minutes; cooking time: 5 minutes; chilling: 3-4 hours) 350ml heavy cream • 1 vanilla bean, split • 2–3 tbsp sugar • 2 gelatin sheets • 100ml milk • 2 tsp matcha green tea powder • 100g 70% chocolate, finely chopped 1. Bring the cream to a boil in a pan with the vanilla. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar until it has dissolved.

2. Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water to soften them. Drain, squeeze out excess water, and add to the hot cream so they melt.

3. Mix together the milk and matcha green tea powder, whisking well so the milk is well infused with the tea.

4. Add the green tea mixture to the cream gradually, stirring and tasting after each addition.

5. Pour the mixture into ramekins or panna cotta moulds and chill in the refrigerator for 3–4 hours.

6. Melt the chocolate over a bain marie to make a thick sauce and serve this with the panna cotta.

From C’est Bon: Recipes Inspired by La Grande Épicerie de Paris By Trish Deseine (Flammarion, 2016). Photographs by Deirdre Rooney.

T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E | September 2016 | 75

A

I W

BY M A RY

D EY

For an original wine with just the right amount of edge, skip France and head to Italy, advises MARY DOWEY

E

W O

IL VINO È BELLO

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a source of undistinguished bulk wines, re you a francophile? Even if you think not, France these days it’s more likely to be viewed as a vast, vibrant patchwork has consistently spun the world’s most famous grape of increasingly appreciated styles from promising regions such as varieties into wines of such finesse that to deny its Greco di Tufo and Taurasi in Campania; Etna in Sicily; Vermentino leading role would be as daft as to dismiss Paris as a di Gallura in Sardinia to name but a miniscule handful. fashion capital. But there’s an inbuilt problem. Those very grapes – While top Italian wines have always had a following, they have a Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, higher profile today than before, displacing overpriced Bordeaux and Pinot Noir – have been adopted so widely internationally that we’re Burgundy on many a cutting-edge wine list. More modest bottlings seeing them far too often. Oh, for more originality, more funkiness are seen as smart buys too, partly because of a trickle-down effect but – with an edge of chic, of course. The solution is easily found – right more especially because ambitious young winemakers everywhere next door in Italy. are mastering the art of replacing rusticity with elegance. Whether Often made from weird grape varieties in regions veiled in woolly white, rosé or red, new-wave Italians are fresher, more focused in obscurity, Italian wines stand a good chance of tasting blissfully flavour and less alcoholic than their predecessors. different from anything you may come across from elsewhere. And The whole country is bubbling with vinous excitement, in the potential for exploration into new territory is extreme. other words. Luckily it’s within easy reach of Irish wine fans; Tuscany may seem familiar, for instance, because of Chianti – but many importers have recently fleshed out the Italian section of what about the up-and-coming Maremma in its south-west corner? their portfolio, inspired, no doubt, by the success here of Italian The Veneto is well charted thanks to Amarone and Ripasso (not to specialists such as Liberty, A Taste of Italy and mention a sea of Prosecco) – but step across its Grape Circus (whose wines are available from borders into Trentino-Alto Adige to the north 5 WHITE GRAPES TO SAMPLE: www.sheridanscheesemongers.com). or Friuli and Collio to the north-east and you Ribolla Gialla u Grechetto u Grillo u Fiano u Arneis One point to remember before you raise a enter a world of zippy, finely chiselled whites. distinctive glass to say saluti: almost all Italian Piedmont is on every wine buff’s posh list for 5 RED GRAPES TO SAVOUR: wines taste best with food – even if only a Barolo and Barbaresco, but how many people Refosco u Nerello Mascalese Marzemino u Ciliegiolo u Frappato sliver of prosciutto or a chunk of Parmesan. ^ are intimate with Brachetto d’Acqui and Roero? @MaryDowey As for the south, once recognised mainly as

THIS WONDERFUL LITTLE PLACE … SYDNEY, AU STRA L IA

Former model Elle Macpherson is a successful businesswoman and lingerie designer

I

cebergs Dining Room is a restaurant perched on the cliff face above Bondi Beach, just outside Sydney.

I don’t get there nearly often enough, but I think it’s a place that sums up Australia – warm people, incredible landscape, beautiful beaches and great food. I don’t eat red meat, so I’ll almost always get the fish of the day but I am a big fan of spinach, beetroot, goats’ cheese and halloumi so any dish with these gets my tastebuds excited. And no matter where you sit you have the most magnificent panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean to enjoy the sunshine and daydream out over the horizon. And they make the best crab pasta!

That view at Icebergs is inspiring, and, for me, necessary. If I could go back in time, this is the one piece of advice I would give a younger me ... water, water, water … drink water (I drink three litres a day), swim, bathe, walk by a lake or a beach if you can to relax – because water is good for the body but it’s also good for the soul.

I CLIVI DELLE VENEZIE RIBOLLA GIALLA, COLLI ORIENTALI DEL FRIULI 2014.

This refreshing white comes from a top estate close to the Slovenian border.

11.5%. From Kellys, Dublin 3; Green Man Wines, Dublin 6; Blackrock Cellar, Blackrock, Co Dublin; World Wide Wines, Waterford, about d19.50.

MARZEMINO DELLA VALLAGARINA IGT ROBERTA FUGATTI 2014/5.

This light, herb-scented red made from the Marzemino grape in Trentino-Alto Adige can be served cool with almost any light main course. 12%.

From Sheridans, Dublin 2, Kells & Galway; 64 Wines, Glasthule, about d14.50.

CILIEGIOLO MAREMMA VEGNI E MEDAGLINI 2014.

Ciliegiolo blended with Canaiolo delivers a smooth red with cherry notes and a smidgen of spice. 12.5%. From Clontarf Wines, Dublin 3; Hole in the Wall, Dublin 7; Andersons, Dublin 9; JJ O’Driscoll, Cork; www.quintessentialwines.ie, about d16.95.

as I am co-owner and co-founder of this company. Together with my team we have created a modern perspective in lingerie – a new kind of sexy. It’s defined by dynamic simplicity, a very Australian uncontrived cool and a sense of freedom – it’s as much about attitude as it is about lingerie.

One of my aims was to design the perfect T-shirt bra, which I could never find and I think we’ve managed that – it’s the first Iceberg Dining thing I pack for travelling and everyday Room and Bar’s idyllic location. comfort for an Australian trip beachAbove: The restaurant’s side.

I travel all the time, so I also pack a bodysuit, like stylish interior.

The Edge lace bodysuit from the EMB collection, and something to lounge around the hotel room in.

I spend a lot of time in Miami, London, and New York, and I look forward to the fish in Strip Steak in the Fontainebleau, eating in the restaurant in The Mark in NYC and the healthy options that The Detox Kitchen home delivery in London, but Australia will always be home, and I love going back. My childhood memories are camping on the New South Wales Balance is the key to happiness and wellness so coast and swimming in the beautiful Pacific. I I believe in nothing too extreme when it comes love the Australian food culture – Aussie chefs to diets and fitness – I eat organic food where aren’t scared to take a risk and experiment possible, the majority of my diet is plant-based with ingredients and fuse Italian, Greek and I do 45 minutes of some sort of exercise and Asian cuisine and the array of seafood daily, always outdoors. I do believe in pleasure available is extraordinary. ^ ÓRLA though, never guilt – dark chocolate was my Black DUKES Icebergs Dining Room, 1 Notts Ave, first food crush and that relationship is still bodysuit, Elle Macpherson Bondi Beach, NSW, Australia; www.idrb. going strong!

Body, at Brown com. The Elle Macpherson Body collection Right now I’m busy with my new lingerie Thomas. is at Brown Thomas Dublin and online at brand Elle Macpherson Body. I’m really proud www.brownthomas.com. of this venture – it’s truly my vision come to life

76 | September 2016 | T H E G L O S S M A G A Z I N E

TRAVEL

MAN in A SUITCASE After almost ten years hotel-hopping, TIM MAGEE wants to design his own home away from home

A

few years ago I buzzed hotel reception and asked if they could they send a car to bring me to breakfast. The chap on the other end of the phone didn’t miss a beat and autoreplied “No problem sir.” An impressive answer as, although I thought I was calling my chauffeured golf cart to bring me in from the lush fringes of a St Lucian resort, I was actually on the fifth floor of the Mayfair Hotel. I had been suffering once again from UCS, Unfamiliar Ceiling Syndrome, that half-conscious morning blur that comes from changing where you sleep three times a week.

I’m not on the game, but 3,600 nights is a scribbled beermat estimate of my time in someone else’s bed – just shy of ten years. It all started with long stays in US hotels that had courtyard, inn, garden or suites at the end of their names, all claiming to be my “home from home”. Breakfast in America – breakfast just off her highways, airports, business parks and in cookie-cutter downtown blocks.

A plastic-wrapped breakfast: cheap coffee and sickly cinnamon. A breakfast with strangers in button-down collars, cargo pants and deck shoes, each up earlier than the next, congregating around a lone toaster. Two or three trips in and I started my lifetime’s hobby – redesigning my modular life.

If I could design a hotel group – let’s call it THE GLOSS Collection – I’d have a mix of a couple of grand dames, the Lauren Bacall classics of the hotel world. A resort of white picket-fenced clapboard bungalows yards from white sand, cobalt and turquoise froth. A country house or two, and some steely concrete and glass city beauties warmed up with lots of natural wood, soft fabrics, greenery and decent art.

THE GLOSS Collection’s designs would be inspired by Jacques Garcia, Kit Kemp and the King of Collaborations, Ian Schrager. The diverse collection would have one thing in common – lobbies that smell magnificent. Scent is a magical invisible welcome and a hardwired forever gift you take away with you – I could describe a dozen hotels using my nose. I recently bought a cologne in New York from Le Labo based on the smell of the Gramercy Park Hotel (I know).

Home from home should be only be a moniker for a hotel with a cooker in your room – otherwise hotel design should present something completely different to where you live.

I suspect that too many actual hotel designers still take their imprimatur from other hotel designers, rather than from the basic anxieties of nomadic regulars.

Temperature, lighting and water pressure are my trifecta of a successful hotel stay.

I have been cursed with autonomous, self-harming

2

1 3

feet that will find a sharp edge in any dark room. Most of the damage comes from angular metal modernity that looks good in a showroom but is style over stubbing in a confined space. Even the Oscar Wilde suite in my Parisian haunt, L’Hôtel, has a predatory elephant-footed bed that ambushes nightly loo runs. It’s a pity Oscar’s final home shouldn’t have something more eloquent sung out every night than “oh that f ******* bed.”

On arrival, the bedroom needs to be at 18 degrees. No one arrives to their hotel room too cold. The basic stresses of travel – queues, carrying bags, check-in and that awkward intimate silence in the lift with the porter, wondering if you have the right cash to tip – means you will be plenty warm when the door opens. Turning it up is easier than waiting for the room and the mood to cool down.

In my imaginary hotel there will be a window you can open, and then it’s all about the buttons. I have lost a week of my life trying to work out how to turn off a light or turn up the a/c. One click wifi. A television behind a cabinet that allows you to cast from your phone or a small oneoff fee for Spotify and Netflix. The many sockets, adaptors and USBs will be at heights that don’t involve yoga poses or furniture removal teams. Our bathrooms would have oversized smellies and underfloor heating. I approach strange showers like I work in bomb disposal so ours won’t require evening classes to operate, and will have one dial and two heads. There will be a kettle bell or two in the room for those who don’t want to pack gym gear.

We will have proper blackout curtains which, with the aforementioned room temperature, will make for a happy house at breakfast time. Breakfast rooms in most hotels are too hot. Short of dining in my underpants, I usually opt for room service because someone has set the heat beyond the red bit and right up to Irish grandmother level. Add steaming tea and coffee to your internal thermostat and the result is shower, breakfast, shower again.

Real coffee and real bread are the future of breakfast. THE GLOSS Collection will behave accordingly. The rest of the breakfast menu will be a nod to the masters of that meal, the Middle East, so our breakfast and room service menu will take its lead from Honey & Co. And the minibar will have a decent gin, Fever Tree tonic, ice and fresh trimmings so I can sit on my balcony and toast the people that get all of this right in their inimitable way. Like these three beauts.

1. STRIKINGLY UNIQUE IN FINLAND In the grand 19th-century Rake building in Helsinki, the hotel KLAUS K takes its starting point from a famous poem – the Finnish national folklore and mythology epic, the Kalevala. Each bedroom has a theme illustrating one of the Kalevala’s emotional elements – desire, passion, mysticism and envy. So far, so very Finnish-ly serious. But the actual delivery of the idea is lush, rich and tactile, full of light and dark and strikingly unique. Klaus K, Bulevardi, 2-4, Helsinki 120, Finland. www.klauskhotel.com

2. HIPPY LUXE IN MEXICO On the quiet south end of Tulum there is the ultimate boho-hippy luxe resort, a nine-room enclave with massive bedrooms packed with world-class modern art from the owner’s ever-evolving private collection. Owned by New York gallerist Lio Malca, CASA MALCA has three pools surrounded by lush jungle on a private beach, one of the widest in this corner of the Yucatan peninsula. The combination of sand-on-the-floor casual beach house, museum-quality art and the rooftop bar with the best sunset views in Tulum make this the trustifarian hideaway.

Casa Malca, Carretera boca Paila km 10.5, Tulum 77780, Mexico. www.casamalca.com

3. VIEWS FOR DAYS IN ITALY The design of the MIRAMONTI in the South Tyrol maximises the experience of the magnificent outside: balconies, terraces, huge windows, all frame the astonishing views of Alto Adige, in Italy’s Dolomites. Jawdropping views are married to an organic spa, a hemlock sauna on stilts hidden in the forest, and a heated salt water infinity pool with panoramic views over the valley below. ^ Miramonti Boutique Hotel, St Kathreinstrasse 14, Via S Catarina 14, 39010 Meran, Trentino Alto Adige, Italy. www.hotel-miramonti.com @manandasuitcase

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WHEN WILLIAM MET MARTIN

How did actress Marilyn Monroe bring two men together to create a world-class museum in Kildare? SARAH McDONNELL found out In 2006, William Doyle, CEO of Newbridge Silverware, was on holiday with his wife Monica, who was reading a magazine article about an upcoming Christie’s auction which was to include the black Givenchy dress Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Monica mentioned it in passing but William fixed on it.

“I think I’ll have a go at buying that dress,” he said, though as he puts it, smiling,“I didn’t want it for myself. I was always looking for exceptional ways of putting Newbridge Silverware on the map, and this was interesting.” Doyle, who describes himself as “an intensely shy person” had never expressed an interest in dresses, auctions, or Audrey Hepburn. This was new, and it set in place a chain events that would lead to the building of the Newbridge Museum of Style Icons.

THE FIRST ACQUISITION The estimate for the dress was $250,000. With the agreement of the somewhat bemused board of Newbridge Silverware to bid to that level, Doyle went to London and amid a crowd of international bidders, raised his paddle time after time, quickly outstripping the board-approved $250,000. There was a certain amount of adrenaline involved,

he says, with customary understatement. What he didn’t know was that on the telephone from Paris was Hubert de Givenchy’s “person” who was determined to get his hands on the dress. The bidding closed at $650,000, Doyle’s paddle having dropped around the $450,000 mark.

It wasn’t the outcome Doyle had hoped for but it turned out to be a serendipitous one. At the same auction, Doyle bid for a second garment, also designed by Givenchy, which Hepburn had worn in Charade. He also acquired several of Hepburn’s scrapbooks, sketches and letters, including one from Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw to the actress, and correspondence between Hepburn’s eldest son Sean Ferrer, then a child, to his grandfather, Joseph Anthony Ruston, Hepburn’s father, who at the time was living in Dublin’s Merrion Square with his Irish wife.

THE JULIEN’S AUCTIONS STORY In November 2006, Martin Nolan read about a dress sold in London – the Breakfast at Tiffany’s dress – the underbidder was an Irishman. That’s when he called William Doyle to introduce himself. “We’ve never heard of you,” said Nolan, telephoning Doyle from Julien’s Auctions on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles. From Kiltoom, near Athlone, Nolan first went to New York on a Donnelly visa in 1989 and worked as a bellman before training as a stockbroker at JP Morgan. At an office event for Merrill Lynch, he met Darren Julien, then just a year in business,

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MARILYN AT HOME Marilyn Monroe at home in Brentwood, California. The Julien’s Auctions sale, which will take place in November, will include its contents and hundreds of personal items, including her collection of drawings.

THIS GLOSSY LIFE

“When someone dies at 36, very BLONDE, very BEAUTIFUL, she is frozen in time and the FASCINATION increases.”

MARTIN NOLAN ON MARILYN MONROE

COOL COLLECTOR Newbridge Silverware CEO William Doyle with Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions, the largest entertainment auction house in the world, photographed

by Padraic Deasy in Kildare.

Doyle and Nolan conspired on the establishment of the Newbridge Musuem of Style Icons (MOSI) which celebrates its tenth anniversary next May. This summer, the Museum welcomed 40,000 visitors to its second Marilyn Monroe Exhibition.

The first was in 2007, when the Museum first opened.

THIS GLOSSY LIFE who had left Sotheby’s to set up his own auction house. Nolan tried to inveigle Julien to abandon the auction world; instead Julien persuaded Nolan to join his new venture.

Julien’s Auctions, whose model is to build the interest and anticipation of fans and collectors with travelling exhibitions in advance of the auction itself, is now one of the biggest players in the entertainment memorabilia industry, a multi-billion dollar global business and has become, as Martin Nolan puts it, the “go-to guys for celebrity auctions”, handling sales of items belonging to Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach, Joan Collins, Elvis Presley, Burt Reynolds, Johnny Cash, Barbra Streisand, Cher and countless others.

Martin Nolan and his team spent two months at Neverland, Michael Jackson’s California ranch, in 2009, before Jackson pulled out of the sale – the exhibition took place, nonetheless – the five catalogue boxed set alone cost $1,000. Jackson died two months after the exhibition closed. If the frenzied interest in Jackson’s – and other celebrities’ – belongings seems absurd, as Nolan points out, “to some, Cher’s microphone is as valuable as a Picasso”.

When Julien’s Auctions called, William Doyle says, his interest was piqued. Julien’s was planning to tour a Marilyn Monroe exhibition, in advance of an auction.

Doyle explained he was not a collector – yet. He had one garment and no exhibition space. “You’ll have to build one,” said Nolan, “if you do, we will bring our exhibition to Newbridge.” A few months passed. As Doyle saw it, if he wanted to put Newbridge Silverware in the public eye, globally, an international exhibition of Marilyn Monroe dresses would certainly do it.

When Nolan offered again to install the exhibition in Newbridge, William Doyle and his team started building a museum above the showroom. They had seven weeks.

THE MUSEUM OPENS On May 31 2007, Martin Nolan was climbing a ladder to the Museum of Style Icons on the first floor of the Newbridge Silverware showroom, hauling up suitcases of Marilyn Monroe’s clothes. The garments were hastily displayed on standard mannequins.

The staircase would be installed a couple of hours before the launch. In a torrential summer downpour,

AUTHORITY ON VINTAGE Kerry Taylor Auctions is a London-based auction house owned by KERRY TAYLOR, an acknowledged authority on couture and vintage clothing. William Doyle bought Princess Diana’s Emmanuel-designed “India dress”, her last wedding dress toile and her engagement blouse, right, as well as the Balenciaga gown Ava Gardner wore in the film To Kill A Mockingbird, from Taylor. Taylor attributes the high sale prices of garments owned by actors and musicians to a growing global fascination with celebrity, particularly the “super-famous”, whose garments command massive prices. “In the 1990s you might have secured a Marilyn Monroe gown for

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1. Marilyn Monroe wears a black dress to the premiere of the The Rose Tattoo in 1955. The dress at auction has an estimate of $50,000$70,000. 2. Monroe’s Brentwood bungalow, the contents of which were left to her friend and acting coach Lee Strasberg. 3. One of the most fascinating lots in the auction is a letter from Jean Kennedy Smith to Marilyn Monroe, thanking her for her kind note to Smith’s father Joe Kennedy, after he had a stroke.

“I understand that you and Bobby are now the item”, Smith writes, referring to her brother, Bobby Kennedy, confirming a much-rumoured affair. The original letter has never been seen before.

THE AUCTION The Newbridge Silverware Museum of Style Icons opened. The Tiger was roaring, Charlie McCreevy, VIP guests and a bevy of Irish models attended. At the time, in addition to the Monroe items, the museum housed only the black Givenchy two-piece worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1963 movie Charade along with her collection of letters. Champagne flowed and Newbridge got the newspaper coverage it wanted. At midnight, the guests sang Happy Birthday to Marilyn – it would have been her 80th.

The bug had bitten. The day before the museum opened, William Doyle had not been able to resist a Christies’s sale of Hollywood vintage garments, and bought the green wool suit Tippi Hedren wore in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. He also bought a number of Judy Garland costumes from the estate of actress Debbie Reynolds who had been collecting since the 1960s. And so it began, over the next ten years, he acquired dresses, owned by stars, many with an Irish connection, such as Rita Hayworth (Hayworth was married to Ali Khan, the son of the Aga Khan) Maureen O’Hara, Jayne Mansfield, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, Joan Fontaine and her sister Olivia de Havilland, Joan Collins (who visited in October 2015), Greta Garbo and Liza Minnelli. Many items were bought at Julien’s Auctions sales. Forging a friendship with Martin Nolan had opened up a whole new world.

$10,000 or less, now it’s likely to be $100,000,” says Taylor. “The internet has also opened what was a largely western market into a massive Asian one, which is driving prices.” Exhibitions devoted to clothing – whether “Alexander McQueen” or “100 Years of Hollywood” at the V&A or the Costume Institute of MOMA exhibition in New York – have broken records for attendance. As for the Newbridge MOSI, Taylor is not surprised that museums are calling William Doyle. “These pieces are very important in the history of Hollywood.”

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In advance of its unveiling at Newbridge in June 2016 and the eventual auction itself, on November 19-20, the Julien’s Auctions Marilyn Monroe exhibition was staged at London’s Design Centre. In London, Martin Nolan explained to me how he had had a call from the family of the late Lee Strasberg, Monroe’s friend and acting coach, to whom Monroe had left all her personal effects. After almost 50 years of protecting Monroe’s legacy, the Strasbergs wanted to sell. Martin Nolan spent weeks in the Strasberg apartment in New York and in six storage units in New Jersey, sifting through the personal possessions which had lain there since shortly after Monroe was found dead in her California home in 1962.

Included in the auction will be items from the Strasberg estate, the collection of legendary Monroe collector David Gainsborough Roberts which had filled a huge warehouse in New Jersey and a “Déjà Vu” collection, from actress Debbie Reynolds’ original collection of Monroe’s career costumes, including a dress from The Prince and the Showgirl and dresses from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like it Hot and No Business Like Show Business. This auction, in what would have been, had she lived, Monroe’s 90th year, will be the biggest yet.

A LIFE ACCUMULATED “Marilyn was a hoarder,” says Martin Nolan, “she kept everything, from receipts, to tickets, to used make-up cases.” The Strasberg estate includes furniture from Monroe’s New York and LA homes, personal wardrobe pieces, shoes, including scuffed white shoes purported to be from her wedding to Arthur Miller, make-up robes, handbags, phone books (the page opened on AVEDON, Richard, the last entry on the page the ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY on Lexington Avenue) cheque books (the last cheque she wrote was to her housekeeper in New York on August 3, 1962; she died in LA on August 5), a tiny Blancpain watch, even an 1947 minaudière with her used Revlon lipstick, two dimes for the cloakroom and eight Philip Morris ciggies, as well as Joe DiMaggio’s jewellery case, a red Morocco-bound collection of Arthur Miller plays, monogrammed with the letters MM, and a Gucci address book. There are countless letters thanking her for her generosity. As well as a generous nature, Nolan felt, as he handled her sketches, paintings and

THIS GLOSSY LIFE

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1. Grace Kelly wearing Helen Rose in High Society. 2. Princess Grace of Monaco in the Givenchy dress and bolero jacket she wore during her 1961 visit to her ancestral home in Ireland. 3. Tippi Hedren in The Birds. 4. Audrey Hepburn wearing the Givenchy dress that got away in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 5. The grand opening of the Newbridge Museum of Style Icons in May 2007.

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writings, that Monroe concealed a creative side. Her sketches are as whimsical as her scraps of poetry, fragile and unfinished.

Among her papers he found designs for an art studio at her house on 57th Street in New York.

Monroe kept everything, from the strappy sandals she wore as a 16-year-old model, to her fur storage receipts. Perhaps accumulating possessions helped her construct a past, an identity, a sense of self worth. Her loneliness is reflected in a sad note to Lee Strasberg, written while she was filming The Prince and the Showgirl, with an unsupportive Lawrence Olivier. She writes of her inability to concentrate, of feeling lost, the scrawled letters slanting off the page.

CARING FOR THE MOSI COLLECTION RACHEL PHELAN is a professional textile conservator, with a primary degree in History of Art from Trinity College and postgraduate training in Textile Conservation from London’s Courtauld Institute of Art. Phelan works for major institutions and private clients all over the world and restores all garments bought

by Newbridge.

“You get a huge sense of the person from their garments. Marilyn Monroe was a slim size ten with a double-D bust, not a size 16, as sometimes reported. Basically she had the shape of a glamour model, the role in which she started her career. Audrey Hepburn’s figure is tiny, reflecting her lack of nourishment during the war. The construction of the Givenchy pieces is exquisite: the petticoat hems of the Funny Face floral dress are hand-bound in matching fabric and the heavy beading on the black Charade dress, above, would have rustled as she moved.”

A conservator of vintage garments is also responsible for their storage and preservation.

As the museum began to find its feet, Phelan specified climate-controlled display cases to control temperature and moisture. Where once mannequins were standard, now each is custom-made in London to the dress size of the original wearer. William Doyle recalls how they encouraged a model to wear one of the early acquisitions for the Museum’s launch. Now, the thought fills him with horror.

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THE PROVENANCE Provenance, or the credibility of previous ownership, is key to realising value. Julien’s spent three full months verifying ownership, with five cataloguers and three additional Marilyn Monroe experts. The two-day auction will go online, with international bidders bidding against the room for 800 lots. “When someone dies at 36, very blonde, very beautiful, she is frozen in time and the fascination increases,” says Nolan. The interest in this auction is off the scale, with thousands already registered to bid online, hundreds expected at the auction on the day.

The items with the smallest estimates include receipts for “herbs and spices” and delivery dockets for Arthur Miller’s Olympia typewriter. The lot expected to reach the highest price is the dress from Some Like it Hot, with an estimate between $400,00 and $600,00.

For the final leg of the Marilyn Monroe exhibition tour, from New York to Southhampton on Cunard’s Queen Mary, 27 members of Nolan’s family were invited, the guest of honour his 85-year-old mother Kitty Nolan. As most of the items are so valuable as to be uninsurable, the Nolan party set sail carrying by hand Marilyn Monroe’s belongings.

THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY Now, Newbridge has a world-class museum.

“William gets requests to lend his garments to the V&A and to the House of Givenchy,” says Nolan. “In 2017 a Hollywood Museum will open on Wiltshire Boulevard. That’s how long it’s taken the Academy to get around to it. William did it ten years ago.” So what will William Doyle do when the Academy comes calling, requesting to borrow pieces? Doyle might say, generously, “Ask Martin, it’s his museum.” When I tell Nolan this, he laughs. “I suggest things, he is gracious enough to listen.” ^ www.newbridgesilverware.com/mosi

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A VISIT FROM A PRINCESS In the Museum of Style Icons, a long vitrine is dedicated to Princess Grace of Monaco. When actress Grace Kelly, whose grandfather was from Mayo, married Prince Rainier, all her Hollywood garments were purchased for her and she never sold any of them. On the 25th anniversary of her death, the Princess Grace Foundation auctioned just two pieces, one a grey and rose dress designed by Helen Rose for the 1956 film High Society, the other a green Givenchy suit she wore to meet John and Jackie Kennedy at the White House and on her first visit to Ireland in 1961. William Doyle snapped up both.

Princess Charlene of Monaco visited the museum in 2013 with Kelly relatives. Princess Charlene herself descends on her paternal line from the Fagans of Feltrim.

In 1592, Richard and Christopher Fagan helped found William Doyle Trinity College; in the 1660s, another Christopher Fagan, with Princess sold his property to the Duke of Ormond to create a royal Charlene of deer park – now the Phoenix Park.The royalties from Monaco in Newbridge Newbridge’s Princess Grace jewellery collection, inspired in 2013. by the Princess, go to the Foundation.

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