Swing into style

As an homage to Mary Quant, we created this ’60s-inspired look, using entirely secondhand clothing sourced from Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland’s boutique in Stockbridge, Edinburgh Photo: Aleksandra Modrzejewska Make-up: Rae Mathieson for Hood

Swing

INTO STYLE

Hood takes you behind the scenes of the V&A Dundee’s first-ever fashion exhibition, taking a look at the iconic style of Mary Quant... W hen you think of 1960s fashion, we’ll bet you’ll imagine bright colours, oversized collars, and kitsch details that could only come from that era. In other words, you’ll imagine a design by Mary Quant, even if you don’t know it yet.

The iconic designer and her groundbreaking style are being celebrated at the V&A Dundee in Mary Quant, the first major fashion exhibition the museum has hosted. And while it is currently being advised to avoid public spaces for the foreseeable, the fact that it runs from 4 April until 6 September 2020 will hopefully allow you to see it once it’s safer to do so.

The exhibition is the first international retrospective on Mary, a designer who disrupted the fashion establishment, captured the spirit of London in the 1960s, and started a fashion revolution that inspired a whole generation, and continues to inspire our sartorial choices today. She is, after all, the designer who made the miniskirt famous.

Key pieces in the exhibition include the pioneering ‘Wet Collection’ of PVC rainwear and a jute miniskirt–perfect for Scottish spring, we say!

The Dundee exhibition will also feature the stories of the women who made outfits from Quant’s dressmaking patterns, gathered through V&A Dundee’s #SewQuant campaign, as well as an exciting new film looking at contemporary female designers who, like Mary Quant, are forging their way through the fashion industry.

RACHEL STEWART

P R O T E C T

YOUR ASSETS W ow, if ever there was a time to be writing about the loss of income through illness, it’s now. We are in an unprecedented period where we do not yet know where we will end up or how we will get there. I am currently trying to adapt to a new ‘normal,’ moving all my meetings and seminars online, as I’m sure many of you are as well. Without a doubt, it’s a difficult conversation to have with your loved ones when discussing how you would cope financially with a distressing event that would leave someone unable to work. Certainly, the provision of an income to replace one which has been lost in these circumstances very often gets forgotten about. For me, this area of protection is by far the most important, and right now, I’m sure you can see why. This pandemic aside, the average period for which income protection is claimed is six years—how long would you last without help?

There are two distinct groups of people with differing issues here—those who are employed and those who are self-employed.

I AM AN EMPLOYEE? Can you guess what the response is most of the time I ask the question ‘what would happen if you had an accident or were too unwell to work?’ The phrase I hear most often is, ‘I’m fine, I get sick pay from work.’ How accurate is this assessment?

Well, Statutory Sick Pay is a little over £90 per week—how does this compare to your normal salary, which you rely on to pay your mortgage and bills as well as maintain your lifestyle? It is true some employers will pay slightly more than this, but it is worth digging out your contract and having a look. The reality is that most employees will find that the payments stop after 28 weeks. With an average claim on an income protection policy being over six years, as noted above, it is easy to see that there is an enormous gap here.

Millions of working families are making financial decisions based on the assumption of employer financial support should they need it. The truth is that this assumption will not be matched by reality for many.

I AM SELF-EMPLOYED? Without any personal provision, the financial security of the self-employed is particularly compromised if they are unable to work due to sickness. If there is no income protection insurance in place, the only other option for the self-employed is to rely on savings. These savings are likely earmarked for your or your family’s financial future. Or maybe they represent security for the future of your business. The State may provide a little help in certain circumstances, but this is likely to be significantly short of your normal income.

In a YouGov survey in 2015, fifty-eight per cent of the self-employed people surveyed said their business would fold immediately if they were unable to work due to their health. For selfemployed people, ill-health could threaten not just current income but future livelihood too.

WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US? Research from Canada Life suggests that should women at the height of their financial and family responsibilities (aged 25 to 45) fall ill; their household could suffer up to £25,000 per year in lost income and other contributions. Yet more than half of women in this age group do not have any kind of protection insurance. This is compounded by the fact that many of the women in this age group will have dependent children.

Why are we so hesitant to protect our loved ones, ourselves, and our lifestyles when we don’t give a second thought to shelling out to protect our mobile phones? What’s your priority?

My view is that, as opposed to saving for the future, which has tangible benefits, many see protection as something which they hope never to benefit from. Therefore, they struggle to get their head around it, or it always falls

to the bottom of the ‘to do’ pile because they are avoiding those difficult thoughts and conversations. Insurance companies are having to make decisions on how they are dealing with this pandemic. Many are now announcing that they will add an exclusion for COVID-19 beginning on a certain date. In other words, new applications will not cover absences from work for COVID-19. This demonstrates the importance of getting insurance in place now. Even if you have missed the opportunity for COVID-19, none of us know what the long-term future holds for us, and if we leave it too late, we can find ourselves in a very tricky position.

With the right guidance and advice from a professional financial planner, there is a protection solution for everyone and for everyone’s budget. There are also numerous other benefits to seeking assistance through an adviser, such as access to value-added perks from the insurance providers, which would not be available to you.

There is nothing more valuable in life than loved ones, health, and lifestyle – please don’t take it for granted and, instead, ensure you have the right protection in place. Please get in touch with me for a no-obligation financial review, and together, we can protect the most important aspects of your life.

Should you wish to discuss anything I’ve detailed further, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can find my details at Traprainfinancial.co.uk.