What are the 'must haves' for the spring/summer fashion conscious woman? This week we have a few tips to help you look your best in these recessionary times.
Let's start at the top. A hat (or a head scarf or a hair accessory of some description - the ponytail tubes at Louis Vuitton are a good option ) is a must. Try and buy at least one single-shouldered dress (one for evening and one for summer daytime flirting would be best ). Remember to put all your blues together, and all your greens, and practice wearing them layered up, all at once.
Bags are very important this year. Go for a long strapped one slung across your body or clutch a teeny weeny one in your palm (Chanel or Louis Vuitton ).
If you're feeling brave and you really want to look the spring/summer 2009 part, be the first on the block to master Stefano Pilati's Yves Saint Laurent baggy nappy pants. We dare you.
Editor: “John, what the hell is this about?”
“Oh, sorry Naoise. For a minute I thought I was writing the fashion column. I'll start again.”
Great win for Kilkenny
Brian Cody's men rounded off a memorable weekend for sport when they annihilated Tipperary at sunny Nowlan Park last Sunday. Tipp's Allstar 'keeper, Brendan Cummins, had to pick the ball out of the back of the net twice within the first five minutes. Martin Comerford got the first of his.....
Editor: “What are you doing now, have you gone nuts?”
“I don't know, I think I've caught a virus or something, I keep thinking I'm someone else. For a while there I thought I was writing Angela's fashion page, then I thought I was doing Charlie's hurling report. I'm not the only one with it, the Taoiseach seems to be suffering from something similar. Did you see him making his speech at the White House on St Patrick's Day? For a few minutes he thought he was Barack Obama and started reading a speech that turned out to be Obama's, not his. That's the second time that's happened. After his election last year he got up on the back of a lorry to sing and thought he was Luke Kelly.
So, my theory is that there's some sort of virus going that's making people think that they're someone else, I'm calling it “Biffo-itis. Anyway, I think I have it under control now, sorry about that.”
Back to the real world
Thank you to the Irish rugby team, Bernard Dunne (beats them all, every time ) and the Kilkenny hurling team. For two whole days last weekend we were able to ignore the gathering economic storm clouds. It even made you feel that, with a bit of effort and positivity, we could actually get through these awful times.
On Saturday evening strangers danced up and down and hugged each other. I hadn't seen anything like it since the 1994 World Cup.
Do you remember the year? Bill Clinton was US president, Lorena Bobbit was found guilty, but insane, of performing cosmetic surgery on her husband (check it out on Google kids, it's a good story ), Fred West was charged with multiple murders, Schindlers list won seven Oscars, the first episode of Friends was aired and Offaly won the hurling All-Ireland.
All in all it wasn't a bad year. We were supposedly a lot worse off financially than we are now, but we didn't have Eddie Hobbs or David McWilliams reminding us how bad things were on the telly every night, so come on, let's start looking on the bright side. OK, we mightn't be able to afford the latest Louis Vuitton bag (don't start that again – editor ), or the third foreign holiday this year, but anyone still in a job is still doing all right. Which brings me to:
The national stoppage on March 30
At the time of going to press (nothing like the odd cliché here and there, is there Enda? ) the national strike is still due to go ahead, although I've a feeling that the Trade Unions are beginning to realise that there's not much stomach for this antiquated form of protest. Here's a suggestion to the, mainly, public service workers taking the day off. If you bump into a private sector worker on the street who has recently lost their job, take him/her in for a coffee or a pint, and explain why losing seven per cent (that's five per cent net ) is more painful than being unemployed with little hope of a job in the foreseeable future.
And finally a memo to local election candidates
The best of luck to all the candidates in the local elections, it can't be easy knocking on doors and getting an earful from unhappy citizens at the moment. The younger candidates are letting Facebook do the walking and talking, with daily updates. Older candidates please take note and get your kids to set you up with a Facebook page. Twitter is a 'must' also, I'm told.
My first question to anyone ringing my doorbell will be, did you support the national strike? If the answer is yes, just go away.
