Totally Dublin

A memory play that juxtaposes between the real and the remembered, Boss Grady’s Boys by Sebastian Barry, which opened at the Gaiety Theatre on Thursday night, is a solidly acted, optically alluring play which explores the past and the present of two aging brothers in rural Ireland, probing a codependent existence which was once the norm but is now dying if not dead. Where brothers and sisters lived as spouses on the farms where they grew up, surrounded by silence they need to break and memories they cannot escape, sharing the chores and even the bed, surviving in isolation from one day to the next.

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Your dodgy LV handbag with the off-centred monogram is one thing; while most people know about lawsuits following designers ripping each other off, the murky, glittery and sweet-scented world of beauty dupes is a far more niche affair. Put it down to not-so-secret formulas and the quality of ingredients- in these horribly wallet-hostile times, it’s never too hard to find direct colour clones for those suffering from acute M.A.C withdrawal. Lists abound on beauty blogs and forums, detailing the best highstreet substitutes, and then there are the direct copies; whether Chinese-imported rip-offs or (not-so) bare-faced imitations on the highstreet.

wrist-swatching: a science all its own...

The best option is to shop around and try out swatches on your hand, compare the colours and see which has the best staying power. Quality tends to be reflective of price, but then again what’s the point in spending €30 on Chanel Rouge Coco, gorgeous as it is, if you’re only going to wear it once a year? Temptalia’s Dupe List is the most definitive on the net, and a must for anyone with a crippling cosmetics habit. Similarly Makeup Temple have a great lipstick list and Makeup Talk’s one is ridiculously detailed. And for those who simply can’t be separated from their brand name face-gunk, head to strawberrynet.com and cdwow.ie , oddly enough, for designer haul at low prices.

Skincare is a trickier area for dupes, but the ’science’ pioneered by high-end companies haven’t stopped the highstreet from replicating market leaders. Vaseline’s Rose Lipbalm is a direct imitator of old-school favourite Smith’s Rosebud Salve, while Boots‘ Time Delay Cleansing Balm’ is an Eve Lom knock-off to rival the original (Liz Earle’s Cleanse and Polish, also, is a great middleground, a thorough but caring cleanser with natural ingredients priced at a fifth of the Eve Lom cult cream- check out this side-by side comparison with Eve Lom’s by beauty and fashion blogger The Daily Obsession).

Moving on to makeup, the world only recently caught on to foundation primers (invented in 1995, only, by Laura Mercier). Smashbox lead the field with their award-winning primer, a sublimely slippery goo which you smooth over the face under makeup for extra smoothness and staying power. The fact that it costs around €30 is no deterrent to its legion of fans, but if you’re looking for a cheap primer fix then GOSH do an amazing version for a third of the price. With stylish (and suspiciously similar) packaging to rival Smashbox’s, the primer even comes in multiple formulas for different skin types, and is available in chemists and branches of A-Wear. Those of you hooked on Clarin’s Beauty Flash Balm, also, should check out Barbara Daly’s Facelift Cream, a lightening, brighening, tightening cream for under makeup, and available at Tesco for under a tenner.

Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer Bricks are another much-imitated classic, a series of strips of blush-highlighter powders in a sleek black compact. The original is the last word in New York glam, and an international best-seller, but for a dead ringer at a teensy-sized price, Uk highstreet brand ME ME ME stock an almost identical compact. That’s not the only dupe they’ve openly created; even the packaging of their Poppy Tint and Beat the Blues replicates Benefit’s cult items High Beam and Benetint cheek stain.

If you fell in love with Tom Ford’s chic, matte, ‘colour wardrobe’ of lipsticks boxed in ceramic white, but balked at their €45 price, Revlon’s Colorburst line promises a similar richness and density of pigment. The shades, also, are a pleasingly retro selection of pale mod pinks and coral reds. Eyes-wise, Gosh Extreme Art Liners are a direct match for MAC liquidlast, while you can easily fake a Nars Orgasm (we mean the famous and scandalously-named blush, that is..) with Rimmel blush in Santa Rose.

Though many of the cheaper products perform just as well, and the steep price curve between highstreet and designer is enough to send anyone running for Penneys, there’s always the ethics of duping to consider. Do cheaper makeup brands use poorly-regulated ingredients that are dangerous to the skin? And is selling replicated colours a kind of intellectual theft? Companies such as MAC put time and effort into developing their lines, only to see copies crop up in the space of months, replicated wholesale and sold at bargain basement prices. It may not be as desperate as those people seeling fake MAC brush kits on Moore St at Christmas time, but still, for the serious stylehunter, its an issue which deserves further thought. What it boils down to is how you choose to define yourself by what you buy; no-one needs to know whether or not that blue colour on your nails came from a plush double C-topped bottle, but if you do splash out that extra €25, you’ll be buying an entire brand identity. The treatment you get from the salesperson, the vial of sample perfume, and the tissue paper-lined bag you take away with you all form a memorable experience and draw you closer to an aspirational brand. But don’t fall into the trap of believing only expensive is best; the beauty industry has always been about faking it…

Frank McGuiness’ Baglady is the latest show to be revived at the recently reopened Focus Theatre.

Starring Maria McDermattroe as the titular character and directed by Caroline Fitzgerald, the former artistic director of the Abbey Theatre, the play’s ability to shock has lessened overtime thanks to the emergence of the ‘in your face’ play writes of the mid nineties and the real life horrors contained within the Ryan and Murphy reports.

What hasn’t decreased however, is the power and the beauty of McGuiness‘ words. His striking mythical prose and crude, stark imagery firing the darkest recesses of the human mind, creating a character full of confused rage and eradicated sexuality, frozen innocence and unworldly horrors.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of urgency in McDermattroe’s, a sameness that runs from line to line and makes the whole piece feel like a recitation rather than a performance. While McGuiness’ language is vibrant and alive, McDermattroe uses too few colors from her palette to breathe life into the written word. We see her anger but never feel it, we hear the horrors but are never given enough to suspend reality and believe that they ever occurred to this woman before us. The lines are delivered as if learned by rote, with no credible feeling or connection imparted by the actress.

Perhaps her discomfort with the text stems from Fitzgerald’s convoluted direction, which never sits well with the spoken word. It’s apparent that the actress is following a stage direction when she does things like ripping up a playing card or wanders around in circles rather than acting out of her own accord. Nothing happens naturally and it feels that boxes are being ticked rather than being opened and explored.

The show, produced by Eska Riada, runs until the 21st of August.

8.00pm, €16.00

Alright lads, here’s the brief: each Tuesday a post will be churned out that will wax lyrical on three pieces of either design/illustration/art/fashion/architecture. Edition One:

Jean François Carly

Having browsed through the website of the hugely talented London based photographer Jean François Carly, what stood out for me immediately was his personal work. Snakes, in particular, is a series that is capable of sucking you right in. Attention: you may find yourself looking at these images for a long time.

The models seem blissfully unaware that around their bodies slither one of the most detested reptiles on the planet. In fact, they could be wearing anything - a jumper, or a dress - and they would wear the same dull expression of bony beauty for the camera. The images really make you look twice… ‘Hey, nice scarf!’ But no actually, that’s not a scarf. It is a long tube of muscle topped off with fangs and a forked tongue.

Carly has matched the colour of the snakes to each of his subject’s individual hair and skin tone. What is quite beautiful and wonderfully strange is that it looks as if they have become part of the models themselves. Carly has made skin and scales look extremely good together, who’d have thought it?

Belgian born and raised, Carly moved to London to pursue his career. He has contributed to magazines such as Arena Homme Plus, Harpers Bazaar, Dutch, Mixte, Qvest, Sang Bleu, V magazine and Vogue Homme International to name a few. As an extension of his photographic work, he produced numerous short fashion films for Showstudio, Maison Martin Margiela, etc., and has been shown at The London Fashion Film Festival, The British Film Institute, The V&A and The Institute of Contemporary Art London. Gee whiz, what a mouthful.

Carly can really only go onwards and upwards at this stage.

Kathryn MacNaughton

Kathryn Macnaughton is an Illustrator/Graphic Artist currently living in Toronto, Canada. She graduated from Ontario College of Art and Design and has been making pretty pictures ever since. By combining drawing with collage through a tint of light pastel shades, mixing soft pornographic material with random objects (like the lovely little rabbit and elephants above), patterns or typefaces, she creates a fictional world where even the naughtiest acts don’t look as seedy as they would
in real life.

It’s all quite suggestive really, isn’t it? Suggestive of an interpretation of Kathryn’s reality. Asides from the women,
who feature prominently in her work, shapes are a strong visual element. She uses patterns to fill space in a lovely illustrative ramble as well as to intentionally draw you towards the focus or theme of her work, like an idea or a relationship.

Kathryn’s illustrations are very lovely and very interesting. It’s difficult to look away once your eyes get comfortable gazing over the pastel hues.

Hugh Turvey

Hugh Turvey is internationally recognised for his x-ray works and as one of the world’s few contemporary x-ray photographers. After the X-ray pin-up series and his radiology art these are his x-rays of flowers. Hugh has been fascinated since childhood with getting underneath the surface of things and its since 1996 the he first used X-rays as a favour to a musician friend who needed an image for an album cover. Since then he has exploited the technique to shoot x-rays of everyday objects.

There’s nothing too elaborate going on here, I just love the look of the bulbs and the petals. X-rays are something that most people seem to be fascinated with, especially of one’s own bones, so why not shine the radioactive light on what surrounds us on a daily basis?

Oh Tippi Hedron...

This week we’re looking ahead to what Autumn/Winter has in store, not so much because of the Irish weather (though it’s never too early..) as to be ahead of the times. Between the summer sales and new stock hitting the shops, it’s worth keeping in mind what will see you into Autumn. This week Fashion Wednesday is focused on the lady-like look, a style about-turn and guaranteed to be a massive trend for Autumn.

Paris fashion week was when it hit; the divide between polished, womanly models and the grungier members of the audience (a messy-haired Pixie Geldof with her jaw agape). The time for dignified, elegant style has come around; full skirts, structured handbags and kitten heels the likes of which we’ve not seen since Gwyneth Paltrow circa 1999. It’s going to be a restrained, dignified Autumn, with fashion at pains to make us play the grown-up.

At Louis Vuitton, Elle MacPherson and Laetitia Casta made a splash as they were brought out of catwalk retirement, bringing some much-needed oomph to the highly feminine Autumn/Winter designs. The sweetheart necklines and nipped-in waists might favour hourglass figures, but what was interesting was that even the waifiest East-European models were able to magic up curves thanks to expert tailoring. This look is great for older wearers and for work wardrobes, but it looks equally fresh and elegant on the young- hell, Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf practically invented this style.

The July edition of US Vogue kicked things off with a declaration of intent, beginning with the headline “I AM WOMAN“:

Hear me roar. Hear me issue stock-purchase orders from the Wall Street trading floor. I am woman; I am not girl. I do not emulate the pop-burlesque fashion stylings of Ke$ha or Katy Perry. I do not aspire to PASSÉ MORNING-AFTER CHIC, with bird’s-nest hair and shredded leather leggings. No. Of Lana Turner and Barbara Stanwyck — and Lena Horne — I sing.

A little over-dramatic, perhaps, but La Wintour has a point. It’s good to see curves take their place on the catwalk, but what was also heartening was a return to polished, aspirational style. The last thing we need in recessionary times is to make ourselves look grungy; we need polish, we need glamour, and we need to dress like grown ups again. Grunge and tatty vintage, however modest, laid-back and ethically correct, can only get a girl so far.

Autumn brings a return to flattering but high-maintenance looks, the traditionally formal and feminine blouses, heels and full skirts that our grandmothers wore as daywear. The colour scheme is austere but sexy, with an emphasis on rich colour and luxurious fabrics. This prim black pin-tuck dress from Oasis is a dead ringer for the styles seen at Louis Vuitton . The colour grey is big news, updated from Summer’s washed-out tones with additional embellishment, as with this prom dress from Warehouse.

Reiss have always been the best on the high-street for lady-like luxe, and currently have two great gathered skirts reduced on sale, that will see you into Autumn in style. This belted dress by Sonia Rykiel is fashionably demure and features a key new season accessory, the skinny belt - top any outfit with a skinny leather belt, like this one from Warehouse, for an instant wardrobe update.

Research for this look is fun; Marc Jacobs cites Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman as his muse for Autumn/Winter. Mad Men is also an obvious choice, and its also worth ploughing through cinema and fashion history for iconic Hitchcock heroines Tippi Hedron and Kim Novak, both blonde, and both immortalised in frock coats and little grey suits. Their Edith Head-designed outfits in The Birds and Vertigo, respectively, encapsulate everything that’s so great about feminine, femme-fatale style.

Autumn-Winter finishing school- some things to look out for:

-Structured bags with handles in tortoise-shell and plastic, or with perspex or metal chains.

-Leather gloves, to the elbow or approaching elbow-length

-Dresses with low necklines and with midi-length full skirts

-’Polished’ accessories; matching earrings and necklaces, matching shoes and handbags

-Kitten heels, pointy toes and lace-up heeled bootees for Winter. These patent red heels from Topshop are ideal

-Alligator skin, or rather, faux alligator skin, a classic ladylike accessory

-Bowling bags- Louis Vuitton’s entire collection echoed this rounded shape. Snap up this cheaper leather version at Marks and Spencers

PS. a few stray links:

are women genetically evolved to cope with wearing high heels?

how to get that ‘Hitchcock Blonde’ look…

and for more style research, look to House of Harps. From her bouffant hair to the tips of her winkle-pickers, this girl rocks a fashion-forward but highly stylised look like no other, and her blog is a directory of lady-like style icons.

For anyone not making their debs, it’s a point of controversy and tongue-clicking. Everyone’s inner Eddie Hobbs comes out as they weigh up the cost of nail extensions and San Tropez, with dresses and limo rental bringing the total to more than €1000. Firstly, in typical media style, this is something of an overestimation. Those limos are carrying groups, not single, prissy princesses looking for eight seats to accommodate their dress. And not every debutante spends €500 on fake hair, or gets gel nails put in, or even books a professional makeup artist. There are ways of doing this at a logical cost and still looking dazzling on the night. (more…)

You might be able to tell by now that here at Fashion Wednesday, we really like Rihanna. Really really like her. Like, Girl-Crush of the Month, follow every red carpet appearance, run-out-and-buy-overpriced-sunglasses-just-because-she-wore-them style. And one of those things you notice when you track somebody’s style so closely is the details, from her violently russet-hued hair, right down to the tips of her…nails?

Yeaaaah this week Fashion Wednesday is all about the nail art. (more…)

An elusive combination of JD Salinger, Yves Saint Laurent and Willy Wonka, this year Belgian fashion supremo Martin Margiela celebrates twenty years wig-hats, tailoring and deconstructed seams. The elusive designer’s work is celebrated this summer with an exhibition at Somerset House, London, open now until September 5^th.  Strange, innovative and predominantly monochrome, the show catalogues two decades of quietly radical dressing, offering a peek inside the mind of a desgin genius without shattering his carefully crafted mystery.

Margiela himself retired in 2008, handing over the creative reins to his white-coated  collective  of fashion Oompa-Lumpas, and selling off the brand to Renzo Rosso, owner of Diesel. Though acknowledged as inspiration by designers such as Marc Jacobs and Hedi Slimane, Margiela’s line had attracted controversy for ‘re-appropriating’ vintage tshirts, prompting Suzy Menkes to accuse him of out-and-out plagiarism (though the tshirt in point, featuring airbrushed white horses on a black background, launched a thousand high-street imitations and was worn by aspirant hipsters the world over) . But Autumn/Winter 2010 sees the mysterious Maison back on track, with an inventive but understated mix of  monochrome tailoring and mad- but wearable- latex seperates and oversized furry hats.

But the attraction of Maison Martin Margiela is all in the back catalogue, something the designer himself understood early on when he issued his own line of ‘reproductions’ of past work, after only five years in the business. Highlights include cloven-soled shoes, exposed seams and pointy-shouldered jackets before anyone had so much as heard of Balmain. The ‘deconstructed’ raw edges and visible seams, in particular, have entered into fashion cliché, but every time they are used we have Margiela to thank for it. Less wearably, Margiela famously paired his sharp-edged tailoring with shoulderpads made from wigs, sending ‘faceless’ models down the catwalk with their features masked behind beige stockings, or covered by Cousin It hair. One catwalk extravaganze even ended with a pair of models dressed in a fabric wedding cake. It’s little wonder the late Alexander McQueen was in awe of Margiela’s ability to pair expert tailoring and drama.

A sharp and brutal aesthetic was complemented by atmospheric shows (Magiela did away with the hierarchical front row, seating fashion editors at dinner tables on first-come, first-serve basis) and the most minimal labelling in the business; a plain white square with a number and four stitches. This forced wearers to re-evaluate the notion of designer dressing, stripping it back to money invested on the strength of tailoring alone. At the height of logomania and the nineties cult of the celebrity designer (the years when Calvin Klein was in de-Klein, and Tom Ford was soon to be on the up..) Margiela refused to give interviews or even take a catwalk bow, frequently showcasing his designs on workers, friends and other ‘ordinary people’ (ie. Non-model civilians..). His implied lack of ownership drew attention to fashion’s ability to recycle itself; despite his highly idiosyncratic approach, Margiela never claimed to be an innovator. Rather, he improved on staples from the past, subtly reappraising them. A Margiela piece might show up in the wardrobe of the most streamlined, un-fashiony business dresser, just as his leather shoe boots still appear on the feet of fashion editors and style bloggers as a timeless footwear statement. His work is anti-establishment but beloved of the industry’s highest echelons. It transcends boundaries and traditional seasons. Everything is monochrome. Everything is timeless.

McQueen, before his death, professed his admiration for the designer, acknowledging a Margiela influence on his work and saying “There’s not a woman I know who doesn’t have at least one piece of Martin Margiela in their wardrobe.” Though we cannot all afford to dress in his expertly decontructed deshabille,it’s fairly likely that most highstreet style followers will have at least one item influencedby Margiela in their wardrobe. Ripped tights and jeans, pointy trophy jackets and gladiator shoe boots are all among his most influential and memorable work.

Net-a-porter.com, naturally enough, stock a wide range of Margiela ; the black tuxedo, and an eye-watering €975) is classic enough almost to justify its steep price, or there’s a very Gaga-worthy structured dress with a built-in bustle; it’s brave and mad, but in Margiela’s signature monochrome it can’t help but mean business (€919). Or if all the black and white feels a little bit limited, check out one of Margiela’s stranger off-the-catwalk creations, the oversized ‘bonbon clutch’, an enormous metallic sweet-wrapper shaped handbag .

Yoox.com have a limited stock of the famous Margiela shoe-boots in grey, and reduced to €99, and we really, really like these chunky wooden platforms from the Summer line, half Geisha, half German tourist. A recently-launched perfume presented a slightly more affordable piece of collectible Margiel-iana, though since its original release at the Paris boutique Collette, the fluorescent green bottles have been hard to track down.

Committed designer clothes-hackers should also check out the famous ‘abandoned dress patterns’, found here, to try a bit of clothes-deconstruction at home, or dip their toes in the water with this Youtube guide to artful tights-ripping. Or you can imitate his homewear line with Remodelista’s DIY Margiela bottle-lamps.

There’s also a costly but beatifully-produced Big White Margiela Book (available from Amazon here). Oh and, if you’re really committed to tracking down a piece by the man himself, then some insane person has put their white MMM clogs on Ebay for $289. If you have the money lying around and happen to take a European size 38 then SNAP THEM UP, tell them Fashion Wednesday sent you..

Umbrellas in Vogue, 1958

Aside from that mystical repetitive relevence attached to it by Rihanna as a friendship symbol, the umbrella serves as a reminder of Karma in action. You win some, you lose some, you leave some in the doorway of the local pub, succinctly illustrating the cosmic redistribution of matter. Which is why it’s never an especially wise idea to spend money on an expensive one, when by tomorrow your mallacca-handled Aspinal of London ‘Navy Regimental’ might be languishing in the doorway of a bar across town, or, worse, squashed flat like a dead bird in a puddle in Temple Bar…

Rather than contemplate such grim umbrella fates, Fashion Wednesday has returned after a two-week study break to fill you in on the most stylish ways to avoid getting soaked.

A key Gaga accessory

It seems untimely to write a piece about dressing for rain in the middle of Summer, but with a forecast of on-and-off showers over the next two week, and the notoriously rain-strewn festival season only at its start, it certainly pays to be prepared. Furthermore both highstreet and desgner brands have a wider range than ever of pitch-perfect parasols to match every outfit, meaning there’s little excuse to be caught with a half-deflated broken one pokes pedestrians in the face.

the inevitable Rihanna visual reference

Starting with the most trusted and (usually) boring of sources, Marks and Spencers have a surprisingly wide and interesting range, mostly priced below the €10 mark. Our favourite boild down to their cyan-green collapsible mini number, decorated with nautical starts (pros: cheap, bright and portable. Cons: will probably break in a strong gust of wind..) and their more traditionalist floral parasol, a heavy-duty but delicately stylish clear umbrella with a trompe l’oeil lattice print. Further up Grafton Street its worth checking out Topshops OTT floral ‘Crook Umbrella’, an old school handled number with a painterly, clashy print. Match it with one of their tea dresses for all-out Chelsea Garden kitsch.

Penneys have cornered the market in foldable-and-disposable rain jackets at a miniscule price, but if you’re looking to distinguish yourself from the drunken hoards of the festival field, check out Cath Kidston’s signature-printed rain jackets, a little less disposable but bound to match your Cath Kidston floral teepee (lovely, just lovely, that…).

Of course there’s always the designer route to dealing with summer showers. If you really, really care about umbrellas, or are looking to prove a point about hardcore luxury, then Lanvin’s unobtrusive wooden-handle umbrella is for you, priced reassuringly steep at €161 at Harvey Nichols.

Luas-line princesses will love the Juicy monogrammed umbrella, navy and pink-printed with the brand’s signature chihuahuas. We prefer Marc Jacobs’ ‘Into the Wild’ handbag umbrella, a marginally less expensive and infinitely better alternative. Chic without being too loud, it contrasts leopard print with a jade green sperical handle that spell out its unmistakeable designer credentials.

As with perfumes, underwear and those baffling ‘luxury’ cotton socks, the big brands figured out some time ago that they could easily stick a logo and a ‘visual identity’ (read tacky tartan print or interlocking letter Gs) onto low-quality merch and sell it at rarified prices.

The unlikely Burberry-printed accessory has an, ahem, chequered past (Daniella Westbrook and brood decked in plaid comes to mind..), but trenchcoat devotees looking to declare rain-or-shine allegiance will appreciate Christopher Bailey’s tongue-in-cheek update with their heart-printed red umbrella, a deep wine shade wih contrasting heart-shaped cut-outs. Still ludicrously priced at €160, so perhaps best to save it for weddings and days at the races, dahlings…

Last but not least, our absolute umbrella favourite is Christopher Shannon’s mad, bad and hilarious umbrella range for ASOS.com. A 2008 St Martin’s graduate and rising menswear favourite, the London designer’s umbrellas are an obnoxious, wonderful toxic green and plastered in tabloid fonts with the words ‘PISSING DOWN’. Our sentiments exactly..

A follicular footnote: Humidity and summer showers can really ruin a good hair style, precipitating flyaway bits and lanky roots. Fashion Wednesday recommends you pre-empt the bipolar Irish weather by misting your coif with Tommy Guns Climate Control Spray, which promises shiny rain-sustainable hair with volume and Jojoba oil for de-frizzified ends.

Pixie Lott. God bless her. Not only does she have a medium-successful singing career, a lucrative contract peddling milk and the sugar-sweet, blonde-highlighted good looks of the ultimate schoolgirl-next-door, but now she wants to dress us too. The ‘Pixie for Lipsy’ line of sparkly hotpants and ‘festival-friendly dresses’ is only the most recent in a seemingly never-ending stream of lines from newly-minted ‘fashion icons’. If Miss Lott doesn’t seem like the most obvious choice, try Tara Reid , Carlos Santana and virtually the entire cast of The Hills. Its a well-trodden and murky path, most often leading to the bargain rail at TKMaxx. Still every week brings a new model-turned-actress-turned whatever, turning their hand to dressing the nation. This week, Fashion Wednesday pays homage to the celebrity clothing line in all its levels of awfulness; the good, the bad, and the downright unwearable.

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