A few weeks ago I wrote about Womankind magazine and the editor’s vision of a readership that wanted to ‘look outward, not inward’. I was in need of a bit of that. Just when we thought the sun might return, there were unreasonable flurries of snow across grey Glasgow. All my waking hours were structured […]
Category: Secret Style Index
Secret Style Icon No.23: Albert Einstein
I’ve become infatuated with a theoretical physicist. I guess it’s the sort of thing that happens, in the end days of capitalism, as ice bergs melt and we continue to deny that climate change is happening and meanwhile put all our energy and resources into killing each other in much faster ways. I’ve been searching for words […]
Secret Style Icons No.21 & No.22: Thelma and Louise
‘I don’t ever remember feeling this awake’ – Thelma It starts the way all films should – two gals, a convertible and a loaded gun, off on a road trip together. They’ve got high-waisted jeans and enormous swaying hair. They’re getting away from hard work, boredom and Thelma’s cretin of a husband. What could possibly […]
Secret Style Icon No.20: Wednesday Addams
Name: Wednesday Friday Addams Born: 1938 Hobbies: Ballet, pyromania, raising spiders Likes: The Bermuda Triangle; witchcraft; misandry Dislikes: Smiling; team activities; other people Style: Impeccable It’s October: the best month of the year. The days are still bright, but brilliantly chilly and serene. The ground is crispy with leaves. Spicy hot chocolates can be consumed with […]
Secret Style Icon No.19: Margaret Mead
“I was wise enough to never grow up while fooling most people in to believing I had”. Queenly, formidable, curious and peculiar, Margaret Mead is as an example of what happens when someone has some seriously sturdy self-esteem. Her social scientist Quaker parents, along with her grandmother, raised Margaret to believe in her own capabilities, […]
Secret Style Icon No 18: Etheline Tenenbaum
She’s not so much a secret style icon, as my blueprint for a life. When I grow up, I want to be Etheline Tenenbaum. You can’t discourage me by suggesting she isn’t real. I know there’s a New York out there where it is always autumn, turning to winter; where baroque townhouses sit in faded […]
Secret Style Icon No.17: Secret Agent Dale Cooper
“Harry, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it; don’t wait for it; just let it happen. It could be a new shirt in a men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black, coffee.” […]
Secret Style Icon No.21: Janice Litman-Goralnik
There was Burton and Taylor. There was Rocky and Adrian. There was Janice and Chandler. I present to you the real love story in Friends. The one that ran like a shimmering, sleek river of deceit and sexual tension through ten series. She was The One for him. Sure, he settled for Monica, but that […]
Secret Style Icon No.16: 19th Century Paris
Last night I went along to the magnificent Salon Project at The Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, and spent an evening in a closed-off stage of enormous chandeliers, mirrors and arched ‘windows’ beaming unreal white light as if from a sunny Parisian day. Usually, I would hide in a dark corner to avoid any kind of […]
Secret Style Icon(s) No.15: Bluestockings
“Brilliant in diamonds, solid in judgement, critical in talk” This was Hester Thrale’s description of Elizabeth Montagu, the Shakespeare critic du jour and Bluestocking Society hostess, in ye olde 18th century. Thrale met her at a legendary bluestockings get-together in London and was clearly enthralled. How. Flipping. Cool. I’d like to be brilliant in diamonds […]
Amy Jardine 