Man up - Mankles

OK gents, this is one for you: mankles - are you man enough? Now I'm not talking just rolling up your chinos to go rock pooling on the beach with the kids, nor am I talking about that hideous trend from a few years ago of wearing Crocs with 3/4 length cargo shorts (I can't even go there) - if you still have a pair they need to go out now - please. No chaps, I'm talking about this:

Photo: The Telegraph

Check out the classy and dare I say rather glorious Tinie Tempah at this week's Esquire & Jimmy Choo Party, part of the London Collections: Men S/S 2014 (that's Mens Fashion Week to you and me). Now, obviously his whole style groove isn't to everyone's taste - and I'm not sold on the T-shirt at the Mulberry show below either, but he wears a great trouser, gets routinely voted "Best Dressed" and I love that TT (as I like to call him) isn't afraid of men's fashion and just gets out there and gives it a sartorial whirl. Way to go Tinie.

Photo: Getty

To me, mankles says Summer, and to an extent, a European, nay Côte d'Azur sensibility. I love a man in a long sleeved linen shirt, shorts and loafers (English Gent will attest to that) but the mankles look goes even further, because the trouser has to be - wait for it - tapered, and I think perhaps that is the step too far for some of our leading men. Leaving off your socks is one thing, deliberately shortening and tapering your trousers, quite another.

Photos: Lloyd Macallister

This is Nicole Fahri's take on the look for S/S 2014, laid back and effortlessly cool - a bit Eddie Redmayne methinks, with the mankle very much in evidence.

Photos: Lloyd Macallister

And though we have been more rain-drenched than sun-drenched of late, the bright colours, cropped trousers and sparkly embroidered espadrilles (go on, you know you want to) of Savile Row tailor Richard James' collection for S/S 2014, are Summer's menswear fashion choices in one neat package. There's a bit of something for everyone in there if you look closely, but one thing's for sure, the mankle is definitely here to stay.

Photo: www.esquire.co.uk

Now I know I said that rolled up chinos didn't cut it, but for one man I'll make an exception....

Photo: Sean Connery by Annie Leibovitz for Louis Vuitton

So guys, (and gals) - if Beard Love was taking things a bit too far, can you (wo)man up for the mankle?

Faking it

I can only apologise Ladies and Gentlemen (and yes, it's really good to know that some of the boys out there are following my blog - merci Messieurs) - I've been in something of a blogging hiatus for the past few weeks.  It's not that I haven't had anything to write about, on the contrary, but I've found the continuing unsettled weather has really affected my mood and my "aftermyownfashion" mojo.  Add in a birthday, a First Communion, a house full of visitors and the usual end of school year madness and I went momentarily AWOL. But guess what - the sun came out - and suddenly my world righted itself amidst the daily madness, so we're back in business - Summer business.

Photo: Pinterest

So, with the sun out, that means getting my legs out (which I had pretty much given up hope of this year to be honest) and thus we encounter the beauty ritual that dare not speak it's name - yes, it's time to talk and indeed get to grips with - fake tan.

Photo: www.sttropeztan.com

Now, I may have come to fake tan rather late, but boy is it a 21st century revelation, and with a bit of trial and error, it's a game changer. I am of Celtic origin, aka white as a sheet at all times of year, burnt to a crisp in about 5 minutes without factor 50 or above. In short, I'm never the beauty on the beach, I'm always blotchy and acutely aware that I'm frying and getting ridiculous tan burn lines. But in my head I look like this:

Photo: Pinterest

Yes, there I am - golden, glamorous and just a touch Old Hollywood meets Capri. Indeed many years ago in my former London life I was sent on a bonkers free weekend to LA and got to stay in the Hotel Bel-Air (I know, sounds like a plotline for "The Hangover Part IV"...) and my embarrassment was complete when I realised that rather than looking like the cool, bronzed, poolside beauty I imagined myself to be, I was a perfect shade of lobster red before my fellow pool companions had ordered their first Cosmopolitan - the shame lives with me still...

Photo: Hotel Bel-Air

So if you can't have the real thing (and anyway, we all know sunbathing is bad for you) it's a question of finding what works, without looking too streaky, too TOWIE*, too Jordan** or just too plain orange - no-one wants to look like they've been Tangoed***. Obviously you can go the professional spray tan route and that's a whole different ball game, but this is the DIY version.  My go to gradual, 'it won't hurt' tan is Dove's Summer Glow which goes on like a normal moisturiser, doesn't smell too biscuity and develops into a warm golden overall glow, which for pale skins like mine is often enough.

As legs can take a bit of stronger colour I build on the Dove layer with Ambre Solaire No Streaks Bronzer. This has to be worked in really well - alot of makeup artists recommend a buffing mitt, and as ever you need to be careful on elbows, knees, ankles, and hands - orange palms are such a giveaway.... With careful application, it can look pretty good.

I have also been trying Biotherm Self-tan gel for Fair Skin, which has a good smell and goes on easily and dries quickly. It is quite pale, and possibly a little yellowy in final colour for some skin tones, but again for my pale skin,  I think it looks quite realistic.

Fake tan used to be something that you either couldn't keep a secret, because it was so streaky, strong-smelling and well, orange that you gave yourself away immediately, or something that you did keep a secret because you'd been for a spray tan and passed it off as 'real' - "Oh, this old tan?  Yeah, I've just been doing a lot of gardening..."  Thankfully, Kate Moss has recently added her not inconsiderable fashion credentials to the excellent St Tropez tan range, so we can now all follow in her footsteps and openly fess up to having hit the bottle, whilst dreaming that it will in fact, make us look like this:

Photo: www.sttropeztan.com

Other ranges such as Clinique Self Sun and James Read are also to be highly recommended - I've used Clinique for my face for a few years now and James Read has an overnight Sleep Mask that has had rave reviews: you apply it as you would a night cream and wake up in the morning with a beautiful sun-kissed glow - genius and they promise that it doesn't all come off on your pillow whilst you're getting your beauty sleep. I'm definitely going to road-test this one.

So here's to faking it, loud and proud and to a great, bronzed summer, without the sunburn.  What to wear? That comes next.

Photo: harpersbazaar.com

* TOWIE - UK Reality TV show "The Only Way Is Essex" where the whole cast is perma-tanned, wait for it - orange.

** Jordan - Former glamour model - always a lurid orange.

*** Tango - British fizzy drink, very popular in the 70's and 80's - colour, you guessed it - bright orange. The accompanying TV ad had people being 'Tangoed" and turning orange - yup, someone really got paid for that bright idea....

Bloomin' Lovely

It's the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London this week  - an event which always lifts my spirits, and  given that I have just heard we are experiencing the coldest Spring since the 1960's, I take my hat off to all the plantsmen and women who have achieved the impossible with their stands and showgardens.

Avon Bulbs of Somerset. Photo: RHS images

 Aren't these dahlias in the Grand Pavilion stunning?

The National Dahlia Collection of Cornwall. Photo: RHS Images

WaterAid's slightly hippy, Indian-inspired showgarden full of tumbling, spice coloured marigolds.

Wateraid Garden, Chelsea Flower Show 2013. Photo: Jane Mingay

Running in tandem with the Flower Show and in association with the RHS, Chelsea in Bloom is a prestigious floral art street show whereby the Chelsea retailers compete against each other for 'Best Floral Display' transforming their shop windows and storefronts into works of art. Now in its 8th year, this year's theme is 'Decades' to tie in with the Flower Show's centenary this year:

The White Company. Photo: Chelsea in Bloom

The White Company has gone for a 1920's Gatsby feel - I'm loving the yellow floral car.

Photo: www.thewomensroomblog.com

Space NK is channelling 1930's Art Deco dressing table elegance: 

Space NK. Photo: Chelsea in Bloom

The perfume bottle and lipstick are entirely made from carnations.

Photo: www.thewomensroomblog.com

Mary Quant is a natural for the Swinging Sixties and her iconic dress and logo made from gerberas are jauntily displayed outside the shop:

Mary Quant. Photo: Chelsea in Bloom

Photo: www.womensroomblog.com

Brora is in a hippy mood with beautiful knitted flowers adorning the dress - "Make Cashmere, not War" - quite. Check out the floral afro - hilarious.

Brora. Photo: www.thewomensroomblog.com

Whilst Kate Spade has also chosen the 'Mods and Rockers' of the same decade, with beautiful use of blue and white hydrangeas.

Kate Spade. Photo: Chelsea in Bloom

With my poor garden struggling to bloom, and such plants as there are being smashed by the wind and rain, it's lovely to see so much floral colour and fun in an urban setting. Let's hope it catches on. In the meantime feeling Chelsea Flower Show inspired, I'm off to knock up some floral art - I'll let you know how it turns out.

Feel the love at Merci

Whilst I sit in my (currently very soggy) field in my small corner of France, wondering whether Summer will ever arrive, I find myself daydreaming of hot footing it to Paris for a day's shopping, sipping coffee at the Cafe de Flore, in the sunshine obvs, but then WHAM - I come back down to earth with a bump realizing that a) it's just not feasible on a school day, b) on the weekend I'd have 3 grumpy boy shoppers in tow, so c) I need to adopt a rather different approach.

Photo: www.huffingtonpost.com

Which is why I am so happy that after years of patient waiting, Merci - my favourite shop in Paris, has finally gone online - hooray! English Gent is blissfully unaware of this major development in my life and I'm going to have to be very strict about my 'browsing' vs my 'buying' but it's an excellent reason to take you on a virtual tour of this beautiful concept store. Allons-y.

Photo: www.merci-merci.com

Photo: www.hausofmoo.com

Situated in what is now called the Haut-Marais, and just slightly off the beaten track, Merci was started in 2009 by Bernard and Marie-France Cohen, founders of the oh so Parisian children's clothing label Bonpoint.  They saw an opportunity in Paris for a store combining high-end fashion with interior décor, beauty,  art, design and homeware, championing new designers, hosting art installations, alongside a bookshop, a garden, a florist, two buzzing cafés and a restaurant - in short somewhere you could happily while away several hours browsing, shopping, or just hanging out - a venue that would swiftly become the hip place to see and be seen, in a nonchalant boho Parisian kind of a way. Think Anthropologie, but well, just more French....

Second Hand Bookshop Cafe

The Merci Canteen

But on top of all this the Cohens have played a masterstroke - they have managed to make the Merci shopping experience even more satisfying for their customers by combining consumerism with philanthropy:  after operating costs, all profits from the store go to benefit women and children in south-west Madagascar, with a particular emphasis on education and learning new skills, so you can know that the money you are spending is going straight to help others. Shopping with a conscience doesn't get much better than this.

Photo: www.huffingtonpost.com

The ground floor décor changes regularly depending on which designer, artist or cause the store is showcasing and the cute red Fiat 500 - a permanent fixture in the courtyard and the store's mascot - is frequently re-vamped and is currently covered in Aurelie Mathigot's flax crochet work, as part of her art installation: "L'Art du Lin, l'intemporel".

Merci courtyard - Aurelie Mathigot "L'Art du Lin, l'intemporel"

Brands such as Isabel Marant, Paul Smith, Stella McCartney and YSL have donated exclusive pieces to the store, and along with merci-merci's own brand - a range of sophisticated basics - you can get a full dose of that elusive Parisian chic, for a considerably reduced price.

Photo: www.merci-merci.com

The menswear section in-store is very cool with an old fashioned tailor's shop vibe - Savile Row meets Serge Gainsbourg - even English Gent was impressed (yes, I managed to get the world's greatest anti-shopper inside - but he was indulging me as it was my birthday....)

Photo: www.merci-merci.com

He got happily lost in the homewares department - phew....

Photo: www.huffingtonpost.com

Photo: www.merci-merci.com

The 18th century building with its airy, loft like feel, mixes the vintage with the contemporary in an artful, laid back way. Part industrial space, part Parisian townhouse - there are sweeping staircases, cozy nooks, chandeliers, books, and wherever you look things to pick up, feel, touch, smell and discover.

Photo: www.hausofmoo.com

A really charming idea is the Annick Goutal 'laboratoire' where you can mix your own fragrance for a remarkably reasonable price given the usual cost of a bespoke fragrance, and her mainline perfumes. For obvious reasons this service is not available online but if you get the chance to visit it's a whole lot of fun.

Photo: www. merci-merci.com

I'm loving these Liberty print suitcases, which are available here, and the masking tape is so pretty.The Fiat 500 had a Liberty makeover too....

Photo:www.avecsfr.blogspot.fr

A recent collaboration between two classic French brands, Aigle x Kitsuné produced this "festival kit" of a poncho and classic Aigle wellington boots - boy do I need them here in my field - now!

Photo: www.merci-merci.com

And when did cleaning utensils ever look more chic?

Photo: www.merci-merci.com

My purchases last time I visited were a beautiful coral linen scarf, some recycled rubber bangles made by a women's co-operative in Mali, and lots of lovely notebooks for me and stationery for the boys.

Photo: www.merci-merci.com

I like the fact that you can buy little things for a few euros, as well as bigger items and they are happy to ship internationally.

Photo: www.merci-merci.com

Whilst shopping online is never going to be as exciting as visiting the actual shop, I hope this has given you a taster of the style aesthetic and raison d'être of this fabulous non-profit establishment. You can read more about Merci's endowment fund and the charity's progress here. There are so many lovely things to choose from, I hope you'll find something you like when browsing, and when you're next in Paris, be sure to put it on your list of places to visit. Either way, it's a win win scenario - actively helping others simply by treating ourselves - what's not to love?

I'm off for a spot of shopping - merci!

Ground Control to Major Tom

Sometimes we need to find a little inspiration in our lives to lift us out of the humdrum everyday routine and make us stop and realize that it's the here and now that matters and most importantly that it's those people in our here and now who matter the most.  It could just be a morning snuggle with your 6 year old, still warm and half-asleep, the simple fact that the sun is shining or mastering a yoga pose just for a fraction of a second - anything, no matter how small, can make a difference to your day and to your life.

Photo: Pinterest

And sometimes, it's the unlikeliest people who provide the inspiration, so step forward Commander Chris Hadfield and Angelina Jolie. A seemingly unlikely double act I'll admit, but both of them have shared a part of themselves with the world this week, and in totally different ways have inspired us to stop and think about about love, life and the universe.

Photo: AP/Nasa

Commander Chris Hadfield has been in charge of the International Space Station for the past 5 months and has been tweeting his experiences back to Earth whilst sharing amazing photographs from space. If ever you needed a reason for the existence of Twitter - Commander Chris is it.

South Island New Zealand Photo: Chris Hadfield/NASA

Mount Etna Photo: Chris Hadfield/NASA

But his parting shot as he finished his stint "far above the world" this week is a stroke of genius: with David Bowie's blessing he has recorded the classic track "Space Oddity" from inside the Space Station and it's moving, wonderful, lump in the throat stuff.

The lyrics "Here am I floating in my tin can" have never been more apt and as we watch the beautiful images of Earth passing Hadfield's window he reminds us just how awe-inspiring our planet and the Universe really are. My boys have always been keen on playing astronauts and never more so than having watched this video - they would both apply to NASA tomorrow if they could. (The video's gone viral not surprisingly, with all the papers and news channels commenting on it.) Inspiring stuff for Earthlings, and a slam-dunk for Bowie fans everywhere.

"The Moon rising over a bed of cloud. A constant reminder to us all of what can be achieved." 

And so to what's being called a "giant leap for womankind" (see what I did there?) Angelina Jolie announced this week in the New York Times that she has undergone a preventive double mastectomy after she discovered via genetic testing that she carried a faulty BRCA1 gene which gave her an estimated 87% risk of contracting breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer. Her breast cancer risk now, post surgery has been reduced to under 5%.

Photo: Brad Pitt

Jolie's beloved mother died of the disease at the age of 56 and her premature death devastated the actress. Now, as a mother of 6 children, whilst Jolie found the decision to have the surgery (and subsequent breast reconstruction) a tough one, she is very happy she made it. And most importantly of all she says: "I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer."

Photo: Brad Pitt

Photo: Brad Pitt

She then states: "On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity." Way to go Angie. By speaking out about her choices, awareness for genetic testing and preventive treatment for breast cancer has already increased, and in addition to all the print article coverage, I have listened to several debates on both television and radio this week and all are in broad support of Jolie's actions, her courage and her impact on this hugely important health issue. Finally, if we needed further proof of the "Angelina effect", la Jolie is on the cover of this week's Time Magazine with Time's Jeffrey Kluger calling her revelation a "cultural and medical earthquake." Yup, this is going to be huge....

Photo: Melodie McDaniel/Trunk Archive

 
We can't cheat destiny, but Jolie is giving it her best shot.  She is brave, she is beautiful, she is a great role model and through her personal choices and actions she is doing the best to be there for her children for as long as she can be. I cannot think of a more inspiring life lesson than that. Can you hear me Major Tom?