Saturday 29 February 2020

Here's what Ivanka Trump does each and every day

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Anyone up for 5.30am starts, phone-free weekends and death-defying date nights? Well, for Ivanka and Jared Kushner it's just another day in coupled-up paradise

ivanka trump and jared
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Words by Michelle Davies 

While our Royal Family are slowly getting it together after Megxit, across the pond America’s First Family is gearing up for November’s election by boastfully proclaiming victory after President Trump’s impeachment trial and subsequent partisan acquittal. But behind the Tweets and smiles it has been a particularly trying time for First Daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner – if the Senate had found her father guilty and kicked him out of office, they would have lost their plum roles as White House Special Advisors. Yet despite the potential indignity of being thrown out of the West Wing, those who know ‘Javanka’ were confident the couple would have bounced back. Driven, self-possessed and devoted to one another and their children, they are the epitome of a political power couple.

Ivanka Trump and Jared

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News junkie

Needless to say, a day in the Javanka household is equally motivated. It starts early… very early. ‘I get up at 5.30am and meditate or work out – or both,’ Ivanka has revealed. ‘My alarm goes off much earlier these days than it did pre-kids.’

The 38-year-old prefers to get her news fix flicking through the morning newspapers rather than scrolling online, although she admits – like father, like daughter – she will get on her phone alone the moment she wakes up. ‘I can’t seem to break the habit,’ she said.

Present and correct

Both she and Jared, 39, make a point of being fully dressed and presentable to sit down for breakfast with their three children, Arabella, Joseph and Theodore. ‘I like to be fully ready for the day before my children get up so that my mornings are completely focused on them,’ Ivanka said. ‘I can do my make-up in eight minutes.’

Ivanka Trump and Jared

Ivanka carries her son Theodore as she holds hands with her son Joseph, alongside Jared and daughter Arabella (Getty Images)

Once the children are taken care of, she and Jared will head to their respective offices at the White House. Her remit focuses on education and the economic empowerment of women, while Jared is involved with matters of national security and foreign policy. Before, she had her own clothing and jewellery line while he was in real estate in New York and both have been on the receiving end of stinging criticism for being elevated to roles neither has experience for.

Family traditions

The couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in October last year but the marriage nearly didn’t happen. They began dating in 2007 after being introduced at a networking lunch organised by her dad’s business partner but split within a year because Jared’s parents, Modern Orthodox Jews, reportedly disapproved of her Presbyterian upbringing. On reconciling in late 2008, Ivanka converted to Judaism so Jared could propose and now the family observe the traditions of the religion, including no electronic communications on the Sabbath (Saturday).

Ivanka Trump and Jared

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‘We’re pretty observant,’ Ivanka has said. ‘I really find that with Judaism, it creates an amazing blueprint for family connectivity. From Friday to Saturday we don’t do anything but hang out with one another. We don’t make phone calls.’

Interestingly, it’s often on a Saturday that her dad has his infamous Twitter meltdowns, prompting suggestions it’s only Ivanka’s presence that keeps him in check the rest of the week.

Daring date nights

Unless their presidential business takes them away from home, Javanka’s evening routine involves either having dinner with their children or going on a date night. ‘At least once a week we have dinner just the two of us,’ Ivanka revealed. They also take turn planning dates – a particularly memorable one involved her taking Jared to a flying trapeze session at New York’s Pier 40 Trapeze School, which she shared on Instagram.

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Yes…this happened! Trapezing in NYC! #datenight

A post shared by Ivanka Trump (@ivankatrump) on

If they’re staying in, Ivanka has a beauty routine she begins the moment she steps inside her front door. ‘The minute I walk into the house that’s what I do – I wash my face, I take off all my makeup,’ she said. ‘It makes me feel like I’ve kind of come home.’

What comes next?

According to reports, the couple found the transition to Washington from their beloved New York far from easy. Both adore living in Manhattan. ‘They’re classic New Yorkers. They love the city, they soak it in — the culture, the cuisine, the friendships,’ said their White House colleague and friend Kellyanne Conway.

However, there has been talk in political circles that Ivanka might run for office herself in a future election, but she has said any decision she makes depends on her family: ‘I am driven first and foremost by my kids and their happiness. So that’s always going to be my top priority.’

It’s a sentiment her husband shares. ‘The only things that are really permanent are love, family and friendship,’ Jared has said. ‘At the end of the day that’s what it really boils down to. The rest of it is just stuff.’

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Friday 28 February 2020

Top tips on driving to the ski slopes this winter

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Erin Baker escapes to the slopes in a Seat Taracco - here are her top tips for driving in the mountains

driving to the slopes
Tarraco

Words by Erin Baker, Editorial Director at Auto-Trader

It’s that time of year when snow lovers hit the ski slopes. But if you plan to drive to the mountains between now and Easter, what sort of car do you need, and how daunting is it driving in the snow in a foreign country? We’ve just got back from a family ski trip to Andorra in the new Seat Tarraco, a large seven-seat SUV, and it’s all much less scary than you might think…

Choose the right car

If you’ve got kids, a large, seven-seat SUV is the best size, regardless of how many children you have. Ski gear and long journeys require space to move about, stretch and fling the kit in without arguing about how to pack it. The Seat Tarraco was perfect: a big seven-seater with a huge boot when the third row of seats is folded flat. Big cars also don’t have to cost the earth – our Tarraco was £30,730, including plenty of tech and safety kit, which is astonishing value for such a big SUV.

I drove my mother and two sons, aged seven and nine, on the three-hour transfer from Barcelona airport to the mountain resort of Arinsal, in Andorra. The boys sat in the back, with the seat-back trays up for their toys, playing Uno (who knew how handy a centre arm rest is in the rear for acting as a card table?), their rucksacks nestled between them, while we sat in the front with Apple CarPlay connected, flicking between Google maps and the car’s own satnav, songs belting out. There was loads of leg and head space, and it makes the journey far more relaxing when everyone can stretch out.

Do you need a 4×4?

Check the weather conditions, resort altitude and the country’s rules about snow chains before you travel. Some resorts ban chains because they can dig up the tarmac, and nowadays, winter tyres and four-wheel drive do as good a job. If you’re driving your car from the UK, check whether it is front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive (normally only sporty models) or four-wheel drive (4×4). Winter tyres only need to be put on the wheels which are driven by the engine, but they work really well. For example, putting winter tyres on the front wheels of a front-wheel drive car often gives you more grip than having a 4×4 without winter tyres.

Our ski resort in Andorra was low lying, with no snow on the road, so I didn’t bother with winter tyres at all, especially because there’s a special “snow” function on the Seat Tarraco’s 4×4 system which turns the wheels more slowly in slippery conditions for maximum grip.

driving to the slopes

Erin and her kids smile as they unload the trunk of their Seat Tarraco

Is it tricky driving on the right?

The ideal solution is to fly and hire a left-hand-drive car out there, which makes driving on the right a doddle (helpful if your passenger shouts “on the right” every time you set off, to remind you). If you take your right-hand-drive car from the UK, it’s do-able, but you’ll ideally need help from your passenger for overtaking and they will have a better view than you round the cars in front.

A large SUV, like our Tarraco, with a high ride height, helps forward visibility a lot.

Bear in mind that after the Brexit transition period, you might need an international driving permit to drive abroad – you can get them from selected post offices and they last a year.

What are the key car features for long journeys?

Number one for any European driving is active cruise control. The Seat Tarraco’s is called Adaptive Cruise Control but same difference – you set your speed and also the distance you’d like to maintain from the car in front (from a given scale), and then it takes care of accelerating and braking, which spares your leg muscles in traffic jams.

Auto Hold function is another: if you stop on a hill (plenty of those when you’re driving to a ski resort…), when you lift off the brake to press the accelerator, it holds the car still.

We also loved the Seat’s three-zone climate control so my mother, the kids and I could have different temperatures, as well as the Tarraco’s lumbar adjustment in the front seats for aching backs, and the three USB ports to charge phones, Kindles and tablets simultaneously.

Top tips

The key is to be brave if you’ve never driven abroad before, and try it. It’s really not that different from the UK (remember to look the other way first at roundabouts and junctions), and if your car has a good satnav system, or Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, you needn’t worry about getting lost. One last tip: remember to keep a debit card and some cash in the front for the motorway tolls, and head for the manual barrier or risk the wrath of hooting drivers behind you…

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This high street collection is made exclusively from recycled and sustainable fabrics

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Say hello to Mango's sustainable Spring collection

A much loved favourite of team Marie Claire, Mango has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to considering sustainability within the fast-fashion market. Launching the labels Committed Collection in 2017 and maintaining a focus upon recycled fabrics.

Mango have just launched the latest installment of its already highly coveted Shared Moments campaign collection. Among a selection of floaty maxi dresses, ’70s inspired bell pants, and lace-up gladiator sandals feature some of the best suiting options I’ve seen so far this season – at such an affordable price to!

This Mango collection hits the stores during a peak in ‘70s resurgence. Retro fringing flourished upon the catwalks at Milan Fashion Week, with Prada and Bottega Veneta all presenting their iterations of the trend. Whilst these designer collections aren’t available for at least another four months you can shop Mango’s coveted collection now.
Take ques from Mick Jagger with three-piece suiting that wouldn’t look amis from the The Rolling Stones ’70s shows. Think, high-waisted, slightly flared trousers and cool tailored vests that you’d expect Harry Styles to already own.
With sharing at the core of the Shared Moments collection, Mango reached out to their Instagram followers in November to ask their community to help select some of the clothing and accessories that would feature within this campaign and be available to shop in stores.
Photographed by Glen Luchford in the beautiful Mexican cities of Valladolid and Merida the entire 38-piece collection has been created with 100% sustainable fabrics such as cotton or recycled fibres. This innovative advancement follows the recent news that Mango had joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) – an organization which aims to promote sustainable practices within the textile industry – and the brands commitment to use strictly sustainable cotton by 2025.
Shop Mango’s suiting (before it sells out), as well as other key items from this stylish and sustainable Shared Moments collection within our gallery…

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Eight things being a forensic psychologist has taught me

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Forensic psychologist, campaigner and author Kerry Daynes has spent more than twenty years delving into the psyche of the UK’s most complex and challenging prisoners. Here she shares what she’s learned along the way….

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More than twenty years on the frontline of forensic psychology teaches you a few things, according to psychologist and author of The Dark Side Of The Mind, Kerry Daynes. Having worked with some of the UK’s most challenging – and dangerous – men and women in a bid to help them become law-abiding citizens, she’s seen it all (and then some). Here, Kerry explains what she’s learned…

1. Eyeballs aren’t great in soup. One of the residents of the secure hospital unit I worked in as a fresh-faced trainee had a glass eye, and a sadistic nature. Previously, he’d been convicted of the torture and murder of two women. The first time we met, he came up silently behind me whilst I was eating lunch and popped out his ocular prothesis (a glass eye) into my soup. I screamed the place down. At that moment I realised that I was going to have to learn to manage my emotional responses to extreme behaviour if I was going to make it in this job.

2. Women lead the way in forensics. People are always shocked to learn what I do. If I had a pound for every time I’ve been told I ‘don’t look like a forensic psychologist’ I’d be relaxing on a beach somewhere. What people really mean is that I don’t look like Robbie Coltrane, who played ‘Cracker’, and that I’m not a man. But despite what you see on television, a whopping 80% of forensic psychologists are female, and women greatly outnumber men in the field of forensic science.

forensic psychologist

Kerry Daynes

3. How to dismember a body. At one point, I worked with a serial killer, a trained butcher, who talked me through (in great detail) how to bone a turkey. We were both highly aware that these were the skills he had used to dispose of the bodies of his victims. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I became a vegetarian soon after.

4. The number of women and girls dying at the hands of men is increasing. The vast majority are killed by current or former partners, or men they know. Danger to women doesn’t necessarily lurk in dark alleyways, either. Of the 149 women over the age of fourteen who were killed in 2019, only nine were killed by strangers. And yet, women are constantly fed ridiculous safety ‘education’ – things like ‘don’t go out alone at night’ or ‘walk with your keys between your fingers’. This angers me because it doesn’t reflect the reality of violence towards women and puts the onus on women. Instead, we need to start educating men not to abuse or kill the women in their lives.

5. Looking at crime scene photographs doesn’t get easier. Death is such an intimate moment and looking at pictures of someone who has been killed – especially in a particularly humiliating or brutal way – isn’t something that gets any more ‘normal’. It always takes a few seconds for my mind to register what I’m seeing. My body registers it first and it takes an unpleasant moment for the lurch in my stomach to subside.

Forensic psychologist

The Dark Side of the Mind: True Stories from My Life as a Forensic Psychologist by Kerry Daynes is published by Endeavor and costs £7.99

6. A gallows sense of humour is essential. Poking fun at tragic or shocking events is common among emergency service personnel and in mental health settings. Dark humour comes naturally to me but for those who aren’t familiar with the world I work in, it can seem insensitive. Personally, I think of it as one of the most important tools for keeping a grip on my own sanity. Also, I have broken up more fights with improvised comedy routines than I ever could with brute force.

7. Work can follow you home. Once I became the victim of a stalker. Over a period of years he watched me, set up bizarre websites in my name and wrote to me. When it first began, the law did not define stalking as a specific offence. It stunned me how inadequate the protections for victims were. Stalking behaviours precede 94% of murders of women. I felt afraid for my life, but I was able to take back some control by campaigning for the introduction of a raft of new measures to protect stalking victims.  I was thrilled to see them passed into law last year.

8. We must do better. I became a forensic psychologist because I had idealistic notions of contributing to a better world. I think I have achieved some part of that – I once received a thank you card that said “without you I would have killed my ex-wife”! But I have had to concede that our over-crowded prisons and hospitals too often fail victims and offenders alike.

The Dark Side of the Mind: True Stories from My Life as a Forensic Psychologist by Kerry Daynes is published by Endeavor and costs £7.99. It is also available as e-book and in audio.

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Iridescent mermaid Converse exist and we really need a pair

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sparkly converse

It may feel impossible to believe, but summer is coming – which means pulling out your favourite sandals and remembering how much you love the summer dresses that have been carefully packed away for far too long.

But if you live in trainers (whatever the weather), these iridescent Converse will be on the top of your spring wishlist.

Last year, we were treated to a range of brilliant collections, from the colour-changing Converse to the Vans x Nightmare Before Christmas collaboration. There was also an epic Vans Frida Kahlo collection and a beautiful mermaid Dr Martens on offer, which we fell in love with.

And if you’re after some glittery footwear for this season, this is something for you.

Converse are here with sparkly sequinned shoes in the iconic high top style and they are available in sizes three to nine on ASOS. They will set you back £65. Bargain.

If you’re not a fan of the high top style, there’s also a low top flatform option and they’re just as chic.

sparkly converse

Credit: Converse

Whether you’re off to a festival and looking for something fun, or you simply want to up your black skinny jeans game with a sparkly twist, these are a quick and easy way to add some shimmer to your outfit.

Converse also recently released a wedding collection for brides who love trainers.

The website reads: ‘Tie the knot in style and comfort in a fresh pair of Converse wedding sneakers, available in white, black and metallic colours for your entire wedding party. Give your nuptials a step up.

‘Constructed with the latest and most innovative shoe technologies, Converse are built for all-day wear, so you can dance late into your wedding night in complete comfort.’

No excuse not to spend the night on the dancefloor.

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A sausage dog disco is happening next weekend and this is not a drill

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doggy disco 961738420
Credit: Image by cuppyuppycake / Getty

Forget the fact that the weather is miserable and summer feels like an age away. A sausage dog disco is happening next weekend, and what a time to be alive!

Dachshund Cafe is running an event in Shoreditch, London at The Allegory on Sunday 8th March 2020 and it will combine two of our favourite things – doggies and disco.

There will also be Dachshund Disco happening in Newcastle, Southampton and Manchester soon but for now it’ll be hitting the capital for a pooch party.

It’ll be a day of doggy dance floors to disco anthems, Pawsecco, puppucinos, lots of puparazzi and – of course – a whole load of Dachshunds to make pals with. There’s even a love bench and kiss-me cam.

And if you don’t have a furry friend of your own, fear not – this isn’t exclusively for pet owners, so you can still pop along and enjoy the day.

However, it is exclusively for sausage dogs so no other dog breeds are allowed. Sorry.

You can buy tickets here and they’ll set you back £10 if you’re taking your delightful Dachs, and £14 if you’re not. Under 16s can enter for £5-7, while under six’s are free. Pick a slot preference between 10am, 12.40pm and 4.40pm and you’re good to go.

If you want to treat your furry friend, there will be pupcakes, doggy donuts and champaws on sale. And if you want to treat yourself there will be cakes, cocktails and coffee on offer.

That’s our weekend plans sorted.

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The life-changing discovery of sober sex

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It was love at first sip for Daisy Buchanan, alcohol just made everything so much better and drunk sex was the norm - until one relationship changed everything

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I’ve been married for almost five years – which, admittedly, is not that long – but I’ve learned some facts about myself that have surprised me. Firstly, that when I am spending the evening on the sofa with my beloved, I have a limited tolerance for most box sets but an unquenchable appetite for repeats of QI and Taskmaster. Secondly, I am not especially argumentative, but I am quick to hanger – we very rarely have proper, painful fights about the state of our union, but we can on occasion get a bit snippy when we’re trying to think of something we can have for tea that isn’t chips. Thirdly – only ever want to have sex when I’m sober. I can’t remember when I last had drunk sex, and that isn’t because I got hammered and passed out in the middle. Now that I’m in my thirties, I drink differently, and I think differently. Alcohol plays a very different role in my relationships and my life, and I feel much happier for it.

Like many people, I discovered alcohol in my teens. It was love at the first throat burning sip. This was the magic potion – the way that everyone else in the world managed to silence their cruel, critical inner voices, and cultivate confidence. Crucially it allowed me to drown out a lifetime of Catholic mass and complicated messages about my body, shame and hell. I was fed up of feeling prudish, timid and unsophisticated. When I drank, I could be wild. (It was fortunate that I grew up in rural Dorset, where opportunities for misbehaviour were pretty limited – you relied on available fields and good weather.)

When I arrived at university, I was surrounded by people whose attitude was almost identical to mine. We were enthusiastic, inexperienced, profoundly anxious and hoping that the availability of cheap alcohol would allow us to talk to strangers – and maybe sleep with them. This set the tone for my twenties. Alcohol was a near constant presence. Drinking was just what you did. Even when I found myself in long term relationships, our social lives would revolve around parties and pubs – and our sex lives were simply an extension of that. Nearly every Saturday night involved a drunken argument, and drunken make up sex.

Writer Daisy Buchanan (Photo Credit: Grace Plant)

When I met the man I would marry, there was no immediate reason for this pattern to change. For our first date, we went out for cocktails, then dinner. And our second. And our third. I think everything started to shift a little after that, when we bumped into each other a few hours after I’d left his flat and went for a sober afternoon ice cream in Soho Square. I realised it had changed dramatically when he met me at my house to go to the pub before a gig, and we went to bed instead. Soon, I was sneaking away from bars on nights out in order to go and see him – when I was used to putting off sex until after the bar closed. I truly loved being with him, and I could appreciate it so much more when I was clear headed. His tenderness and enthusiasm was so great that I forgot to feel self-conscious about my body. During drunk sex, I realised, my skin was slightly numb, Sober, I could feel everything.

Eventually I worked out that if I could have sex without having several glasses of wine first, I could do anything – from introducing myself to strangers at work events, to sober dancing. The change that transformed my sex life has transformed every area of my life. My memory has improved, my brain seems sharper and I feel much more productive.

I still drink occasionally in moderation, but I’ve learned to slowly savour one or two glasses of wine when I really want to celebrate, instead of frantically necking four or five glasses because it’s become a habit. Changing the way I drink has transformed my sex life and strengthened my marriage, but it’s also improved my relationship with myself. I have better orgasms, and I can attend a networking event while sticking to sparkling water – but most importantly of all, I’ve found the space to cultivate a kind inner voice which calls me out when I am being cruel to myself. It tells me that I don’t need to feel ashamed of my body, that I’m strong, and that I don’t need to reach for chemicals to drown out my thoughts and fears. It reminds me that my live is fun and thrilling, and that I owe it to myself to show up and pay attention. I never expected to embrace sober sex – but it has allowed be to build a life I love, and don’t want to escape from.

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The third Reebok x Victoria Beckham collection is finally here

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If, like us, you’ve been struggling to maintain your new year fitness resolutions with gloomy grey morning’s and long rainy days becoming a literal damper. You’ll be thrilled to learn that the highly anticipated third Reebok x Victoria Beckham collection is finally here – providing much needed inspiration the Marie Claire team.

Already a firm favourite of our Editor’s, the Reebok x Victoria Beckham collaboration combines everything we know, love and need from the sportswear powerhouse and our favourite Spice Girl-turned iconic fashion designer.

Describing the latest offering as, “a true celebration of the relaxed, non-fussy 90s sportswear aesthetic combined with Reebok’s deeply catalogued archival looks.” Victoria Beckham shared how, “I want clothes that move with me, that move with my life. Clothes that make me feel confident but that I also don’t have to think too much about.”

Think, neutral colours (aside from the odd tonal pop of burnt orange) – and sculpting tights and knitted shorts so good you could (definitely) wear the collection to work.

Meticulously designed, in line with Victoria Beckham’s coveted minimal aesthetic with built-for-purpose functionality as Victoria Beckham believes “there should be an effortlessness with streetwear.” Whether you’re after optimum performance functionality for the gym or classes the pieces have been created to be “tactile, adaptable and directional for all other facets of life.” Whether that’s pre-Barre brunch or travelling long haul.

Expect sharp silhouettes, figure-skimming and sculpting separates which seamlessly combine fashion with function. Made from sweat-wicking fabrics with a built-in UV factor 50 filter to help protect against the sun’s harmful rays as your workout/run errands outdoors.

From knitted tanks to performance tops and tonal seamless and balconette bras the collection is designed to work as hard as you do. Taking cues from California swim and surf culture with wearable layers and soft palettes enabling you to mix and match the collection and seamlessly work it into your wardrobe for maximum wear (and comfort).

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Secrets of the Kimono: what you need to know about the V&A's new show

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With the museum’s latest exhibition, ‘Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk’ opening this weekend, show co-curator Anna Jackson tells Fashion Editor at Large Jess Wood us about Japan’s most iconic garment, and why it’s influenced everyone from McQueen to Freddie Mercury and Star Wars…

kimono
Pale Blue Furisode with Red Uchikake. Photographer Piczo, Stylist Mademoiselle Yulia, Hair & Make Up Rie Shiraishi, Model Miu, 2019 © Victoria & Albert Museum

I look forward to the V&A’s big shows almost more than I look forward to checking out Daniel Lee’s latest frenzy-inducing #newbottega bags at Milan Fashion Week. Which is saying a lot. This week, the V&A will unveil Europe’s first-ever major exhibition devoted to kimono – which means, in Japanese, quite literally ‘thing to wear’. But which, of course, refers to the garment recognised around the world as a simple, square-cut robe synonymous with traditional Japanese culture.

The country’s national dress dates back hundreds of years and is a symbolic costume for geisha and sumo wrestlers alike. So far, so ‘yes, and…?’ Naturally, the show is filled with rare and precious pieces (including a 17th Century treasure from Kyoto) as well as famous ones, like Alec Guinness’ costume for the part of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, pieces worn by Bjork and Madonna, and iconic Dior couture looks by John Galliano. But it’s more significant than that. Up until now, the European fashion capitals of Paris and Milan have been viewed as the global epicentres of style and trends. But in examining this most iconic Japanese piece and its relationship with Western fashion, the show recognises Asia’s importance and influence.

kimono

Madonna, Nothing Really Matters video, 1999. Photo by Frank MicelottaImageDirect, (Getty Images)

This exhibition traces the history of the kimono from the 17th Century up to its present-day iteration as cool streetwear for a new generation of Japanese fashionistas and designers. “I wanted to make people understand that they’re not boring codified costumes, that they are about fashion,” Anna Jackson, co-curator of the exhibition, tells me. In a way, she explains, the strength of the kimono has also been to its detriment. “Because its shape hasn’t changed, that’s what has put it on the margins of fashion in one sense,” she says. “So we didn’t want to show Western fashion directly beside a kimono because we didn’t want to suggest that the kimono is this timeless, unchanging item and that only people in the West are creative and transformative.”

But the kimono has been enjoying a revival at the hands of the Gen X and Gen Z cool crowd, says Jackson. “After the war, the Japanese started wearing Western dress, and kimonos became something associated with the past, something you only wore for special occasions. But the younger generation don’t have that baggage, and there’s been a reaction to Western-style fast fashion, with every shop selling the same things. There’s been this search for personal identity, and people started to buy vintage kimonos and style them up in their own way – you might wear it with a proper obi one day, or hike it up a bit and wear it with jeans. That’s really inspired a new generation of kimono makers.” Here are some fascinating kimono facts I learned from my curator chat…

Kimono

Purple Informal Kimono with Red Tabi Boots. Photographer Piczo, Stylist Mademoiselle Yulia, Hair & Make Up Rie Shiraish

  1. They’re a body-diversity dream: ‘textile first, shape second’

“In the West, the fulcrum of any garment is the waist – whether it goes in or out, or is high-waisted or low-waisted…We trace fashion through changes in shape and the body parts accentuated in each period – from the Victorian corsets which whittled the waist, to the Edwardian bustle which emphasised the bottom. Whereas kimono (and a lot of Japanese fashion) hangs from the shoulder. The fundamental shape of the kimono has never changed and the body shape underneath is irrelevant. Everybody wears a kimono in more or less the same size. Instead, they’re about what’s happening on the surface and the changing fashions involve the patterns and colours of the textiles used.”

  1. They’ve inspired a whole century of key European designers…

After Japan opened up to the West in the 19th Century, kimono crazes regularly swept European high society. Realising how popular they were, Japanese makers even started to create what they called ‘kimono for foreigners’. Produced in colours and patterns to appeal to a Western sensibility, extra panels were added to the bottom so they draped like a skirt, and they were sold in department stores like Liberty.  Revolutionary early 20th Century designers including Paul Poiret, Madeleine Vionnet (the inventor of the bias-cut) and Jeanne Lanvin were all inspired by the draping and shape of the kimono.

kimono

Thom Browne menswear S/S 2016 (Getty Images)

  1. …and of course, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano

“The notion of the neck and the curve of the collar is important – they hang backwards, to expose the neck, and you see this a lot in McQueen’s designs (like the McQueen costume worn by Bjork for the cover of her album Homogenic). The kimono is worn in layers – the outer kimono tends to be worn without a sash and has a sturdier padded hem.  Galliano drew on many elements for his designs at Dior – they have these big hems that go down to the ground like the kimono.”

  1. They’re ideal for rock star performers and futuristic films

“Because they’re timeless in one sense, they can also be futuristic – which is why the style was chosen for Star Wars’ Obi-Wan Kenobi. Performers including Boy George and Freddie Mercury also loved them. Queen toured Japan and Freddie became really interested in the culture and in collecting Japanese antiques, and his kimonos were part of that. Because it’s quite a gender-neutral garment, it allowed him to play on those ideas of sexuality and gender. It’s a very male bravado performance but at the same time, he’s wearing quite a feminised gown. In the footage we have of Mercury, he’s wearing a bold, bright kimono – but the actual kimono we have in the show is much softer, in pastel colours, which apparently he wore at home.”

kimono

Freddie Mercury wears a kimono on stage in Tokyo, 1976 (Getty Images)

  1. Even the V&A needed to call in a kimono-styling expert

“We always show kimonos on a T-bar stand because that’s the best way to see the pattern and the shape – and also because older kimonos are very delicate and the accompanying obi sashes and undergarments don’t often survive. But the issue is that you then see them as 2D works of art, not clothes. So where we can in this show, we’ve styled them on mannequins. We asked a kimono expert and stylist called Kohka Yoshimura (from the famous Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum in Tokyo) to come and help us. In the historic section, we’ve done it by using the outer kimonos that don’t have to be tied, and made a false kimono underneath to pad them. Kohka told us that even in Japan she hadn’t seen them displayed like that. She was quite impressed with our amazing mounting team!”

  1. Obis are meant to clash, not match

“For the 20thcentury pieces that we were able to style up with obis, we had lots of fun vintage shopping with Kohka in Tokyo to find the right accessories. I’d keep picking obis and she’d say ‘no, that’s too tasteful, it would have been much more clash-y”, and pick out bright yellow ones covered in carnations and I’d be thinking, ‘oh my goodness’… . Obis don’t match in the way we think of matching in the West, they’re a clever combination of colours or pick up a reference from the pattern. She’s styled them all up, doing different obi techniques with each one, and they look absolutely stunning.”

Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk opens at the V&A Museum on Saturday 29th February. Click through the gallery below for a sneak peek at some of the exhibition’s imagery

The post Secrets of the Kimono: what you need to know about the V&A's new show appeared first on Marie Claire.



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