But that doesn’t matter because Caparica is not one beach but 20
Posted in General on 15. Aug, 2010
But that doesn’t matter, because Caparica is not one beach, but 20.There are family beaches, nudist beaches, noisily musical beaches, beaches for those who like bookish silence – and they’re all linked by a little toy train that runs along the dunes.
The dunes themselves are topped by scores of picturesque shacks, each of which has its own fanciful aura. Unlikely but true: there’s a long stretch of coastline in southern Portugal which has yet to be discovered by foreign tourists. Those heading for the Algarve tend to zip straight past the peninsula on the south side of the Tagus. Lisboans give thanks, and make this summer playground their own. We’re talking about a nature reserve, a clutch of historic cities, sundry Roman ruins and sandy beaches for 40 miles Welcome to the Costa Azul. You need a car, and you start by taking the only bridge south out of the capital. There will be one M Homme store opening in Glasgow in the first week of September, which will carry the biggest selection of stock, and more stores will be added as soon as possible.M Homme, 33 Princes Square, first floor (0141-204 0980; for further inquiries, call 0171-383 2888).Melanie Rickey.
The overall silhouette is slim, and fits well with the Morgan design ethos. The designer of Morgan womenswear, Jocelyn Bismouth, has been consulting on the range, although it is being manufactured by a different company.Morgan Homme, confusingly, will not be available within existing Morgan womenswear shops, as Hall explains: “We didn’t just want to put it in with the women’s stuff, partly as there was no room for it, and we didn’t want the men to feel embarrassed trying things on.” So instead the range is being tried out in stores such as Fenwick in Newcastle and Tunbridge Wells, Allders and Suit Yourself stores around the country, and other independent shops. They are affordable, directional, practical and flashy – in the sense that a man looking for a good suit to wear for a night out would look at Morgan first, and go somewhere else for one to wear for work. Key pieces also include colourful, chunky knitwear which, according to Rachel Hall, a company spokeswoman, “buyers couldn’t get enough of”, and subtle, low-shine shirts and car coats. The menswear was a logical next step, and is hot on the heels of other popular high-street stores that have seen a gap in the menswear market: Jigsaw menswear launched only in 1993, whereas French Connection has been at it since 1976.
The clothes themselves are not necessarily for the boy version of the Morgan girl, although she would certainly look good on his arm. Five years later, there are 33 Morgan shops around the country selling affordable, sexy clothes for girls and women who have a penchant for revealing inches of flesh. You can bend over all you like and whether you are wearing knickers or not, no one will be any the wiser..
Much in the same way that Loaded followed Cosmopolitan magazine, so the slinky knee-high-booted, cleavage-thrusting Morgan Femme is the natural precursor to Morgan Homme, which is set to hit shops around the country in the next two weeks. Morgan womenswear was established in France in 1985 by the Abehsera family and has been sold on the British high street since 1992. The most important difference between 1967 and 1997 is that women now have a choice. You will not be regarded as a frumpy old maid if your skirt doesn’t skim cellulite-free thighs.If you like to show you are abreast of the trends but your legs are not smooth and slender pins, take the post-feminist, post-post modern, post- backlash option as designed by the young genius, Hussein Chalayan. It’s called the skirt-trouser, a pair of narrow pants with the shortest, crotch- skimming skirt attached across the bum, all-in-one. One thing is for sure however: if your legs measure anything less than 5ft from waist to stockinged heel, don’t even think about it. I don’t need a glorified belt of a skirt to walk, run, climb flights of stairs and earn a crust.
Nor do I want to flash my knickers as I do so.Mini skirts have in turn been reviled and celebrated by women’s movements. We just don’t seem to be able to make up our minds as to whether they exploit the wearer, or the man the wearer is exploiting. And as for the parallels all too often drawn between skirt lengths and the economy, I’m sure Gordon Brown has more pressing matters on his mind than how his economic policies will make girls’ skirts yo-yo I hope so anyway. And who could blame her?In 1968, fashion commentator James Laver called the mini skirt “the final word in the emancipation of woman – in proving her economic dependence. Long, hampering skirts were fetters to keep a woman home.” Thirty years on, I can’t remember the last time I was fettered by a long skirt or, for that matter, a pair of trousers. At Christian Dior, it is sugar almond coloured and worn with a nipped in jacket, bobby socks and platform shoes worthy of Betty Grable, the star whose legs were famously insured for a million dollars and were shown off at every opportunity. Vivienne Westwood’s are so short and saucy, they don’t even cover your stocking tops.
It doesn’t matter if they are skin tight, or flighty and pleated, as long as they are thigh-high. Not content to be knicker-grazing, some of them feature splits as well At Clements Ribeiro, the mini is a kilt. Gone are the playful innocence and the status symbols, to be replaced by a knowing sexuality. This mini is about power games; designer tights and Gucci heels; flirtation as a means to an end, rather than simply as a means to getting a man.On the right woman with the right legs and enough self-confidence, the micro-mini is the embodiment of sex and power, as seen on the catwalks of Givenchy, Gucci, and Chanel. (Look out for Diana’s take on the micro-mini this autumn, with or without her playboy’s yacht, in a tabloid near you) Then, as now, there was a youthquake. Fashion was not for those who could afford it, but for those who were young enough to get away with it. Is this 1967 or 1997? I wish someone would help me out of this time-warp.Of course, nothing in fashion is ever the same as it once was This autumn’s mini skirts are, in fashion speak, “new”.