Should you shop in Harvey Nicks and, you know, have a few bob.

Loris Azzaro Pink Dress €3,570.
If you’re a pencil-thin, alabaster-skinned, Erin O’Connor lookalike, this is the dress worth losing sleep at night over not being able to afford. Nice to see the draping and longer length on those with the height to carry it off. The rest of us should probably confine our search for affordable knock-offs to the most excellent shoes, which, unlike the current crop of crushed-toe beige patent, don’t make your legs look beef to the heel like a Mullingar heifer,

Moschino Cheap & Chic Dress with Pearl Neckline €510.
There aren’t too many dresses that love a woman’s curves but this might just be one of them.  Wear with boobs, a bum, a bit of Johnson’s Holiday Skin and an empty wallet.  Perplexed about this season’s obsession with the modesty bodice, but if you look good enough you’ll probably find someone willing to rip it off for you anyway.

McQ Leather and Tweed Dress 450,euro Goldhawk Chiffon Blouse 260,euro DKNY Faux Fur Jacket €310.
Love the boots, the lipstick and the colour of the fur. Not quite so sure about the shirttails hanging out the front and the skirt reminds me of my mum’s Brendella A-Line c.1986. Would love to see a plain black pencil skirt instead.   The catch: it costs more money than this writer will ever have not to look cheap in a fur/maroon leather combo.

Vince Drape Coat 675,euro Sportmax Black Peplum Jumper €275,euro and Pink Trousers €190.
This is the kind of gear that looks great on models, and daft on everyone else. It’s a nice coat, for (sigh) tall girls, but one black poloneck is the same as another. Wear the trousers if you’re brave and young and slim enough, but lose the shoes unless you want to scream ‘fashion victim’ louder than an Edvard Munch with PMT.

Marios Schwab Black Chiffon Dress €1,350.
Even the model looks embarrassed in this chiffon-covered Boadicea breastplate. If you’re going to do Zena Warrior princess there’s no room for modesty, even a modesty vest.  Or indeed leather driving gloves indoors.  Shame because the colour and fabric is lovely. Tip for designers: sheer sleeves are a sight more wearable than sheer midriffs.Should you shop in Harvey Nicks and, you know, have a few bob.

Conclusions:-
1. Desirable? Yes. Affordable? Certainly not. But there’ll probably be a few knock-offs in Zara later this season…

2. Despite what some designers may think, shoes are meant for walking in…

Models: Lisa Madden (brunette) and Eve Connolly.

Compiled by Deirdre V

(Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

A city [Dublin] that was once host to over 30 breweries was now reduced to one. Guinness was so dominant in Ireland, that when it started its first advertising campaign in England in 1929 it felt it was a complete waste of money to spend anything in Ireland. Consumers either drank its beer or gave up drinking.

According to the “History of Guinness Advertising” it spent an average of £10,000 per year on marketing in Ireland between 1929 and 1959. Part of the Guinness strategy was whenever a small brewery closed or was bought out by it, its sales representatives were sent out to buy up all the memorabilia/posters etc. from the pubs that were previously supplied by that brewery.

In that way it could remove the history of that company from the popular imagination. Stalin employed similar tactics in Russia after the revolution, by removing people from photographs who had fallen out of favour with the new regime. Their history could be erased and they no longer officially existed. With Dublin reduced to one brewery, Guinness set about cleaning up the rest; Smithwicks & Co in Kilkenny, and Macardles in Dundalk were bought out in the 1960s. Beamish & Crawford, and Murphy’s in Cork only survived due to both of them having large tied estates in the Munster area.

 

Goodness.

Support Your Local Small Brewery (ComeHereToMe)

Dublin Brewing History (Simetec.us)

Thanks Rob

 

A divisive icon.

By Tom Bourke who sez:

This cover was inspired by next month’s Open House weekend. It is an illustration of Liberty Hall on Eden Quay. Love it or hate it, Liberty Hall is an iconic building on the Dublin skyline and might not be around for too much longer.


Le Cool Dublin

Victorian Homicide Squad Missing Persons Unit detectives have arrested a man in relation to the disappearance of ABC worker Jill Meagher.

A 41-year-old Coburg man was arrested this afternoon and is currently in custody assisting police with their enquiries.

Earlier today a man captured on CCTV footage which also shows the last-known images of Ms Meagher urged others in the vision to come forward.

Dan Gregson is one of six people visible in the security camera footage, which shows Ms Meagher walking down Sydney Road in Melbourne, after leaving a bar in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Police are particularly interested in talking to a man in a blue hoodie who can be seen talking to Ms Meagher.

Just a minute or so earlier, Brunswick local Mr Gregson can be seen walking down the street.

Mr Gregson has told police he does not recall seeing Ms Meagher or the man in the blue hoodie, but he is urging others shown in the footage to come forward.

“I guess I’m a bit surprised that others haven’t [come forward]. I don’t know whether they’re of the same opinion as I was, where they don’t think they saw or heard anything, it’s not worth coming forward, but if you’re in the footage call Crime Stoppers,” he told the ABC.

“One of the things I said to the detectives yesterday was that the guy, you can see in the footage he walks past me at some point, I don’t remember his face,” he said.

“Generally I seem to clock anyone who looks a little bit unusual but I certainly don’t remember the guy’s face and vaguely remember walking past.”

Man Arrested in Relation To Meagher Disappearance (ABC)

Thanks Mark Geary

Broadsheet.ie