Ciaras Accent Column April 2010 April 2010

April Issue

PARIS IN springtime. Lovely. Add one part Irish honey and one part Newcastle babe then mix it with a tour of the catwalks and a twist of St Germain nightspots and you have a fun cocktail that could be weaponised in minutes. The Newcastle babe is ‘G’- the gilet-wearing, ash haired Jesmondite.

                G and I dropped by for a few days last month to buy some lines from the Acne fashion show and the designs were so edgy they came with a handrail and emergency telephone. Their jeans engage in close quarter fighting with gravity and lift your bum like nothing I’ve seen before.

                Paris was a memorable trip. I got into a fight with a Frenchman in the taxi queue at the airport. G went very quiet and studied her shoes while I enthusiastically let my Gaelic temper run rampant in a display of high precision, high-heeled shock and awe. With our dignity intact we marched proudly away to enjoy a bottle of Chablis in a Faubourg Saint- Honore restaurant that had been recommended to us. Five waiters gave us their individual attention which is more than can be said for the chef with my chicken cacciatore. The chicken was very, very raw. So much so in fact, that it helped me finish the sautéed potatoes before recommending the crème brulee and an after dinner show. I do hope we keep in touch.

                Back from Paris in time for St Patrick’s Day and is it me or does it get better and better each year? The Kiara girls were out in force. We checked out the refurbed Pitcher and Piano- the finish is ice cool and the clientele showed that we love pastel shades with denim, nude shoes, utility styles, raw edging and cowgirl looks. We’ve just been to Milan and we can tell you Newcastle girls are Formula 1 fashion machines compared to their Milanese Morris Minors. Newcastle was buzzing, Irish music, Irish drinks, laughter and dancing all set against a forest of green, spongey Guinness hats. Those lovely under- graduate visitors to our city wore them with pride at the haymarket and were using them as wet wipes at the Bigg Market.

                So, from what the Kiara girls recently saw on the catwalks in London, Paris and Milan the next big things are white blazers, military (formal, not makeshift militia) and statement dresses. And check out those Acne jeans. It’s like filling your bottom with helium without the squeaky after effect. Sweet.

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