Misogynists' corner

Women in a northern Malaysian city ruled by conservative Islamists are being urged to forsake bright lipstick and noisy high heels in an effort to preserve their dignity and avoid rape.
. . .
Loud high-heel shoes should also be avoided, though if women insisted on wearing them the heels could be padded with rubber to mute the sound.

Two-thirds of Malaysians are Malay Muslim, while the other ethnic groups - mainly Chinese and Indians - follow other faiths.

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party scored a huge success in the general election three months ago, winning an unprecedented number of seats that propelled it out of its Kelantan backwater powerbase on to the national political stage.

and so on

'It's not about the dress'

Observations from Patricia Field on style, in which she makes the point that after a certain age, being too thin puts ten years on you and makes you look weak.

(thanks, Ruth, 34 [a different Ruth])

Eating from the tree of knowledge

I keep turning over in my mind the period of time last night when I examined Tina Craig's Hermes and Chanel bags. A bit like test driving a Ferrari and then driving home in a Honda.

101 uses for a scarf

After coming back on an overnight flight from Toronto, I managed a bit of sleep then got a call from Tina Craig, co-proprieter of the the bag-site, Bag Snob.

She was in London on the last day of a Paris-London trip and so I went over to her hotel to drink champagne and then have dinner at Momo and she shows me how she has taken an Hermes clutch and run an Hermes scarf through it to turn it into a shoulder bag. Genius.