Hot pots and hot flushes

There’s more to Betty Turpin than her tried and trusted hotpots – as we found in Coronation Street last night. Ageing temptress, Liz Macdonald revealed she’d chucked cab driver, Lloyd before he got the chance to trade her in for a younger model, ‘I’m having my menopause Betty,’ blubbed Liz, mourning the end of her fertility. ‘Hot flushes?’ replied Ma Turpin, not one to shy away when it comes to giving advice, ‘Wear layers. Then when you get warm, whip yer cardi off. And don’t worry about facial hair, when you go grey they’ll not notice it at all.’ And so, Betty’s wise words instantly put a nation of women-of-a-certain-age at ease.

Granny takes a trip

OK so I may not be the first to feature this but there's been a bit of a break in blogging. Nothing for a year and now twice in one day! But this is well worth waiting for...in fact it's the perfect fashion news story for That's Not My Age.

Twenty-something designer Fanny Karst believes that life begins at 70. And, in the spirit of reluctant pensioner, Ronnie Wood, the French-born designer behind the Old Ladies Rebellion label feels you’re never to old to rock ‘n’ roll. The niece of Jean Charles de Castalbajac trained at Central St Martin’s and now works for Savile Row tailors Chittleborough & Morgan. Inspired by her granny, young Miss Karst has come up with the ‘Old Ladies Rebellion’, a fabulous collection of digitally-printed jersey dresses and logo t-shirts bearing witty slogans such as 'Begin with the end’ and “Not at your age.' Figure flattering garments feature trompe l’oeil prints and clever cuts - but they don’t come cheap. At £500 a pop, the price might cause a rebellion of a different kind amongst some old ladies, but we love the age-defying concept, and don’t need a crystal ball to tell us what Kate Moss will be wearing in thirty years time!


PS Sorry Fanny, we swiped the image off your website!

Tough guys take a break

Harry Patch said, ‘ Give your leaders each a gun and let them fight it out themselves.’ But, we currently find our world leaders fighting it out on the front pages over who can impress most with their physical prowess.

After President Sarkozy over-exerted himself jogging around Versailles in an NYPD t-shirt and Barack Obama showed us he can’t throw a baseball, we are heartened this week by the official holiday snaps of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin. Proving that he’s no lily-livered lightweight and can hunt, shoot, fish and swim butterfly like a real action hero – a leader of men who can look after himself and the rest of his country! This back-to-nature, action man- style proves hugely popular in Russia, it’s just a little hard for the rest of the world to fathom. Scary macho stuff – but at least he wasn’t wearing Speedos.

And, he may not have Obama’s natural sense of style but personally we don’t have a problem with Gordon Brown kicking back in a navy blazer and chinos. This type of classic menswear may not set the fashion pages alight but it works well on men of a certain age (and physique), and as we all know, try-hard is never a good look. So what if Brown looks a bit fuddy-duddy - we like to take our political leaders seriously.

Coming soon: the Cameron family go mad in Cornwall (before jetting off on a less well publicised long-haul trip), and Silvio Berlusconi takes a break in Ibiza with business woman, Katie Price.

Watch the video of Putin swimming in a cold Siberian lake.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1204250/Vladimir-Putin-takes-dip-climbs-tree-makes-basics-Siberia-vacation.html

Radiohead soldier on and Gilbert and George fly the flag

OK it’s been a while, That’s Not My Age is something of a slow blogger but all that’s about to change. I'm back in action, inspired by a couple of of age-related news items:

Respect to Radiohead for releasing Harry Patch (In Memory Of), the incredibly moving song about the 111 year-old last British survivor of the First World War who died on July 25 2009.

As Thom Yorke explains on the band’s website:

‘I had heard a very emotional interview with him (Patch) a few years ago on the Today program on Radio 4. The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me.’

‘It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death. I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.’

‘It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us.’

As Harry himself said, ‘Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims.’

Download the song from Radiohead’s official website for £1. All proceeds from the track will be donated to the Royal British Legion.



Fly the flag
This week I am mostly loving Gilbert & George. The 68 year-old artists are back in the news with their ‘Jack Freak’ exhibition at the White Cube gallery. The duo have donned Pete Townsend-style Union Jack tailoring and created a fine collection of photographic artwork – my favourite is Jack Shit (but that might just be the title!). The be-suited old boys do all the digital work themselves, which impresses That’s Not My Age who can just about post a blog. But most of all I love their neat appearance. The matching suits, always a clean shirt, tie and shiny shoes – and the fact that they look more than a little like Eric and Ernie.

Jack Freak, White Cube, Mason’s Yard and Hoxton Square, London (020 7930 5373)