Now, in an unprecedented commercial move that has ruffled some of the Church of England’s more conservative feathers, Gucci finds itself on that illustrious list after Westminster Abbey confirmed plans to host its first fashion show.
In June, the Italian label will show off its cruise collection in the abbey’s cloisters. Models will strut over the graves of the monks who once mediated there, just yards from the site of 16 royal weddings including the Duke of Cambridge’s.
Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s creative director, described news of show as “magical” but some clergy found other words. “I think it’s part of the Disneyfication of all the traditional sacred spaces in this land,” the Reverend Peter Owen-Jones told The Independent.
“It confuses what the Church is for. Is the central icon of Christianity there to offer spiritual sustenance and love or is it just part of the marketplace of capitalism,” added the priest and author from East Sussex.
“We are in the process of selling our soul for a pair of trousers.”
But even as excitement cut through the fashion industry, some expressed reservations. “Anyone else think the context is a little weird for a clothes show?” asked the New York Times fashion director and critic Vanessa Friedman on Twitter.
April Alexander, a member of the General Synod, the Church of England’s governing body, was more relaxed. “I think it’s a good thing to share those beautiful cloisters with as many people as possible, especially if, I guess, many of these people are not normal churchgoers,” she said.
Churches across Britain facing funding crises have explored new ways to make money, and Westminster Abbey already charges a £20 entrance fee for adults. Last month the building’s famous facade received a neon makeover as part of the Lumiere London festival of light.
Break-up hair for men: what hairdo to do when you're done
ABC Life Style, Feb-05,2016
The Paris shows, which finish this weekend, saw an uptake of the wider trouser. Raf Simons – a designer influenced by street culture – and Valentino, a brand more at home in European mansions, don’t usually have much in common, but both are behind the flares trend. Simons’s came tight on the leg, pooling in volume over round sneakers. Valentino’s were looser and worn with neat blouson jackets. St Laurent’s show, a hot ticket in Paris on Sunday night , is likely to get behind the trend. Its creative director, Hedi Slimane, is always partial to a rock ’n’ roll reference.
It was Gucci’s show in Milan
on Monday that really hailed flares as the new shape. While its
creative director, Alessandro Michele, was yet to be officially
installed as Frida Giannini’s replacement (his appointment, a promotion from head of accessories, was announced on Wednesday),
he oversaw the design team’s edgy collection of androgynous
70s-influenced separates. The first model sent out on the catwalk
signalled a sea change. Long-haired and slim, he wore a red pussybow
blouse, sandals andhigh-waisted flares
British designers also excel at using popular culture references to bring about change. JW Anderson at London Collections: Men earlier this month had flares on every one of his models. Always a designer at the vanguard of the new, his were extreme – with a kick flare and a split at the ankle – and they felt radical. Anderson said the collection was a mishmash of ideas, “mixing the decades from the 1950s to the 80s but making the references very British”.
While the 30-year-old designer may not court the mainstream, high street brands have embraced flares, too. The Topman Design collection was an ode to the Bay City Rollers and came with sheepskin coats, embroidered patch badges and feathered haircuts. The flares here were less extreme – more of a gentle bootcut than a fitted cut – but light years away from the skinny jeans that most Topman customers are still buying in droves. Gordon Richardson, the brand’s creative director, admitted that it would take a while for the change to be noticed in real men’s wardrobes, but it would happen. “The shift to flares – or at least to trousers that aren’t skinny jeans – is already being seen on women,” he said, “and that’s where the shift always starts as men see their partners looking brilliant in new shapes.”
At Gucci, the flares and silky blouse combination – signalling a certain 1970s loucheness – had an edge with the casting. The clothes were worn by young slim models, most of whom were probably born in the 1990s, some of whom had tattoos showing through chiffon. This kind of indie alternative look is a far cry from the aesthetic championed on menswear catwalks in recent seasons, where brands such as Versace and Givenchy have pushed a clean, sportswear look on models with a muscular physique. This is the bohemian waif, a very 1970s motif.
As always, there is an early takeup of a trend on the front row. Flares, or wider trousers certainly, have been spotted on fashion editors during this latest round of shows. Garth Spencer, fashion director of 10 magazine, is a fan: “I have a bootcut vintage Dior Homme pair in Prince of Wales check and some Oxford bags that are flared all the way up.”
But even Spencer knows it will take time for the new shape to filter down to most men’s wardrobes. “Everyone is still in skinny jeans. It’s really hard to get them off,” he says, predicting it will be at least five years before the shift takes hold.
Damien Paul, head of menswear at matchesfashion.com, is watching with interest. He believes the subtler versions have more potential because “a silhouette that’s too extreme is going to be a challenge for any man”.
“It’s a shape that’s been pushed by more progressive designers, and we’ve certainly seen it being adopted by the style set in London,” said Paul. “I’m curious to see whether other men will respond to it.” He’s not the only one.
Break-up hair for men: what hairdo to do when you're done
ABC Life Style, Feb-02,2016 
Break-ups are tough. In terms of personal style and grooming, there are two distinct phases. The first is a slow unravelling. Visually, you go full-on Mad Max 2 via Tom Hanks in Castaway: break-up beard and greasy hair, all topped off with comfy, mud-coloured clothes that you don’t have to change very often. Your style icon? Swampy.
The second stage is much more interesting. Emotionally, you’re resigned, angry and, let’s be honest, probably drunk. Zing, you think, I’ll dramatically alter the way I look! Your primary motivator here is turning the tables on how she liked you to look. So if she liked you smart, you dress in a tracksuit. If she liked you “messy”, you suddenly start dressing as if you’ve come alive, a-ha-style, out of the pages of the Tatler List.
Joe Jonas (a Jonas Brother who isn’t in Scream Queens), is currently at this point. Jonas, whose hair now resembles a very lovely oil slick, has admitted that he dyed it all the colours of the rainbow after he was given the heave-ho by Gigi Hadid. We can almost certainly imagine that Hadid was the type of girl who liked Jonas’s mousey mop just the way God intended it. It is probably entirely coincidental that her current beau, Zayn Malik, has done the dye thing in a much cooler way. Awkward.
Hair is key for the new, post-break-up you. For women, the Brexit Do is a regular feature of romcoms (you know the scene: our heroine goes into a changing room whilst a vaguely motivational song by Sara Bareilles plays in the background) and the promotional trail. Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna went brunette in their newly single moments, while Miley Cyrus and Rihanna chopped all their hair off, sending the visual message that shorter hair equals a whole new (stronger) them.
But for men, the messages are more complex. Lewis Hamilton went bleach blond, Kanye West grew a mullet and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham went super-sleek and femme. The celebrity male break-up hair suggests both a voyage of self-discovery and an inner demon champing at the bit to parade around in a chain-mail onesie screaming: “See? I told you I never wanted to move to the suburbs!”
Hollywood psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo agrees that male break-up hair can mean many things. A shaggier do is a sign that a guy is “freed from the constraints of a committed relationship and ready to return to a more carefree, adolescent-like time”. A sleeker haircut, meanwhile, sends a message of transformation. “It’s a repudiation of the public role – with its responsibilities, obligations and conventional dress code – that the man has finally shed.” Cool. Until, of course, it grows back again.
Why you need a proper morning fitness routine
ABC Life Style, Feb-02,2016 
'The truly great morning regime starts the night before...'
Credit:
Getty Images
Working in the fitness industry
has taught me that an individual’s habits over time will more often than
not be the determining factor in their success. Not only that, habits
leave clues.
Perhaps this is most profound in my world, where merely glancing at a person gives you a feel for what their exercise and eating regimes look like, but our habits and routines say a lot about us all.
After reading Mason Currey’s book Daily Rituals I realised that many of the world’s most successful people had very deliberate morning routines that set them up perfectly for the challenges of the day ahead. Show me your morning routine and I’ll show you your future!
I’ve set about sharing what I believe is the perfect morning routine. I realise that there all types of work, relationship and parenting set-ups that could make the logistics of this regime difficult to follow, but let's establish it as a framework and go from there.
Perhaps this is most profound in my world, where merely glancing at a person gives you a feel for what their exercise and eating regimes look like, but our habits and routines say a lot about us all.
After reading Mason Currey’s book Daily Rituals I realised that many of the world’s most successful people had very deliberate morning routines that set them up perfectly for the challenges of the day ahead. Show me your morning routine and I’ll show you your future!
I’ve set about sharing what I believe is the perfect morning routine. I realise that there all types of work, relationship and parenting set-ups that could make the logistics of this regime difficult to follow, but let's establish it as a framework and go from there.
Let’s get started
Tip: The truly great morning regime starts the night before. There are some tasks you simply need to get done the previous evening to set yourself up with the greatest chance of success the following morning. For many of us, if we watched our first ten minutes or so upon rising we could be fooled into believing we were watching a clip from the Night of the Living Dead, so let's stack the chips in our favour. Here’s how:
Gym kit : Whether you train at home or at a gym, pack your bag the night before, this makes things much smoother in the morning and overrides the need for “I was running late" type excuses for not training.
Meal prep: Whenever possible, bulk buy (saving time and money) and batch cook your meals, have them ready in a portable cooler bag ready to go in the morning.
To-do list: Each night, take ten minutes to set out what you need to get done the next day, identify your primary objective, the task that must get done above all others, and you will be far more likely to achieve it. Remember that if you do not have a plan of action, other people will give you one, and theirs will seldom lead to you achieving the greatest expression of yourself.
Training
As a general rule of health and fitness, I recommend that 20 minutes of exercise first thing in the morning in a fasted state. Firstly, because this helps you shift body fat, raises energy levels and gets your body and mind ready for the day ahead. Scheduling your exercise in the morning also helps guarantee that you actually get the work done, too much gets in the way between morning and the end of the day, causing evening workouts to suffer.There are several morning training options, I recommend that you cycle between the following:
Brisk walk: The easiest way to get active in the morning is to go for a 20 minute brisk walk around your local area. You’ll want to keep your heart rate at 105-120 BPM; this helps you burn the most amount of fat (proportionately) without a significant strain on your system. Not only that, a simple walk like this will add years to your life, reducing your risk factor on almost all of our modern health concerns. Honestly, if you follow no other fitness advice in your life, please follow this.
A regular walk could add years to your life
Credit:
Alamy
Escalating density training: If you want to go hardcore, you can get this workout in the bag in as little as 10 minutes, all you need to do is pair two opposing resistance training exercises (eg barbell squat vs bench press), set a rep range (let’s say 10), and set a 10-minute timer. Then just do as many reps as you possibly can as the timer counts down. This is an extremely challenging workout, not for the feint of heart, but you can use it to strip body fat, massively increase your fitness and build muscle.
Continuous circuit: If you don’t have equipment at home, a 10-minute continuous body weight circuit is another great option for getting your training in the bag in the morning. The protocol is to set a timer and move from exercise to exercise, spending one minute on each for 60 seconds with no break.
Try this circuit: Bodyweight squats vs plank vs jumping jacks vs Superman (L&R) vs press-up vs reverse lunge vs tricep dips vs shadow boxing vs burpee
Nutrition
The quality of your breakfast is going to effect the quality of your day, in terms of how good you feel and your levels of concentration and performance as a whole. To address what time to eat breakfast, I’m a big advocate of 16/8 intermittent fasting, so let's go back to the ancient Greek definition of ‘breaking the fast’, meaning the introduction of food for the first time in the day, whatever that may mean for you.What To eat: A quality breakfast will include a high quality source of protein, i.e eggs, salmon, nuts (avoid poor quality red meats). Combined with a quality low GI carbohydrate such as oats, quinoa, pearl barley (avoid cereals) + some healthy sources of fats, for example avocado, seeds and again nuts. Avoiding drinking low-quality juices, however a cold pressed juice combo (such as spinach, carrot, apple, ginger, lemon juice and celery) will make a welcome addition to your breakfast and bring forth a whole host of health benefits.
The mind
The most neglected part of the morning routine is the element related to the mind. Taking just a few minutes to focus on your mind can massively help alleviate stress, prevent overwhelm and offer the kind of clarity with which to negotiate your day.
Focus on your mind...
Credit:
Alamy
Read your goals: Somewhere in your home or on your devices you should have a list of your top goals in life. Re-read these a few times every day to keep them fresh in your mind and to remind yourself what you are working toward.
Mindfulness: Whether you have an established meditative process or not, taking ten minutes per day in the morning to reflect, quiet your mind and express gratitude will give you a great sense of calm and, just like a brisk walk, could add years to your life.
Applying these simple guidelines to your morning routine can massively enhance your health, productivity, home life and success. I recommend you try to implement these tips on a one month trial and see how much of an effect it has on your life. And it should take you no more than 60 minutes each day.
