Fashion

It Will Be All White On The Night

Brigit Grant — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:33:55 +0100

It takes courage to wallk out all in white and I’m not talking about down the aisle.

Wearing anything in alabaster, chalk, pearl or snow requires careful handling and hawk-eyed scrutiny as it only takes a bit of wet grass or a drip of coffee to wreck the ensemble. Remember how Tony Curtis clad all in white in the film The Great Race emerged from a messy fight without a mark on him. Well, that doesn’t happen in real life, where all it takes is a dusty wall and suddenly you’re a marked woman.

As someone who wears white all year long (I love white winter coats) I’m always happy to see a flood of blanched clothing at this time of year when fashion says we should slip on an optic white dress for late night soirées and high wattage events.

White always looks so chic, crisp, elegant and timeless. It makes your skin look more tanned and keeps you cool on a hot day. And we do have the occasional tropical day.

If you are opting for white on white make sure items balance each other out. Wear ruffled or over-sized tops with skinny trousers or tailored shorts and pair a loose skirt with a fitted top. There are some gorgeous milky dresses for parties and holidays at Miss Selfridge, who have done an ethereal white collection that will have you looking like an angel, while at fashionista-outlet.com you will find a more practical, but equally dramatic See by Chloe round neck short-sleeved dress with large ivory buttons that is on sale.

If you want to break up the anemia effect, look for something with a border of colour such as the floral spread on the dress at fiftysomething.co.uk. Too much white? Then go for separates like the crochet embroidered top at Phase Eight — and there’s always white jeans. White necklaces on honey skin look good and I couldn’t resist the merry-go-round pendant necklace at boticca.com. It’ll be a real talking point, much like white pointed court shoes which were once thought so wrong, but are now so right.

Claudia Winkleman wore hers to the Glamour Awards last week and though the rest of her outfit was more scene shifter than red carpet, it made me want a pair.
The clutch is still popular and an embossed white one blends better than most, though Victoria Beckham chose to carry a Kindle-sized metallic one from her own collection when she picked up “Woman of the Decade” at the Glamour Awards.

Asked what was in her clutch, Victoria replied: “A lip gloss and a cloth to wipe my bag.” What, no keys? No phone? Suffice it to say that when Mrs B walks out all in white, it probably stays that way.

Dealing with hair loss

Brigit Grant — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:53:22 +0100

It could be an age thing or stress, but I recently developed a bald patch bang in the centre of my hair. Confidently hirsute and hot on mane maintenance, I was shocked (horrified actually) when I spotted the depilated gap which had appeared without warning. Though half the size of a 50 pence piece, when the wind blew or I flicked the wrong way, it flashed like a winking beacon in the dark. And though I know others cope with far greater hair loss, I wanted mine back — and fast.

Alopecia, which causes baldness, is thought to be an auto-immune disorder, with the immune system — the body’s defence system — turning on itself. There are different types of alopecia with different patterns of hair loss, though typically, one or more small bald patches appear on the scalp with hair regrowing at one site, while another bald patch develops.

It is also possible that hair may begin to thin all over the head, which I’m praying doesn’t happen, but as a precaution I have started Dermaheal HL Hair Loss treatment.
HL is a mesotherapy treatment which helps growth by revitalising the hair follicles and stimulating blood circulation. It also improves the condition of the scalp and increases the thickness and fullness of hair. The procedure consists of injecting a cocktail of vitamins into the skin and is applied to the head with a micro needle roller.

It doesn’t hurt and the side effects are minimal — minor skin irritation. So encouraged by the before and after pictures, I signed up and there are already signs of new shoots.

It’s a three-month treatment at a cost of £350 per session, which is the real “ouch!” But this Rapunzel is not ready to retire yet. Now I know mesotherapy has been used for years to improve the quality and structure of the face and body (especially around the most sensitive areas such as the eyelids, neck, chest and hands). So my hair isn’t the only place I’ll be trying it.

To speed and enhance the regrowth I’m also using Nanogen Hair Thickening Growth Factor Shampoo (£8.95) and conditioner(£9.95), together with their Growth Factor Treatment Serum (£29.95) which restores hair condition and protects the scalp. Nanogen also do Hair Nutritional Supplements which contain cysteine, vitamin B6 and biotin, which supports amino acid metabolism to build up the hair shaft.

As I said, I am on it, but it doesn’t happen overnight, so I’ve been using Nanogen Fibres (£29.95), which are dispensed like salt and pepper on to bare patches or pates. Made from keratin and available in a range of shades, they blend into my own hair and are held in place with Fibre Locking Mist (£11.95). They even stay in under water. Now when the wind blows, I can face it head on.

For mesotherapy contact medical aesthetics specialist Deborah Forsyth on 01546 777839/07500 105218 for a free £100 consultation. Nanogen products are available from Boots nationwide and nanogen.co.uk

Get great hair with a Brazilian

Brigit Grant — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:42:37 +0100

ands up if you go to the hairdresser’s once a week? Once a month? Every six weeks? If any of the above apply to you, then you probably spend more than £2,000 a year on your hair. Almost a quarter of British women do the same, so there’s really no need to feel embarrassed.

What might surprise you is that even though we shell out so much at the salon, only 12 per cent of women brush their hair in the morning and don’t bother again for the rest of the day. That same percentage have also cancelled a date or an outing because of a “bad hair day”, which is something we all relate to. A poll of 2,000 women revealed they woke up with unruly hair three days a week, which is the equivalent of 26 years in an average lifetime.

Twenty-six years of bad hair days is a pitiful statistic, but one I can believe as I’ve spent a large part of my life with a scrunchie round my wrist so that when the inevitable rain/humidity/wind/lack of time strikes, I can tie up wayward frizz/lacklustre locks and look better.

I still do it, but of late much less so because of my Brazilian and no, I’m not talking South American stylist or waxing preferences. My Brazilian is a permanent blow dry that allows me to take summer holidays without excess tonsorial tools and marathon drying sessions. The keratin solution relaxes waves, eases frizz and makes self-styling a breeze.

The process takes up to two hours , which is a long time for one who struggles to just sit. But I chose the salon carefully from a tick list that stipulates: 1)Swanky, but not intimidating; 2)Entertaining and relaxing as I like to gossip and read.

Gloss Hair and Beauty fulfils that criteria as it is bright and airy, the clientele is diverse (designer Katherine Hamnett is a regular) and owner stylists (Drew and Liz) don’t ask if you have any holidays planned. Other salons offering the Brazilian in cool environments are David Rozman — voted best salon in Manchester 2012 — and the Upper Cut salons in Chigwell and Gants Hill, where the treatment is available from £129.
At Gloss you can get a beauty treatment in the chair, though it could be tricky during a Brazilian as once the solution is on, the hair is roughly blow dried and then straightened with irons in small sections.

It’s arduous, but for those who find their hair unmanageable and get arm-ache attempting a sleek finish it’s a miracle damage-free treatment that doesn’t take the guts out of your hair or entirely remove the kinks you like. The result? In a nutshell (appropriately) — the Brazilian makes styling simple and hopefully averts more bad hair years.

Gloss Hair and Beauty London N7 0BT (gloss-hair.com) 020 8616 5191
David Rozman Manchester M2 5HX (davidrozman.co.uk) 0161 832 0179
Upper Cut (uppercuthairgroup.co.uk) 020 0208 500 0022

HATS ON FOR THE SEASON

Brigit Grant — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:39:33 +0100

After the Queen and wonder horse Frankel, one name is synonymous with Royal Ascot — Audrey Hepburn. Though her association with the Berkshire track is entirely filmic, her appearance there as reformed flower girl Eliza Doolittle has never been surpassed and every woman dressing for Ladies’ Day hopes to capture something of the My Fair Lady “Hep factor” in their choice of headwear.

For her pass muster test in polite society, Eliza stepped out with Professor Henry Higgins in a hat designed by Sir Cecil Beaton which instantly made her the favourite as very few milliners have won multiple Academy Awards for costume design and even fewer females can carry off such a bountiful biretta. That magnificent bonnet for Eliza’s debut at the “smashing, positively dashing, Ascot opening day”, has an entire section dedicated to it in a new gorgeously glossy book, Hepburn in Hats, by June Marsh which is published in perfect time for the Great British Season on June 30.

Whether peering provocatively from beneath the wide saucer brim of her black chapeau du matin as Holly Golightly or radiating beauty in the Charade movie pillbox that started a craze, the images of the late Ms Hepburn in her signature accessory remind us of her deserved status as a global style icon. Creating a hat for Hepburn was to stake one’s claim in fashion history and with her as a muse, Hubert Givenchy set trends and cemented his reputation.

One can only imagine how excited Philip Treacy would have been to dress the Hep head and add her to the list of royals and celebrities already modelling his surreal toppers. Many of his couture creations appear in another new hat tome, Philip Treacy by Kevin Davies, which offers a behind-the-scenes portrait of the magical milliner responsible for 30 hats at Will and Kate’s wedding including Princess Beatrice’s notorious pretzel. Snack hat aside, Treacy is a craftsman who has designed crowns for such fashion queens as Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker and Naomi Campbell (pictured below) for Ascot. He is also the first milliner to have his own show at Paris couture week.

As you flick through the pages of his bowlers, buckets and boaters, it’s worth noting that for 2013, Treacy has declared a fatal blow to the fascinator. “The fascinator is dead and I am delighted,” he says of the sequin and feather concoctions that sprout from the side of a head. “They have become so cheap to produce they are now no more than headbands with a feather stuck on with a glue gun. We’re seeing a return to proper hats.” Hepburn would have approved.

Audrey Hepburn in Hats
by June Marsh £19.95 (Reel Art Press) Philip Treacy: Head, Wear and Work
by Kevin Davies £39.95
(Phaidon)

Get the Great Gatsby Look

Brigit Grant — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:20:07 +0100

The rumble in the fashion world started months ago. A new version of The Great Gatsby was on its way to a cinema near you and every manufacturer, boutique, hair salon and bar was prepared to embrace Art Deco design and jump on Baz Luhrmann’s dazzling bandwagon.

I was lucky enough to spend several hours with the Australian director some years ago ahead of his staging of La Boheme in New York and got to see just how focused he is on every detail of his productions.
Notebooks filled with drawings; hundreds of period photographs and a definitive vision of how a film or show should look is what makes Baz an original. Now he has turned his talents to adapting F Scott Fitzgerald’s great American novel and the film opens today.

Regardless of critical reaction, there can be no denying that his interpretation will be a work of art, not least because of the costumes which have been designed by his long-time collaborator and wife, multiple Oscar-winner Catherine Martin. Together with design legend Miuccia Prada, it was Catherine’s job to adhere to Baz’s wishes and not make the film look “like a gangsters and molls 21st birthday party”.
Baz did not “want to see people swinging pearls and twirling feather boas” and so his ingenious missus had to find a fresh way to reflect the period by trawling through the archives.

“We tend to think of 20s fashion as being a beaded embroidered fringed shift, but in reality the silhouettes were incredibly varied and had all kinds of influences from folkloric to Arabic,” Catherine says. “Also just about every style of dress had been invented from bias cut to strapless with everything from feathered skirts, halter necks and V-necks in between.”

This is great news as it expands the choices for anyone wanting to emulate the look with the sort of Jewish figure that rarely suits a shift.
That’s not a problem for Carey Mulligan, who plays Daisy dressed in a lot of lace made by Solstice, a 19th century French company that still works with Chanel.

Carey also got to wear a lot of Tiffany diamonds and jewellery of the time. So if you don’t want to wear a frock for Jay Gatsby, you can opt instead for bangles, beads, watches, headbands and hats. Anything that taps into “Big Egg’”style, be it bespoke heels for as little as £109 from Shoes of Prey, or vintage underwear of the kind you might have partied in on the Gatsby estate. Hopefully I’ve covered all the Baz bases, but to quote Jay Gatsby, if it’s not here “you just ask for it, old sport”.

All About Jeff Banks

Brigit Grant — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:55:48 +0100

Brent Cross has never seen anything like it. Men who would ordinarily be shuffling through the centre in the wake of their born-to-shop spouses were suddenly parading like peacocks across the marble floor. Strutting and twirling in their own clothes for an appreciative crowd of onlookers, these Cara Delevigne wannabes were all vying for the title of “Best Dressed Man” at the instigation of a British fashion veteran — and he was loving it.

Jeff Banks has always known how to draw a crowd. Long before Gok Wan was able to accessorise, girlfriend, this Welsh-born designer was doing make-overs on the public as host of BBC’s The Clothes Show. With Banks at the helm, The Clothes Show was instrumental in the creation of the supermodel genre and the then young Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell appeared in numerous campaigns for Warehouse, the high street designer label Banks started in 1976.

Flick through his soft-back biography and you can see the diminutive designer in bell botttoms opening his Clobber boutiques in 1964 or hugging Vivienne Westwood in 87 when he helped her to establish her own fashion label.
“I got everyone to do everything for free for her first show at London Fashion Week, though it was touch and go. She was still sewing just seconds before the show was due to start,” he recalls. ‘I’ve just got to finish this last dress,’ she said, and sent her models out in Harris Tweed crowns.”
After dressing Annie Lennox, marrying Sandi Shaw and snapping Carla Bruni in a smock and woollen tights, it was time to focus on the fellas, which he has been doing with Debenhams since the sale of Warehouse in 87. And now this stand-alone store in Brent Cross.

“We only thought of doing this last December and if it hadn’t been for a delay on getting the fixtures made, I’d have been here sooner,” says Banks, who slips effortlessly into the stylist role for the benefit of inquisitive shoppers — and my husband Neil.
“I was in jeans when I arrived,” said James, a wide-eyed customer who exited in a suit plus new haircut courtesy of HOB.

“Should I be scared?” asked Neil sheepishly. “Not at all,” enthused Banks. “James is walking out of here a gentleman. Did you know that 70 per cent of men’s clothing is bought by women? And that’s the problem.
“Women always take over and presume to know everything. Gentlemen need the room to express themselves and I like to create that space.”

Once alone in “that space” with Neil, Banks went into bespoke tailor mode, proffering bunches of fabrics and linings, while explaining the benefits of using the wool from Australian sheep .
“They eat grass that is less coarse, so the wool has a thinner micron.” This might have made a another man’s eyes glaze over but my husband is in knitwear, so it was Merino from heaven.
According to Banks — and you might want to pass this on to your partner — a narrow lapel and a short jacket is very modern, window-pane check is bang on trend and long side vents in a jacket provide a bit of flash and flair.
“You have to know why you want a suit.Do you want something sharp and black for going to a concert? A mohair suit for weekends and racing? Or is it for work?”
As Neil considered his needs, Banks went off to judge the Best Dressed Man contest.
“Fashion has changed a lot,” he observed as the men lined-up before him.
“It’s a lot less cut and thrust. Everyone wants to be famous before doing their time and young designers do catwalk shows thinking they will become stars. Six months later they ‘re bankrupt. No, I’m not a fan of the way it is now but this is what I do.”
And judging from the gathering crowd’s response he is still doing it very well.

Win a makeover and new wardrobe

Brigit Grant — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:50:03 +0100

Do you think your man needs a makeover? Does your Dad need to dapper up his game? This is your chance to make that happen as Jeff Banks has kindly offered £250 spending money to a fella who needs a bit more fashion in his life. Whether it’s something casual for the weekend or a spanky suit for a big night out, the lucky winner can peruse the rails in the new Brent Cross store. And there’s more.

HOB Man(hobsalons.com) will also give the winner a cut, hot towel shave and luxury treatment at its gents grooming haven at Brent Cross. To win this great double prize in time for Father’s Day on June 16, just tell me why the old man needs a makeover in 100 words or less. And if you happen to be a male reading this, tell me why yourself. Just email me at bgrant@thejc.com or pop your thoughts on a postcard to me at the JC, 28 St Albans Lane, NW11 7QE by June 1. Good luck.

Presents to make your Mother’s Day

Brigit Grant — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:00:07 +0000

Forgive the short notice, but it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday. With its Lent/Easter associations the date understandably doesn’t feature on the Jewish calendar, so that gets me off the hook. With everyone — except my mother. The notion that a 24-hour period entirely dedicated to thanking mums excludes Jewish mothers might work as a theological explanation, but I dare you to try explaining that to them.

In a weak attempt to do so, I Googled the word “mother” and the first one to pop up was the late Mother Teresa, the beatified Catholic devoted to helping others. A more specific search revealed that “a Jewish mother is devoted to helping others and she makes soup”, and who can argue with that? When I was 10 and better at planning, I prepared buttered crackers for Mother’s Day, a week early and kept them under my bed for that surprise breakfast. Though they were inedible, the thought was there and I didn’t have to do a last-minute panic shop for a gift.

For those who are acknowledging the day in some form and need something last minute, I’ve covered all the bases from the smelly stuff to the luncheon dress and everything is available to purchase all day on Sunday.

So forget the hurried petrol station bouquet and hit Fenwick or Liberty’s and invest in some permanent scent provided by Noble Isle’s Willow Song reed diffuser, which makes a house (currently mine) smell subtly of fresh flowers for weeks. At John Lewis there’s Dr Haushka’s Serenity gift set (drhauschka.co.uk) which is bath and hand cream scented with lavender, a flower regarded unfairly as old-fashioned. But in the right hands (ie Dr H’s) lavender is lovely and calming and every Jewish mother needs help with that.

At Debenhams and M&S there are clothes for bed that are not only perfect for mothering mother, but also give her something to wear on Pyjama Day for Comic Relief on March 15.

Better than lunch and far healthier, take mother and bubbe shopping on Sunday, for dresses to suit all shapes and ages at Ronen Chen in Temple Fortune and Marylebone, and then drop into Jessimara on the Finchley Road for something by Ingenue. Those who require an outfit for lunch should go to a branch of Phase Eight for something floral and fitting and drop into John Lewis for finishing touches by Azuni.

I love their Pompeii ring, though it’s my mum I’m meant to be thinking about and I know the Wilbur & Gussie bag with leopard clasp is more her thing. It’s also more than I would spend on a Mother’s Day gift, but then she has got a significant birthday this month. I also know that if I buy her the “granny shopper” at Debenhams, she is unlikely to be impressed.

More Fearne Cotton than Dot Cotton, the trolley my Nana once called a “pusher” has been given a makeover and even has a built-in cooling bag system. “Practical and fashionable”, I can hear myself telling the woman I once served mouldy crackers as a gift. I’ll let you know how it goes. Oh, and if you miss the official day, remember every day is Jewish mothers’ day, so she won’t mind when the present arrives.

Tights that are right

Brigit Grant — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:22:01 +0000

Hands up if you’ve bought a Prada blossom skirt yet? An iridescent Alberta Feretti dress to be worn with neon- trimmed trainers? Maybe a crop? No, me neither. It’s not that I’m not interested in the 2013 fashion trends, as nothing pleases me more than the thought of spring and fewer layers.

But that’s all it is right now — a thought — as we’re more likely to be struck by a snowball than a sunbeam over the coming months and some of us don’t generate enough body heat to strip off and try on.

As my father-in-law Stanley likes to say: “I don’t have the koyach to even look”, but I do look, and while I may not be adding to my stuffed closet, out of deference to the industry I write about, I continue to boost the sale of shoes, boots and tights.

I’ve always loved tights and though I’ve dallied with stockings, hold-ups and over-the-knee socks through the years, show me a pair of Wolford Individual 20 and the contest is over.

I use to buy the luxury Austrian hand-made hosiery in Franks in Golders Green and I’ll never understand why that shop closed. Aside from their expertise in hosiery, the older shop assistants were grande dames of lingerie and could spot a bra size at 20 paces, while hoisting a strap with the gusto of an Olympian weight-lifter.

With Franks gone, my love of Wolford continues, but I now buy tights at mytights.com where they do a range of brands that is hard to find at a department store.

You don’t need me to tell you how to buy tights, but it’s easy to forget how a Jonathan Aston pattern or an accent of colour by Charnos can give a quirky spin to a mundane suit or give shoes a personality.

Everyone wears black to everything these days, but teaming an LBD with Aristoc mock suspender fishnets gives edge to an also-ran outfit, and that is true of so many statement tights, even the coloured woolly kind (though avoid green unless you’re in Emu fancy dress).

Just think what a stir you would cause in tights by Turkish brand Penti (penti.com), which feature a man climbing up one of the back seams, though his visibility is dependent on skirt length.

When Henry Holland put the alphabet on his House of Holland tights I bought three pairs, as a sheer 15 denier is a risky wear. I’ll never forget the time I fell over in a pair of Teflon-like Wolford Individual 20 (£25) and cried. Not because I’d shredded my knees but because of the ladders. Levante, Andrea Bucci and Charnos are among the brands that do ladder-resistant tights, and Charnos even do a line with “Queen of Shops” Mary Portas using 3D elastene. As well as tights, Portas has developed a range of hosiery sleeves, or “armery” as she calls them, to help banish bingo wings.

I’m not sure I’m ready for armery, but Falke’s Perfect Skin colour tights interest me. I’d always stayed away from natural for fear of the sausage effect (don’t ask), but their shades have been carefully created with a dermatologist to ensure every woman can find their optimal colour tights to achieve the most natural effect for their skin colour.

A sort of even complexion for legs that won’t see much sun for a while yet, in spite of what the spring clothes arriving in the shops suggest.

How to get the Les Mis look and dress like Eponine

Brigit Grant — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:59:55 +0000

I couldn’t be more excited. Today the film version of the musical I love more than any other opens at cinemas nationwide. After 28 years on the stage, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les Misérables has been turned into a motion picture starring Hugh Jackman as Victor Hugo’s protagonist Jean Valjean, and I’ve bought my tickets. For every night next week.

Musicals are my thing as my mother Carole raised us primarily on a diet of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Kander and Ebb, so we were word perfect on Carousel and Chicago long before we could read.
With that kind of training, learning Herbert Kretzmer’s lyrics for Les Misérables was a morceau de gâteau and the classic anthem One Day More still makes the hairs on my arm stand on end. To think that the show almost foundered when it first opened and critics dubbed it “The Glums”.

But what’s all this got to do with fashion? Well, quite a bit in my opinion. For one thing, it gives a dash of street cred to my ageing “24601” T-shirt. That’s Jean Valjean’s prison number and it currently adorns everything from vests to shopping totes at cafepress.com where they are hoping to attract fans.
I’ve always been a sucker for a movie slogan sweatshirt, but more interestingly I like to see how the high street interprets a big-screen hit.

For the translation of Les Mis from stage to screen, director Tom Hooper was most insistent that costume designer Paco Delgado showcased clothes, not costumes for the characters.
Drawing his inspiration from the artists Delacroix and Francisco de Goya, Delgado had to make clothes that reflected the styles worn throughout the story’s 33-year span, and tailors from England, Italy, France, and Spain were used to produce approximately 2,200 costumes, many of which were for the movie’s hordes of beggars.

‘’We had to make the costumes and then destroy them to make them look old, like they had been worn for 10 years,’’ says Delgado. ‘’We used chemical processes like bleaching and fading, then mechanical processes like sanding or making holes. We had to recreate very quickly what would happen to a garment over years.”
Now even I, who have dressed like Annie Hall, Daisy Buchanan and Morticia Adams, believe that the “beggar look” is not the way to go, but there are many looks that make The Glums worth emulating. With Inspector Javert, played by Russell Crowe, we get bang-on trend funnel neck coats, military jackets and boots.

Even Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the Master of the House, has gone military and his jacket has its own backstory. “We decided that he probably stole it during one of the Napoleonic Wars and then pretended he had been an officer,’’ Delgado explains.

Of course it’s all about interpretation and though tragic Fantine (Anne Hathaway) isn’t a natural fashion icon, Delgado dressed her in cornflower blue and as her story unfolds, put her in clingy fabrics and airbrushed the sides of the costumes darker to make her look thinner.

The real wardrobe inspiration In Les Mis is provided by Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) with her embellished gowns and delicate hair accessories, and urban warrior Eponine (Samantha Barks) who wears slouchy suede boots, laced shirt and ragged hems. For Cosette-style clothing, I discovered 59 Strings (59strings.com), a bespoke boutique fashion company where Japanese designer Luna Sky is creating eveningwear worthy of the spotlight.
Meanwhile at Joe Browns (joebrowns.co.uk), a little known lifestyle company in Yorkshire, they have nailed the laid- back Eponine look with their boots, tunics and longline coats that will take you through the colder months and into spring.

So that’s you dressed Glum style. Now, after three: “At the end of the day, you’re another day older…”