Niamh Walsh’s Manifesto
Reselling top fashion has me all haute under collar
I AM not a morning person. In fact only this week my editor, half in jest and, I suspect from his sardonic tone, a whole lot in earnest, informed me that a phone call after midday was in no way an intrusion on my human right to slumber.
To rise and shine at an early hour there has to be a good reason. So when my mother dropped a not so subtle hint that she would LOVE a certain piece from Simone Rocha’s H&M collection for Mother’s Day, I promised her faithfully I’d be up with the birds to bag it for her.
Being a dutiful daughter, come Thursday morning I was up at dawn, credit card at the ready, laptop a-go-go, and phone also at the ready to log on at the ungodly hour of 7.15 to snap up her Simone Rocha piece and then go back to slumberland for a peaceful snooze.
So imagine my rage when faced with a fluffy pink screen informing me I was in ‘the queue’ before the site was even live.
It turns out my mother didn’t trust me because she rang and said she was also in the queue, as was my dad (who is ostensibly ‘working from home’) but who had also been roped into bagging a Rocha.
But not to worry, we assumed we were too early, the site was going live at 8. It was 10am before my mother managed to get onto the site while I was still queuing – my dad had long since quit – only to discover the entire collection had sold out hours ago.
So when I read a sycophantic piece with a sneaky regard for the profits to be made from savvy ‘fashion flippers’ who were now selling the coveted pieces on eBay for 10 times the price, my hackles were raised.
‘A four-fold increase in value over a matter of hours is enough to make the eyes of hardcore financial professionals water – but that’s fashion for you!’ No it’s not – it’s old-fashioned greed. There is nothing attractive about ‘fashion-flippers’.
In fact it is a trend that has never been in vogue. Perhaps when you’re a fashion guru with discount store cards and closets full of freebies, having a designer piece is taken for granted. But for some who can never stretch to the exorbitant prices that a designer item costs, these collaborations mean more than just something to wear and discard – they are special and cared for.
To see designer couture grabbed by those making a quick buck is not a good look on anyone. Even if it does carry a designer tag.
Barmy baroness has taken matters too far
WICKED is a word rarely used these days. And while wicked doesn’t come close to describing the terrible murder of Sarah Everard, it does in some way convey the evil inflicted on a young woman with her whole life to live.
For Sarah’s devastated family there are no words to console, comfort or even attempt to make sense of their precious daughter’s senseless death. Sarah’s murder has sparked a much-needed national discourse in the UK and here as women share horror stories of varying degrees but each with the same theme – that danger lurks everywhere women roam.
And while this outpouring of grief and rage is understandable it must be tempered by rationality.
In the House of Commons this week Green Party Baroness Jenny Jones in all seriousness advocated a curfew of 6 o’clock for ALL men.
After her bonkers suggestion was widely ridiculed, she attempted to row back a little, telling Sky News that the idea was ‘not an entirely serious suggestion’.
There is no doubt women should be able to walk the streets safely. But men should also be able to pop out to the shops after dark without fear of some barmy baroness calling for them to be curfewed.
We’re far too lax on Covid rule-breakers
IT IS now one year since Leo Varadkar announced the first national lockdown and our lives changed irrevocably. But a year on from his impassioned plea for everyone to play their part, it is devastatingly obvious that those words have fallen on many deaf ears. The time for namby-pamby pleas for people to stick to the rules is over. The sight of 200 mourners at a funeral this week and over 100 at a wedding is evidence that some are doing as they want and to hell with the consequences. Zero tolerance should be the rule now and not the exception for mourners, marchers, party-goers and all who think they are above the law. Anyone found in breach should not pass go, they should not collect the €300 PUP payment and it should be straight to jail.
‘Digital blackface’ a blot on our society
THE fallout from the Meghan and Harry interview still continues after the couple’s tell-all to chatshow queen Oprah Winfrey. And while the duchess was the star attraction, Winfrey also garnered much attention.
Her many over-reactions to some of Meghan’s claims soon became memes with Oprah going viral.
But after Meghan’s stinging claims of racism it now seems that even the act of sharing an Oprah meme is seen as ‘malicious racism’ with one group coining the phrase ‘digital blackface’.
Really? By that reasoning then no person should be allowed share cat memes as isn’t that ‘digital catface’? At this stage the world needs a digital detox to cleanse us of this ridiculous raging.
Wildlife hospital a tonic for our times
A FROG with a broken leg, poisoned hedgehogs, a baby hare without its mother, and deer caught in traps are all patients of Ireland’s first animal wildlife hospital. We are all so used to hearing about the bad things people do so it’s great to hear about wonderful people doing great work – and all for free.
The hospital was set up by volunteers on land kindly donated by the owner of Tara Na Rí pub in Meath as an ‘emergency response’ to the growing numbers of distressed and injured wildlife needing care.
But apart from the veterinary volunteers, so many other people have stepped up offering steel sheds and other vital equipment.
The charity reckons it will take €100,000 a year just to cover the running costs and they badly need donations which can be made through their Facebook page. It would lift your spirits to see gorgeous photos of rehabilitated animals being returned to the wild.