Editor’s letter

Unique? Well, there’s nothing unique about taille unique – one size definitely does not fit all. Unless maybe you’re French. My sister told me a great joke the other day. Mike, a personal trainer, sends a text to Mar y, his newest client. It reads,

“Hi Mary, it’s Mike here from the gym. I just wanted to follow up with you after your free trial to see what you needed from your fitness goals and how I might be able to help?” Mary replies, “Thanks Mike.

I’ve decided to stay fat.”

Go Mary! To be happy in your own skin – is there any life goal greater than that?

The pressure to conform is real. My ten-year-old son has been plagued by late-night stomach pain these last months. We’ve had all the tests done and consulted multiple specialists, and thankfully everything’s okay. Physically, anyway. But the pains continue. Now we need to explore all the other myriad elements that can irritate the gut – stress and anxiety not to be discounted – even in the young. Maybe especially in the young; which is why I found Gayle Nagle and Maura Duignan’s story so interesting (page 78). What inspired these two former mainstream teachers to set up Ireland’s first democratic school, where the teaching is curriculum-free and child-led? It may not be for everyone – I’m not sure I’m ready to go fully freerange just yet – but the success of their Sudbury School in Sligo is testament to the fact that there is more than one way to educate a child in Ireland.

Perspectives are always in need of a refresh. Food entrepreneur Domini Kemp urges us to step up to the plate and into the ring (page 115); beauty expert Holly O’Neill makes a plea for lilac hair (page 91); and fashion director Marie Kelly directs us to seek style advice from the 1980s (page 34). One thing’s for sure, I’m drawing a line at wearing a scrunchie... Never again.

Whatever life you choose, whatever look you choose, make it your own. Let’s all be a bit more Mary.