Glorious summer
Isn’t this time of year just the best? as well as holidays on the horizon for many of us, there’s also the promise of long days in the garden and the general feeling of wellbeing that warm sunny weather brings.
For me there is a little anxiety attached to the rise in temperature, though, and that’s bare legs. My friend charlotte is in sandals and flippy skirts the minute a patch of blue sky appears, but I take a bit more time to acclimatise. the brilliant fashion journalist Anna Murphy relates to my summer dressing dilemma and gives excellent warm weather wardrobe advice on page 94. I hope you find it useful and feel as compelled as me to buy more belted midi dresses.
Women’s magazines have long featured advice on beach body confidence at this time of year, accompanied by images of slim, usually young, models who don’t
seem to have too much to worry about in the beach body confidence department. I know – annoying, right?! As an editor, I’ve been responsible for approving those kinds of features and I would like to take this opportunity to apologise. I’ve seen the error of my ways and our story on page 110 addresses the real beauty issues real women have when the time comes for wearing less. Fake tan and an “I don’t care” attitude is the answer, ladies.
Summer signals another of life’s pleasures and that’s having a few drinks in the sunshine. I have no intention of giving up on that joy but I am being more mindful about overdoing it. A few weeks ago, I was coming home late on the train and two well-dressed women, I’d say in their late fifties, were stumbling along the platform, obviously the worse for wear. Laughing their heads off and clutching tins of gin and tonic, they were clearly having a great time. Now I like a drink with my friends myself and, yes, I do get drunk occasionally, but I couldn’t help looking at these ladies and thinking “Oh dear!”. Here at woman&home, we are all about living life to the fullest and never giving up on having fun, but is it OK for women like us to get plastered? We’ve explored this very subject on page 74 and I think you’ll find it fascinating reading.
For my last issue as editor of w&h, I joined Countryfile presenter Anita Rani for our fabulous cover shoot (page 10), and I can reveal she epitomises everything w&h readers are – dynamic, lively, inspirational and opinionated. I couldn’t be more proud to have edited a title where grown-up women are celebrated and encouraged to live their very best lives. I’m raising a glass (but not too many!) to that. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you all.
“There’s the general feeling of wellbeing that sunny weather brings”