A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Big brand bargains
Spring Clean for Charity returns next Sunday, March 11th. This charitable event is run by Norma Smurfit to raise funds for St Vincent de Paul and Focus Ireland. She convinces many of her friends to make designer donations from their own wardrobes. At last year's event a €600 Roberto Cavalli dress sold for €50, a Dolce Gabanna jacket that was €700 originally sold for €75 and a €700 Preen dress fetched €100.
Stylist Cathy O'Conor will be on hand to offer styling tips on how best to wear the pieces you try on. Clodagh Hannon from The Tramyard Gallery will be selling limited edition Peter O'Brien prints. The event takes place in the Shelbourne Hall at the RDS in Ballsbridge (11am to 5pm). Entry is €5; children under 12 free. Get there early: bargain hunters start queuing hours before the doors open. See springcleanforcharity.ie.
Alanna Gallagher
If the shoe fits
Smock at 31 Drury Street in Dublin 2 (01-6139000), has these unusual enamelled court shoe rings by French label Miss Bibi that will sate any girl’s appetite for fabulous footwear. They come in black or red and may even be the perfect proposal prop. They cost €65.
Alanna Gallagher
Competition winners
A big thank you to the 5,328 readers who entered our competition to win a two-day stay at the Monini olive oil property in Spoleto, Umbria, with cookery classes included.
The winners are: Mark Gibbons, Co Meath and Ann Cunningham, Wexford
Go fetch
If Portobello market and Net-a-porter.com had a love child, the offspring would probably resemble farfetch.com. This online marketplace hosts boutiques from all over the world on one fashion-forward website.
The network stocks more than 1,000 brands in men’s and women’s wear, providing a platform for independent boutiques from Paris to Montreal, with stock from casual contemporary labels to vintage couture. Customers shop on just one website, use the same checkout process and have the goods delivered directly to their door – free returns are also a plus.
Rachel Murphy
Naturally nice
With the scent of hyacinth, cherry blossom and cut grass wafting through the air every time you open the door, now is the season to plant fresh scents in your bathroom. The products from the EO range are about as pure as you’ll get, short of knitting your own. The shower gel, body lotion, shampoo and conditioner and hand sanitisers smell of lavender, grapefruit and mint, rose and camomile or rose, geranium and citrus. The collection is paraben-free, sodium-laureth free, even gluten-free. Considering their aromatherapy pedigree – EO stands for “essential oils” – these gels won’t break the bank either, at €16 for a 240ml body lotion, €16.99 for the shower gel and €4.99 for a dinky little 60ml hand sanitiser. Online at info@eoireland.com, or from 087-6788463.
Arminta Wallace
Worth talking about
U-S-A! U-S-A! They've gone all Americana at Imma this spring with the Conversations exhibition, which comprises more than 100 photographs from the Bank of America Collection, including
The Lowriders by Meridel Rubenstein. The images have been handpicked from thousands and document the evolution of photography since the 1850s, displayed to create "conversations" across a range of themes, from portraits and street photography to landscapes and abstraction.
Happily, Imma is one of the few museums where you can soak up some art and get some fresh air at the same time – with the weather picking up, why not pack a picnic to enjoy in the beautiful gardens afterwards. Or for those with more than a passing interest, the museum is running a couple of events in tandem with the exhibition, including a TeenCreate (for 12- to 15-year-olds) discussion and workshop next Saturday from 2.30pm to 5pm; a lecture on photography and American identity on March 22nd at 5pm; and a talk, Bechers and Beyond, by curator Mary Cremin on April 12th at 4pm. Events are free, but booking is essential. See Imma.ie; tel 01-6129919.
Emma Somers
Rare beer buying opportunity
Beer anorak friends tell me Westvleteren XII, a Belgian trappist beer, is normally as rare as hen's teeth. Made by monks in the abbey St Sixtus in Flanders, it is usually only available to 60 customers per day, who pre-book and visit the abbey, and at Café De Vrede around the corner. This special release of Westvleteren XII is to raise funds for the renovation of the abbey. Each of the 70,000 packs contain six bottles of Westvleteren and two tasting glasses and costs €50. It is a lovely, full-bodied beer, with masses of rich, malty flavours, a complex fruitiness and a warming dry finish. Certainly not a session beer, but a wonderful glass to savour slowly. You can buy it at drinkstore.ie; Redmond's, Ranelagh; Martin's, Fairview; Molloys Liquor Stores; Abbots Ale House, Cork; Deveney's, Dundrum; McHugh's, Malahide and Kilbarrack, and other specialist beer stores.
John Wilson
