6 June 2014 www.womanthismonth.com letters Ouch! I hate to rain on Behnaz Sanjana's shoe parade, but I feel I have to inform her that, “If I'm grey and wrinkly, my shoes will still fit perfectly” is, in fact, not quite true! Our feet, like the rest of us, age. They enlarge; more specifically, they flatten. Have you never wondered why elderly ladies wear comfortable, wide and (frankly) downright unattractive shoes? Well, those dropped arches and loose ligaments render mincing along in a pair of high heeled Ferragamos or Louboutins a la Victoria Beckham, not only excruciatingly painful, but virtually impossible! (Think the ugly sisters trying to squeeze their feet into Cinderella’s glass slipper.) Furthermore, years of wearing those narrow, pointed lovelies have left many a foot deformed by painful bunions, corns and hammer toes. Therefore, feet encounter limits to how much use or abuse they can take. I’m afraid then, that the more mature amongst us will have to kiss a sad goodbye to our stylish stilettos, our cute Cuban heels and our fashionable Ferragamos, and learn to love those nice Naturalisers. Christine Floral fest I would just like to congratulate the Woman This Month team for the wonderful May issue. Right from the cover to the last page, it was filled with interesting articles. I especially enjoyed the shopping feature. You’re cover was lovely. In fact, I picked out a similar outfit from Bahrain City Centre. I think it’s great when you do fashion pages that give us an idea of the budget. To be honest, I would not believe that the look was created in less than BD30, if you hadn’t mentioned it. Congrats once again ladies! Mae Monotonous looks I underestimated how hard it is to put together an outfit in a single shade. I had a go with baby pink and I looked like I got caught in a cloud of candy floss. And then I went with navy blue and no one noticed it as it was close to wearing an all black outfit. Third time lucky, I chose red. Although it is considered a loud colour, I got a good balance with hints of nude and browns. My red heels had corkwood wedges, my bag had nude accents and I broke my dress with a simple nude belt. Gold elements enhanced the red completely. I loved it; I loved getting compliments all day long! Thanks for the idea! Celeste Bahrain Edition BEAUTY | FASHION | HOME | WELLBEING | PARENTING | LOCAL ISSUES May 2014 | Issue 135 | BD1 / SR10 www.womanthismonth.com woman this month MAY 2014 ı THE SHOPPING ISSUE ı www.womanthismonth.com HOME SUBSCRIBERS COPY ISSUE 135 SUMMER WARDROBE MUST-HAVES | WHICH MAKE-UP BRUSHES YOU NEED OUR ULTIMATE GUIDE SHOPPING BLIPP AND WIN GLUTEN-FREE MADE EASY Write Here Write Now 18 May 2014 www.womanthismonth.com www.womanthismonth.com 19 May 2014 … the It bag! I is for Java. As if you needed an excuse to get a shot of caffeine. Make a day out of it and head to your favourite coffee shop before you hit the mall. Or better yet, how about you fuel up before you leave the house with a cup of Nespresso? The WTM team lives on Rosabaya and Roma flavours. Yum! Kenneth Cole is all for summery dresses. Girly and fresh options are available in solid colours and fun prints. Show off your legs; embrace the heat! is for local. There has been a rush of Bahraini designers in these past couple of years and we are loving it — from internationally acclaimed Khaleda Rajab’s couture lines to up-and-coming artist, who are making a buzz on social media. Is for Online. If Asos, Net-A-Porter, Boohoo. com and Outnet.com are not bookmarks on your browser, you are living under a rock! Come on to the ‘real’ world, where half of our clothes came by post! Oxfords! Massimo Dutti’s women’s line has a great collection of this masculine piece. So if you’re looking to glam up the androgynous look, you know where to go! is for Paris! Yes, you heard us. If you’re planning your next big vacation, then why not a shopping trip in the world’s fashion capital? Don't miss out on their perfumes too! Find a scent that shows off your personality. Elena Romanova J K L M N O P Nail art! Invest in different enamel colours to create all sorts of graphics and motifs. If you’re a regular at Inglot, you’ll know that you’re only limited by your imagination. is for Quality. Buying things for a steal need not mean settling for something mediocre. No matter what you get, make sure it’s worth the money. Q Monsoon’s ethnic inspiration adds creativity to your outfit. Think of tunics and printed tops next time you pull something out of your cupboard to pair with your favourite pair of jeans. SHOPPING | feature 80 May 2014 www.womanthismonth.com she says Shoes, Glorious Shoes! by BEHNAZ SANJANA A woman with good shoes is never ugly, said Coco Chanel. What’s more, they can give you a ‘high’ that’s totally carb-free! I recently came across an article that attempted to figure out a woman’s ‘type’ by the shoes she wears. It slotted women into different personalities depending on whether she chose wedges over ballet flats, and frankly, it made me roll my eyes. Well, which woman sticks to only one kind of footwear? When we run about the daily grind, we summon our sneakers or slip-ons. Wouldn’t it look completely ridiculous to be tottering about in a pair of Louboutins at 7am at the kids’ school (unless of course you’re Victoria Beckham)? Speaking of which, although I don’t own a pair of those scarlet-soled jewels for the feet, I am secretly saving up for one. (Don’t tell my husband! He just won’t get it.) A shoe is a shoe is a shoe, right? Wrong! Shoes have the power to make a woman look stylish if she’s dressed in a gunny sack. Black patent leather heels and a gunny sack — I can totally see myself rocking the annual ‘Save The Earth’ gala. To drive home the point, the iconic Marilyn Monroe once said, “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.” Well, at the very least, a great pair definitely makes up for a bad hair day. Even though I may be in thrift mode at most times, a new pair is in order on every birthday. I may not opt for a wardrobe overhaul or a five-star dinner, but new shoes are a staple. They don’t have to come in a Saks Fifth Avenue bag; the friendly neighbourhood mall will do. My birthday shoes are an affirmation that it doesn’t matter if my dress size changes over the years, or if I’m grey and wrinkly. My shoes will still fit perfectly. That’s why I treat my special pairs with utmost TLC — even more so than my clothes. It’s true that our shoes are the first things that are noticed by others. Whether I dash past someone eye-catching at the mall or I stop to chat with a familiar face, my eyes involuntarily glance at their footwear. It’s been a childhood fetish — a shoe-related obsessive compulsive disorder. And what I find most challenging is to discreetly catch a glimpse of the wedges or stilettos under a swishing abaya; those are often the most swoon-worthy pairs I encounter. I have got to hand it to the panache of Middle Eastern women, who take their traditional flair to new heights (pun intended). So like Shakespeare proclaimed that “clothes maketh a man”, I say “shoes maketh a woman”. 60 May 2014 www.womanthismonth.com There’s a new kind of addiction that’s gripped the world — that of gadgets and staying connected 24x7. Doctors have noticed an alarming number of people who seek medical help for problems caused by the constant use of electronic devices. Technology is meant to help and not harm us physically or mentally. If we looked away from our glowing screens just enough, we would hear our bodies telling us to get off the grid. Heed the advice of our experts to keep your body and mind happy. GadGet Grumble Our expert: Dr Abdul Kareem Al Azzawi, medical director and consultant orthopaedic at Bahrain Specialist Hospital Dr Al Azzawi has recently seen more patients walking in to his clinic with painful stress injuries caused by the wrong use of machines and devices. Chronic back pain caused by sitting for long periods of time without any movement is one of the most common complaints he encounters. “Stress injuries are caused by using laptops, mobiles and tablets over several hours every day,” says Dr Al Azzawi. “Sitting continuously leads to the weakening of the lumbar muscle, which is the guide for the movement of the spine. Years of bad sitting posture leads to an unstable spine and problems, like discal prolapse and sciatica.” Placing the computer screen at the wrong height makes people crane the neck, using more of the flexor muscles rather than the extensor muscles of the spine. This leads to instability of the cervical spine, ending with weakness of inter-vertebral muscles and discal problems. Use of the computer mouse over extended periods of time puts direct pressure on the anterior part of the wrist, leading to carpal tunnel syndrome. This is an extremely painful disorder that causes numbness and the weakening of the three radial fingers, which often requires surgery. Fashionably called Blackberry thumb, tendonitis is another painful fallout of incessantly using your digits to play games or communicate. It starts with inflamed tendons of the fingers. It then affects ligaments and eventually leads to ‘locking’ of the fingers, lIFeStYle | wellbeing All Teched Out BY BEHNAZ SANJANA In this era of instant communication through emails and various messaging applications, people go out of their way to keep a green icon glowing alongside their name. But there comes a time when your body needs you to unplug. Tech savvy The wellbeing article in the May issue is quite interesting. I’ve suffered from pain in the joints of my fingers for months; little did I know that it had to do with my constant use of the phone. So I challenged myself to restricted usage of the phone. It shocked me when I couldn’t complete the smallest step — refusing to use the phone at the dinner table. I remember as a child that my parents insisted we sat together at the table and wouldn’t even let us bring our books to read while we ate. And now everyone has a smartphone, and they’re looking at it while we share a meal at the same table! We’ve changed the rules a bit now; we’ve had conversations since! We make sure we spread the habit among friends when we step out for dinner too. If we can’t stay away from our phone for five minutes, then we have some real issues. Josie
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