Life is better with a scarf

Fiona and I saw Stevie Nicks in Hobart last night finishing her tour (and yes, her old stuff is better than her new stuff).  She did not disappoint when it came to dragging her fashions around.  The witchy sleeves, the 80s knee-length tiered, long sleeved dresses and the waist long blonde hair puffed at the top, side parted with a fringe. Part of me has complete respect for finding a look and sticking with it through thick and thin, travelling unaffected through the magazine world that tells you to update every five minutes.  If you love a dress, you should love it through time.  The other part of me finds an aging rock star hanging on to looking twenty a bit sad.  I don’t want to be someone who thinks that a woman in her 60s should cut her hair, but really 30cm off would be good, Stevie.  

One piece of clothing that can travel through one’s lifetime is a beautiful, large scarf.  And there’s the advertorial: one of the original ideas for Matt Coyle clothes came from hours of stalking vintage Hermes scarves on eBay and desperately wanting one but not really being able to part with $300 in the one moment.   Scarves with drawings, with narrative, are timeless.  Hopefully some of our favourite drawings can end up as a scarf.  Soon!  One of my English lecturers from the olden days said “Life is better with a scarf”.  He was referring to a woollen winter scarf, but it is just as true of a silk one – not too light, not too small.  A scarf of substance.  Surely this image, 'Still Life' is a scarf print:

©Matt Coyle 2010

Speaking of substance, the absent presence at the concert last night was Annie Lennox. Dave Stewart performed before and during Stevie’s songs and he brought out some of the great Eurythmics numbers – Miracle of Love, Sweet Dreams… 

Ahhh Annie Lennox. Twenty years ago (yes really!) I saw my first concert at the DEC (Derwent Entertainment Centre) – the Eurythmics.  I can still remember drawing a long breath when Annie appeared, all white flesh and hair, rocking a red satin slip.  Grunge at its most perfect.  (BTW, when is grunge coming back??)  Annie wasn’t there last night   She’s moved on.  As a feminist I should be celebrating Stevie for sticking to her look.  But I just can’t.  Maybe it’s because whilst her clothes, dancing, and voice reflect her past, her frozen face does not.