But by experimenting with different shapes and colours that you would never consider in normal circumstances, you can discover a whole new look.”Laurel, in the middle of a divorce herself, realises how vulnerable people can be during this period ”I insist no one is pushed into buying. We work in a totally different way.”I encourage my customers to take three to four hours trying on as many clothes as they possibly can. For instance, I’ll hand them a rail of 25 jackets and say, ‘Go for it.’ It only takes five seconds to slip each one on and off. Now she runs a showroom containing 6,000 new and nearly new garments. ”Normally you go into a boutique, look at the selection, and choose two or three items you know will suit you. Others come when they’ve lost a lot of weight, or are about to start a fantastic new job,” says Laurel, an elegant woman in her forties.She set up her business two years ago, when she started swapping second-hand designer outfits among her friends. Besides, they either treat you with large amounts of disdain, or embarrass you into buying the first rag you try on.One way of reassessing your image may be to visit Laurel Herman’s style consultancy tucked away in a pretty backstreet off Primrose Hill in north London.”Many of my clients first come after a divorce, when they need a boost to face the singles scene.
Frequently.There are times in our lives when a little objective advice on our presentation would not go amiss The trouble is, however, that shop assistants are biased. Strangely, she would complain that lovers only ever thought of her as a plaything.To my suggestion that her leather miniskirt would be better suited as a chamois cloth for the car, she innocently replied: ”Why should I change my style? Men should take me for what I am.” Unfortunately, they did. Never judge a book by its cover, or so the saying goes. But we do, don’t we? Meet a person of the opposite sex and you make instant assumptions based on the way they dress. Lots of bold jewellery and shoulder pads, and the woman is considered to be a sophisticated, racy Jackie Collins type.
Likewise, a man sporting a tweed jacket with leather elbowpads can be deemed a ponderous J R Hartley.
I had one girlfriend who used to wear outrageous clothes with necklines plunging two inches below her hem. The debate was marked by a strong feeling that children’s rights are too often ignored by parents eager to divorce.. “If today’s debate achieves anything, I hope it will urge the bishops to strengthen their guidelines.“I want the Synod to give a firm message that we uphold the sanctity of marriage and that we refuse to be led by the nose by sentimental hype.” The General Synod declared in 1981 that there are circumstances in which a divorced person may be remarried in church in the lifetime of a former partner, but has been unable since then to agree what these circumstances might be.All Anglican priests are legally able to marry divorced people in church, though few do. First Edition
ANDREW BROWN
The Church of England has agreed to try to produce clear rules for the remarriage of divorced people in church, after a debate in the General Synod yesterday.Dr John Habgood, Archbishop of York, told the Synod that the Church’s present policy seemed “a disgrace” to the secular world. But, he said, the bishops had been unable to agree on any policy. He welcomed the Synod motion urging the bishops to report back with proposals.This disagreement was obvious in yesterday’s debate between those bishops who feel that recognition of second marriages weakens first marriages, and those who feel it more important, once first marriages have failed, to strengthen subsequent ones.The Bishop of Sodor and Man, the Rt Rev Noel Jones, said that none of the priests in his diocese would remarry divorced people.
there would be a massive escalation on the ground that could spin out of control”. Nato spokesmen, however, were angry at suggestions that its planes could be threatened by Serb surface-to-air missile sites.. The UN spokesman Thant Myint-U said yesterday that such action by Nato could ”dramatically escalate the situation. Mr Akashi later went on to Pale, the Bosnian Serb capital, where he said Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader, had agreed to release hundreds of UN peace-keepers detained after Nato air strikes two weeks ago.One reason for the UN request that Nato stop its patrols was a fear that Nato planes might attack Serb missile batteries that locked on to alliance warplanes with radar.
Relations between Nato and the UN have deteriorated rapidly since the Bosnian Serbs threatened last week to overrun the UN ‘’safe area” of Bihac – apparently furthering the aim of creating a ”Greater Serbia”.In Sarajevo, the UN special envoy, Yasushi Akashi, Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Rose, the UN commander in Bosnia, and other officials yesterday had a narrow escape when Bosnian Serbs hit the presidency building in Sarajevo with two wire-guided missiles minutes after their arrival there for talks. After meeting in Brussels, foreign ministers said an existing peace plan carving up Bosnia 49 to 51 per cent between Serbs and Muslims still remained the basis of any final settlement.However, in spite of strong reservations from the Germans, the group agreed to links between Bosnian Serbs and Serbia in any future Bosnian confederation. Mr Claes insisted that Nato was still enforcing the UN-declared no-fly zone over Bosnia, but a UN spokesman in Sarajevo said Nato had stood down patrols at the UN’s request.The row flared as the five-nation Contact Group on the former Yugoslavia continued its push for a Bosnia peace deal. A source told the Independent that UN military authorities in Bosnia had been imposing increasingly tough limits on Nato patrols with the intention of ending them. Britain and France have worked to limit Nato involvement and the source said that they had been working with the UN military authorities.
A furious row broke out between the two organisations yesterday, with the Nato secretary-general, Willy Claes, and UN spokesmen repeatedly contradicting each other. The United Nations has stopped Nato air missions over Bosnia. The move comes close to ending the alliance’s role in the Balkan conflict.