Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2024 i Zoomer Magazine

SPOTLIGHT Leanne Delap, a veteran Toronto fashion writer who recently moved to a farm where she raises chickens, started her career at Toronto Life, moved on to the Globe and Mail as fashion reporter, spent five years as editor-in-chief of Fashion and now freelances for the Toronto Star and The Kit. A frequent contributor to everythingzoomer.com, Delap is the authoritative voice of our new hub, The Zoomerist, where she answers readers’ questions about fashion, beauty and grooming for him and her. Turn to pg. 53 for her sage advice on everything from thinning hair to what to wear. New York-based fashion consultant and celebrity stylist Joanne Blades is the fashion director for Zoo, a Netherlands-based arts and culture magazine. She began her career at the now-defunct Dutch magazine, rising…

UP Forget “golden years.” These are the “glamma years” An NYC stylist is redefining perspectives on aging after dressing up her grandma Margret Chola (left) in fashion-forward looks. Dubbed “the Legendary Glamma,” this Zambian matriarch slays all day on social media. A Chinese study found those who enjoyed higher mental well-being as they aged also tended to eat a lot of cheese, an unlikely dopamine trigger This has led to an uptick in cheddar sales – and “Cheese is gouda for you” puns. After dropping out of school in the 1940s, a 105-year-old woman returned to Stanford to complete her master’s degree in education Even more impressive was her keg stand at the grad party. “This is definitely more fun than the first time I visited France” A U.S.…

It’s been a movement-filled half-century since Nancy Friday’s phenomenon My Secret Garden shocked the world by sharing real and anonymous women’s sexual fantasies. The genre got a refresh in 2019 by journalist Lisa Taddeo, whose eight-year investigation into the sexual activities of a trio of unconnected women became the bestselling book Three Women (coming to sexy Showtime this fall). Now a TV icon – known as “the thinking man’s crumpet” – probes the tantalizing territory as well. Gillian Anderson, 55, is not a sex therapist, but she does play one on Netflix’s Sex Education – and she even tapped into Margaret Thatcher’s “minx”-like sexual charisma (thank you, Christopher Hitchens, for that description) on The Crown. So, it wasn’t a complete surprise when by-the-book Agent Scully set up a “Dear…

I started asking questions after my husband Doug’s recent routine colonoscopy. “This is the last one I’ll be getting,” he told me, while reporting a clean bill of health. The Ontario guidelines recommend an end to screening at the age of 75 “based on reduced life expectancy in older groups,” as the Canadian Medical Association Journal put it. The thinking is that people in this age cohort won’t live long enough for pre-cancerous lesions, called polyps, to grow into cancer. Isn’t that ageist? “It absolutely is ageist,” oncologist Dr. Malcolm Moore told me on my radio show Fight Back with Libby Znaimer. “But it’s ageist based on evidence.” Moore treated me for pancreatic cancer when he was physician-in-chief at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. He went on…

“WHITE SHIRTS FEEL LIKE THEY ARE EVERYWHERE RIGHT NOW, targeted in my Instagram feed, on the shelves at stores,” Carol, 59, wrote. “I need some new pieces, and white feels nice and crisp and clean. But how do I style it up?” White shirts are transformative, Carol, and the look is fully democratic, transcending all ages, all sizes, all personal styles, all genders and all body types. They are a fashion editor’s secret weapon, the thing you know you can pull out and jeuje up with pearls or an armful of bangles and head out the door feeling put together. It also lends itself to complete individualization. Think of great white-shirt moments in history, from Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s American sportswear take in the ’90s (the release of a coffee-table book…

THIS LETTER COMES FROM A READER NAMED PETER, 62: “For the past few years, I’ve run my financial business from home, mostly in track pants. We’ve just been bought by a multinational firm (hooray!), and I want to return to wearing a suit to work. The new office is located in one of the big bank buildings in downtown Toronto, so my closet needs an overhaul. How do I choose suiting that will fit into the leadership suite? I tend toward classic styling, and want to look current, but not flashy.” It looks like the mystique of the suit has survived both the pandemic and the steamrolling casualization of menswear over the past decade. Young men today crave the crispness of a power suit again, and older guys too…

THE TIKTOK “SOFT LIFE” TREND – a millennial/gen-Z fixation on getting out of the rat race and taking time to smell the roses – inspired Carolyn from Newmarket, Ont., to write. “I’m jealous of the Soft Life concept. Why am I still churning away at my job at 61 when my own kids are clamouring to work less and they aren’t even 30 yet? What am I doing wrong? How do I pivot?” Allow me to translate with the aid of TikTok, which helpfully collated the trend, using the hashtag #softlife (and/or #softgirllife), with an AI-generated synopsis. The concept’s elements include self-care; a cosy home; a simplified schedule; gratitude; slow living and nurturing relationships. Well, I have news for the next generation: Many of us in the 50-plus zone…

ARIZONA • LONDON • MADRID • TUSCANY • MANITOBA • MADAGASCAR • DUBAI ■ MAPPED INTEL: The Yes, Chef! tour runs on Saturdays and some Fridays. Book at chicagofoodtours.com Our tour guide Casey, currently perched at the front of our bus, isn’t Carmy, the surprise hunk of The Bear TV show about a chef who has to haul himself home to Chicago to take over his family’s sandwich shop. Casey also isn’t actor Jeremy Allen White, who catapulted his starring role as Carmen Berzatto into superstardom. But Casey is a cute actor who also happens to be wearing Carmy’s iconic blue apron on Yes, Chef!, our Chicago Food & City Tours’ The Bear-themed eating extravaganza, and that is enough for this busload of fans. “Are you ready, fellow eaters?”…

Twenty-four hours after I moved into my smart Madrid apartment, I suffered the first near-faint of my life. Nine time zones away in Vancouver, my doctor daughter had to practise telemedicine on her rattled mother. She diagnosed possible dehydration, walking 16,000 steps that day, drinking a glass of wine without food or a combination of all the above. I recovered, and thankfully it turned out to be the only hiccup in a new kind of travel for me: staying put. But not at home in Toronto; in a faraway place. At 79, my appetite for experiencing what the world has to offer is undiminished, but after decades of roaming, including writing many travel articles for the New York Times, The Globe and Mail etc., I’m ready for a new…

If Zendaya’s new tennis movie Challengers has taught us anything – with its techno-fuelled rapid-fire court action, Loewe “athleglam” wardrobe and closeups of its sweaty, sculpted stars – it’s that younger generations want their net game faster, sexier and more in your face. Enter the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, the brainchild of Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, which boasts pros like Nick Kyrgios and Casper Ruud. This guerrilla-style tournament (in New York City in August, before the more sedate U.S. Open) doubles down on flash and swagger. The matches are capped at 40 minutes and code of conduct violations are out the window: The mic’d competitors are encouraged to express all their emotions, especially if it results in racquet smashing and trash talking. Of course, UTS fashion is bold,…

THAT QUESTION WAS FROM A READER who wished to remain anonymous, but did say she was 54. “I love the look, but I fear it’s too costumey.” Yes, cowboy is a big statement, but it’s timeless. Dolly Parton has not hung up her rhinestones at 78, and who are we to question Dolly? Or Shania, Canada’s own country-pop crossover, who has re-emerged at 59 after a harrowing few years, and is defiantly outspoken about aging? The look has been building: think cowboy Ken and Barbie last summer; the men’s runway at Louis Vuitton last fall, in the form of a double-breasted, double-denim suit with floral embroidery; as well as English label Molly Goddard, which presented a kind of Yellowstone-on-acid sweater and flounced skirt combo. But it was Beyoncé who…

HAIR IS THE FRAME FOR OUR FACE, and often the first thing people notice about us. I know it can make or break our confidence every time we step out into the world, but I was surprised by the number of questions about thinning hair from female readers. “How do I get more hair?” Marilyn wrote. “Mine has thinned out, especially on top.” Three more letters followed within a week! This is clearly a concern, so let’s get into the thick of it. I consulted Dr. Julia Carroll, head of Toronto’s Compass Dermatology, to understand the causes – aging, genetics and medical conditions like telogen effluvium and alopecia – and get some solutions. She says minoxidil (Rogaine), an over-the-counter topical treatment, is a good first line of defence; it…

fall is a time to embrace structure and bring glamour back to your entertaining game. To create your perfect evening, look no further than restaurateur Janet Zuccarini, the dynamic founder of the Gusto 54 Restaurant Group, which includes Toronto’s Trattoria Nervosa, Gusto 101 and Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen. She’s made a splash in L.A. with celeb hotspot Felix Trattoria and newly opened Stella. Both have become synonymous with swoon-worthy Italian food and boldface patrons, such as Martin Scorsese. Scorsese was great friends and a collaborator with her late husband, Canadian rock ‘n’ roll legend Robbie Robertson, who scored his films and was Oscar-nominated for Killers of the Flower Moon. Known for impeccable red-carpet style, Zuccarini often wears her sister Jennifer Zuccarini’s lingerie-inspired and cool-girl favourite Fleur du Mal line –…

The latest salvo in the annals of generational warfare came courtesy of Vogue magazine, when its editors called out actress Jennifer Lawrence for wearing “millennial socks.” According to gen-Z, this is a fashion crime that would have the late Fashion Police host Joan Rivers spinning in her grave (if they only knew who she was), despite the fact that Lawrence is a millennial. For the record, millennial socks are the “no-show” kind that “give a faux sockless look,” according to the Washington Post, which dedicated several column inches to the contretemps. Gen-Z, which has made nostalgia a trend, has “gravitated … toward the ’80s and ’90s style that emphasized a tall, sometimes even slouchy sock visible far above the sneaker.” In other words, good old-fashioned crew socks. Gen-Z has…

STATISTICS CANADA REPORTS that the average retirement age – which dropped from 65 in 1976 to 60.7 in 1998 – surged to 65.1 in 2023. “Whether it’s due to the higher cost of living, insufficient savings, supporting children or wanting to remain actively engaged, we’re staying at work longer,” explains Bill VanGorder, chief policy officer at CARP (a ZoomerMedia partner). VanGorder, 81 – who has “unsuccessfully tried to retire four times” – expects the age to keep climbing. “I’m not calling it quits anytime soon.”…

STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE: Four friends – the relatable one, her down-to-earth BFF, the domestic goddess and a sexy single gal – gather together just like old times. Naturally, one is recently widowed (or divorced or getting married) and all are packing their bags for Vegas (or Paris or even Houston). Needless to say, someone will fall in love, someone else will get their groove back and, damn right, there’ll be a dress-shopping montage where everyone drinks champagne. The latest big-screen addition to this fan-favourite genre is The Fabulous Four, starring Susan Sarandon, 77, Will & Grace’s Megan Mullally, 65, and Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph, 67. Their characters are on their way to the Key West nuptials of an old college pal, played by…

Six weeks apart. Two headline-grabbing dresses. Fashion herstory. If there was any doubt that 1994 was a watershed year in the arc of the LBD, just consider the double eclipse that was the barely there “safety-pin dress” worn by Elizabeth Hurley, and the “revenge dress,” made eternal by Diana, Princess of Wales. The first – a Gianni Versace original with a plunging neckline and sides held together with outsize gold safety pins from the designer’s punk-inspired collection – was procured at the 11th hour for Hurley to wear to the May 11 London première of her boyfriend’s movie, Four Weddings and a Funeral. “I raised my eyebrows a fraction,” recalled that boyfriend, Hugh Grant. “And we set off.” By the next day, the little-known 29-year-old actress (who had gone…

Entrepreneur Joanne Wright (right), 54, and her old flame, IndyCar mechanic Richard Howard (left), 56, hadn’t seen each other for 23 years. Then, sparks flew at a 2018 reunion, and in 2020, Wright married the one who got away. Richard Howard: In the 1990s, when I was in my early 20s, I lived with a group of fellas in a house in Toronto. Joanne used to come by once in a while. Joanne Wright: I had the biggest, fattest crush on him. We’d go out to the pub with the group. RH: She was so fun, smart and adventuresome. A sort of bohemian intellectual. I found her very attractive, but I had a girlfriend and Joanne was dating my friend. JW: I eventually moved to England, where Richard’s family…

THIS QUESTION, FROM a reader who declined to share their name, cuts to the heart of personal style and is simultaneously very poignant: “How can I be more fearless in dressing? I’ve always secretly yearned to be more creative – to mix and match patterns with abandon, to be someone you notice on the street, admired for having personal style. I feel it on the inside, I know what I like, but where do I even start? Will people accept a ‘new’ version of me at 55?” Short answer: You’ve earned it! If your outer self isn’t becoming more true to your inner self as you get older, what’s the point? Aging is hard, but look at it as the opportunity to let your inner eccentric show through. The…

OUR READER’S QUESTION ADDRESSES AN IMPORTANT ISSUE: “When and why you should hire a MUA?” I puzzled over this acronym, which stands for makeup artist, when it first landed on social media. “The only time I had my makeup done was for my wedding 30 years ago!” she wrote in, anonymously, so I’ll call her Wondering. “My daughters are very into MUA appointments, and they look great and the makeup stays put! Is it because they’re all dewy and young? What do I look for in a makeup artist? I don’t know where to start!” I like all the nuance here, Wondering. Yes, the new generation, influenced by social media and the need to look camera-ready at all times, has added glam squads to their service providers. I asked…

A TORONTO WIFE who prefers to remain nameless says her spouse is curious about dyeing his hair. “I keep telling him he’ll look like Paul McCartney. But Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, etc., must be doing it, and doing it well!” I get our female reader’s reticence. Need we point to New York lawyer Rudy Giuliani at a 2020 press conference, with dark-brown streaks running down his sweaty face? As for McCartney, he tried to keep his hair Beatle brown, but by his 60s, his famous locks had changed from red, to blond, to a questionable auburn. Now, in his 70s, he has embraced his grey, but sometimes his hair is daubed with slightly darker undertones. This, kids, is how it should be done. Aaron O’Bryan, a celebrity hairstylist who…

Zuccarini reveals how she makes sure she’s ready to host a superb evening, without any last-minute panics. “Schedules, timesheets and lists!” She creates a workback structured at 15-minute intervals for the day of. “I map out the entire menu,” says Zuccarini, “when everything goes in the oven, hits the BBQ or pan … cooking times on every item, internal temperatures of the protein.” She says that three prep days are required when she’s hosting. That gives her enough lead time to relax and enjoy a glass of wine before guests start arriving. “I turn it more into a science when I’m entertaining, just in case I get distracted, which I always do!”…

Nothing says castaway quite like Nimmo Bay Wilderness Lodge. The luxurious resort is nestled deep in Mackenzie Sound, one of thousands of inlets in B.C.’s 24,000-kilometre coastal wilderness, a jigsaw puzzle of islands, bays and fjords that is accessible only by boat or plane. Once here, the options for adventure – or relaxation – are as impressive as the scenery. Whether you want to take a helicopter to a 200-metre-high waterfall; hike on a glacier; catch salmon from a paddleboard; or cruise along the coast looking for bears and orcas, it can be arranged. What can also be arranged is some serious downtime, from a waterfall-side hot tub to drifting on the spectacular floating sauna (left). Ask the bartender to create one of the lodge’s “sea to cedar” cocktails…