Ali thread 6

[Jamila]

What a blast from the past - an absolutely BRILLIANT photo!

Thank you so very much.

 

[thankyou]

ali and her cute little short haircut!

thankyou for the photo! I love seeing photos of her way back then. I bet she had no idea back then, of all that was awaiting her, of all that she would do. She's an amazing woman.

 

[thankyou]

not as far back, but a good one too. beautiful smile!

 

[thankyou]

 

[bonocomet]

not as far back, but a good one too. beautiful smile!

a wee bit bigger...

any idea who the guy is?

 

[teenie]

Thankyou Niamh for that pic! where did you find that?
I would love to see pics from their wedding(aside from the two that have been posted) that are formal shots..now if anyone could get one of those Id be very impressed1

 

[girlhappy]

Love for this one

 

[absintheminded]

I wonder what they're all laughing about?

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

Thankyou Niamh for that pic! where did you find that?
I would love to see pics from their wedding(aside from the two that have been posted) that are formal shots..now if anyone could get one of those Id be very impressed1

It's actually in U2 by U2. It was just a little pic within a bigger pic, so I just scanned it and blew it up.

 

[thankyou]

I would love to see pics from their wedding(aside from the two that have been posted) that are formal shots..now if anyone could get one of those Id be very impressed1

that would be amazing.

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

 

[LMBLover]

Thanks. Where is this article from?

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

Life Magazine.

 

[kellyahern]

Thanks Flavia

 

[soragio]

 

[girlhappy]

That pics from the wedding(there are other 2 which are familiar to you , i believe), is awsome. Ali is just too beautiful.

 

[soragio]

I had never seen this one before, I was happy when I found it she is so sweet on it!

 

[Galeongirl]

It's from U2 by U2 but I can't remember the page.... if you want it bigger, you should request it in the U2 by U2 thread.. I'm sure they can find and scan it for you!

 

[dazzlingamy]

I honestly think Ali is one of the most naturally beautiful women i've ever seen! Bono hit the jackpot with her! And just seeing the love they have for each other, it makes me smile. Two very lucky people!

 

[soragio]

I looked at the post better, there is already that scan, sorry I didn't see it

 

[bonocomet]

nobody minds, it's nice to see great pics a 2nd time

 

[verte76]

Ali is probably the world's prettiest social worker. Bono's lucky.

 

[Jamila]

Ali's got a pretty good-looking spouse too.

I think that she is very lucky.

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

Mrs Bono saves the day
Tina Gaudoin

As her famous husband has been campaigning to Make Poverty History, Ali Hewson has been working to do just that with Edun, her ethical clothing line, bringing Fairtrade into fashion




Is there any truth in the suggestion that wives of rock stars grow, by default, their very own über-egos? Trudi Styler, aka Mrs Sting, once threatened to sue me because I printed something along those lines, and there are hundreds of stories in the business that reinforce the premise.

Ali Hewson (Mrs Bono) certainly has the sort of entourage that seems to be basking in the reflected glory of the reflected glory. Getting to meet Hewson, to talk with her about her ethical clothing line Edun, is nothing short of a monumental pain in the arse. Her "people" ask maddening questions. So much so that I get the impression they'd really like to see the interview in advance of my carrying it out. Am I aware that Ali is not prepared to talk about her personal life with "him"? How many pages would she get? Could she have questions in advance? That her PR would be sitting in was non-negotiable. I complain about this to a fashion friend a few days before and he laughs heartily. "When you meet Ali Hewson you'll realise that her PRs need to be tough because she is just about the nicest person you¹ll ever meet." I remain unconvinced, particularly since Hewson's designated destination is the inconveniently located Kew Gardens, to which we drag ourselves reluctantly on a cold, wet November morning. I'm envisaging a modern-day Pollyanna with a slight tendency towards posturing, in the manner of, say, Jane Fonda.

Hewson is already there and waiting. In fact, she's so "there" that she or her PR -­ I can't decide who -­ has thoughtfully bought us all cups of tea, which sit steaming on the damp Kew cafeteria table in front of her. This somewhat knocks the wind out of my sails. But not as much as the information that Hewson has just flown in from Ireland ­ commercial, not private ­ and she'll be taking the Heathrow Express to get her flight back. She appears unruffled, but gives the game away when we discuss how she managed to leave the house so early that morning. "The two little ones were still asleep, but the big ones [teenagers] were there, so I figured..." For a moment she looks distracted, as all mothers do when they pause to consider just how pear-shaped a few well-laid plans could go. Bono is away, so she's flying solo on the childcare front, something that's happened a lot ever since The Joshua Tree became the fastest-selling album in chart history in 1987. In one hour, Mrs Hewson's husband will appear on stage alongside Kylie Minogue in Sydney on the first leg of her comeback tour.

If you passed Hewson in the street, you'd certainly give her a second glance, not because she's Mrs B, but because she's a good-looking fortysomething with fabulous hair and a certain je ne sais quoi. She might come across as nice (of which more later), but I don't believe she's without a steel core. You cannot be married to a bloke as "big" as Bono (in terms of music and mission), raise four kids, fight campaigns on everything from Sellafield to disfigured children in Belarus and now Fairtrade and HIV treatment in Africa, and remain as calm as Hewson appears without having something pretty substantial by way of a backbone. "There was something so still about her, and to a person who is not still, it was the most attractive thing in the world," Bono has said of meeting Ali at Mount Temple comprehensive in the Seventies. When I ask her how it feels to speak up against the establishment which oftentimes includes her husband, who by dint of his vision is these days a paid-up, card-carrying member of the FOT (friends of Tony) club, she laughs. "He's so great and so supportive, he usually agrees with me anyway." When Hewson launched a campaign to shut down the Sellafield nuclear processing plant in 2002, she organised 1.4 million protest postcards to be sent to the PM and Prince Charles, amongst other dignitaries. That must have made her popular with the powers that be? "It was such a simple idea and it worked really well," she says, dodging the question about what her husband thought of it.

It's the nitty gritty of social problems that enthrals Hewson and fascinates her husband less. I ask if she has the micro vision and he the macro? She fixes me with a grin. "Yes," she says, "you could say that Bono is very macro. Very macro. Full stop!" He sees the logic, though, and the vision in Edun, which Hewson has been fronting for the last 18 months under the tenet of "conscious consumerism". The premise is simple: stylish clothing made in Africa, India and Latin America, with funds channelled back to the source in the form of continuing trade. The clothing is made as far as possible along economically friendly guidelines ­ local materials, organic chemicals (where possible) and local ethically managed labour forces. The line, designed by Rogan Gregory of Rogan Jeans fame, is very good. Pretty tops, flattering skirts and dresses and chic jackets. It¹s not cheap, but then, why should it be? As Hewson says, "How you spend your money says a lot about you," and she has potentially hit on a winning formula. Looking good and feeling good about how you spend your money is a concept that companies such as Gap, Giorgio Armani and M&S have also cottoned on to. Edun's story is easier to grasp, perhaps simply because of the small scale of the company, financed by the Hewsons. Most recently, Edun has joined forces with ONE, the Make Poverty History campaign, to launch a T-shirt, made in Lesotho, Africa, the profits of which will go towards fighting Aids and poverty in Lesotho. A $276,000 cheque has already been presented to Alafa, the Lesotho charity, on behalf of Edun. This is impressive. The T-shirt has only been on sale for two months.

The Lesotho experiment unites the passions of Bono and Ali Hewson. "Bono was always saying that Africa wanted trade, not charity. This was a way of starting that, of proving that we could again do business with Africa." The figures that Hewson, a political science graduate, trots out as she is having her hair and make-up done for the accompanying shoot are sobering. In 1980, Africa had 6 per cent of world trade; by 2002 this had dropped to just 2 per cent. "If we could get Africa just 1 per cent more trade globally, it would bring in $70 billion more in exports yearly," says Hewson. The Lesotho project, though, exemplified the problem. "Africa is difficult to work with," she concedes. "It's an emerging nation, it's not without corruption. It's difficult to deliver to the stores on time." Twenty-seven per cent of the Lesotho population are infected with HIV. "I want a level playing field," says Hewson of the Africa situation. "Everyone should have a fair chance."




It's worth stating at this point that although we are a long way from Africa and the Third World, we are not in the kind of surroundings that lend themselves to a glamorous fashion shoot. The folks at Kew have kindly lent us "a room", which is situated below the Temperate House. Along with the pipes, dust and spiders' webs, we are keeping company with giant Christmas wreaths and a few old coffee-stained chairs. Hewson is graciously unfazed. She's been in much worse, like the ambulance she drove from Ireland to Belarus or the refugee camps she and Bono went to work in after Live Aid. So impassioned is she by her subject that she happily yells over the roar of the hairdryer to make her point, which in this case, is about the eco bandwagon. "I don¹t care how many people jump on it. We want people to follow our idea, we want people to understand they can change how things are done. It's about the power consumers have in their pocket!"

Giving good quote must run in the family because Hewson, like her husband, is the master of the one-liner. "I really don¹t want to wear clothes created from someone else's despair," Hewson is saying as the hairdryer is turned off. She really means it, but could she do anything about it were she not Mrs B? "If I wasn¹t privileged I simply couldn't be doing this," she says firmly. "I have four children, I could not set this sort of thing up on my own." This sort of thing is still in the very early stages business-wise (the company will not release figures). "I'll feel better when it's working properly," she says. I ask if she has a long-term plan? "Well, we certainly didn't do this to make money," she says briskly. I also ask her about the larger, wealthy fashion companies who are making their money from disposable cheap fashion. "Of course they should be doing more," she says abruptly.

"Everyone should be doing more; everyone should get on board." A partnership with Topshop is on the cards, and we both agree that buying less but buying clothes that matter in the ethical sense and last longer could be part of the solution.

Talk turns to Christmas and all things eco-friendly. She says the Red iPod nano is on her list ­ "We still have Santa in our family" ­ though she hates the fact that "it's all so over-commercial now". The Hewson family will spend their Christmas together: "a simple family Christmas ­ my family, Bono's family. We're Irish: it's all about family, friends, big meals." Hewson says that she's getting greener by the day. "I care about the food; my children eat organic, though it is ridiculously expensive. I'm buying a bike and we¹re talking about biodiesel cars." Then again, she says, "I do live in a big, old, draughty house." It's as close as she'll come to admitting to the rock-star lifestyle, which, to all intents and purposes, she appears not to have had. Her admission that she "likes the social side of Edun" is refreshing. It's almost as if she is finally giving herself permission to enjoy the ritzier side of life ­the side that's been available to her all along as Mrs B, but only recently available on her own terms as Edun founder. It was Hewson who persuaded celebrities from Damon Dash to Lindsay Lohan to pose in Edun One T-shirts. "Jake Gyllenhaal wears our clothes all the time," she says proudly.

She never particularly liked fashion, but "the more I see of it the more I enjoy it". I ask her what she wears ­a couple of Irish designers I haven't heard of and one Frenchman I certainly have. "Alaïa Azzedine," she says. "I love his clothes." She got the designer's name the wrong way round ­an easy mistake, and it would be patronising of me to mention it, were it not to go a long way towards illustrating that Hewson is unguardedly honest and enthusiastic about what she does and what she loves. As a matter of fact, her analysis of her own personal style could be a metaphor for the way she lives her life. "It's straightforward. I don't do frills; I don't do all those buttons and fancy stuff, but I do know what works." Ali Hewson for PM?

If she would and I could, I'd vote for her. I suspect thousands of other women would do the same.


All clothes by Edun, stocked by Harvey Nichols (020-7235 5000)

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]