Trend Post: Ga-ga for Glasgow

Well, we weren't expecting it, that's for sure. Everyone told us 'Glasgow is ugly and industrial; go to beautiful Edinburgh just 40 miles away.' We heard this so many times we suspected a hidden motive and we were right. Glasgow is an amazing gem of a city brimming with fashion, art, nightlife and so much music you'd need a second set of ears to hear it all.

The view from the street was encouraging. As in London, the emphasis on personal style is huge here. Skinny skinny jeans are still quite popular throughout the UK from England to Wales to Scotland. Footwear styles as in England continue to be too diverse to pin them to one trend other than a core mandate of looking good without effort, which of course requires no small effort.

Sidebar: We popped into the Sutherland Sporting Company in Lairg on our way to the North Sea and we have to shill for them. This sportsman outfitters makes absolutely the most stunning tweeds, waxed jackets, caps and wet gear. A few weeks ago T: The New York Times Magazine had a fashion spread based on English sporting styles (think Norfolk jackets, plus-fours, tweeds, shotguns and pheasants). It's a shame they missed this place. (Which is easy to do being as it's on the forward edge of nowhere.)

With messenger bags so popular right now, we thought Sutherland's oiled leather cartridge bags and game bags were a special twist with more style. And the owners couldn't be nicer. It's not cheap, but things of quality rarely are.

So we'll finish with a short list of the week's faves:
Marks & Spencer (a department store ... AND a grocery!)
Sutherland Sporting Company (for everything tweed)
Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (GoMA)
Glasgow School of Art (designed by Charles Mackintosh)
Dornoch Golf Course (3rd oldest links course in the world)
Villages: Dornoch, Durness, Lairg, Fort Augustus
Loch Ness (23 miles long!)
and pretty much anything north of Hadrian's Wall