Celebrities with canes

We love to spot Classic Canes walking sticks when we are out and about and we can usually spot them from at least fifty paces!  It makes our day to see an elegant lady at a garden centre with one of our Tea Party floral derbys, as I did a few days ago, or come across another walker on the coast path with a pair of  Classic Canes height-adjustable trekking poles.  It gives us a real feeling of having helped someone, just by bringing attractive, well-made walking aids to the market for them.

We also love to see celebrities with our canes.  There is very little coverage of canes in the mainstream media, which is a shame.  So much space is given to which celebrities are carrying which handbags, without editors really considering very often how much more important a cane is to its user, both for mobility and personal style reasons.  So when a celebrity is photographed with one of our canes, or another brand for that matter, it is progress because it helps cane users see that they are not alone and that other people can make canes part of their image too.

One of our favourite images of a celebrity with one of our canes is this lovely shot of the glorious Bianca Jagger on her way to a Christian Dior fashion show in Paris.  In one hand there is a lovely Christian Dior bag, and in the other, her Classic Canes black and white polkadot cane.  She has even matched it to a little black and white polkadot handkercheif in her top pocket.  Doesn't she look fabulous, and isn't the cane an integral part of the look?

Recently we have also seen artist David Hockney with a Classic Canes beech derby cane, which he paired with a smart tweed suit and flat cap, black and white checkerboard tie and scarf with bright yellow Crocs on his feet, an outfit we have certainly never seen replicated anywhere else.  He looked utterly unique and unforgettable with the cane again adding to the overall look.

Nor will we easily forget the incomparable jazz singer Cleo Laine in a bedazzling purple sequinned dress, taking to the stage for a concert shortly after the death of her husband Johnny Dankworth.  Microphone in one hand, Classic Canes autumn gold adjustable cane in the other, she made a huge impression on everyone who saw her that night. My father incidentally remembers long ago being in a bar in Sydney where she stood on the bar to sing, but that's another story.

We also treasure images of the late actor Robbie Coltrane, who used a Classic Canes 'Eight Ball' cane.  Robbie was a big man with big hands and this cane was chosen especially for the large diameter of its handle, which he found comfortable to hold.

Dame Vera Lynn, Stephen Fry and Dawn French are also on our hall of fame, as is Selina Scott showing off her shepherding skills with her sheep and a Classic Canes shepherd's crook.  The same model is often seen with a shepherd of a different nature, Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London.

A celebrity with a stick is of course no more important than the rest of us with a stick, but the role they play in helping others to feel comfortable about using their cane is very important. Being both disabled and fashionable is not always easy, but I hope that the Classic Cane range of walking sticks means that everyone can have a cane that enhances their own particular look.

Charlotte Gillan

Managing Director, Classic Canes Limited