MARBELLA CLUB

You’ll need a car to reach Ojen. It was made famous by a local liqueur and Julio Iglesias has a home here. It’s heaven for nature lovers, set in the mountains just above Marbella and is definitely worth a detour, not just for a taste of some fine Spanish wines, but for a feel for the quieter side of Marbella, where birdsong and the whizz of mopeds are the soundtrack in spring and summer. This is Malaga’s “spiritual” home, but it’s not just wines that are on display or for tasting. Resident guide Antonio will tell you it’s Ojen’s own special Eau-de-Vie (a concoction of aniseed and aromatic herbs that packs quite a punch) that originally put the Ojen on the worldwide map. In 1840 a man called Pedro Morales started distilling the special liqueur but he kept the recipe a secret. Soon, visitors were asking for a “copita de Ojen” in bars around Spain and it was exported all over the world. Picasso probbly enjoyed a swig or two – he immortalised a bottle of the anisette liqueur in his work “Bodegon Espanol”. But after being passed down from father to eldest son over four generations, one father died suddenly before he had the chance to pass the formula on, so the recipe remains a mystery. Also worth visiting: The local 16th-century church with its square minaret-style Mudejar tower; the Caves of Ojen; the Los Chorros fountain; and Juanar Palace, a very old hunting lodge (game is still shot here) that is now a hotel and restaurant, set in the hiker’s and rider’s paradise in the Sierra Blanca mountains.

Lady Gaga is serious about fashion and she doesn't take its criticism lightly. In her latest column for V Magazine, she sends out a memo slamming negativity from critics, including New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn, and poses the question: when does criticism become "insult and not insight"?

"Doesn’t the integrity of the critic become compromised when their writings are consistently plagued with negativity?," Lady Gaga writes. "When the public is no longer surprised or excited by the unpredictability of the writer, but rather has grown to expect the same cynicism from the same cynic?"

Lady Gaga does name one critic specifically, Horyn, but not a particular story the pop singer may have found offensive. She does "copy" the memo to her friend Nicola Formichetti, who she collaborated with for Thierry Mugler. For the most part, Horyn had good things to say about the collection.

"What I think is so promising about Nicola Formichetti’s first women’s collection for Mugler is that he created a look for the runway; for magazine stylists like himself; for performers like his friend Lady Gaga, who modeled two outfits at Wednesday’s night show; and for the girls who love fashion and always have some place to go," Horyn said about the collection back in March, also noting that Gaga "worked it" on the runway.

Not so negative. Could it have been some negative words said about Gaga's other friends in the fashion biz such as Galliano or Jean Paul-Gaultier? She doesn't say. But Gaga wants to put less emphasis on professional fashion critics and more on, well, everyone else who's got a pulse and an Internet connection.

"In the age of the Internet, when collections and performances are so accessible to the public and anyone can post a review on Facebook or Twitter, shouldn’t columnists and reviewers, such as Cathy Horyn, employ a more modern and forward approach to criticism, one that separates them from the average individual at home on their laptop?" Gaga writes.

Gaga instead names Tavi Gevinson as the "future of journalism," that infamous 15-year-old fashion blogger who famously began writing for fashion well before she could land a driver's permit and can now be found sitting front row at some of the biggest runway shows.

You can check Gaga's full column at the V Magazine website. Meanwhile, we'll be awaiting Cathy Horyn's response and maybe a clue as to what angered Gaga so. Did Horyn slam her drag king look at the VMA's? Or maybe her faux penis accessory?