The Homecoming and a Debut

Beneath the vaults at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Seán McGirr brought McQueen home after many years showing in Paris. “This collection is a celebration of London’s ceaselessly stimulating and transcendent power. McQueen is a London-born house, and the city’s uncompromising attitude and subversive spirit sit at its very heart,” says McGirr. He laid out his smarts in excellent tailoring, pinstripe cloths hand-embroidered with florals and cut with plenty of elegant edge. The mood was macabre, with chokers and hair swept high into ‘horns’. McQueen is, after all, a provocative house. For after dark, McGirr draped diaphanous chiffon into one-shoulder gowns that moved like liquid, and tulle into micro ballerina skirts that burst from peplum jackets. Florence Pugh, Ellie Bamber and Emilia Clarke looked on, then joined the fray at the afterparty at The Standard.

Christopher Kane is a born provocateur who likes to twist and subvert codes. For his debut at Mulberry, he swept aside the bucolic, earthy Somerset vibes and brought in a sense of modernism: lean leather coats with geometric cut-outs, semi-sheer checked macs, miniskirts and half-moon bags. The trigger was the geometric lines of the brand’s iconic Bayswater bag. “The past is present, not as nostalgia, but as something active, useful and alive,” says Kane.

Seasonal Delights

Come May, society comes out to play, and English designers know best how to dress it. Patrick McDowell is one such star, with elegant gowns printed with a bounty of flora this season: green blooms popped on cotton shirtwaisters, and Monet-like pink and green florals on trapeze-line styles captured the spring air. Steve O Smith has a delicate hand, translating his painterly sketches onto organza dresses inspired by the silhouettes of 1950s couture. His Fever collection began with the painter André Derain and his use of bold colour, cobalt and crimson among them. Fittingly, it was shown in the Life Drawing Studio at the Royal Academy. Meanwhile, Emilia Wickstead unveiled a film at her Sloane Street store, showing off geometric-print, feather-trimmed shifts with matching cloche hats.

At Burberry, Daniel Lee partnered with the artist Celia Birtwell for a delightful outing, her lyrical drawings printed on washed silk and cotton skirt and shirt co-ords and embroidered onto featherlight parkas and bomber jackets. “Nothing is overly pressed or pristine,” says Lee. “There’s an intentional imperfection: the idea of owning a piece, living in it.”

Boudoir Frills

Erdem’s muse was Barbette, the 1920s American cross-dressing trapeze artist, an enigmatic figure who wooed Parisian art circles with his flamboyant, daredevil performances. That translated into gorgeous silk slip dresses dripping with rhinestones, the fabric hoiked and draped; ballerina-skirted showgirl dresses teamed with formal morning jackets; and feather-trimmed peignoirs to suit the star in everyone.

Swiss newcomer Ginny Litscher channelled her drawing prowess with print into luxurious resort wear that first took life in a giant abstract canvas that took one year to complete. Kaftans hung with chainmail-like jewellery, ruffle skirts and billowing holiday shirts sat alongside hand-painted denim and printed sequin gowns that reflected light on water. Motifs swept the board, from pufferfish to flying birds and decorative stucco swirls. Ellen von Unwerth shot the show, with Helena Christensen on the front row. Note to self: order now for that forthcoming beach escape.

Brown In Town

Shades of brown from conker to camel are usurping monotone black and white as a signal of urban chic. Magda Butrym crafted semi sheer cellophane like trench coats in cocoa, Stuart Vevers at coach went rustic with patchwork linen maxi skirts and Calvin Klein championed oatmeal suiting with low riding trousers and single-breasted jackets.

Pretty Baby

Designers might well have been reviewing iconic fashion films including Virgin Suicides, Pretty Baby and Picnic on Hanging Rock while prepping their Spring Summer collections. There was broderie anglaise, lace and petticoat layers in abundance lending an innocent air to the gritty world. Polish Magda Butrym, who has just opened a store in NYC layered up pretty little camisoles and slips while Anna Sui offered up diaphanous floral print kimonos, empire line gowns rippling over rhinestone stud denims. Riffing on the ritual of a walk of shame, Anglo-American designer Conor Ives merged romance with grunge with his fringe skirts and marabou-trimmed embroidered bed jackets beloved of Sienna Miller. To waft and to flow is the new fashion goal.

Streamers and Sequins

Ready for Easter parades, celebrations and red carpets creatives upped the ante on party wear with giddy looks that fizzed with electric colour and shine. At Coach, there were fish tailed column dresses in fuchsia and turquoise (happy 85 th birthday Coach), at Monse mermaid gowns in chrome sequins while Henry Zankov, new creative head at Diane von Furstenberg cut sweeping one shoulder gowns in pink chiffon and orange silk. But it was Area that shifted the needle with fabulous shifts and tops made from strings of shiny ribbons in silver and electric blue.

More Flora

Everyone’s favourite spring motif was in its fullest bloom. Ulla Johnson showing outside near Brooklyn Bridge showed a line-up of gossamer fine camisoles and flounce skirts in shades of blossom pink, aqua and coral married with poplin shirts and gabardine trenches hand painted with flowers. After fashion week is over she is contributing to the landscaping of the area with native plants and trees. Thom Browne also got the nature bug and championed butterflies, bees and ladybugs as motifs with an opening scene featuring an army of caterpillars dancing around a cocoon. What emerged was an ode to couture craft with giant sunflowers appliqued onto plaid coats, butterfly wing patterns onto crinolines and Poiret-esque cocoon wraps, and dragonflies onto sheer pencil skirts.

Statement Skirts

With trousers dominating for so long, time is ripe for a skirt comeback. Find polka dot flamenco styles at Caroline Herrara, knitted sweater sets at breakout brand Eckhaus Latta, city smart wrap cuts at Proenza Schouler, molten gold columns at Ralph Lauren and gorgeous lace knit ones at Khaite.

Once, the world of cheffing was covert. The eating public was widely unconcerned with what went on in the hot, shouty kitchens at the back of the dining room, and more interested in simply eating good food, rather than understanding how it was made, or by whom. That all changed in the early-2000s with the arrival of Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White, who established the archetype of the ruthless, mercurial, rock-star chef. Interest in food culture has waxed and waned in the years since, but recently, cooking and eating has become cool like never before, and it’s largely down to a cohort of social media ‘creators’ that have made food a matter of style.

‘There is a cultural caché to knowing a bit about food, or being able to make good food,’ says cook and supper club host Joseph Denison Carey. ‘It’s definitely a string to the bow.’ Carey typifies the modern archetype of the food guy. Low-key, softly spoken, inclusive and, crucially, well-dressed. His 25k-follower Instagram feed features videos of him at home, baking focaccia in his chic, ‘cottagecore’ kitchen (as he describes it), or at his roving supper club, Bread+Butter, serving up in a crisp Oxford button-down.

‘The perception of chefs was this high-intensity, haute cuisine, shouty macho thing,’ says Denison Carey, ‘and I think people got really tired of that image.’ No clearer is this shift than in the recent release of Tony, an A24 biopic of the late, almost-mythic cook, pop philosopher and deity of the menswear/food nexus, Anthony Bourdain.

The idea of being a cook has become aspirational, and knowing how to make the perfect three-egg omelette or navigate a small-plates menu is equivalent to having good taste in music or wearing the right clothes. And this cohort – which includes Pierce Abernathy, Jesse Jenkins, Finn Tonry and Jordon Ezra King – recognises that sartorial style is newly synonymous with good eating.

‘What I do is increasingly lifestyle-leaning,’ explains Ben Lippett, a cook and author with 1.3 million followers on Instagram. ‘[Style is] very important. If you’re standing in front of a camera four times a week, you want to feel and look good.’

Lippett’s dress sense is ‘functional but considered’, he says, and he leans toward workwear and Americana from brands such as Toast and Brut – a Paris label with a cult following. His style is like a simple bowl of pasta, he adds wryly. ‘No foams, or weird stuff that doesn’t need to be there.’

As the scene has grown, Lippett has seen the fashion industry take an interest in stylish guys that cook food. ‘I see more of my friends doing dinners with fashion brands,’ he says, and notes that he was invited to attend Paris Fashion Week this year.

But Denison Carey wonders if the profile of the meticulous, volatile chef will rise again. Food culture has become ‘lovely and inviting – a quite casual affair’ he says. ‘But there will be chefs that will go, “Let’s not lose sight of how good things can be when you put in a lot of time and effort” and I wonder if the pendulum will just swing back.’

So keep up the cooking, but maybe don’t throw away the chef whites just yet.

Among the many things I thought I’d never find myself doing, designing a jewellery line with a Picasso was high on the list. Diana Widmaier-Picasso – art historian, granddaughter of Pablo and possessor of what must be the most delicious giggle in the entirety of Paris – floated the idea that I might come up with a line of men’s jewellery for her company Menē, for which, alongside her many occupations (writing books, curating exhibitions, acting as one of the guardians of her grandfather’s creative legacy), she serves as chief artistic officer.

Menē is what happens when bullion decides it would rather live on the body than lie comatose in a vault. Using 24-carat gold and PT999 platinum, instead of the usual commercial alchemy, whereby the cost of a modest quantity of precious metal is magnified by the magic of a name, Menē makes its value structure explicit. It is investment jewellery in the literal, rather than marketing, sense.

The pricing mechanism is the brand’s centre of gravity: constantly changing weight- and marketbased, the displayed price of the item is broken down into metal price and Menē fee (designing, manufacturing etc.).

Now, I am all about signed jewellery. If a bracelet bears the name Cartier, Van Cleef, Piaget, Fred Paris, Boucheron and so on, I am immediately wafted off to a dreamland of 20th-century Gallic sophistication in which objects for everyday use were fashioned from precious metals as a matter of course. But conceptually, Menē reaches further back, to a time when jewellery was a form of instantly accessible, wearable purchasing power. That feeling of human proximity to tangible value has been gradually eroded as financial instruments (paper currency, bankers’ drafts, cheques, credit cards, tap-and-go) have put ever more barriers between us and the metallic foundations upon which our modern notions of wealth are based.

By working with Menē, I was actually going further back into history than even the grand names of the Place Vendôme. Widmaier-Picasso’s brief to me was disarmingly simple: she explained that there were nowhere near enough expensive items available on the Menē website – a failing that she felt I was well qualified to correct. I set about thinking about things that I would like to own and wear, but which I couldn’t afford in their branded manifestation.

Bracelets came first. I love the drape of a good, heavy curb-link bracelet worn louchely and loosely. There is something very decadent about the catenary curve formed by the excess links that hang below the wrist bone; it recalls for me the underworld nightclub owners in classic Alain Delon vehicles such as Le Samouraï (1967) and Le Cercle Rouge (1970). In the end we settled on two designs. One with alternating short and long rounded links, the other, in platinum, having a slightly more angular profile to the links, one side polished and the other engraved.

My fondness for rings is well documented. I wore them as a child, abandoned them for most of my 20s and 30s, and only returned to them a little over 20 years ago when a dear friend presented me with a cameo ring depicting Socrates. Since then, many others have come and gone from my digits, but Socrates has always remained. He has now been translated from hardstone to metal, in this case platinum.

However, the pièce de résistance has got to be the solid-gold Nick Foulkes x Menē disposable lighter holder. It may be the most reassuring object in the world – its pistol-grip case and around 190 grams of precious metal conferring on the most banal of disposable lighters the beauty of 24-carat gold and the reassurance of tangible weight in the hand.

It is quite simply the most outrageous object. Just writing about it makes me smile and I hope gives Widmaier-Picasso an opportunity to giggle.

They’ve come in innumerable iterations since their inception 72 years ago, but the platonic ideal of a Chanel jacket remains: straight lines, collarless, cut from bouclé cloth, trim as decoration and dotted with interlocking ‘CC’ buttons. They also have plenty of construction details known only to the connoisseur – hems weighted with a chain to hang perfectly, for one – but all you really need remember is that they are exquisite.

Their story begins in the 1920s, with Coco Chanel experimenting with shapes and fabrics lifted from menswear and, if fashion lore is to be believed, the wardrobes of her lovers. But it wasn’t until the 1954 ‘return’ collection, her first since the 1930s, that the Chanel jacket was shown in its now instantly recognisable form: an archetype of the ‘sportswear’ genre – a garment type spearheaded decades before by Coco – characterised by easy-to-wear, informal separates that stood in contrast to the previous century’s constrained and corseted clothing.

A star lot of auction house Bonhams’ trio of Chanel-focused sales – which are taking place in London, Paris and New York this month – is a design from one of Karl Lagerfeld’s final collections for the maison: Metiers d’Art Paris-New York, Pre-Fall 2019. Offered with an estimate of $1,200-$1,800 is a cream mohair jacket with gold metallic threadwork forming a drop-waist silhouette, with glass fastenings by master atelier Gripoix. The same model is part of the house’s legacy beyond the runway too, having graced Margot Robbie in the brand’s Gabrielle Essence fragrance campaign.

Worth noting is the ‘Blazy Buzz’, generated by the house’s newest creative director Matthieu Blazy, which extends to customers beyond the house’s usual client. Though offering strictly womenswear, men are also buying up his latest accessories and ready-to-wear, including jackets, inspired by the Chanel jackets beloved by Harry Styles, A$AP Rocky, Jacob Elordi and long-time mega-fan Marc Jacobs, who wears a classic example on the cover of Charli XCX’s 2026 album Music, Fashion, Film.

Once associated with a rigid, singular vision of style propriety, the Chanel jacket can be dressed up however the wearer pleases. Many words have been printed on how a white T-shirt and jeans gives them an everyday sensibility and, yes, though true, what remains delightful about anything Chanel is its preciousness. The appeal is in embracing its prim qualities or by subverting them into your own expression of modern sartorial customs. You choose.

Material excellence is the calling card of Agnona. Francesco Ilorini Mo established the business in 1953, originally as a highly specialised fabric mill. A true aficionado, Ilorini Mo travelled the globe in pursuit of rare fibres, returning to the Sesia Valley, in Italy’s Piedmont region, laden with cashmere and alpaca from Mongolia and Peru. There, he and his team created fabrics used in the Paris ateliers of couturiers including Cristóbal Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent. Over the decades, the concept of an Agnona collection of ready-to-wear womenswear evolved, with designs shaped by the brand’s expertise in yarns and cloths.

‘Agnona is first and foremost a house of material intelligence. Everything begins with the fibre – with its hand, its weight, its warmth, its behaviour – and from there the garment takes shape,’ says Stefano Aimone, a designer – and great-grandson of Ermenegildo Zegna – who has been the CEO and creative director of Agnona since 2021. ‘But Agnona is also about a certain attitude towards life,’ he adds. ‘It is quiet, cultivated and deeply rooted in the idea that beautiful things should be made with patience and care. We are not interested in producing more for the sake of more. We believe in making things that have a reason to exist, that can accompany someone for a very long time. At its core, Agnona is about creating a sense of continuity – pieces, ideas and experiences that become more meaningful with time and that can be carried forward from one generation to the next.’

For this season’s collection, Aimone looked beyond northern Italy for creative stimulus. His starting point: an English garden in the hours just before dawn. ‘I was interested in that very particular moment when everything is quiet and the landscape feels almost suspended – the coldness of the air, the softness of the light, the textures of the vegetation, and the contrast between fragility and protection,’ he says. Then, he focused on sensations. What does wet earth, leaves and bark feel like to the touch? How do you translate the ‘feeling of wrapping oneself in something warm against the cold’? Cue double cashmere fabrications and enveloping silhouettes that shield against the outside. The collection is a blend of artisanal traditions and technical advancements. Aimone worked with RainWeaver cashmere, an Agnona speciality made of pure cashmere treated with a water-repellent finish. ‘The silhouette comes from this dialogue between softness and protection; nature and technology,’ he adds.

Earlier this year, the first Italian flagship store of Aimone’s Agnona opened in Milan, rooms fitted with Botticino marble terrazzo tiles, natural walnut boiserie and simple brick. The latter is a detail chosen in tribute to Piedmont farmhouses. In London, Aimone’s work can be found at Harrods; opened in 2024, a dedicated Agnona space on the department store’s first floor can easily be spotted from afar, fitted as it is with monochrome tiles made from marble pebbles. Another address of note is the company archives, a treasure trove of rarely seen creations, swatches and ephemera. It’s an important space to Aimone, and one that he describes as ever-evolving. ‘The archive is not simply a record of what Agnona has done; it is part of what Agnona is doing now,’ he explains. ‘A fabric developed today can become tomorrow’s archive, and something we discover in the past can become the starting point for something completely contemporary.’ As is the Agnona way.

It began with a water glass. Long before Lunette’s first menu was written, chef Florence Knight had chosen the cutlery, obsessed over the weight and size of the glasses (she went with creations by Danish designer Alexander Kirkeby) and imagined how curtains might catch the afternoon light. To Knight, these are crucial decisions. They are shaped by the same principles that shape her cooking – restraint, texture, seasonality and softness.

Opening later this month, Lunette is Knight’s first solo venture. Over a decade ago, she rose to prominence as head chef at Polpetto, a refined offshoot of the late, great London restaurateur Russell Norman’s Polpo. She reset the standard again after becoming Sessions Arts Club’s first head chef in 2021. When entrepreneur Mark Wadhwa offered her the chance to open something of her own on the 11th floor of Soho House founder Nick Jones' first post-Soho hotel, St. Clement, she fell in love with the space and light of its Thameside setting. ‘Even as a building site, I could visualise myself and my food here immediately,’ she says. ‘It felt very intuitive.’

Knight has spent the past two years bringing Lunette to life. She describes the process as an onion skin: ‘I wanted it to feel like I was creating layers and textures.’ The original building is brutalist, so it was key that softness, natural movement and ‘human touch’ were added. The voile curtains in the floor-to-ceiling windows are fine enough to show off the views of the snaking Thames and Houses of Parliament beyond. They let enough light in to bounce off the steel tabletops and the wall-hung metallic vintage Jean Prouvé panels sourced – like many things in the space – by Eagle and Hodges.

The statement bar is made of steel, as is the kitchen, which guests will be able to see as they arrive up the stairs. ‘Everything seems to mirror everything else,’ says Knight. ‘It’s not overdecorated or overwhelming. There’s real clarity.’ Flowers are another way Knight has brought colour and movement into the space. ‘They’re alive, much like food.’ Elsewhere, mismatched coasters have been made by hand, using Alex Eagle’s fabric remnants. ‘These things feel playful to me, and they take away from everything feeling sterile.’

Lunette will serve a changing four-course menu at lunch and eight courses in the evenings. Knight describes the style of cooking as ‘a more distilled version of everything I’ve done before’ and the menu itself as ‘carte blanche – not quite omakase, but the idea is that it’s chef-led’. This could mean a tomato tatin, made with tomatoes and brown sugar on buttery puff pastry, served with tomato water. Or milk custard with Cévennes onion sauce, baked onion petals and caviar. ‘The custard dish is something that will run through as a bit of a narrative in what we do,’ she explains. ‘It’s a very soft, milky, rich custard with a lovely foam that dissolves in the mouth.’

Naturally, the dish will evolve with the seasons. Lunette’s name also references the rhythms of the seasons. ‘All this glass reflecting the light, the view at night when you can see the moon from the restaurant, and the idea of the moon having phases felt very fitting,’ she says. ‘And then there’s the architecture – there are lunette windows everywhere outside.’ Knight now has a full team, and is preparing for launch. Just as in a moon cycle, Lunette’s circle is about to be completed.

As a rule, The New Yorker doesn’t run hotel reviews, but it’s worth noting that it dedicated an article to the most recent takeover by the world’s fashionistas of The Mark. This 100-year-old hotel, on the corner of Madison Avenue at East 77th St, serves as the centrum gravitas for those attending the annual fundraiser for the city’s Costume Institute in May, more commonly known as the Met Gala.

Since the advent of social media and a seemingly bottomless appetite for ‘getting ready’ videos, The Mark has attracted the Gala’s glittering guest list as they prepare for the giddiest night in the haute couture calendar. As the New Yorker piece explained, on the first Monday in May, its 153 rooms and suites are mobbed by teams of stylists equipping their clients for the ‘red carpet reveal’ as they depart for the nearby Metropolitan Museum. But in truth, The Mark has long served as the rallying point for the fashion industry, beginning with its 2009 refurbishment under the artistic direction of French interior designer Jacques Grange, who turned this Upper East Side stalwart (originally built in the Renaissance Revival style in 1926) into a cool redoubt of modern luxury – not least in the lobby, which Grange transformed from old‐school vestibule into a black-and-white themed catwalk in its own right, flanked by a snug cocktail bar and a rotating collection of contemporary art. More recently, the hotel’s Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant has been joined by the first US outpost of the legendary Parisian fashion haunt Caviar Kaspia, thereby cementing its culinary credentials among the smart set.

As befits the breed, fashionistas have had their gripes about the property – notably a shortage of sufficient elevator capacity to cope with the demand for rides to its vast private roof terrace adjoining the largest penthouse suite in America. Perhaps more surprising, however, has been the lack of a standalone spa. A Frédéric Fekkai salon opened in 2009, and remains a cornerstone of the area’s beauty offering, but this month sees the unveiling of The Mark Wellness and Longevity Spa by Augustinus Bader. Here, Professor Bader’s patented TFC8 technology – an anti-ageing powerhouse that improves cell function to reduce the effects of ageing on the skin’s appearance – will be available in a number of skin- and haircare therapies at the brand’s first dedicated US hotel spa. Complementing The Mark’s Technogym-equipped 24-hour fitness centre, its three treatment rooms – custom built to deliver a calming, sensory-led retreat from the bustle of the city – promise to add a further pinch point come next May, when preparations for the Met Gala will surely require an appointment.

With nine restaurants already scattered across France, La Nouvelle Garde has built its reputation on bringing the classics of the French brasserie to a younger audience. In July, the group brought its popular formula to London, opening Brasserie Olivia – its first international address – on the corner of Sloane Square, with head chef Rachide Sambu Baldé at the helm.

Over lunch and dinner (with breakfast launching soon, a London exclusive), home-style favourites are served in a bustling space designed by long-time collaborators B3 Designers, where the open-fire kitchen, seafood counter and dining room sit beneath Murano-style chandeliers. Ingredients are seasonal and carefully sourced, with butter – a French essential – imported from a family-run cheese dairy in Loire-Atlantique, and a wine list spanning 13 French regions. Parmesan-filled gougères, slow-cooked boeuf bourguignon and praliné Paris-Brest are standouts.

From October, visitors will be able to continue their evening downstairs for a nightcap. Le Venus Bar will offer an intimate setting to linger after dinner, with mixologist Jennifer Le Nechet and her team serving cocktails with an experimental twist: the menu will include a tzatziki-inspired cucumber and gin milk punch, as well as a tomato-infused Negroni reminiscent of Provence.

Intimate and atmospheric, the 22-seat basement takes inspiration from 1970s Parisian after-hours: warm oak panelling, chartreuse-green velvet chairs, antique objects, and shelves filled with vinyl records, which guests can play on the bar’s turntable to soundtrack their own evening. “Venus Bar is a reflection of the vibrant late-night scene of Paris and we are excited to inject this energy to the centre of Chelsea”, said Charles Perez, who founded La Nouvelle Garde in 2019 with Victor Dubillot.

These two openings come amid a wave of Parisian-inspired bistros and bars bringing a sense of chic, relaxed conviviality to London: Camille opened in Borough Market in 2024, followed by French Society in West Hampstead, while Buvette relocated from Notting Hill to Neal’s Yard last June. Later this month, the team behind Levan and Bar Levan in Peckham will add to the trend with Cassette in Covent Garden, a “bistrot à vins” promising “a Parisian energy”.

“We established La Nouvelle Garde for one reason, to preserve the French art de vivre and bring a new golden age to the traditional brasseries everyone is used to,” says Charles Perez. If London’s current appetite for French hospitality is anything to go by, they might be just as at home across the Channel.

In recent weeks, I’ve noticed a miserable new category of body-negative, GLP-1 adverts being repeatedly served all over Instagram. ‘Do your doctors insist that your BMI is too low for weight loss medication?’ they proclaim. ‘Not here!’ Roll up roll up, come one, come all, because everyone – especially those most susceptible to dysmorphic online messaging – can always be smaller.

It is, to state the obvious, a difficult time to resist and revolt; to dig our heels in and choose decadence and a life of pleasure. Which is why Tavern, the recently-opened new Shoreditch bistro helmed by the team behind The Nest and the Michelin-starred Restaurant St. Barts, feels like such a joyful and almost punk-spirited venture. Flaunting a kind of gothically medieval style of branding, from its blocky typeface to the olde drawings of quaffing patrons adorning their website, Tavern wants you to know from its chosen moniker outwards that it is a place for a more ribald kind of fun. If the word ‘tavern’ rightly makes you think of ruddy-faced men chugging ale and having a gay old time, then Executive Chef Brendan Appleby has taken this spirit of hedonism and twisted it for 2026.

This means big flavours, like a fat scallop served in the half shell and pooled with umami-rich cobnut XO sauce, or a Germanic sliced pork and cuttlefish sausage, accessorised with fruity chutney and sauerkraut that makes you yearn for Christmas markets and jugs of mulled wine. Big showpieces are very much the order of the day too, not least a tankard of crispy pig skins that coil and stretch up to the rafters. Each piece of light, puffed crackling is little shy of half a metre long; dipped into its hefty smoked cod’s roe dip, it’s a bar snack fit for Henry VIII.

And then we come to what they’re calling The Chunion Puff: its capital letter menu status indicative of how quickly the dish has already begun to assert its status as a star. What arrives at our table looks like an acid-trip version of a pair of mossy boulders: two rotund balls, absolutely slathered in fine, voluminous clouds of parmesan cheese and dusted with a bright green powder. Stick your knife into the perfectly structured choux pastry and a huge splodge of gooey, cheesy custard will spurt out with pleasingly little decorum. Take a full bite and, inside, the oozing fromage is joined by the unctuous flavours of confit onion.

It’s messy and playful and unashamedly luxurious: a fat savoury profiterole for adults who know that the pleasure of a good dessert need not wait until the final course. Apparently, you’re meant to eat the whole thing in one, which might be a tad overkill but a word to the wise – don’t wear white if you intend to bite.

Elsewhere, if you’re looking for opulence of the kind that embraces quantity as much as quality, then MiMi Mei Fair’s Dim Sum Dynasty brunch has an unequivocal wow factor. In its quaint Chinese tearoom-style dining space, the showstopper is an 11-piece dim sum set that arrives in a basket as broad as your table. Filled with delicate octopus siu mei, crispy radish puffs, duck bao and plenty more, it’s the sort of occasion meal that should impress friends, in-laws or anyone with eyeballs.

Final mention must also go to Cometa on Charlotte Street, an exemplary new Mexican seafood restaurant that’s recently been praised with a Michelin Guide addition. Make sure to order a handful of oysters, served with memorable, piquant house condiments, and then go for the crab chilpachole rice. A cousin of risotto, made with a rich, seafood broth, it comes adorned with a quenelle of smoked eel cream that slowly melts into ribbons. Don’t rush it. Let it do its thing. If we’re eating as well as this, who needs to hurry?

Every book is a journey… now, quite literally. A new travel trend is emerging, with book retreats inviting people to escape. Into the story, yes, but not only. Moving beyond visits to famous authors’ homes or locations from novels, this new form of literary tourism is about travelling specifically to make time for reading – and to meet fellow readers along the way.

In Cambridge, the historic University Arms hotel has introduced a programme honouring the city’s literary legacy. Stay for the Story: a Reading Retreat is a two-night stay inviting guests to hand in their phones and switch off for the joy of reading. Designed to create intentional downtime, the package includes a personalised reading list and reading journal, a private consultation with a “Book Butler” for guests to discuss their favourite topics and authors, and a complimentary drink in the Library to be enjoyed during their own private reading session. Cambridge Literary Festival is involved, too, curating seasonal reading lists that feature a selection of books by authors from their own line-up. “It's fascinating to watch reading tastes shift with the seasons. At the moment, we're seeing a real appetite for crime, mystery and thriller,” notes a representative of the University Arms. “Romance is proving equally popular, particularly stories woven into Cambridge itself. Laura Barnett's The Versions of Us, which follows two Cambridge undergraduates across six decades of parallel lives, has struck a chord with guests, as has the poignant love story at the heart of Penelope Fitzgerald's The Gate of Angels.”

Also tapping into the literary history of a destination are the Reading Retreats by Slow Travel Co, set at Churchill Manor in the Cotswolds. The itinerary includes a day trip to Oxford for a literary tour, but for some travellers, the real appeal lies less in the destination itself than in the chance to spend time with people who share their love of reading.

Participants, typically women aged 28 to 74, are active on Goodreads, engage with the BookTok community and other similar platforms. Rather than simply reading at home, they come to discover new titles through conversation, a bond with fellow readers, and turn a personal interest into a shared experience. At the retreat, they exchange books on the first night, explore local villages, and gather for chef-prepared dinners. This model isn’t confined to Britain’s literary cities, either: with more than twenty reading retreats a year, the programme spans a growing range of locations, from the Maldives and Costa Rica to Aruba.

Boutique Book Breaks takes the community experience one step further: it offers readers the chance to hear directly from writers through on-site interviews and group discussions – an opportunity to meet authors in the intimate setting of a weekend getaway, rather than at a large literary festival. “Our retreats are a bit different from others on the market as we always have new release or early access books and authors onsite to chat through the story,” says founder Emma Donalson. The November edition held at the Talbot Malton, North Yorkshire, will welcome Sara Sheridan, Alison Barrow, and Deesha Philyaw, with guests receiving an advance copy of the latter’s new book ahead of its UK release. Between other bookish activities (past editions included bookshop pop-ups, bibliotherapy sessions and book-themed quizzes), guests can settle into the lounge and make progress on their reading by the two fires. So, with summer ending, time to leave the beach read behind. The book is proving to be more than something to pack for a holiday; it is now the reason for going.

The Exhibition to See: The Edge of Things

Four decades of Nadav Kander’s work is celebrated in The Edge of Things. It runs from 18 September to 20 January and is also the subject of a must-have monograph from Thames & Hudson. London-based Kander is the creator of some of the most instantly recognisable portraits in contemporary life, from President Obama to David Lynch, Rosamund Pike and Mark Rylance (and not forgetting the King). His search for moments of transcendence makes this retrospective in Foam’s spectacular canal-side temple to the medium of photography a great reason to get to Amsterdam.

The Film to See: Pressure

Pressure is a British war film with a stellar cast which you can see in cinemas from 9 September. Working Title developed David Haig’s play, examining the fraught run-up to the D-Day landings to make a slickly contemporary take on a World War 2 drama. The film belongs to Andrew Scott, with support from Brendan Fraser and Damian Lewis. After dismay that his devastating performance in All of Us Strangers didn’t attract awards season acclaim in 2024, Scott also shines this season in Elsinore. He plays the late Ian Charleson (1919-1990) as he played Hamlet at the National Theatre in the last months of his life. Ahead of the UK release, it features at the London Film Festival as their gala opening film and is without doubt the cinema ticket to try to book this month.

The Theatre to See: Hay Fever

If you want to see Richard E Grant on stage, get booking for the classic Hay Fever, which will be at Wyndham’s Theatre from 22 September. Opposite Grant will be Broadway and Cybill star Christine Baranski, which sounds like a sparkling mix for Noel Coward’s country house party from hell. See you there…

The Album to Buy: Ride Lonesome

After his longest-ever gap between albums, Beck has new music with Ride Lonesome, finally following 2019’s Hyperspace. There’s also the chance to see him on tour this month in the US and Canada. That’s sadly not the case for Timeless, which is ten tracks of rare and unreleased studio and live recordings from Prince, but true fans will be seeking out the limited-edition purple vinyl.

The Literary Event to Attend: Chelsea Arts Festival

Chelsea Arts Festival is a reminder of the Royal Borough as a place for writers, artists and bookshops. Its second edition takes place at venues across SW3 from 16 to 20 September with the chance to hear from the likes of Susie Cave, Bernardine Evaristo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Don’t forget a stop at John Sandoe and Book Bar too, to keep them thriving… Or if you want to get your ideas out of town, Sir Don McCullin, Esther Freud and Carlos Acosta and many more are on the programme for Mariella Frostrup and Jason McCue’s new two-day Somerset festival Big Brue (in beautiful Bruton of course) on the 19th and 20th.

The TV to Watch: Slow Horses

BAFTA-winning Slow Horses has been renewed for a sixth and seventh season… the sixth arrives on 16 September on Apple TV, with episodes released every Wednesday for six weeks. If you possibly can, save Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas’s sensational spy performances up for an immersive viewing session of the best-written drama that you can watch at home.

The Collaboration to Look Out For: The Last Dolls at Atlas Gallery

It’s 20 years since the untimely death of photographer Bob Carlos Clarke. A London/Irish original, his legacy is celebrated in style with The Last Dolls at Atlas Gallery, 49 Dorset Street from 5 to 26 September. The first London exhibition of his work for a decade, this sexy selling show is curated by Brandei Estes of the NPG and feels as though he is still pushing boundaries. Whether you’re an admiring window shopper or a serious collector it’s a must-see, organised in collaboration with the Little Black Gallery.

The Theatre Tickets to Book: The Lives of Others

The premier of Stasi drama The Lives of Others, adapted from the Oscar-winning 2006 film, has lured Keira Knightley to the Adelphi in a very rare chance to see the star on stage. She is under surveillance opposite Luke Thompson. Directed by Robert Icke, be transported to East Germany in 1984 from 20 October to 9 January.

The Books to Read: Threads and Man & Dog

A British institution with an unconventional route to success, get behind the scenes with Sir Paul Smith’s memoir Threads out on 10 September with Macmillan. (A brilliant raconteur, the audiobook is read by his pal Bill Nighy). Also this month, devastation at the loss of Stan has led Tony Parsons to meditate on the love humans have for our dogs in Man & Dog: A Love Story (DK books). His ability to explain what so many people feel made Stan a viral column and now a book for anyone that’s grieved for a dog as a true member of the family.

After the languor of a summer spent holed up in some divine beachside paradise or other, the arrival of autumn offers a welcome jolt to the system, as the seductive appeal of dressing up returns and you prepare to hit the streets, hair bouncing from those resumed blow-dry appointments, and feel the immediacy of an urban buzz. Now is the time to appreciate city life in all its glory.

New York

Nowhere is the allure of ‘fall’ more potent than in New York. Sited in the heart of Tribeca, the cobblestoned former neighbourhood of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy (and today home to Beyoncé and Jay-Z), Warren Street Hotel – the third New York property by Firmdale Hotels – is the embodiment of hotelier Kit Kemp’s trademark whimsical sensibility. Yes, the area might feel electric, but this hotel is a deeply mellow place with a proper grown-up slickness, where all the individually designed rooms (69 in total) are fabulous – loft-style on steroids, in keeping with their Downtown location. Locals and guests flock to the restaurant, an eclectic mélange of rich interiors where the menu is a paean to autumnal comfort food: chicken schnitzel and arugula salad, or corn risotto with Cotija cheese. But nothing compares to the ambience of the roof terrace, with its storybook views across glittering Manhattan.

London

Across the Atlantic, Maybourne has many seductive attractions in its London portfolio, but the cocooning nature of its latest offering is among the most reassuring. Arguably the best night’s sleep in London is to be had in one of The Emory’s 61 suites, their generous size and expansive views across Hyde Park the work of a flotilla of interiors stalwarts including André Fu, Patricia Urquiola, Champalimaud Design and Pierre-Yves Rochon. Downstairs, there’s a subterranean spa/wellness club, Surrenne, a no-expense-spared holistic (and medi) wonderland with doctors on hand for biohacking, alongside Stella McCartney facials and massages that range from Ayurvedic to a memorable Scalp and Body Spa Ritual, as well as London’s first Tracy Anderson studio, whose dance/ cardio classes have garnered quite the cult following. So too has Jean-George Vongerichten’s three-in-one abc kitchens, bringing his trio of New York outlets to London for the first time. Still, the crowning glory has to be Bar 33, where you can see the whole of London’s Peter Pan skyline come to life as you sip an icy vodka Martini. And what could possibly outshine that view? Arriving by helicopter as part of The Emory’s collaboration with Flexjet for guests, perhaps?

Antwerp

Antwerp remains the ultimate pilgrimage destination for the fashion crowd, but a great hotel scene has never prevailed, until Botanic Sanctuary opened its doors in 2021. You might not imagine a gourmand awakening in a 786-year-old monastery, but there is more to this Antwerp hot spot and horticultural landmark than meets the eye. First off, it houses three separate Michelin-starred restaurants, including the two-star Hertog Jan for an interesting take on an omakasestyle menu with Flemish fare and herbs picked from its own on-site garden, and a more low-key bistro for elevated moulesfrites. You will also truly appreciate the magic of massage here, with the most extensive menu conceivable, including the detox option, which is profoundly calming – especially with the vast array of herbal oils from the hotel’s own botanical gardens. But the wonders of this cavernous hotel don’t end there. The suites are taupe boudoirs with fabulous beds that you’ll never want to leave, although the Spa Suite comes with its own sauna, which may succeed in luring you out.

Rome

The Eternal City always delivers, but there is something particularly enchanting about the golden glow it casts in September. Whatever the season, when in Rome you want to stay somewhere unrivalled in the momentous stakes, somewhere that positively radiates glamour. One word: Bvlgari. Of course, the house is synonymous with Rome, where its founder, Sotirio Bulgari, opened his eponymous maison 140 years ago – and as the group’s second Italian hotel, sitting in a prime position on Piazza Augusto Imperatore, overlooking the Ara Pacis and the Mausoleum of Augustus, Bvlgari Hotel Roma has become the most gilded place to stay. With its museum-worthy décor (the landmark Rationalist building was designed by architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo), the hotel is also an entertainment destination in itself, the tone set by the soaring lobby and a rooftop restaurant and pool where those views can best be enjoyed with a Negroni Sbagliato.

Nice

And when you want to feel a touch of summer in autumn, Nice remains an unparalleled option on the Côte d’Azur, especially with the recent opening of Hôtel du Couvent, TRAVEL hotelier Valéry Grégo’s sought-after holistic hideaway, which commands a huge swathe of the Old Town and draws a glamorously arty crowd for extremely good reasons. Never mind the infinity pool carved into the terraced gardens (artfully landscaped by Tom Stuart-Smith); nor the chic take on monastic interiors, with antique busts and urns, and colossal clouds of sweet peas or sunflower arrangements from a local florist; nor the enchantment of having an on-site herbalist, Gregory, who can prescribe tonics and teas. Grégo’s keenest interest in restoring this former convent is in the preservation of the innate peace and simplicity of an historic haven, so as well as the power of herbs, menus are devised around the seasonal produce from the garden and the hotel’s farm. You can slink down to the restored Roman baths to relish an incredibly effective relaxing massage with rosemary oil. Then savour the short-but-sweet menu of perfectly executed classics, such as grilled tuna steak with a ratatouille, or enjoy natural wines at Grégo’s bistro next door, where they serve the world’s best lightly battered sage leaves, freshly picked from the herb garden. The cumulative effect makes for an extraordinarily magical urban experience.

Located at the edge of Marylebone, Mayfair and Soho, the BoTree, which opened in 2023, is taking the gym and spa concept beyond traditional fitness. I has just launched triplebond, its new members’ club, bringging treatments, training and socialising under one roof.

Triplebond is home to Marylebone’s first rooftop pool. But what really sets the club apart is its science-based approach to wellbeing. Its programme was shaped by health practitioners around three pillars: activation, restoration, and connection. After joining, members receive a personal diagnostic assessment from the Health concierge, based on their blood analysis, DNA profiling and gut microbiome testing. They can access classes from high-energy training to stretch- or breathe-led recovery, book treatments ranging from cryotherapy to red light therapy, and relax in high-tech lounges equipped with zero-gravity massage chairs and weighted blankets. There’s also in-ear circadian-synchronising therapy to ease jet lag, as the club is open to both local members and hotel guests. Those staying in can even choose from the in-room technology rental menu to request compression boots, red light face masks and more to be brought to their rooms.

This holistic offering taps into a broader move: modern wellness is becoming less about the occasional spa day or solo retreat, and more about where people spend their social time. The club was designed as a place for members to connect, and comes with a wellness café, a bar and a full programme of events.

“Science has long told us that the benefits of human connection and belonging are as vital to our long-term health outcomes as sleep, movement and nutrition. We know that wellness is no longer a solo pursuit to be squeezed into your calendar when the moment allows,” says Louise Rumball, creator of vision and concept at triplebond. “We set out to create an integrated social wellness experience, where belonging, human connection and vitality are the foundation, and state-of-the-art wellness, recovery and performance treatments, services and protocols layer on top”. Tech-savvy or not, people might join for the new wellness offering and stay for the community.

Londoners may be familiar with Karl Lagerfeld’s Future Legacy flagship store concept, which opened two years ago on Regent Street. This month, the house has opened another space in Amsterdam, on the corner of Raadhuisstraat and Herengracht. With a monochromatic palette and a combination of brushed metal, raw concrete and reflective surfaces, its interior design reflects Lagerfeld's distinctive aesthetic.

Here, however, instead of men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections, visitors can enjoy speciality coffee and pastries. “We wanted to create a place where people can connect with the world of KARL in a new way, beyond fashion," says CEO Pier Paolo Righi.

Located by the brand’s international headquarters, the café was co-curated with Amsterdam hospitality atelier Pantopia, founded by Youssef Zyat, known for their seasonal approach to menus. Every detail was considered, from the branded cups to the takeaway containers. Shoppers can also purchase limited-edition merchandise including a curated selection of accessories, coffee table books, candles – and even the brand’s signature white shirt. Until mid-September, an adjacent pop-up showroom is showcasing a curated selection from the Karl Lagerfeld collections, including seasonal pieces and signature styles.

With roasters scattered across the city, Amsterdam is known for its vibrant café culture. As a recent addition to this scene, the Karl Lagerfeld Café concept extends the house’s offering beyond fashion, making it accessible to both local visitors and international guests. It also reflects a broader trend of luxury brands expanding into the lifestyle and hospitality space, offering a taste of a premium experience at a more accessible price point.

KARL LAGERFELD CAFÉ
Raadhuisstraat 32
1016 DG Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Monday – Sunday
8am – 5pm

In the business of fashion, all waste is not created equal. There is a world of difference between the fine 15-micron cashmere yarns that might be counted as excess in Loro Piana’s knitting unit and the dead-stock material found in any old sweater factory. Both deserve to be put to good reuse, but in the hands of Loro Piana, the style world’s beacon of quiet luxury, the results are discreetly exceptional.

A few years back, the brand was faced with a build-up of surplus accumulated over the past few years and, given that reducing resource waste is now a sine qua non of the luxury industry, committed to reusing the excess stock. The team, led by product development & collections merchandise director Alessandra Varianini, came up with a solution in the shape of a capsule collection of re-cashmere knitwear and accessories, entitled Loro.

“We wanted to recreate and achieve the same hand feel and touch as per all our precious yarns by using only Loro Piana carefully selected surplus from our production chain and Loro Piana virgin cashmere fibres. The knitwear overflow reutilised is taken from about two years ago,” says Varianini. The process started with removing all the buttons, stitching and zippers from the surplus items, dividing up the colour categories and breaking down the items into pure carded cashmere.

This process of unravelling the precious yarn is lengthy and intricate but delivered a yarn that could then be re-spun with virgin undyed cashmere to create an appealing handle and melange hues in shades of heather, nut and grey. Stripped of fastenings, the Loro styles, including four knits, one beanie hat, a scarf and a sneaker, are essentialist in design. “We liked the idea of having the yarn and the cashmere speak for itself and we focused on the hand feel and hues. Adding hardware and fastening would have been a harsh result, taking away from the yarn,” explains Varianini of the redux.

The paralysis of choice that afflicts us all was also lessened with the initial simple line-up of a polo shirt, turtleneck, round neck and V-neck, which has since been added to with a couple of further designs. The shoe, meanwhile, was a calibration of the brand’s famously lightweight 360 Flexy Walk sneaker (the original was introduced in 2018, with the knitted upper made in Wish wool yarn), this time fashioned in re-cashmere with a high-tech sole – probably the hushiest of stealth footwear.

Loro Piana’s very fine cashmere, which is gathered from the underfleece of the goats that roam the arid mountains of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, is one of the reasons why LVMH bought an 80% stake in the brand, based in Quarona, Italy, for $2.6 billion in 2013. The company, formerly a sixth-generation family-run affair, is now sailing smoothly under the stewardship of Antoine Arnault, who is chairman, a role he undertakes alongside working as CEO of Berluti. What LVMH invested in was a specialist manufacturer of noble yarns and materials that had a stellar reputation in the luxury business, especially among tailoring and knitwear designers. With material scarcity a reality, Loro Piana offered a very well-run vertical production business with environmental and sustainable credentials (everything is traceable) and an innovative ethos.

Bernard and Antoine Arnault were already long-time fans. Acquiring a few polo shirts and knits on summer trips to Portofino was an annual father/son ritual. When Pier Luigi Piana (grand-nephew of the founder, Pietro Loro Piana) inked the deal, there was one caveat: he insisted that LVMH would not employ or promote a star designer. For a luxury conglomerate that has reshaped fashion with its platforming of hero creatives (Pharrell Williams at LV menswear, and Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones at Dior), this might have been a hard fact to chew. Yet the gold in Loro Piana is in the careful harvesting and production of the highest-quality natural resources – cotton, silk, cashmere, vicuña and its proprietary The Gift of Kings finest Merino wool included. Here, the animals, plants, spinners and dye masters are king.

The company has proved resilient. Sergio and Pier Luigi Loro Piana took over the business in the 1970s, investing in state-of-the-art production that safeguarded the company against rising labour costs in Europe. As the European textile business lost out to Asia in the 1980s, Loro Piana managed to hold its own, running a network of Tuscany-based factories for dyeing, spinning, weaving, knitting and finishing, seven days a week. There is also a manufacturing plant in Mongolia that spins the cashmere yarn, while vicuña is gathered from herds that are native to the Andes Mountains.

Antoine is skilfully steering Loro Piana into the future, eschewing flashy store roll-outs or marketing fireworks in favour of sponsorship of sporting events, the development of the interiors division and a gradual, measured evolution. That consistency and design integrity is why the product is seen as valuable; why business moguls and thought leaders across the globe (check Kendall Roy in Succession) sport its half-zip sweaters and hush-hush sneakers as a badge of honour.

Now, those serene melange Loro sweaters, which by necessity are limited edition, have become a sought-after non-statement. And the wearers are gratitude-signalling to the reuse of that protective, temperature-controlling fine inner-layer hair of the Mongolian goat. Remember to hand wash with gentle soap.

When Matthew Freud decided to enter the hospitality world, purchasing an inn (dating back to the 16th century) and the neighbouring former Post Office in the picturesque Cotswolds village of Burford, his vision was not about bucolic luxury and fluffy bathrobes. Instead, he envisioned a convivial retreat where one would benefit from mind-expanding activities, nourishing food and good company.

Freud set about creating a gorgeous environment (18 rooms), with plenty to do over and above the regular country-hotel offer of massages and hikes. “A mental-health spa is the best way to describe Bull – A Coaching Inn, somewhere where you can experience human connection through learning,” says Freud of a rolling programme that might include a morning of breathwork and meditation, workshops in perfumery or acting, a lesson in bee-keeping or Padel tennis, topped off by an evening book club or a Night on the Tiles session making ceramics with his artist niece, Martha Freud. Flourishing is the end goal of these action-packed two-day stays, devised to seduce you into a flow state – where anxieties and status-jockeying slide away and you have a moment to explore and catch your breath.

The design of Bull and its outlying workshop buildings, called Coach House (a five-minute stroll), is beautifully soft on the eye, with terracotta and slate-grey walls, linen curtains, marble-tiled bathrooms, sumptuous beds, rugs, and dried oak branches arranged in vessels. Walls are hung with provocative art (Damien Hirst, Harland Miller and Jean-Michel Basquiat included) and a selection of Freud’s own photography collection.

There are four dining options (the room price includes the workshops, food and soft drinks); one can enjoy sushi at Hiro, presided over by Hiromi (formerly of Nobu in Ibiza, with 18 years working with Nobu Matsuhisa); tuck into meat and fish on the grill at Guy Ritchie’s tented dining area, Wild; or graze casually outside on the terrace. The evening is dominated by a communal supper at Horn, with no menu (“It’s family dining style, with people serving one another as the conversation flows,” says Freud), after which the night might segue into poker, backgammon or chess with one’s newfound learning buddies.

Freud is as invested in the venture as much as in the village that he has made his home since painstakingly restoring Burford Priory, a Jacobean estate where some of the activities take place. The kitchen at Bull, meanwhile, benefits from the produce from the Priory’s vegetable and cut-flower garden, which has been brought back to splendour by Freud’s partner, fine jeweller and horticulturalist Sheherazade Goldsmith.

As summer draws to a close, wardrobes are making room for autumn layers. Trench season is just beginning, and it’s a little bit more special this year: the V&A is celebrating the Burberry’s 170th anniversary with an exhibition dedicated to its most iconic creation – the trench coat.

Opening on 21 September in the Prince Consort Gallery, “The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon” will bring together rare material from the Burberry Archive and the V&A’s own collection, tracing the evolution of the garment from its practical outerwear and military roots to its status as a fashion icon.

Renowned globally yet quintessentially British, the Burberry trench is considered “a symbol of innovation, creativity and timeless style,” says Carly Eck, Brand Curator for the fashion house. “A myriad of objects from the brand’s Archive will be publicly exhibited for the first time – from early 20th-century catalogues to a Burberry trench coat worn by fashion designer Hardy Amies”.

Covering Invention, Craft and Creativity, the display traces the history of the garment from Thomas Burberry’s invention of cotton gabardine in 1879, establishing the trench as a popular item both functional and stylish, to its continued reinvention on today’s runways.

This collaboration marks a first step in a partnership between the brand and the museum, ahead of the launch of The Burberry Gallery in 2028, that will see a major transformation of the V&A’s fashion galleries.

21 September – 3 January 2027
Prince Consort Gallery, V&A South Kensington

Botswana

There are some places where you don’t even need to close your eyes to be transported back in time; places or journeys that conjure up such a weirdly vivid intimacy, it’s as though you had been here before. Quad-biking or horse-riding to Kubu Island (or, as it’s affectionately known, ‘the island of lost baobab trees’) in Botswana, with Natural Selection, has this effect. The landscape here is so vast and pure, it’s as close as you can get to the world as it was made – undisturbed, unpolluted and flooded with a prehistoric silence. To stay at San Camp as your base is a ‘trip’ in itself; it’s as remote as it is romantic, and the sense of freedom is exhilarating. Without electricity, the camp comes into its own at nightfall, when hundreds of oil lamps are lit and everyone congregates with their guides for dinner. But safari guides Super Sande and Ralph Bousfield are much more than safari specialists – a quixotic mix of time-travellers and historians, who whisk you back millennia, showing you pieces of neolithic pottery, rock drawings, animal skeletons and petrified fossils along the way. There’s also something satisfyingly primaeval about stopping to walk on the salt pan, where the crust feels like ice cracking. And when you do eventually reach the island, another special quality of these guides is that they make you feel as if you, personally, have discovered it all for the first time. It’s best to visit when a full moon beams off the salt crystals, but whatever the lunar cycle, you sleep beneath stars so close, you feel you could touch them.

River Nile

For sunrises, nowhere is more spectacular at dawn than the River Nile as the sun emerges rose-pink from its glassy waters. Gustave Flaubert would have loved Set Nefru, a recently restored dahabiya boat that feels like entering a romantic time portal. It was once owned by the Egyptian royal family and is now under the care of the illustrious Hotel Al Moudira in Luxor. And what a party you could have on board; the boat sleeps up to 10 people, and its five cabins (and the rest of the vessel) have been meticulously restored. So too the interiors, with the softest Malaika Cairo bedding, and antique Limoges tableware on which are served fabulous meals of zingy salads, soups, grilled river fish and the best bread – delivered daily from Al Moudira. Days drift by as you pass biblical landscapes and wide fields of bananas and date trees, gliding up to the riverbanks of El Kab, best admired while sitting on cushions around low copper tables, sipping hibiscus tea. On-board guide Ahmed is an exceptional Egyptologist, bringing to life the Ptolemaic temple of Kom Omobo, where the double altar is dedicated to crocodile god Sobek and sky god Haroeris, or the temple of Esna, home to the most ornate floral capitals and beautiful zodiac ceiling in the world. Come nightfall, back on the boat, it’s the kind of place that makes you want to dress up and slink around in bias-cut satin dresses and dinner jackets, languorously enjoying Martinis by moonlight.

The Mani Peninsula

Another place where you feel something close to nostalgia from the moment you arrive is the cultural retreat of Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermorhttps://patrickleighfermorhouse.reserve-online.net/aboutthe cultural retreat of Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermor. To stay in their house in the Mani Peninsula is to embrace an enclave of the Peloponnese that’s redolent of Byzantine glamour. Patrick, an adventurer and travel writer, chose a plot on the outskirts of the town of Kardamyli, with its castellated fort and mountains that plunge into the sea. He later wrote that it was ‘Byzantium Restored’, as local lore has it that the descendants of the Byzantine emperors fled here as the Ottomans conquered the rest of Greece. Leigh Fermor bequeathed his home to the Benaki Museum to be run as a cultural site and writers’ retreat, but for three months a year it transforms into a small hotel, where guests can luxuriate in this authorly paradise complete with steps to a secluded beach. The buildings, furniture and vast book collection still bear the couple’s high-bohemian mark, from the main three-bedroomed house to the two neighbouring guest houses (one of which was formerly Leigh Fermor’s writing studio).

A large part of the magic here is when, softened up for dinner by sundowners on the spectacular terrace, you feel a frisson of the ghosts of guests past: you can imagine the soirées the Leigh Fermors gave when Evelyn Waugh or Bruce Chatwin visited (Chatwin’s ashes are buried in the mountains above Kardamyli). It’s a place that intoxicates with rhythm and magic, as Leigh Fermor wrote in Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese: ‘There is hardly a rock or a stream without a battle or a myth.’ You feel that magic in the shade of the fig-scented patios and secret gardens, garlanded with cypress trees, olive trees, white oleanders and wild flowers, that roll down to the sea. It is a calm, almost spiritual place, where you still feel you could be staying in the private summer redoubt of a friend – and, with any luck, it will stay that way.

At John Pawson’s Cotswolds farmhouse, in the open-plan, refectory-style kitchen that regularly hosts lunch parties of 12 or 14, a 3.6m-long table of the minimalist architect’s own design takes centre stage. Another, longer story was told in Italy, where Brunello Cucinelli, the king of soft-tailored munificence, launched his Autumn/Winter 2014-2015 collection by imagining an alfresco dining moment stretching down a cypress-hemmed avenue into the Umbrian hills. And beating them both to the punch, the house of Ferragamo hosted a dinner at Burlington Arcade back in 2012, with a single dining table running the 179m length of the covered Samuel Ware-designed shopping landmark, its tableclothed surface disappearing down the famous gentle gradient to Piccadilly.

The modern long table – whether dressed, candlelit or whiteclothed – has its roots in medieval monasteries, where the utilitarian, refectory-style table was first used by monks for communal dining during the 14th century. Leonardo da Vinci depicted the drama, scale and social reach of the long dining table in his Last Supper, painted a century later, but took artistic licence by arranging Jesus and his 12 disciples along one side of the table, when in reality, of course, they would have been sitting across from each other.

Today, the long table has moved beyond the army mess, garden fêtes and street parties to conquer civic banquets and grand receptions. At a wedding lunch or significant birthday bash, a single long surface negates the snooty, outdated notion of a “top table”. Here is a democracy in dining that cannot be achieved with myriad round tables and the attendant class system of the table plan. Instead, parallel placement encourages sitters to move freely (once the entrée plates have been cleared), without the worry of leaving gaping empty spaces.

The Connaught hotel in London currently stages regular, extended dining events in its private rooms; tablescapes of dreamy infinity, tessellations of candelabras, flowers, glass, silverware and linen glinting into the Mayfair distance. The long story continues…

At the height of his late-20th-century British Saturday-night TV fame, the late Australian TV critic and travel broadcaster Clive James would show clips of Endurance, the most extreme game show Japanese television had to offer, in which people would eat insects as they tumbled from huge inflatable ladders into empty swimming pools full of mouse traps. No wonder a generation grew up believing Japan to be some sort of giant self-harm version of It’s A Knockout.

Fortunately, five years ago, an alluring shot of Mount Fuji on Instagram drew me back to Japan, after a 25-year break, where I discovered a world beyond sado-masochistic game shows; one of forests, rivers, landscapes, seascapes, sculpture parks, architecture, food, fashions and shops that were so magnetic I’ve been back four times since.

If arriving into Tokyo for the first time, a degree of international familiarity, as well as uninterrupted views of Mount Fuji, can be found at the Mandarin Oriental in the business district of Nihonbashi, the very centre of the original Tokyo. Look down from your room and you will see Shinkansen (bullet trains) sliding gracefully into Tokyo Station.

A few blocks away is the Tokyo Imperial Palace, the main residence of the Japanese Emperor and a must for fans of enormous moats, stone walls and history. There are, of course, countless restaurants, people and adventures to experience and enjoy in Tokyo, but the bookshop chain Tsutaya at Daikanyama is on another level to any other bookshop anywhere, the Kapital clothing shops stretch your imagination like few Western shops will, and Daiwa Sushi in the docks is a must-visit.

Board a Shinkansen and 90 minutes away from the metropolis, in Hakone, the Japanese Lake District, you will find a tree-lined valley overlooking a powerful river and numerous hot-spring onsen hotels. Choose the KAI Hakone and, as you sit with your feet in the river, gazing up at the dense forest as the water crashes from boulder to boulder, you’ll soon forget the city of 37 million people you’ve just left behind. No wonder Tokyoites are apt to pop down for a day’s rest and relaxation.

Unexpectedly, at 808 Monsmare, Hakone, you will find some of the world’s best pizzas outside of Naples. And at the truly astounding Hakone Open-Air Museum, you’ll discover sculptures like the brilliantly playful kids-only hand-knitted playscape by Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam, and a Picasso ceramics gallery.

Next stop: the Shinkansen propels you towards Naoshima. You may have seen images of Yayoi Kusama’s giant pumpkins on Japan’s famous ‘art island’. However, her presence starts on the white car ferries that take you on the 20-minute ride across the Seto Inland Sea, each emblazoned with huge scarlet chevrons or circles – as if the Pet Shop Boys have redesigned a Red Cross boat.

For high-end accommodation, check in to the hotel at Benesse House Museum – in its grounds sits Kusama’s much Instagrammed yellow pumpkin. Here you’ll find Yukinori Yanagi’s sizeable wall of international flags made of sand, which holds your attention for quite some time before you realise that the whole installation is connected by Plexiglas tubes and is home to an ant colony. The slight degradation of each flag is a result of the insects’ busy travels.

Elsewhere, Yayoi Kusama’s Narcissus Garden features 1,700 stainless-steel spheres spread out across the paths, pond and layers of a garden and into the corridors of a concrete structure. Hiroshi Sugimoto’s stunning collection of sea photographs is presented on either side of a view of the Seto Inland Sea itself.

There’s no end to the quality and impact of the artworks here, best enjoyed by hiring electric bikes, which allow you to explore an art trail of truly diverse works housed in the alleyways between homes with Shou Suggi Ban charred-pine exteriors. Here you’ll frequently run into utterly unexpected installations: a room of total darkness; a former dentist’s house where extracted teeth are embedded in the walls; a huge Statue of Liberty climbing two storeys of a house filled with nautical ephemera.

Despite the island’s thriving community of creatives, perhaps the greatest beauty you experience here is not manmade; it’s the view at the end of the day as the ferry takes you back to the mainland. Later, when you look back at your pictures and you see the splendour of the seascape, you’ll wonder, ‘How on earth did I get used to this?’

Tolstoy had a knack of getting to the heart of things and it’s hard to disagree with the great novelist when he wrote: ‘A cigar – it’s not so much a pleasure as the crown and hallmark of pleasure.’ These are the words of Prince Stepan ‘Stiva’ Arkadyich Oblonsky in Anna Karenina. Had ‘Stiva’ been in London in June, he would have felt right at home when a nimbus of blue smoke formed over Belgrave Square as its railed gardens became a piece of Cuban territory hosting the three-day cigar marathon known as Habanos World Days.

Habanos World Days was conceived during the pandemic as a digital event to compensate for the absence of the annual Cigar Festival that takes place in Havana in February. It was a valiant attempt, but enjoying a cigar over Zoom has its limits. In 2024, the decision was taken to hold a physical event, the first of its kind outside Cuba: think of it as a kind of Art Basel Miami-style spin-off, but for cigars; and the choice of venue reflects London’s status as the market for Havana cigars.

‘The UK has long been a natural home to Havanas, and there is huge historical significance,’ says second-generation cigar merchant Eddie Sahakian, owner of the famous Davidoff store in St James’s and the Sahakian sampling room at the Bvlgari Hotel in Knightsbridge. ‘It may not have the sunshine of Cuba, but the mild climate favours ageing cigars over long periods and the peculiarities of the UK market mean that cigar merchants are incentivised to keep and age cigars. And there is an additional level of quality in the English Market Selection quality seal, which commands a premium among collectors.’

English Market Selection has been a thing for over 100 years and denotes the superior quality of cigars designated for the British market, but was only codified in the 1990s with the introduction of the seal: a coloured label about the size of a postage stamp that carries the year of import. Hunters & Frankau, the sole importer of Cuban cigars into the UK, describes EMS as ‘the cornerstone of the UK’s long-established reputation as the world centre for the finest Havana cigars’.

Moreover, the recent spree of grande luxe hotel openings in London has resulted in some of the finest cigar shops and sampling rooms in the world: places where lovers of fine Vuelta Abajo tobacco can enjoy the best that Cuba has to offer in a comfortable and contemplative environment. Indeed, opening a smart hotel without a cigar shop these days is like dispensing with the Michelin-starred restaurant or heavily marketed cocktail lounge. (My current favourite is on the top floor of The Emory hotel; it is hard to feel too bad about life when sampling a limited-edition Partagas Series D No.1 from 2004 while looking out across the treetops of Hyde Park.)

It is this spirit that Habanos World Days has tapped into. For all the depredations the capital has suffered at the hands of our political leaders in recent years, not least Rishi Sunak’s fiddling with VAT refunds that drove tourist shoppers across the Channel, overseas visitors remain attracted to London, in part because it is still regarded as the locus classicus of a certain type of dandified luxury, of which cigars are a component. Britain neither cultivates tobacco nor rolls it into cigars, but somehow it does add value to them. From the preceding weekend, cigar enthusiasts start flying into London from around the world. Some go straight from the airport to Mayfair and begin scouring cigar shops for vintage treasures, and placing advance orders for the latest limited edition – the Trinidad Cabildos, which made its world debut at Habanos World Days in London a couple of years back.

In 2024, the three-day programme of parties, dinners, seminar and exhibition all honoured the Trinidad brand, which was celebrating its 55th birthday. Named after the Cuban city (not the Caribbean island), Trinidad was once so exclusive that for its first 29 years it was only used as a diplomatic gift, which, it is said, only Fidel Castro could bestow. It was finally released commercially in 1998 and, even then, only in one size, the slender Fundadores. In terms of prestige, it was positioned only slightly beneath the triple-fermented Cohiba. Its blend showcased the seco leaf, which accounts for the fragrant aroma and smooth character. For some years it preserved much of its mystique, even when the range expanded to include, among other gems, the Robusto Extra and the Robusto T. But, as is often the way with Cuban cigars, when something really good comes along it is soon discontinued. Sadly, this was the story with the Extra and the T, and when these were killed off in 2012 I lost interest for a while. But now the cry has gone up to Make Trinidad Great Again. As well as the Cabildos, London was favoured with the first 20 commemorative humidors packed with 55 Trinidad Fundadores Vintage 10, matured in Cuba for at least a decade. In effect, Habanos World Days is a reboot for Trinidad, which is now to be positioned as a luxury brand – not just a luxury cigar brand, but a luxury brand, full stop.

Habanos S.A., the body that makes and markets the cigars, is half owned by the Cuban state and half owned by a Hong Kong-based consortium that bought out Imperial Brands, the previous shareholder, for a sum rumoured to be over a billion dollars. The Asian investors have raised the perception (and prices) of Cuban cigars by seeing them not as a means of delivering nicotine into the body – a Trinidad or Cohiba has as much in common with cigarettes as a bottle of Petrus does with a bottle of plonk – but as a luxury product with its own world of quality, tradition and craftsmanship similar in stature to haute couture. After all, the torcedors who manipulate the aromatic leaf into instruments of pleasure are as skilled in their own way as les petites mains who create a Chanel suit or Dior gown.

In short, the unique character and culture of the Cuban cigar warrants a sophisticated level of connoisseurship and appreciation – and, at Habanos World Days in London, it receives it.

Where to stay for the Venice Biennale: Hotel Cipriani

With a cast of legendary guests – Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren, Brad Pitt and Yves Saint Laurent amongst – who have all supped up the swell vibes of the Hotel Cipriani one wonders if by osmosis a certain starriness seeps through to mere mortals. Does the legacy lead to a subtle form of behaviour modification? It’s sweet to ponder as I lap up and down the fabulously generous outdoor swimming pool with 270 panoramic views over the Venetian Lagoon. Taking an outdoor shower in a jasmine covered niche, watching the pool staff deliver peachy pink swim towels to vacant loungers, maybe the hotel’s soignee air becomes me.

There’s a baffling choice of over twenty natural honeys, plus a slab of honeycomb, at breakfast from which I conclude the art of pique-ing curiosity is a central tenant of contemporary luxury. Hotel Cipriani, located on Giudecca island opened in 1958 when the visionary Giuseppe Cipriani realised the potential of this quiet residential strip of land with its views towards St Marks. Having started out as a bartender, turning into an acclaimed chef, Cipriani senior distilled his wisdom and experience into a sybarite’s paradise. His son, ninety something, Arrigo Cipriani, looking pucker in blue seersucker, can be spotted at lunch outpost, Harry’s Dolci – now this must be a man with a cornucopia of tales to tell. Yet decades of potentially salacious goings on are treated with utter discretion.

Owned and run by Belmond, originally operating as Orient Express Hotels since 1976, the myth and legacy are carefully plumped like feather pillows. Interior architect Peter Marino, chairman of Venetian Heritage Foundation, was charged with the ongoing rejuvenation of the hotel's interiors that got their first reveal in 2025. “The world's great artists, actors, singers and society all mingled at this very special place and my goal is to rekindle that magic,” says Marino. There’s a gorgeous sweet and salty gorgeousness to Marino’s schemes where Dolce Vita era vintage furniture colludes with Grand Venetian rococo, peppered with huge abstract expressionist artworks, mahogany panelling and mirrors everywhere.

Where to eat at the Venice Biennale: Oro

The Michelin starred Oro restaurant is an ode to the shimmery beauty of Venice with its giant windows that deliver a Canaletto vista from every angle, glimmering hand cast Murano glass walls and Marino designed furniture and frolicsome Murano made chandeliers. The menu conceived by head chef Vania Ghedini (who broke off her maternity leave to take up the role offered by Oro’s culinary creative director, Massimo Botturo) is interlaced with Venetian stories that give the dishes a rich educational dimension. Star of the show is a beef carpaccio that pays tribute to the dish created by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1950 in honour of the Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio. On the plate, tender meat is veiled by an edible portrait of the artist himself. Cut into the neck and with macabre beauty, the red flesh pops out. Rice, one of the first crops cultivated by Venetians in the 15th century, is championed in a risotto with seaweed broth and horseradish while pan fried sturgeon receives a dousing in caviar, anchovies and garlic. Ghedini delivers an operatic ending in the shape of reductionist tiramisu with gold leaf covered patisserie. Ghedini spends the off season travelling and researching new menus – culinary artistry, like painting, needs the luxury of time. Alongside the signature Carpaccio, Cipriani also delivered the Bellini (that heady concoction of Prosecco and peach puree) at Harry’s Bar in 1948, to sync with a grand retrospective of the Italian master. Now that level of cultural/social capital is world beating. The dreamy hue is dispersed throughout the hotel from the staff uniforms to the striped glass cloths that were delivered to my room at turndown. I can definitely see the splendours of Venice more clearly and appreciate gibigiana – my new favourite word which translates as the dance of light on water.

What to see at the 2026 Venice Biennale 'In Minor Keys'

The National Pavilions in the Giardini offer up a multitude of interpretations of the umbrella theme with artists exploring the vernacular, the role of memory, community and hope. It’s a pleasure to meander but with limited time head to France for Yto Barrada’s delicately hued textile works; to Austria for Florentina Holzinger’s performance installation that investigates ecological destruction and human autonomy; to Egypt for Armen Agop’s sonic, olfactory and sculptural scapes that beckon the cosmos and to Brazil where Diane Lima curates a beguiling display of figurative art and ceramics by Adriana Varejão and Rosana Paulino. Behind the neoclassical façade of Great Britain’s pavilion find Lubainia Himid’s zingy but disquieting portrayals that examine black British migrant life.

labiennale.org/en

Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy at Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia.

The solo show, heralding the artist’s 80th year, bridges five centuries of art placing Abramović's ground-breaking performances (including Rhythm 0, Imponderabilia, and Balkan Baroque) directly alongside Renaissance masterpieces.

gallerieaccademia.it

Lorna Simpson: Third Person at Pinault Collection Punta della Dogana.

The American artist delivers paintings collages and installations made in the last ten years into the serene space to explore the erosion of memory, identity and the blurring of truth and fiction.

pinaultcollection.com

Dries Van Noten Foundation: The Only True Protest is Beauty

The palazzo Pisani Moretta, located on the Grand Canal, in all its rococo splendour offers up a resplendent environment for Van Noten’s new art foundation that he founded with partner Patrick Vangheluwe on purchasing the palazzo from the Sammartini family in 2025. The debut show opened in April champions craft with a brilliant curation of fashion (Comme des Garcons and Christian Lacroix), ceramics, glass, sculpture, photography and furniture that examines the art of making. Don’t miss the gift shop where Van Noten’s perfumes mingle with books and limited edition pieces.

fondazionedriesvannoten.org

Convent Garden of Redentore

For a ruminative walk head to this secret Convent Garden on Giudecca. After restoration and replanting by the Venice Gardens Foundation, the secluded spot features over 1200 plants and views of the lagoon plus there’s a poetic show of Sarah Moon’s photography of Venice.

venicegardensfoundation.org

There exists a direct, 101-year-old correlation between the tradition of the summer blockbuster movie and air conditioning technology – if the two hadn’t collided, Hollywood’s July-August season would be a hot, empty mess and ambient temperatures would make a visit to the cinema feel like two hours in a sauna.

Reel back to 1925, and New York industrialist Willis Carrier had a plan to counter the deleterious effect of high summer on moviegoing, installing a newfangled ‘refrigerating plant’ powering a ‘centrifugal chiller’ in Times Square’s Rivoli Theatre. Carrier had invented the cooling machine in 1902, forming the Carrier Air Conditioner Company of America in 1908. ‘We have invested over $100,000 ($1.8 million in today’s money) in a refrigeration plant to keep you cool and comfortable when the world is sweltering,’ announced the Rivoli’s proud management on its Memorial Day debut. By 1930, more than 300 US picture houses could advertise their buildings as ‘cooled by refrigeration’, offering a respite from stifling conditions outside. Better still, the air conditioning helped keep hot projection equipment from overheating also.

A decade later, the proliferation of holiday air-con begat a new genre for what had traditionally been the slow season for the movie industry: the summer ‘blockbuster’ was named after a particularly lethal brand of World War II bomb capable of taking out a whole block when dropped from aircraft. Hollywood first borrowed the term to describe the 1943 war drama Bombardier. ‘The block-buster of all action-thrill service shows!’ screamed the ads.

In 1975, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws became the first bona fide summer blockbuster of the modern era, with punters literally queuing around the block to see the sun, sea and shark spectacle (sometimes two or three times in a single day) and the film busting all records by becoming the first to take $100 million at the box office (adjusting for inflation, that’s around $584 million today).

Over five decades on, many of the original summer blockbusters – Alien, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Batman, Jurassic Park, Star Wars – continue to thrive as highly profitable movie franchises, and continue to owe part of their success to aircon. How cool is that?

France’s regicide revolutionaries wanted to efface every sign of the Ancien Régime, including timekeeping, which went decimal: 10-day weeks, 10-hour days, hours of 100 minutes. It only lasted for an undecimal 12 years, so you can be forgiven for not recognising the date ‘7 Messidor, Year 9’ until it is translated into Gregorian – when it becomes 26 June 1801, a date that is, or should be, engraved into the minds of all watch lovers. On that date, Abraham-Louis Breguet was granted a patent for a device he called the tourbillon and watchmaking has never quite been the same since.

You cannot repeal the laws of physics. But you can, if you are Breguet, be clever about circumventing them. Gravity pulls unevenly on a balance-spring held vertically, as a pocket watch invariably was, distorting its oscillations and gradually impairing its precision. His solution was to place the entire escapement inside a rotating cage making one complete revolution per minute, averaging out the gravitational effect.

This year, Breguet is celebrating the 225th anniversary of the patent with a collection of new watches that will travel the globe. This world tour was the idea of Gregory Kissling, CEO of Montres Breguet. ‘Nobody needs this,’ he says of the new collection, with the calm confidence of a man who knows that need is entirely beside the point. ‘This is a work of art,’ he enthuses.

Kissling feels that, as the tourbillon’s inventor, the Breguet brand has a duty to honour its founder’s most famous creation. Thus, modern Breguet has eight different tourbillon calibres and, for the 225th anniversary, five new watches draw on that extraordinary repertoire.

The Marine Tourbillon Équation Marchante 5887, the most complex watch in the collection, combines tourbillon, perpetual calendar and running equation of time in a 43.9 mm platinum case. Its extraordinary dial carries a phosphorescent miniature painting of the Paris sky at midnight on 26 June 1801.

In contrast, the 35mm Classique Tourbillon 7357, is a far less busy homage to Breguet’s Ref 3350, the first tourbillon wristwatch produced by modern-era Breguet in 1988 – important because it propelled the watchmaker into the premier league, where Kissling would like to see the brand return. In a nice touch, its new calibre, the 187B, preserves the historic frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour that Breguet himself used.

Moving at a rather more rapid 10 Hz, the Expérimentale 1 provides a glimpse of what Breguet might have achieved with 21st-century methods and materials. Its four-minute tourbillon running at 10 Hz with a constant-force magnetic escapement is certified to within one second per day.

If you are already perplexed by the workings of the tourbillon, then prepare to be baffled by the Classique Tourbillon Sidéral 7255, Breguet’s first-ever flying tourbillon wristwatch. This first is further enhanced with what the manufacture calls a ‘mysterious’ construction putting the tourbillon into motion without it being visibly connected to the rest of the movement, a piece of horological legerdemain made possible by drive gears of anti-reflective sapphire, a technique not used by Breguet for the past two decades.

The Tradition Tourbillon 7047 reaches back even further for its inspiration, uniting Breguet’s tourbillon with a fusée-and-chain transmission, a system so historic that it was sketched by Leonardo da Vinci. Looking like a beautifully finished miniaturised bike chain, it ensures constant torque regardless of remaining power. When da Vinci drew that fusée-and-chain in the late 15th century and when Breguet patented his tourbillon in 1801, neither could have imagined sharing a wrist. In the 7047, they do… two geniuses in one watch.

GOOD TO KNOW

A tourbillon cage comprises 70 or so components weighing less than half a gram in total. Between 1796 and 1829 Breguet and his workshops made 40 tourbillons, a quarter of which were likely to have been used for naval navigation and timekeeping.

With a patination and palette reminiscent of salt flats, the new iteration of the Prada Bonnie bag waves to the abstract beauty of summer landscapes. Where in nature salt forms mineral crusts on sandy surfaces, in the Prada lab, pristine raw linen is painted with pigment, then washed, cut, treated, stitched and assembled with front flap pockets and slender handles. The upshot is an unconventional, tactile design that neatly throws clichés of the seasonal white bag up in the air.

The Bonnie, an elongated east-west shape, was first introduced quietly in 2024 and charmed bag hunters with its handy pockets and archival belt buckle/strap detailing. The latest edition requires multiple processes and a complete set of artisan hand tools, including pliers, a magnifying glass and a weight gauge, to assemble.

While the appearance is breezy and light with its illusionistic textured surface, the densely woven linen is durable and nods to the functional language of knapsacks and camera bags. Indeed, a Leica would happily slip into the front pouch, and a swimsuit and water flask into the top zipper pocket.

GOOD TO KNOW

Consider the Bonnie bag a primer. Come September, Prada will unleash its AW26 collection, which reads as a paean to decay and renewal with patched, slashed, worn and crinkled pieces layering up in ensembles of slip dresses, bloomers and coats. The Bonnie linen is also reminiscent of delectable, chewy torrone nougat and in this complex, agitated era in fashion, there is room for sweetness too.

With a twinge of body nostalgia, I flashback to the streets of Palermo. Looking for a ride to the airport in 35 degrees (and late, very late) I’m sprinting in a pair of Chanel chambray hot pants, a broderie anglaise top and sandals. No cabs but I am turning heads. Legs! I could compose a requiem for youthful, bronzed summer limbs.

Two decades on with inner thighs sagging through collagen breakdown that is part and parcel of ageing, and with a texture that is far from glassy, I embark on a mission to reclaim my legs. My ‘right sized’ goal is not brevity (though the hot pants still fit) but the bliss of shortish shorts; a body that emerges from the swimming pool without the urge to lurch for a pareo, and improved ‘presence’ on the tennis court.

Short of a surgical ‘sock lift’ (an advanced, circumferential inner thigh lift) I want to explore non-invasive procedures. I’m not alone. ‘Collagen breakdown causes skin laxity but there’s a lot that can be done without surgery, using devices, injectables and topical treatments, to the point that the patient might not require surgery,’ says Dr Raul Cetto, medical director at Le Petit Saint, a beauty and wellness sanctuary that occupies an entire townhouse in Mayfair. ‘Aesthetic medicine has advanced a lot and that’s down to our understanding of the ageing process,’ he adds.

While the clinic does not offer surgery, Cetto likes to walk patients through all the options so that they are informed. Skin laxity, a common issue for patients who experience rapid weight loss following GLP-1 drug prescription, is a hot topic. There are two main technologies that help – HIFU (high intensity focused ultrasound) and radiofrequency microneedling treatments. Both methods penetrate into the dermis (SMAS layer) to cause micro injury and ultimately stimulate healing and a renewal of collagen fibres. While HIFU is a one-off treatment (best repeated annually), microneedling is received as a series. ‘With ageing anywhere in the body, the more layers you treat, the better the outcome you get,’ says Cetto. With HIFU, improvements could take six to eight weeks to start showing, while microneedling might see quicker results in tone and tightening. Both treatments cause minor discomfort and it’s important to opt for the latest gen machines, as well as take before and after images to track these subtle changes. The reality is that one needs to prepare before ‘shorts’ season arrives, months ahead. I tried HIFU back in April at a detox retreat in Turkey, costing £450 for the inner-thigh area. The zone is more lifted and looks smoother, but the effects might only be perceptible to my eyes.

While Le Petit Saint doesn’t have HIFU on its treatment list, it does offer microneedling – and biostimulator injectables. ‘Formulations like Radiesse, Juläine or Sculptra are effective in terms of collagen formation and are injected just underneath the skin with a cannula, [with the product] staying there for a number of months as a foreign body,’ says Cetto, who is all for a multi-pronged approach, alongside exercise and nutrition. ‘The slow release causes what your skin reads as a controlled inflammatory reaction and that leads to the production of collagen and elastin,’ he explains. It is a lot to take in. He starts me off with a restorative Triple Detox Light Therapy treatment using far infrared rays, plasma therapy and light therapy in a patented German structure called an iDome. It encourages a deep-tissue detox, a circulation boost (via sweating) and I emerge from this ‘tube’ with a glow and energy boost. It’s great for post-long-haul travel.

There are also topical creams to try. Vol.U.Lift (originally developed for sagging skin from GLP-1 medications) and Adipeau help boost volume, but there is no overnight ‘magic’ – prolonged application is required. However, if embarking on a holiday soon, I would recommend maxing out on lunges, squats and stretches – and booking lymphatic drainage. At Augustinus Bader’s lab on London’s Dover Street, therapist Carmen offers the top-to-toe Rose & Geranium Goddess Body Ritual. It might sound ‘light’ but Carmen starts with a full-body glove scrub, followed by a skilful lymphatic massage that involves feathery strokes to boost the body’s natural detoxification. ‘A light touch pumps the system but you don’t want to overload it as it leads to congestion,’ says Carmen. The 90-minute treatment is topped off by Theragun – a rapidly rotating device that stimulates the muscles. Emerging from the oval, white-and-blue pod-like room feeling lighter in limb, I drink a litre of water en route back to the office to help flush the system through.

I am heading to Tangier this month and, while of course there is always the Bermuda shorts option, I’m still gunning for shortish shorts, assured that leggy improvements are already underway.

These days it is easy to spend hours on the internet researching supplements and start believing that the key to perfect health is ingesting hundreds of different powders, pills and tinctures, each promising incredible benefits – boundless energy, youthful skin, perfect sleep, eternal calm – through a magical blend of ingredients that will transform your life. But a new breed of beauty brands is now entering the market that wants to eliminate the glut of these supposed miracle cures by stripping down your daily needs to a simple, highly effective daily regime.

First on the list is Nære, an all-in-one collagen and supergreens supplement you simply mix into water and drink in the morning. Designed to provide all the cellular nourishment you need for improved collagen production, skin hydration, energy and gut health, the green drink has a pleasant, fruity taste and claims to ensure results you’ll see on skin fast. According to co-founder Nadia Forde, the brand’s singular product, Nectar 01, was born out of frustration with the supplement market. ‘When we looked at the wellness space, we didn’t see clarity, we saw noise. Maintaining a supplement routine had become overwhelming, almost like a second job. That’s why we created Nære. We wanted something that simplified that experience without compromising on ingredient quality and integrity.’

Another new brand in the category is Inora, a line of three liquid supplements to be taken morning, afternoon and night to improve energy, immunity and sleep. Like Nære’s founders, Inora’s Sofia Downing was inspired to create the brand after becoming fed up with the abundance of products promising drastic results, but delivering on very few.

‘Despite taking countless capsules, powders and sachets, I often found the experience inconvenient, uninspiring and disconnected from modern life,’ she says. ‘I wanted something that felt effortless to take, delivered ingredients in a format designed for absorption and was grounded in scientific credibility.’ Developed alongside a medical advisory board of doctors and researchers, the brand’s tinctures are formulated with ingredients such as lion’s mane extract, botanical antioxidants, cherry extract and vitamin B12, and are designed to simply be dropped into the mouth with a pipette at the designated times of day.

Finally, there is Alexis Smart’s Flower Remedies, which are not new to the market, nor are they traditional ‘supplements’ per se, but their effects are so lauded and their method so simple that they deserve to be highlighted. For years, Smart’s flower remedies have a been a mainstay in the routines of thousands, including celebrities like Emma Roberts, Isamaya Ffrench and more, who swear by the powerful results of the brand’s wildflower blends, created by Smart to address everything from rosacea to better focus and self-love.

Smart blends the remedies in California, following the principles of the father of floral remedies, Dr Edward Bach, a British physician who discovered the healing powers of these tinctures after working as a doctor during World War One. Like Bach’s, Smart’s remedies are guided by the belief that homeopathic remedies can balance our emotions and, in doing so, improve our overall health.

For those who are doubtful about how such remedies can impact physical and emotional health, Smart says that, ‘Flower essences are not a New Age or “hippie” therapy. They were discovered by a medical doctor who saw, early on, what conventional medicine is finally recognising. There is a “mind/body connection”.’ Smart recommends taking only one remedy at a time, choosing the one that most aligns with your current needs.

In London, the remedies can be purchased at The Dream Of, a must-visit wellness studio in Shoreditch that’s an insider secret among the city’s most high-profile creatives. Offering healing treatments such as reiki, massage and more, a small edit of the best healing products from around the world is also available, including Smart’s drops and María Cacao from Mexico City.

A roughly one-hour car drive from Rome airport, the 102-key Palazzo Fiuggi is set within a private park, framed by hills, forests and the resort town for which it’s named. Since 2021, and following extensive refurbishment and restoration, the property has been operating as a luxury wellness resort, replete with a 64,000-square-feet spa, and a team of practitioners that includes doctors, personal trainers and physiotherapists. It’s a new era for the art nouveau-style edifice, and one that befits its illustrious history: opened in 1913 as the Grand Hotel Palazzo della Fonte, it was the first hotel in continental Europe equipped with a swimming pool. Its list of guests too stands out; among the names are King Vittorio Emanuele III and Pablo Picasso. Later, the stars of Cinecittà and Hollywood cinema stayed here, including Sophia Loren and Ingrid Bergman.

The retreat is part of a spa town built on Fiuggi water, a low-mineral water that is rich in fulvic and humic acids, calcium and magnesium. Fiuggi water is known to soften kidney stones and to be a natural diuretic, meaning it can be used to flush out metabolic waste, acids and heavy metals. Its use as a therapy can be dated back to the Renaissance, as reported by Michelangelo.

Cups of Fiuggi water are still drunk at Palazzo Fiuggi today; a daily ritual in between hikes up and across the surrounding mountains, exercise classes in a gym furnished with Technogym equipment and hand-blown Murano glass chandeliers, and other, mostly one-on-one, treatments from a menu of options that includes both holistic therapies and medical advancements, such as plasma light therapy, prescribed to invigorate skin.

Deep Detox, Regenerate, and Longevity are the names of some of the programmes to check in for, most of which require a commitment of at least seven nights. Wellness Break is slightly shorter – a three-night option exists – and its itinerary includes expert consultations, deep-tissue massage, a Kobido lifting facial massage, a hammam ritual and thalassotherapy. Three-step hydrotherapy appointments are a guest favourite: a Dead Sea mineral mud body wrap follows warm hydrotherapy bathing, with a massaging shower being the final phase. Each programme is dotted with dishes made from organic, locally sourced ingredients, and created by three-star Michelin chef Heinz Beck, who also trained in natural bioenergies and naturopathy.

‘At Palazzo Fiuggi, our goal is not simply to help guests feel better, it is to help them discover what feeling truly well can be. We want them to leave with renewed energy, mental clarity and a deeper understanding of their own health,’ says Dr Fabrizio Di Salvio, the property’s head doctor and co-creator of the Palazzo Fiuggi method, a special blend of nutrition, medical consultations, treatments and the famous natural spring water. ‘Most importantly, we want them to feel empowered, equipped with the knowledge, habits and motivation to continue investing in their wellbeing long after they have left our doors.’

palazzofiuggi.com

Think of British jewellery brand Boodles and a few things spring to mind: its Raindance collection (a piece sits in the permanent collection of the V&A); the pretty pink packaging; the annual garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show; and a light-filled store on London’s New Bond Street. But as the Boodles logo reveals, this is not jewellery in its infancy. Under the lettering is the year ‘1798’, the date that the original company was founded in Liverpool. At 228 years old, Boodles has a far larger (and longer) story to tell – and the brand is ready to share it.

Later this year, a new Boodles Townhouse will open at 23 Old Bond Street, with a dedicated space for an archive, filled with objects, documents, sketches, silverware and (of course) jewellery that charts the history of a house that’s impressively and unusually a sixth-generation business still owned and run by the Wainwright family.

The archive will comprise two spaces, in a neat division of the brand’s heritage. A library will chart the early years when the company started in Liverpool as a traditional English jeweller selling antiques, silver, clocks, watches and fine jewellery. A cabinet of curiosities will be filled with all things Boodles, including brochures, invitations, packaging and silverware from across the years. Sketches and designs for past Grand National trophies (Boodles has been involved with the historic race since the 1930s) will be shown, while more personal items, including a family photo album from the 1960s that documents Anthony Wainwright’s travels (and would later inspire a collection named A Family Journey), will be on display.

In another space, the focus will be on Boodles’ design heritage. It was only in 1990 that the company started designing jewellery in-house and the evolution of collections such as Raindance, Wonderland and The Poetry of Landscape – the last riffing on the patterns and shapes of the landscape of the British Isles – will be explained here. Alongside a dedicated archivist looking after around 25 pieces of jewellery and approximately 600 archive objects and documents, the company has also enlisted the help of the National Museums Liverpool to help curate and design the museum-standard display.

Anyone visiting the new townhouse will be welcome to experience the space, as marketing director Honour Wainwright explains: ‘In recent years, we have placed a greater emphasis on documenting, preserving and celebrating our history through this growing archive. Clients will now be able to discover and hear about the unique history behind the brand and the inspiration behind our collections.’ But, perhaps more importantly, it already serves an important purpose for the brand; as Wainwright says, ‘It’s a valuable source of inspiration. Looking back often sparks ideas for future creations and there are already discussions around developing a high-jewellery collection inspired by our heritage.’ Delving into the past to future-proof what lies ahead? Boodles has it covered.

GOOD TO KNOW

Comprising more than 30 diamond-and-platinum pieces, the 2015 high-jewellery collection Pas de Deux celebrated Boodles’ support and long-standing relationship with the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera House. Pieces such as the necklace, bracelet and earrings photographed for these pages capture the shapes and shadows thrown by dancers on stage.

When is handwritten more suitable than typed? A letter over WhatsApp message? Best ask Rosie Huntington-Whiteley: the English model, actor and entrepreneur recently introduced Mémoire, a lifestyle brand she co-founded. The precise edit of products includes photo frames, journals and luggage tags cut from leather, while a scented candle comes in a hand-blown glass vessel. Then there is stationery: a quartet of sets comprise correspondence cards and matching lined envelopes made from fine Crane cotton paper. Stationery can be further personalised with initials or a full name rendered in the business’ own Mémoire Muse calligraphy script.

‘Writing letters has always felt like one of the kindest and most personal ways to express emotion,’ says Huntington-Whiteley. ‘In a world where so much communication happens instantly, receiving a letter shows a moment of time spent and consideration that is hard to replicate in a text message. For me, expressing gratitude through a handwritten note feels less fleeting and more meaningful, creating a lasting connection between the writer and the recipient.’

GOOD TO KNOW

Mémoire’s offering is grouped into four creative worlds. Among them are High Castle, Love Birds and Secret Garden. Seen above is a correspondence card and envelope from Huntington-Whiteley’s Glass Lake chapter, its lining printed with an artwork finished by the studio of French painter and sculptor Pierre Kittler.

ILIA Beauty was founded in 2011 by Sasha Plavsic, who pioneered 'clean makeup' after struggling with skin issues. Now her home-grown, award-winning brand has over a million followers on Instagram and is stocked in global behemoths such as Sephora. Here we meet the entrepreneur to find out what makes her tick, from music in the morning to her favourite foods.

What sound would you like to wake up to?

Tropical birds.

What gets you dancing?

Bad Bunny is definitely bringing out the dance moves in our home lately.

Which singer or song do you never tire of hearing and why?

California Dreamin’ by Bobby Womack. I spent so many years there and still visit often. The song has soul and makes me smile.

Which smell takes you back to childhood?

The smell of my mom’s Chanel N°19 perfume. It’s green, exotic, fresh and sharp in its top notes. These days, I prefer green notes in perfume and I believe it’s because of the association.

Describe a dish that’s always stayed with you.

I have Serbian heritage and there’s a traditional dish from the region, called Ćevapi. It’s a spicy sausage that’s hard to put into words unless you’ve tried it yourself, and one of those flavours that really stays with you after the first bite.

What is the taste of spring?

Fresh and floral.

Olive or a twist?

Twist.

What is a dish you love to cook for yourself?

A friend recently passed along her smash burger recipe and it was a hit.

What is your go-to dinner party dish?

For a dinner party, it’s all about effortless cooking like citrus-and-herb-marinated chicken on the grill. It’s simple, loved by everyone and perfectly suited to relaxed, al fresco evenings.

Silk or cashmere?

Silk in the summer and cashmere in the winter.

Marble or wood?

Wood.

Do you have a favourite piece of furniture at home?

I really love our yellow [Ligne Roset] Togo couch, which I bought a couple of years ago. It’s cosy and always makes me smile with its pop of colour.

What is the first thing you see in the morning?

My dog, at the foot of my bed.

Describe the view from where you are right now.

Serene. I’m in my living room in Vancouver on a rainy day with a fire going.

Is there a view you can’t quite forget?

The landscape on New Zealand’s North Island. It’s slightly tropical and full of colour. It’s been over 12 years since I’ve been, and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

What sound do you wake up to?

My alarm clock in the morning.

In London, 16 New Bond Street is now home to Hermès. The sprawling site is made up of six Grade II listed properties, most dated to the 1770s, covering nearly 2,000 square metres. Realised with RDAI, a Parisian architecture agency, the firm’s new UK flagship is fully interconnected; its features include a freshly extended central spiral staircase designed by Norman Foster, a Victorian lift and terraced gardens.

Creations drawn from Hermès’ 16 métiers, or craft divisions, which range from tableware to belts, are on display in dedicated areas: flacons of in-house perfumer Christine Nagel’s Twilly scent can be found in a beauty space wallpapered with a bespoke floral design by London-based artist Katie Scott, while the walls of the equestrian department are clad in marquetry of straw and horsehair.

There are artworks throughout: roughly 50 pieces, many drawn from the collection of house founder Émile Hermès and his great-grandsons: Axel Dumas (CEO since 2013) and his cousin, the maison’s artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas, each of whom have been pivotal in the shaping of 16 New Bond Street.

In addition to silks, pieces from Nadège Vanhée’s womenswear collection and Hermès footwear authored by Pierre Hardy, other 16 New Bond Street ‘finds’ include a new framing of the Bolide bag. The dome-shaped bag was originally introduced in 1923, when it made fashion history as the first bag to be fitted with a metal zip closure. This year, a new interpretation is suitably industrial in inspiration: the bag can be worn on the shoulder, courtesy of an interwoven jewel chain assembled by hand from 23 metal links adorned with golden nail heads.

GOOD TO KNOW

Hermès has had a foothold in London since 1961 when it opened its first boutique in Piccadilly Arcade. Further London addresses followed, from Sloane Street (opened in 1987) to The Royal Exchange, a 2011 addition of bijoux dimensions. With the opening of 16 New Bond Street, London is now the location of both the smallest and the largest Hermès boutiques worldwide.

If Robert Redford’s on-screen contribution to men’s style is usually regarded as being period pieces The Sting (1973) or The Great Gatsby (1974), this is to allow the serious oversight of his more everyman role, just over 50 years ago, in the thriller Three Days of the Condor. There’s his combination of hiking boots, boot-cut jeans and tweed jacket. But the star of the show? That chambray shirt.

Sure, Redford’s CIA analyst wears his with loose-knitted tie. Yet it’s the very fabric of his shirt that resonates with a counter-cultural cool; that manages to be both orderly and relaxed in a way, say, neither a crisper, more formal poplin, nor the crumpled, floaty look of linen can pull off. If the former is somehow always at the office, the latter is always at the beach club.

‘That’s the thing about a chambray shirt – it’s soft but still looks sharp,’ agrees the menswear designer Oliver Spencer. ‘It’s the fabric’s balance of lightweight, slightly slubby texture and dryness that means it’s cool for the summer but hardy enough for the winter too. Chambray just makes for a really good blue shirt. And to my mind it has to be blue. That’s the traditional look.’

By ‘traditional’, Spencer is referring to chambray’s origins in workwear and the military – a history that helps make it shirting’s answer to denim, with the same touch of blue-collar machismo. Chambray, after all, may have originated as a light-blue linen fabric in the French town of Cambrai, way back in the mid-1500s, but three centuries later, and now made from cotton, it became the go-to choice for farm labourers.

They appreciated it for being hard-wearing but also breathable – in a chambray shirt you could stay as cool as if wearing just your undergarments, but had more protection from the sun. That same benefit would soon appeal to ranch hands – chambray would become a default choice for cowboys and, in fact, Redford’s shirt is all sawtooth pockets and pearl poppers – as it might to sailors. In 1901 the US Navy selected chambray as the shirting fabric of its standard-issue uniform, remaining as such for enlisted men right through to the end of World War Two. The officer class, of course, wore khaki.

It’s perhaps a little ironic then that, like so many workmanlike fabrics, it took upwards appropriation by the students of Ivy League universities during the late 1950s and 60s for chambray to be repurposed as something far more patrician – giving its wearer the effect of hard physical work without, you know, actually needing to leave the well-stocked library. Today, labourers wear polyester overalls and high-vis, while chambray is more Ralph Lauren or Lora Piana. Let’s just say that chambray still works very hard when it comes to looking good.

GOOD TO KNOW

The chambray shirt also dressed the workers of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression before becoming the definitive garment of America’s industrialisation. In fact, so closely associated with manual labour did chambray become that Elvis Presley would wear it for a film role but reportedly refused to do so off-set, so much did it remind him of his dirt poor sharecropper roots.

Walk through the doors of La Fabrique du Temps with your eyes tight shut and you’ll realise which brand runs it the second you open them.

If the Cocoon chairs suspended from the double-height ceiling don’t give the game away and the distinctive style of the modular sofa doesn’t ring any bells, then the monogrammed furniture and immaculately tailored reception staff are sure to do it – because this is where Louis Vuitton makes its watches.

From the outside, it’s just one of many modern, largely nondescript buildings on an industrial estate in the Geneva suburb of Meyrin; inside, it’s where the oldest and newest aspects of fine watchmaking come together to create technically brilliant, exquisitely finished and irresistibly covetable timekeepers.

Which is impressive, since Louis Vuitton only got properly serious about horology once the 21st century had well and truly turned.

The French maison first dabbled with time in 1910 with the Star travel alarm clock and followed it up with the Totem wristwatch designed in the 1930s by the founder’s grandson Gaston-Louis Vuitton – after which there was a half-century horological hiatus until the 1988 launch of the Monterey I travel watch, guided by Italian architect Gae Aulenti.

Following its limited-edition run (today an original typically trades for upwards of €250,000 due to its rarity) the Monterey I was succeeded in the early 2000s by the Tambour which, with its distinctive, drum-shaped case and multiple variations, proved that there was a place for Louis Vuitton in the world of serious watches.

Its success led the maison first to partner with haute horlogerie workshop La Fabrique du Temps in 2007, and then to buy it outright in 2011 before purchasing local dial maker Léman Cadran a year later.

Key to the Fabrique du Temps acquisition were the co-founders and watchmakers who founded it: Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini agreed to stay on in order both to run it and to enable it to evolve into the renowned centre of horological excellence that it has become today.

In the early days, just 38 people worked at La Fabrique du Temps, but now there are 230 spread between the two ‘FDTLV’ buildings in Meyrin, where the operation was consolidated in 2014. It’s here The Blend discovered the oldest and the newest of watchmaking techniques operating in tandem to ensure the survival of ancient crafts and the development of new ones.

In a ground-floor room, for example, you’ll find five machines made from burnished wood, old steel and warm brass, the oldest dating from 1830 and the newest from 1935.

Installed at the behest of LVMH boss Bernard Arnault’s 27-year-old son Jean (Louis Vuitton’s director of watches), they are used to manually engrave components with exquisite, traditional finishes such as guilloché, Clous de Paris and perlage.

Such details help the brand’s creations to qualify for the prestigious Poinçon de Genève or Geneva Seal, a hard-won, independent mark of excellence only available to watches made within the canton.

‘The finishes from CNC [computer numerical control] machining or stamping are nothing like as good as you get with this old equipment,’ explains Anasse El Abid, who sources them from collectors and spends up to three years restoring them.

He and two other ‘guillocheurs’ who work on them consult with Fabrique du Temp Louis Vuitton’s creative director Matthieu Hegi when a new design is in the pipeline, in order to determine exactly which decorations can be created using the traditional machines – which feature only two concessions to modernity: a high-powered magnifier and a vacuum pipe to suck up gold shavings for recycling.

Ancient and modern come together, too, in the case-making department, where 3D printers are used to create prototypes in a day, compared with the several weeks it takes to do the same using conventional drawings and hard metal.

Once the shape is decided and the cases hewn by machine to tolerances of 10 microns, these are hand-polished and decorated or finished using state-of-the-art laser-engraving technology.

A clear emphasis throughout is on the importance of hand craftsmanship – both in terms of form and function and because anyone paying up to €4 million for a watch is likely buying it more as a work of art than an instrument with which to tell the time.

While the ‘entry-level’ Tambour wristwatch starts at around £19,000, such seven-figure sums are reserved for Fabrique du Temp. Louis Vuitton’s jewels in the crown: the remarkable automaton pocket watches conceived by Navas and Barbasini that debuted in 2021 with the skull-adorned Carpe Diem, winner of that year’s Audacity prize at the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

Two years later, the pair unveiled the Tambour Opera Automata, this time inspired by the Chinese Sichuan opera’s Bian Lian, a theatrical art involving the almost imperceptibly quick-changing of facial masks bearing multiple expressions – replicated using a 426-part movement to power five animations on the hand-enamelled dial.

These highly limited pieces are rarely available to see up close (they are either commissioned by VIP collectors or quickly snapped up by them) but they remain true masterpieces of watchmaking; a showcase for the engravers of Fabrique du Temp Louis Vuitton, the enamellers who work with more than 2,000 powders of different colours, the dial makers who require 200 kilos of mother-of-pearl to create just 10 dials, and the individual master watchmakers who spend two months assembling each such automaton piece by piece from start to finish.

GOOD TO KNOW

As part of its drive to preserve horological excellence, Louis Vuitton is collaborating with five top independent makers over a five-year period to create very small editions of very special watches. The first was Rexhep Rexhepi, the second Kari Voutilainen and the most recent, Denis Flageolet of De Bethune. All proceeds from sales of the watches go to support the biennial Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives, which was inaugurated in 2024. The first winner was Raúl Pagès, with the second being announced earlier this year as young French duo Alexandre Hazemann and Victor Monnin

In the medieval city of Bergamo, is a design store that creatives head to like pilgrims. They come to Daniela Gregis, who has been on Piazza Vecchia for almost 30 years, for her thoughtful interpretation of timeless style that bends like a willow in the hurricane of trends. Here, noble, simple fabrics – cotton, silk, linen and cashmere (often remnants or deadstock) – are wrought into playful, elegant shapes showing off their delicate hand finishing. Her silhouettes might have jettisoned into the current day from the 16th century.

‘Our style is supposed to be practical and feel-good – it is not about having to be “someone”. In the making, we have to like and love the item so that we can share that invitation to wear it,’ says Gregis. Over the decades she has gradually evolved the business, building out a lexicon of styles including patchwork cocoon skirts, high-waisted gathered dresses, voluminous trousers, snug wool jackets and tabard tops. ‘Some shapes are born from the fabric; we respect the material and want to cut it less,’ she adds.

Self-taught, Gregis grew up knitting, crocheting and sewing with her family circle. Experimentation, invention and the urge to emphasise the beauty of yarns and cloth is her drive and also an ethos. She became a pioneer of circular fashion long before the mood and necessity hit the mainstream. Yet, at the same time, she strives to move things forward, create new techniques, fabrics (working with historic Italian mills) and shapes. ‘We evolve every item because from the imperfect comes ideas for new items: the wish to have something better, so it is a natural process,’ adds Gregis. The acceptance of change being part of human nature, rather than enforced through trend cycles, is a compelling one.

A Bergamo native, Gregis showed her first collection at a local restaurant, creating looks for all the staff and inviting a few journalists into her world. Over the years, the brand has attracted a devout following. Marisa Lombardi’s boutique in Milan was one of the first stockists and the range can now be found at stores including Mouki Mou and Dover Street Market, in both London and Ginza. The brand was later accepted onto the official Camera Nazionale Milan Fashion Week calendar, where her seasonal shows always offer up a neat counterpoint to the bombast of ‘glamour’. For her AW26/27 collection entitled Briciole (crumbs), Gregis chose the Oratory of Passion, in the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio complex. One of the regular models in her sunny, lo-fi presentations is 82-year-old Benedetta Barzini. The Italian icon – journalist, author, feminist – is an ideal pin-up for these ageless designs.

Right now, Gregis is happy that she and her team (a small community including her daughter Marta) are able to grow and keep going. The work spaces are scattered around the city, which the team move around ‘like a house’. But you have to keep evolving to keep fashion slow. ‘When time is not running fast, it means there’s something wrong,’ she smiles.

In jewellery, tones of white are ever-present. Diamonds come in brown, grey, pink or yellow, but it is white that remains the most frequently set gem. White pearls, too, are seen more often than their anthracite or black Tahitian counterparts. What draws designers to the clean, icy hue? And as white remains popular, which new materials do makers embrace to move the needle?

‘I have always fostered the purity of white through my work, not only by using diamonds, but combining natural materials such as mother-of-pearl, tagua seed and white marble,’ the Brazilian jeweller Fernando Jorge writes in an email. At his London showroom, Jorge presents pieces such as his High Fluid Pebbles ring, made from white marble and rose gold, set with white diamonds. ‘White jewels become a true focal point, reflecting, refracting and bringing life and radiance to the wearer, as well as a very distinguished elegance,’ Jorge enthuses. ‘White earrings or necklaces have a unique ability to draw in light, enhancing and brightening facial features.’

At Boucheron, the Parisian heritage brand’s Écume ring is carved from clear rock crystal, matched with white gold and diamonds. Rock crystal, the most pure variety of quartz, also features in designs by Lily Gabriella. Her Ether ring is geometric and multifaceted. ‘Working with rock crystal is an exercise in precision, it reveals everything,’ says Gabriella. ‘A delicate interplay of transparency and reflection, it becomes a sculptural study in pure form, capturing light like frozen water.’

At Pomellato, a selection of Nudo rings, pendants and earrings are topped with quartz in a milky white shade. While it’s white mother-of-pearl with a smooth matte finish that makes the cut in the Athens workshop of Greek jewellery brand Lito. And elsewhere, pearls and diamonds, the two stalwarts of white-tone jewellery, have inspired innovative creations.

In the hands of jewellery designer Victoire de Castellane, the long-standing artistic director of Dior Joaillerie, pearls become playful accents to serious gems. For a ring from Milly Dentelle, a high-jewellery collection inspired by Christian Dior’s bucolic bolthole Milly-la-Forêt, outside Paris, white and warm yellow diamonds with lashings of small pearls appear placed by chance. More industrial in influence is a Biela chain-link bracelet by Brazilian designer Ara Vartanian. Here, white diamonds are framed in white gold. The result is minimal, yet eye-catching.

LOUIS VUITTON

Made up of 110 pieces grouped into 11 creative themes, Mythica is Louis Vuitton’s largest and most ambitious high jewellery collection to date. At the maison’s design studios in Paris, notions of transformation, triumph, challenges overcome and myth quests were all discussed and resulted in pieces such as the Totem necklace seen here. Expressed in white gold, yellow gold and white diamonds, the standout collier is graphic in design: look closer and spot a repeat chevron pattern of the arrow-like letter V for Vuitton.

HERMÈS

A new high jewellery collection by Hermès is titled HB9, for Haute Bijouterie 9. The Parisian maison’s heritage is famously anchored in all things equestrian – it is said that Hermès’ very first client was the horse. And so HB9 is rich in equine symbols. Other pieces draw from archival designs, such as belts, straps and buckles.

CHAUMET

Place Vendôme stalwart Chaumet, whose clients have included European monarchy, as well as royal households further afield, has long found creative inspiration in flora and in fauna. The maison’s 2026 thematic high jewellery collection is named A Journey Through Nature. Divided into three umbrella chapters, pieces interpret an array of plant life, from the flowers and pods of the vanilla planifolia orchid, to star anise, peppercorns and even the aroma of coffee. The collection’s opening chapter, Botanic Freshness, includes this white gold Tea Field ring.

DIOR JOAILLERIE

Dior unveiled Diorissima, a high jewellery collection of 141 small treasures, at a special event in Venice earlier this year. The collection is designed by Victoire de Castellane, creative director of Dior Joaillerie. Texturally influenced by the art of collage, Diorissima is divided into a trio of thematic worlds, including Lush Vegetation and Mysterious Constellations. Aquatic Depths includes a ring that stands out. Sculptural, the design nods to coral reefs and aquatic flowers found beneath the water’s surface; it shimmers and glistens with pavé-set diamonds and lacquer.

TIFFANY & CO

‘This work is, above all, a game of composition and freedom.’ So says Nathalie Verdeille, the senior vice president chief artistic officer of Tiffany & Co., describing how the US brand’s 2026 Blue Book high jewellery collection came to be. Entitled Hidden Garden, the collection’s pieces are anchored in the work of Jean Schlumberger, the design history-making French jewellery creative who closely partnered with Tiffany & Co. from 1956 onwards. It was Schlumberger who first conceived of the Tiffany & Co. Bird on a Rock brooch, a narrative gem that Verdeille, alongside the Tiffany Design Studio, revisited with this Blue Book collection. The result is a flock of Paradise Birds, wherein ‘each stone became the starting point for a story. Before us were all the colours of the rainbow: fire opals from Mexico, Australian boulder opals, spessartine from Madagascar’, she reminisces. ‘We looked at them like precious eggs, wondering what extraordinary birds might emerge from within.’

CINDY CHAO

The work of Taiwanese jewellery artist Cindy Chao features in museum collections. In London, a seven-petal peony brooch cast from titanium and set with rubies and diamonds is part of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s holdings. Peonies bloom in spring; a new brooch by Chao is decidedly more autumnal in inspiration, depicting a maple leaf.

BUCCELLATI

Serenissima, a group of high jewellery creations by Italian master maker Buccellati, is an ode to Venice, capturing the city’s visual splendour in precious metals and high carat stones. As is always the case at Buccellati, artisanal techniques lead the way; here, white gold is worked to appear as intricate lace, a seemingly featherweight bracelet frosted with 825 white diamonds.

CHANEL

Counting 85 pieces, Chanel’s new Signes & Symboles high jewellery collection is centred on motifs, good luck charms and mascots that were dear to Coco Chanel. Cue comets, lions, camellia flowers and stars. Meanwhile, rings from the collection’s Talisman Constrasté chapter play into another Chanel forte, the use of a colour palette that is elegantly minimal.

BVLGARI

Unveiled at the 17th-century Milanese Villa Arconati earlier this year, Eclettica, a new collection by Roman house Bvlgari, counts more than 150 high jewellery marvels. Named for the Italian word for ‘eclectic’, the collection draws from various epochs, geographies and stylistic movements. Here, the Eclectic Embrace High Jewellery necklace pays tribute to Moorish mosaics and arabesques.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS

Ancient Egypt has been a creative influence for the designers and makers at Van Cleef & Arpels for more than a century, as the maison’s archive attests. There, pieces exist from the 1920s that drew from the art and culture of Ancient Egypt, created in the wake of the 1922 rediscovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Vice versa, the Van Cleef & Arpels pieces purchased by the Egyptian royal family inspire to this day, too. It’s this penchant that Fascinating Egypt, a new high jewellery collection of 180 creations, nods to. Research gave shape to figurative elements – pharaohs, details of temple architecture, Cleopatra or lotus flowers – colour combinations and shapes.

Collaged images by Parick Waugh

In the family of Hermès Birkin bags, the Shoulder Birkin is a rare species recognisable by its east-west proportions and sporty mien. Eschewing the bulk and volume of its predecessors, Jean Paul Gaultier (creative director of Hermès between 2003-2010) introduced the style in 2004. It went on to become a cult insider buy, handmade in small quantities until production ceased in 2013.

With a flurry of interest in the horizontal east-west style triggered by newcomers such as Alaïa’s Teckel design, Hermès reintroduced the style in 2024, giving it a new moniker: the Shoulder Birkin Light 29. The design team under Nadège Vanhéee recalibrated its dimensions and scale, making it easier to wear under the shoulder with its new span of 29cm (or alternatively in the crook of the arm or hand). Consider it a cabriolet of handbags – dynamic, sleek, light.

Currently up for auction at Christie’s is this immaculate version, which is in Grade I condition and in a lovely warm putty shade called Biscuit Evercolor. The generous strap drop, gleaming gold hardware and signature padlock emphasise the class of this bag, which would have been handmade in the Hermès workshops in Pantin, just outside Paris. It also boasts a leather lining and two interior pockets, and partners particularly well with lean, supple tailoring, but equally well with denim.

The elusive nature of the style (not many enter the secondary market as clients love to hang on to them) is reflected in the estimate of $18,000-$26,000. True connoisseurs order removable liners to protect the interior and massage the leather to keep it supple and fit. The Shoulder Birkin Light, like every Birkin, demands attention and care, but equally attracts admiration. Join the bidding?

The Dish is a monthly column that shines a light on London's most thrilling plates.

In the midst of a borderline apocalyptic heatwave that’s been regularly making central London hotter than coastal Spain, the only reasonable way to eat is as if you were on holiday. July is not a time for British stodge (unless it comes in picnic form). Instead, I’ve spent the last month ordering any variation of crudo on the menu, and dining like a Mediterranean.

Crudo, the Italian term for ‘raw’, covers a wide variety of specialities from carpaccio to tartare and ceviche, and London is brimming with exemplary versions of each. At Legare - a neighbourhood Italian tucked away on the cobbled streets of Shad Thames near Tower Bridge - make a beeline for their trout variation if it’s on the weekly rotating specials menu. Plump little cubes of pale pink fish with a light citrus dressing undercutting the richness of the fish, it’s the perfect foil to their plates of rustic pappardelle and olive oil-drenched panzanella.

At MAAI by Nikita, the recently opened Clapham restaurant from Great British Menu winner Nikita Pathakji, their cured sea bream could be hung in a gallery. Where many of their impeccable flavours - a mix of British ingredients and globally-influenced ideas - pack a punch, their sea bream is a light and mellow moment of subtlety. Studded with cubes of green apple and bathed in a citrus ponzu dressing with a smattering of nigella seeds, it doesn’t shout, but it makes its presence known amongst a truly standout menu.

On an almost intolerably hot Sunday afternoon, however, I found myself walking down Stoke Newington’s bustling Church Street and into Escocesa. Opened in 2015, with chefs from Barcelona and Bilbao via Soho’s Barrafina, it has managed that rarest of feats among an ever-changing east London and maintained its tenure for more than a decade. With a precise MO of taking Scottish seafood and fusing it with Spanish technique, there’s a charm to the space as soon as you walk through the door and take a high seat at the open kitchen bar. A clutch of oysters and fresh seafood sits on ice behind the counter; between 4pm and 5pm, they shut the kitchen so that staff can sit down together for a meal. It’s unpretentious but rings with authenticity.

Their tortilla, studded with fat, juicy prawns inside its oozing midst, levels up a classic dish. Hot fried slices of aubergine are drizzled with sugar cane honey and studded with walnuts. However it’s their tuna tartare, infused with sesame and accompanied by a fresh avocado mousse, that is Escocesa’s standout. Fresh, zingy with lime, and spiked with thin slivers of crispbread, they’ve not reinvented the wheel but honed in on the essence of its simple genius. Fresh, light fish balanced with nutty savouriness and citrus piquancy; under the blessed blast of a fan, for a brief moment I felt like I was on the continent rather than a few tube stops away from the City.

This month’s special mention - though not in London and not fished from the sea - must also go to Martin Carabott of Sussex’s Gravetye Manor, and his winning garden salad, picked as part of Chapel Down’s Taste of England menu. The most impossibly pretty plate I have possibly ever seen, showcasing a stunning mix of 25 vegetables, herbs and edible flowers, I’ve already booked to dine there properly as Carabott is clearly the Monet of the herbaceous world.

Escocesa, 67 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 0AR. Book a table.

There are many aspects of hotels that can be labelled as offering added value, or, as they are more commonly known, ‘experiences’ – beehives, boat trips, Augustinus Bader facials, to name just a few. But when you need something that completely transports you, nothing can compete with a vintage-car collection as a truly immersive experience.

At Hotel Al Moudira in Luxor, it’s as if the Beatles song Drive My Car has come to life. Indeed, it’s a great song to blast as you cruise along in its 1968 stretch Mercedes 200, the wind blowing in your hair. A beautiful place, sprawling and lost in a time warp, Al Moudira is a haven of antiques, thanks to its owner, Florian Amereller, a keen collector of museum-worthy pieces salvaged from various palaces in Alexandria. His collection of treasures extends to the garage, which are filled with a svelte line-up of retro automobiles that includes two 1980s Land Rover Defenders and a 1960 VW Karmann Ghia, along with the aforementioned Merc – surely the most memorable airport pick-up imaginable.

While all the great and most celebrated hotels offer that glorious, dreamy feeling that you are somehow starring in your own personal movie, at Belmond’s Villa San Michele, just outside Florence, that feeling comes to life as you drive up to the sun-baked, collonaded entrance in an ice-blue 1965 Porsche. Here, a vintage-car moment allows you to really feel the cobbled landscape of this Renaissance city in the most wonderfully nostalgic way. The concierge, Adriano Pecoraro, is amazing at piecing together the most storied vintage rides, such as 1980s Ferraris and the classic Ape Calessino, not to mention the best addresses to seek out, from the nearby ruined temple dedicated to Minerva, to the statuary wonders of the Villa Bardini.

Meanwhile, not far away in Volterra, in the Tuscan countryside, lies Borgo Pignano, a divine eco retreat that houses a museum-quality collection of cars and Vespa scooters that celebrates the golden age of Italian design: included is a 1957 Fiat 500, alongside 1930s Gloria Garibaldina bicycles and a 1954 Ducati. You can’t take any out for excursions, but just to see them in such surroundings is enough (although you can explore the estate on horseback should you wish).

And while it’s a wrench to leave its loungers, the hairpin roads that surround the Maybourne Riviera in the South of France are made for a Jaguar 1969 E-Type or 1978 Rolls Royce Corniche, both of which can be magicked up by its concierge, working closely with Sunset Ride, suppliers of the most immaculate and lauded cars on the Côte d’Azur. Yes, the roads here still manage to conjure up scenes straight from Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief perfectly — especially when revving up to the hotel’s La Môme Riviera beach club, right down by the water’s edge in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.

GOOD TO KNOW

Another landscape made for epic road trips has to be Ireland and the Wild Atlantic Way, especially when you’re sitting in a 1936 Buick Roadmaster Convertible, the star attraction at Sheen Falls Lodge, a Relais & Châteaux wonder in Kenmare, Ireland, which has been part of the collection since 1992.

Since it was first used in Ancient Egypt, the hairbrush has barely evolved beyond some bristles on a stick. However, a number of new brands have recently launched brushes that offer a novel approach to the everyday item.

Most interesting is Killabrush, a new business that creates brushes with built-in antimicrobial technology to kill the bacteria that build up on brushes no matter how many serums, supplements or treatments you use. Killabrush is designed to support hair from the very first touchpoint, bringing a skincare-level approach to haircare.

Another new brand in the category is Orbit, a line of three pocket-sized combs – an afro comb, a wide-tooth comb for thicker hair and a fine-tooth comb – designed by London creative studio Forestalgia. Made from recycled acetate, the circular shape of Orbit’s lightweight combs, while aesthetically pleasing, also serves to reduce wrist strain and cover more surface area than traditional combs.

Finally, beloved French brush brand La Bonne Brosse celebrates summer with the launch of its Lagoon Blue colourway for five of its brush types: The Universal Brush, The Essential Daily Brush, The Indispensable Soft Brush, The Massaging Detangling Hairbrush and The Intense Brush. Each is designed for a different purpose, and the brushes are handmade at a small atelier just outside of Paris with keratin-rich boar bristles to keep hair looking healthy and feeling grease-free between washes.

Scented candles are all well and good, but in the summertime, incense really is the only way to go. After all, there’s something ritualistic and feel-good about lighting up a scented stick; there’s a satisfying sense of calmness and renewal that comes from watching a plume of floral smoke drift into the air.

Incense, in a word, is hot. Specifically Japanese incense, which has a much cleaner and lighter scent for summer than, say, Tibetan or Indian sticks, which veer more towards patchouli and muskier florals.

Take Le Labo, which has just launched its sultry and seductive Santal 26 scent into perfumed Japanese sticks, or Astier de Villatte, whose rarefied boxes of incense are made on the Japanese island of Awaji, and famed for a delicate scent of driftwood, resins, jasmine and immortelle. There are more options by Spanish powerhouse Loewe – scented with notes of ivy and delivered with a special terracotta vessel for burning – and by Perfumer H, who is inspired by niche smells such as ink, moss or ash. With its purple-hued Witchy Incense, Vyrao promises to impart courage and creativity, through a blend of orris, rose, frankincense, musk and nutmeg.

One of the most exciting launches of recent years, and another champion of the treasures from Awaji, is À La, a paean to Japanese crafts and culture that hones in on a zen purity that its founders, glamorous New York couple Karl Cyprien and Meg Cuna Cyprien, discovered having travelled around the country for 15 years before launching their brand.

The effect of À La is cerebral and subtle, with chic, stripped-back brown cardboard packaging tied up with string. As co-founder Kevin tells The Blend, ‘Restraint matters as much as the material. Ours is low-smoke by design, so it can sit in a home or travel with someone without taking over a room.’ He adds, ‘The intention was never a dramatic plume. It was a scent that stays close and lingers quietly.’

As for the scents, the Cypriens have created a range that is both evocative and earthy, particularly Aqualiria, which is described as like ‘hay drying in the sun’, thanks to agarwood as the main note. Kevin explains, ‘We always return to it. It has a warmth that feels almost alive, resinous and slightly animalic, closer to leather than to anything sweet.’ Yes, it seems À La is a total smoke show.

With the luxury world hotly competing to deliver untrammelled experiences, peek emotions and fan the flames of desire – Paris haute couture outperformed on all levels. From the hand calligraphy on invitations, to magical stage sets (fantasy garden at Chanel, tropical art house at Dior), to the hundreds of hours devoted to creating just one embellished design, couturiers poured their imaginations into the finest artistry, even plasma.

Where in seasons past, the haute couture offering might have appeared like an anachronistic museum piece catering to the social diaries of a seriously wealthy Middle Eastern clientele, today the leaders are inventing the zeitgeist and moving into scientific, artistic and even cosmic explorations that AI cannot reach.

Daniel Roseberry called his collection for Schiaparelli The Call of the Void and writes eloquently about his experience. “Formulas are antithetical to the magic of creation which can be found only in total surrender to the unknown. Naming things, defining things, is comforting. But in doing so, you’re stripping something of its infinite power and magic – you’re making it less terrifying but also less exhilarating,” he says. Elsa Schiparelli was as he describes like a "wrecking ball" to the polite genteel fashion world of the 1930s when couturiers fussed over pin tucks and pearl buttons. Roseberry like Elsa excels in going beyond convention and he did this in an extraordinary line-up of designs that were the sartorial equivalent of aquatic diving and astral travelling. Possible? A visit to Barcelona and to Gaudi’s marvels that drew from the organic architecture of undersea worlds was a starting point. Here were sculpted, glazed silicone corset dresses with a glow from within via tiny LED strip lighting positioned under the breast pieces, tulle gowns with hovering tentacles (can I tickle you?), and boleros covered with tiny petals, teamed with latex ruffle skirts. The deep-sea currents were explored in baroque pearl-embellished real sponge handbags, seashell embroidery and sea urchin ‘bubble’ pumps.

Indeed, the shooting star of the moment – Matthieu Blazy – has ignited a new fervour in fashion not just in the queues for correspondent pumps and soft pleat 25 bags at the Chanel stores, but also by reinforcing the beauty and life enhancing joy of the craft. On finding a book of fairytales in Gabrielle Chanel’s apartment he ventured into fantasy land – after all Chanel cloaked herself in myths and make believe to escape her humble origins. The upshot or should we say Jack and the Beanstalk upshoot, sidestepped cutesy for enchantment. Materials reigned supreme from raffia embroidered jackets featuring Goossens made buttons that ranged from seed to bud to sunflower on one knock out style that was teamed with a plaid shirt and denim look tweed frayed edge jeans. Blazy is a wizz at trompe l’oeil. Other fairy tales were retold in gold minaudieres in the shape of a bear; in three outfits that tracked the ugly duckling morphing into a swan (cue a stunning bugle beaded shift dress) and in a magpie dress covered with chains and buttons embroidered by Lesage. The shoes with painted 3D heels in the shape of eggs, pea pods and tropical flowers ensured the storytelling played out top to toe. Clients were treated to a private concert by Vanessa Paradis the same evening.

Hong Kong born London trained Robert Wun was accepted as a haute couturier three years ago. He too looked at elements of innocence in his collection, Childsplay. Here a grand gown was splattered with paint splashes like a walking Jackson Pollock and a ballooning choirboy smock dress topped with an antler headpiece. Wun charted the passage from childhood to adulthood and closed with a sculptural black dress with ginormous shoulders and tiny waist that appeared in a cloud of giant balloons. Wun said his intent was to keep wonder alive. He did.

How do you maximise cultural capital? Dior’s answer is to turn Jonathan Anderson’s collection into a public access exhibition at the show’s location, the delightful Musee Rodin. Entitled The Grammar of Forms, school children were enthralled, posing in the Dior branded pavilion and gazing into exhibits. Original Dior creations from the heyday of 1950s couture with their signature neat waists, bustle skirts and sculpted bodices were shown alongside Anderson’s much looser silhouettes where draping, pleating and texture shine. Interspersed are sculptures and works by American artist Lynda Benglis which inspired the collection. She channels her Indian origins into wild bricolage pieces, into abstract twisted metal sculptures and textile works covered with glitter and shimmer. Anderson’s corresponding bricolage skirts with exposed lattice framework resembling Benglis’ chicken wire pieces looked thrilling in dialogue, so too did his luminous pleated ensembles.

There are a lot of studies in glow and light this season with Iris Van Herpen scoring a 1st for Sonic Starquakes which grew out of a serious study of sonic vibrating stars and the spiralling geometries of galaxies. She worked with CERN’s particle physics laboratory for plasma research. In a feat of engineering she twisted handblown glass tubes filled with plasma (think wearable plasma lamp) that emanated strange crackling glows around a sculpted dress. Another, Helix Nebula, in sheer tulle was covered in thousands of tiny glass spheres that responded to the body’s electromagnetic field creating waves of luminosity. Elsewhere, diaphanous designs with vast floating wings of metallic organza emulated the spectrum of the aurora borealis.

“Around us and within us vast dimensions of reality remain undiscovered. I do not seek to explain them, instead they heighten the awareness of the unknown, reminding us of the mysteries that lie within the multiverse,” says Van Herpen. She is an extraordinary talent who consistently questions and pushes the boundaries of design at the nexus of science and spirituality. In our age of AI and instant explanations, the sense of magic and wonder is terrific to behold.

There is something seductive about nautical style. Not just because it evokes summer vistas and sea air, but because it walks that particularly pleasing line between elegance and ease. Few other genres of menswear allow a man to look simultaneously relaxed and entirely in control. Which perhaps explains why, every now and then, menswear drifts back towards the marina.

For Summer 2026, the tide is unmistakably turning. Boat shoes are back, as are Breton-striped sweaters. White trousers feel like they have a place again – especially when paired with a plaited belt or French blue blazer.

‘Like so many trending looks right now, nautical style speaks to stealth luxury,’ says Mr Porter’s style director, Benedict Browne. ‘Sailing has always been a pastime that the rich and famous enjoy.’ Think JFK in Hyannis Port, Jude Law’s Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr Ripley, with his striped piqué button-throughs and rolled-up hems, or Alain Delon brooding in a washed linen shirt in Plein Soleil.

This is worth noting because true nautical menswear has never really been about novelty anchor motifs or aggressively kitsch stripes. It’s rooted instead in naval tailoring, Riviera sportswear, Ivy League prep and the quietly aspirational world of sailing clubs and summer houses. ‘Nautical style introduced so many landmark garments to menswear – yachting blazers, fishermen’s sweaters, deck shoes, striped T-shirts,’ continues Browne. ‘It’s easily one of the most influential genres of clothing we’ve got to enjoy today.’

The newly launched Marlin collection by Tod’s, inspired by the legendary 52-ft power cruiser once owned by JFK (it was his unofficial presidential yacht), feels particularly well timed for this reason. Rather than leaning into obvious sailing tropes, the collection channels a softer kind of elegance; cream technical bombers trimmed with nappa leather, preppy two-tone deck shoes and canvas holdalls designed for long, Mediterranean-bound weekends.

The palette itself – off-white, leafy green and tan – borrows directly from the boat itself. Elsewhere, other brands are approaching nautical style with similar subtlety. Hermès’ SS26 collection is awash with playful knotted neckerchiefs, funnel-neck sweaters and tan-leather-meets-cream-canvas holdalls, while Margaret Howell’s combinations of layered-up polo shirts and voluminous tailored shorts feel utilitarian, but also nostalgic. For designer Oliver Spencer, nautical style’s enduring appeal lies firmly in a sense of nostalgia. ‘It’s really deeply romantic,’ he says. ‘You can look like you own a boat, even if you don’t.’ Spencer also points out that nautical dressing shares much of its DNA with old-school sporting attire – cream flannels, polo shirts and soft tailoring that came to be in an era when dressing for leisure still carried with it a certain sense of formality.

Not that you need to look formal in 2026. The trick, according to Sunspel’s design director David Telfer, is restraint. ‘Keep it to one nautical reference in an outfit,’ he says. ‘Choose a navy polo, a striped T-shirt or a white linen shirt, and let the rest of the look stay simple.’ Sunspel’s cotton mesh Riviera polos (first designed to wear on the French Riviera in the 1950s), are an easy place to start. Tuck into pleated shorts and throw a lightweight sweater around your shoulders if you feel so inclined.

Another tip? If in doubt, stick with navy. ‘Navy is so evocative of sailing and holidays by the sea,’ says Isabel Ettedgui, owner of Connolly. ‘Pair a navy jacket with crisp white trousers and a great mariner stripe T-shirt or sweater.’ Connolly’s La Mer half-sleeve crew neck is a great option here – knitted in an indulgent, lightweight blend of cashmere, silk and organic cotton – as is the brand’s bright white Port Trousers, which elevate the humble chino.

Perhaps this is why nautical style keeps washing back ashore. Not because most of us own yachts or spend August bobbing around Capri, but because nautical menswear still represents a fantasy: relaxed affluence, old-world glamour and the idea that summer might stretch on forever.

Art has had a profound impact on the world of beauty. Historical movements that embraced unconventional or exaggerated features continue to influence make-up artists, while contemporary painters also make their mark on beauty trends, with numerous artistic luminaries directly collaborating with or inspiring brands. We take a look at a group of movements and artists that have had a resounding influence on the beauty fashions of today. Some are direct references, such as the repeat polka dots that pay homage to contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama; others, such as the confident swipes of colour by make-up doyenne Pat McGrath, are less literal translations.

PRE-RAPHAELITE

A group of British painters working in the mid-19th century, the Pre-Raphaelites are a mainstay on beauty inspiration boards. Artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais took inspiration from literature and mythology, featuring women with alabaster skin, refined features and flowing hair. Singer Florence Welch encapsulates the romance of the Pre-Raphaelites, while gothic horror movies evoke the movement’s heroines. In 2025’s Frankenstein, hair designer Cliona Furey and make-up artist Jordan Samuel embraced a Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic for Mia Goth, complete with an unimaginably long deep-red wig.

ART NOUVEAU

Contemporary make-up phenomenon Isamaya Ffrench is famously influenced by art, from Salvador Dalí, to Francis Bacon and Dadaism. She regularly cites Art Nouveau, inspired by the trippy homage this late 19th-century movement played to the natural world and its ‘whiplash’ curve effect – an ‘S’ shape seen in art and architecture of the time that follows the organic curl of a vine, hair or flame. Make-up artist Thomas de Kluyver has also created art nouveau-styled beauty looks for brands such as Vivienne Westwood, with bespoke eyebrows drawn to mimic rose branches and fantastical, ornate details.

POP ART

The connection between pop art and make-up is deeply entangled: art imitates beauty; beauty imitates art. The mid-20th-century movement drew on bold graphics, bright colours and consumer culture. Artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein presented everyday women and celebrities including Marylin Monroe with expressive lips, abundant eyelashes and dramatically coiffed hair. The style is still ubiquitous in the fashion and beauty worlds, with major make-up artists such as Pat McGrath including intense graphics and riotous explosions of colour in their looks. The spirit of pop art is alive in the work and products of Isamaya Ffrench too; cue striking silver packaging and bold treatments.

Aside from wider movements throughout history, there have been some crucial creatives who have inspired beauty trends through their art. Below are some of the most catalytic examples.

Kerry James Marshall

A highly influential figure within contemporary painting, Kerry James Marshall is known for his stunningly rendered portraits of Black sitters, which celebrate the beauty of dark skin. His aesthetic is a challenge to historical suppression and neglect of Black sitters, which has led to collaborations with Wales Bonner and seen him on inspiration boards for brands including Valentino. In 2020, he painted a majestic fictional character wearing a formal evening dress by Off-White for the September cover of Vogue, painting her skin so dark that, in his own words, she was ‘at the edge of visibility... The point is to show that blackness is rich and complex'.

Yayoi Kusama

Few artists have combined such a personal, psychological practice with the world of commerce. Yayoi Kusama is famous for her immersive works, which cover interior spaces, graphic sculptures and her own body with dots and colourful repeated icons, originally inspired by her state of mind while hallucinating and experiencing OCD symptoms. Her instantly recognisable aesthetics have been applied to a host of famous faces, including Léa Seydoux, Naomi Osaka, in a global campaign for her Louis Vuitton collaboration. Kusama’s ubiquitous dot designs can also be found littered across experimental online make-up accounts.

Marilyn Minter

Marilyn Minter’s paintings and photographs are instantly recognisable for their thick, luminous use of make-up. Placing her models behind wet or steamed glass, Minter homes in on open mouths slathered with bold lipstick and sweat-stained, high-contrast eyeshadow. Pamela Anderson, Monica Lewinsky and Miley Cyrus have featured in her work, which takes a feminist approach to sexual expression. She describes make-up as ‘war paint’ and collaborated with beauty giant MAC, celebrating its loose glitters and punchy pigments. At the time she summed up her beauty aesthetic as what happens under the ‘party lights, it’s hot, you’re sweaty, you’ve got that slight perspiration on your brow, your eyelashes start coming off’.

After several summers dominated by oatmeal drawstring trousers and 50 shades of ecru, the return of a little colour and personality this season feels refreshing. Nothing too loud, mind. Just enough to suggest the wearer might occasionally enjoy himself. Which is where striped sports shirts come in.

A true modern classic, the polo has long occupied that sweet spot between sportswear and something more refined. Despite the name, the polo shirt as we know it emerged from the tennis court rather than the polo field, when legend-of-the-game René Lacoste introduced his soft-collared cotton piqué polos in the 1920s as a relaxed alternative to stiff sporting whites. Ralph Lauren later transformed the polo into a cornerstone of American prep – collar-popped and chino-tucked with a sweater around its shoulders – while mid-century style icons Paul Newman and Steve McQueen understood its particular magic: casual, but rarely scruffy. A plain polo shirt will seldom see you wrong, but this summer, sporty shirting feels most considered when rendered in stripes. Plenty of brands have played with multicoloured designs, from the bold, hoop-striped rugbys by Drake’s, to Celine’s confident block-striped polos with contrast collars and cuffs.

There’s a simple joy to be found in shirts like these – they are a supremely easy way to lift an otherwise muted outfit. A pop of green, crimson or cobalt blue set against classic chinos or washed denim jeans, layered beneath a dark suede blouson or trucker jacket, looks both low-key and intentional. Parisian brand A.P.C. has produced some particularly beguiling versions in organic cotton. You could go tonal with the chestnut-and-cream long-sleeve polo, paired with white jeans and a chocolate suede jacket, or opt for something poppier with the beige, red and white striped short-sleeve version – particularly good with faded blue denim. Designed with a straight fit, they’re not too slim, and work equally well tucked or untucked as the mood takes you.

The polo’s more boisterous cousin, the rugby shirt, carries with it the same sporting pedigree, but with a touch more swagger. Polo Ralph Lauren still does them brilliantly – see its version in bottle green, navy, red and yellow with a contrasting white collar – while designer interpretations from the likes of Versace push things somewhere more louche.

Either way, pieces like these make getting dressed feel pleasingly straightforward. Hymn their preppy roots and finish with neat deck shoes or soft, unlined suede loafers. Swedish footwear stalwart Morjas or British indie shoemaker Horatio both offer good options here.

There is, admittedly, one potential hazard to striped polos and rugby shirts alike – they can veer into spray-paint-tight Love Island territory if you’re not careful. Avoid anything overly fitted. We’re aiming for Riviera chic, not nightclub promoter. Don’t be afraid of a little bit of colour, either. The striped sports shirt is purpose-built to inject a little personality into your wardrobe, without tipping into full peacocking.

It works like this – on your FYP (For You Page), an image of an archive interior or artfully shot sculptural vase catches your eye. You tap through to the Instagram post and, before you know it, you’re shopping. This modern approach to ‘window dressing’ is now an established part of how a new group of antique dealers get the attention of passing trade. Sharpened design instincts and the element of surprise key to social media success have helped this new breed of entrepreneur build successful dealerships, some with online stores, others with appointment-only showrooms, their digital presences rendered IRL. These new-school sellers represent something fresh in a traditional trade, something recognised by the vanguards of the industry: BADA (The British Antique Dealers’ Association) reported a jump in new members aged in their 20s and 30s last year. And although there has been an obvious sea change in how antiques are sold on our streets, the china shop crammed full of chipped Chelsea is a rare sight nowadays. Rising rents, reduced footfall – it’s all the usual reasons cited for the closure of bricks-and-mortar stores. It doesn’t mean that enthusiasm for beautiful objects with provenance has passed, however: furniture, fabrics or objet d’arts - there is a dealer for every niche. Here are three of The Blend’s favourites.

Altar

‘Devotional, curious, artful; they are words that connect my objects,’ says Steph Wilson, founder of Altar. This figures; each of her pieces has the air of a sacred object, the brand’s moniker coming from ‘a shrine to showcase things that are both material and spiritual’ the dealer-cum-artist says. Working across multiple mediums, including painting, Wilson is known for her photography, the idiosyncratic qualities of her subjects mirroring the one-off pieces she offers under Altar. Nothing is alike. ‘I look for pieces of which there is only one: the handmade, the studio prototypes. Uncategorisable things with unusual proportions or something that is hard to place in time,’ Wilson explains. Thus the flowing lines of 1930s cabinetry sit alongside unexpected Victorian woodwork, and art deco and art nouveau designs, a love of Wilson’s. Currently in stock is a monastic Tage Andersen stained-glass cabinet and Edo-period Japanese Jingsa hats, hybridised into lamps. ‘If an object sings with narrative, I need to picture it in a space where it can continue to do that,’ Wilson says of her sourcing process. And what of her digital-first practice? ‘So much of social media’s success leans on “vibe”, doesn’t it? But beneath the surface, it’s about stirring feelings. The benefit of being online is that it opens the door to Altar in a non-confronting way. Come to the Brixton showroom, be introduced to the pieces – they can be loved in person without any pressure.’

@altar.london

Beau-Traps

Lifted from a book of Georgian-era slang, the name describes a loose paving stone, which, when stood on, sprays you with the water beneath. So something unexpected. ‘I look for the hard-to-find, those things rarely seen elsewhere, something that feels and looks misunderstood,’ says Maxime Fisher on what makes a Beau-Traps piece. His Instagram is an assemblage of beguiling throwbacks and oddly poignant stills from Bravo TV’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, a tone-setting exercise that fits together perfectly. ‘It allows the objects to be more playful, nostalgic and hopeful in a direction that feels authentic,’ Fisher explains. ‘They are emotional and genre-less.’

Some of his collection is drawn from recent history, other objects from much further back. Yet all have the same refined surreal quality, as if pulled from multiverse timelines. At once, human and alien: a 16th-century beribboned marble bowl, a curving chip-carved 1940s chair, a linear metal plant stand, so lightweight that it looks like a 2D doodle. ‘I couldn’t help how natural it felt to begin Beau-Traps, there’s nothing more to it than that,’ Fisher says of how it all began. This extends to a collection of Alexandre Noll woodworked pieces featured on his website. ‘They were sourced from my friend. The work feels childlike and effortlessly straightforward but they weren’t carved for no reason. I find understanding in how material is shaped and formed, it speaks to the longevity of time.’ A backstory is not always required though: ‘I think there’s something magical in the unknown,’ Fisher says.

@beau_traps

Old Old Woods

‘Bringing wood furniture back to life, I saw how forgiving it could be after neglect, making desirable something once unwanted. It mirrors the human mind for me,’ explains Tola Adefioye on the beginnings of OOW. ‘With the right care, one’s mental state can be improved, a once-lost person found.’ Initiated as an escape from his other vocation as a lab scientist, in 2016 he elevated furniture restoration from pastime to creative calling. Adefioye began rejuvenating mid-century pieces – broken tables, chairs and forgotten treasures. Global in scope, he often lands on Scandinavian and Italian handiwork, placing it alongside African art and textiles.

While not strictly searching for big-name designers, an interesting find does sometimes end up being by the hand of a famed maker. ‘It’s very instinctive, though, I don’t know what I’m looking for; I respond to pieces based on feeling, proportion, materiality and character,’ Adefioye says. ‘But it has changed the way I look at objects. Not just through their function, but as things that carry history and human touch. It shapes the way I source,’ Adefioye observes of his offering, which includes a pair of folding Trieste chairs by Aldo Jacober, a brutalist Sedes Armchair by Wim Mulder and matching flower-like Mario Bellini for Artemide table and pendant lights, all currently in his Leytonstone workshop. And what makes good design for Adefioye? ‘Connection,’ he concludes.

@oldoldwoods

Nestled atop roofs with ample space to bask in, or tucked away from the hubbub in their own secret oasis, as soon as summer settles in the city’s best hotels and restaurants throw open their patio doors and spill out onto the streets, opening up perfect areas for an afternoon aperitivo or a long and languorous lunch.

Here, we take you through a selection of London’s finest seasonal outdoor spaces to see you through the summer months.

Café Francois, Borough

If you’ve already consumed enough classic picky bits to last until 2027, head to Café Francois’ new Provençale terrace – bringing a slice of southern France to Borough Yards and offering regionally-inspired nibbles to broaden your al fresco dining options. Here, you can snack on snail croquettes, lamb brochettes, courgette fritti, gilda and more. To add to the European holiday feel, happy hour runs from 3pm-5pm daily, serving glasses of rosé for £8 or carafes for £30, plus any three items from their menu for a very reasonable £25.

cafefrancois.london/terracedining

Angler, City

Helmed by Roux Scholarship-winning chef Craig Johnston, Angler has maintained its Michelin star for 13 consecutive years, serving exquisitely plated seafood from its seventh floor spot at South Place Hotel, a stone’s throw from Liverpool Street Station. Its covered rooftop terrace is an extension of the restaurant space rather than a seasonal alternative, meaning that you can embrace the full dining experience with a sweeping view over the City all year round. From impossibly delicate savoury petit fours to sesame-infused tuna tartare, rich lobster bisques and stunning desserts (their caramelised pear pavlova with candied pecans is a knock out), in the summer, it elevates an already memorable experience even further.

anglerrestaurant.com

Bluebird, Chelsea

With a rich history dating back more than a century, Bluebird stands proudly as a King’s Road institution. Step outside of its Art Deco interiors, however, and Bluebird’s spacious outdoor terrace is a place to happily while away the summer hours – particularly if you’re a sports fan. A large screen showing everything from the World Cup to Wimbledon and Formula One is at the centre of their summer offering, served alongside Louis Pommery sparkling wine, Mirabeau rosé and a playful, tennis-themed cocktail and dessert menu courtesy of Lavazza coffee. Naturally, you can enjoy their regular bar offerings too, plus modern British classic fare.

bluebird-restaurant.co.uk

Upstairs at Langan’s, Mayfair

If the sight of a high street full of endless vapes leaves you cold, then Upstairs at Langan’s – the roof terrace hideaway perched atop the iconic Mayfair brasserie – has its sights on more traditional vices. Here, you can indulge in a curated cigar menu, to be enjoyed under its retractable roof no matter the weather. If that doesn’t take your fancy, they also have a dedicated caviar selection, oysters, and a cocktail list that’ll keep you sozzled long past dusk.

langansbrasserie.com/upstairs/

Royal Horseguards Hotel, Westminster

If you’re looking for a truly peaceful – and surprisingly inexpensive – rest stop near one of London’s most bustling boroughs, then the Royal Horseguards Hotel’s secluded summer enclave, tucked beside Whitehall Gardens, is worth your time. A stone’s throw from the Strand and just over the bridge from the South Bank, the space has no business feeling quite so calm, and yet its copious greenery and shaded awnings give it the feel of a charming English garden. In keeping with the tone, they serve a full spritz menu as well as pitchers of Pimms and various gins, while their dining menu is a comparative steal for the area, with gastropub-style mains and classic British puds.

royalhorseguardshotel.com

St. Pancras Terrace, King’s Cross

Tucked around the back of St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, their summer terrace – part of the Booking Office 1859 restaurant – is your perfect pre or post-travel moment of relief. Open until September in partnership with Laurent-Perrier, champagne and champagne cocktails are their priority, with Carlingford oysters, light bites and seasonal mains (shrimp brioche bun, crispy duck salad) to keep you fed. Head there for sundown for bubbles and balmy skies over the clock tower.

stpancraslondon.com

COYA

Where Peruvian eatery COYA’s main restaurant is a vibrant fiesta of sounds and smells, its summer terrace - tucked away down a quiet side street, with the Bank of England looming in full view - feels more like relaxed, European-style piazza dining. Surrounded by sunflowers to keep the bright spirit of the inside space alive, the flavours of South America are ripe for a warm summer’s evening, from light, fresh ceviche to guacamole served tableside. Prioritise their Chilean sea bass cazuela: a stunning dish of perfectly flaky fish served atop a local delicacy of risotto-esque bomba rice infused with chilli lime butter and sweetcorn pureé. On the terrace, glasses of champagne and Cotes de Provence rosé vie for top billing with their summer cocktails. A long, pisco-centric Lugo spritz would be our suggestion.

coyarestaurant.com

Orrery, Marylebone

Downstairs at Orrery, the fine dining restaurant helmed by chef Pierre Minotti (ex-of the two Michelin-star Hotel Café Royal), service is a firmly white-linen affair. Serving a trio of meticulously designed tasting menus rooted in seasonal British produce and precise French technique, dinner is a pleasingly formal and theatrical experience. Upstairs on their summer roof terrace, however, you can relax a little more and sink into the season. The space is filled with comfortable sofa areas that can seat groups of five, while their menu offers a taste of the spoils below, featuring inspired savoury bites including sea bream carpaccio and Oscietra caviar on a buckwheat crumpet. A dedicated terrace cocktail bar comes courtesy of Renais Gin.

orrery-restaurant.co.uk/terrace/

The Album to Buy: Confessions II

Wherever you’re dancing, and whatever you’re wearing, Madonna’s 15th album Confessions II could be part of the soundtrack to your summer. Teased by a track with Sabrina Carpenter and a six-song internet-stopping promo, in a world of collective ADHD, she certainly got our attention... Now about that biopic…

The Exhibition to See: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting

Pay homage to David Hockney with his first-ever Serpentine show. Running till 23 August, A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting has posthumously become a moving celebration of his magic. It's free to enter and you can book, or join a short queue on the day to see some of his iPad works and a select few paintings in dialogue with the surrounding nature of Kensington Gardens. Even in the city, it’s a bucolic scene with which, as much as LA swimming pools, Hockney has become joyfully synonymous.

The Film to See: The Odyssey

After the summer of Barbenheimer led to his Oscars sweep, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey sails into in to cinemas. The cast is epic (Charlize Theron, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya) and the best place to appreciate the technical intricacies is the Imax. A BFI fellow and filmmaking God to many, Nolan’s new work has already broken their records for advance bookings. Soak it up and celebrate cinema from 17 July.

The Theatre to See: Oh Mary

Toast America 250 with irreverent presidential history at the Trafalgar Theatre in Whitehall. Oh Mary is the untold story of Abraham Lincoln’s misunderstood spouse Mary Todd Lincoln. Catherine Tate stars in the title role until 18 July. After that, the play’s creator and original Broadway star Cole Escola takes over for a four-week run, giving London audiences a great chance to see the show in its Tony winning form.

The Theatre to Book: Abigail’s Party

‘I like olives, Beverly, and I’m twenty five percent of the assembled company…’ See you there, for a brilliant revival of the Mike Leigh house party horror Abigail’s Party. After rave reviews on tour for Tamzin Outhwaite and Kevin Bishop, suburban meltdown shimmies into the West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre running from 12 August-19 September. This is new life for a cult classic and a guaranteed summer treat.

The Books to Read: The Correspondent & Frenzy

The Women’s Prize winner this year rewards the pleasure principle, celebrating the kind of compulsive literary novel not out of place in a beach bag, and that is a compliment. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is a celebration of the written word, telling a life through its letters. Evans has struck a nerve with readers hankering for a world where news travelled slowly. Alternatively, short stories are made for time poor readers. Reach for Joyce Carol Oates' new collection Frenzy, in which each short story is as psychologically diverting as a novel.

The Collaboration to Look Out For: The Burberry Beach Club at Hotel Belles Rives

Hotel Belles Rives on the water in Juan Les Pins, once the villa where F Scott Fitzgerald wrote, is flawless in my opinion, but Burberry have styled the beach club of this still sleepy spot for the summer season. As a connoisseur of great shirts (and indeed an astute observer of the art of shopping) would Fitzgerald approve of the best of British style taking over? Think about it on your lounger or over a glass of rosé on the beautiful terrace.

The TV Show to Stream: Westies & Lucky

The World Cup all the way but also some stellar performances for TV too. JK Simmons is reason alone to watch The Westies (from 12 July MGM+) which draws on real Irish mob power play in 80s New York. Alternatively, from the creator of Your Friends and Neighbours, Jonathan Tropper, Lucky stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Annette Bening and Timothy Olyphant (from 15 July, Apple) It’s a high-style, high-octane heist drama set and filmed in contemporary LA.