The South of France has spent a long time defined by its light and its coastline; this season, these openings suggest the region's cultural life can be found just as easily inland, on a river quay or a few minutes offshore, and none of it requires a gallery booking.

Five addresses, scattered between the Luberon, the Var coast, the Rhône, the heights above Cannes and a seven-hectare island off Bandol, make for a pleasingly varied cultural season. Paintings meet stained glass in a Romanesque priory; design takes over a Saint-Tropez house older than the resort town's reputation. Wicker returns to a Rhône village once sustained by willow. Ceramics inhabit a Couëlle landscape-house above Cannes and Bendor reawakens with a welcome residue of parties, ateliers and glass workshops beneath the hotel polish.

Les Davids, Haute-Provence

Les Davids sits high above the Luberon at 600 metres. The estate has been a working vineyard for some time, and earlier this year it opened a 2.5km promenade designed by Bas Smets, the Brussels-based landscape architect responsible for the Luma gardens in Arles and the surroundings of Notre-Dame de Paris. The route moves through eight distinct atmospheres, from oak forest and garrigue to lavender, olive grove and vineyard rows. Smets began with the territory already in front of him, drawing the path from the estate’s working ground, where vineyard rows give way to scrub and tree cover.

Newly installed works by Tomás Saraceno, David Nash, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy and Lionel Sabatté now punctuate the walk, giving this phase of the estate the feel of a collection dispersed through planting, agriculture and woodland. At its centre is the Théâtre de Verdure, a natural amphitheatre inaugurated in 2024 and used for Les Estivales du Haut Calavon, the summer programme of concerts and readings.

Yves Zurstrassen keeps a studio on the estate, and nine kilometres south, at the Musée de Salagon in Mane, his Variations rouges is installed until 14 December 2026. The Belgian painter made the series in dialogue with Salagon’s Romanesque church and Aurélie Nemours’s stained-glass windows, completed in 1998; his vertical reds meet stone, glass and southern light at close range.

lesdavids.fr

Une Maison à Saint-Tropez, Saint-Tropez

For a fourth edition of Une Maison à Saint-Tropez, Isabelle Castanier returns to her family house at 17 avenue Foch, on Place des Lices. The building dates to 1789, its front door opening straight onto the square. From 6 June to 31 July, the house becomes the setting for Souvenirs d’enfance, an exhibition shaped around four childhood scenes: the cabin, the afternoon snack, bath time and the bedtime story.

Axel Chay anchors the goûter with a low cast-aluminium table inlaid with semi-precious stones, a new development in his work that reads as precious and playful at once. Around it, Sarah Espeute's textiles, glassware by Nienke Sikkema and Bernard Heesen, and Lucie Sotty's ceramics fill out the table. Marianna Ladreyt, who transforms discarded beach inflatables into objects using leather-craft techniques, made the parasol for the outdoor cabin scene. Jorge Suárez Kilzi presents a flower-shaped bar with petals that open like a corolla, drawn from the chouchous-beignets carts that once worked the Saint-Tropez beaches.

It sounds playful because it is, though Castanier's touch keeps the sentiment in check. Objects sit close to daily life, rooms remain recognisably rooms, and Saint-Tropez appears through the rituals of a family summer. The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 1pm and 4pm to 8pm, with late openings on Thursdays until 10pm.

isabellecastanier.com

La Maison Vime, Vallabrègues

Vallabrègues is a good place to remember that wicker once had an economy of its own. In the 18th century, the Rhône-side village counted hundreds of wicker workers among its inhabitants, with willow from the river feeding a busy local trade. Atelier Vime now occupies the Hôtel Drujon, built in 1730 and later home to a workshop installed in 1878, complete with a courtyard and soaking ponds for fresh wicker.

On 23 May, Anthony Watson and Benoît Rauzy reopened La Maison Vime for the summer season. The shop runs until 12 September at 24 Quai du Rhône, with furniture, lighting, editions, vintage pieces, glassware and ceramics arranged through the house. It first appeared in 2022 as the atelier’s summer address, dedicated to the Vime world and its particular art de vivre; by now, its return has become part of the village calendar. Go for rattan, table linen, lamps, older pieces and the pleasure of seeing craft history still attached to an address.

ateliervime.com

Dragon Hill, Mouans-Sartoux

In the heights above Cannes, on Chemin de Castellaras in Mouans-Sartoux, Dragon Hill is the work of Jacques Couëlle, the French architect-sculptor who worked in clay and plaster maquettes, producing curved, cavernous interiors with no straight lines to speak of. His landscape-houses on the Côte d'Azur, and the resorts he designed for the Aga Khan on the Costa Smeralda in the 1960s, remain among the more singular pieces of 20th-century domestic architecture. The estate now operates as a residency and sculpture park, with permanent works by Antony Gormley, Tony Cragg, Claudia Comte, Thomas Houseago and Alicja Kwade, curated by Maxime Combot.

From 13 May to November 2026, the house hosts Inhabiting the Landscape House, a site-specific exhibition by ceramicist Olivia Cognet, open by appointment. From Nice and now based in Vallauris, where she has taken over Roger Capron's former studio, Cognet works across ceramic, lava, stone and metal at scale, from tables and lamps to monumental bas-reliefs. For Dragon Hill, she has made works for the cavities and curves of the Couëlle interior: a sculptural tapestry sofa produced with Lyon upholsterer Atelier Dégut for one of the living rooms, and an outdoor garden lounge of monolithic stone chairs and tables set among the planting. Brancusi, Noguchi and Gio Ponti are her stated reference points; Couëlle, this season, is the room she is in.

instagram.com/dragonhillresidence

Zannier Île de Bendor, Bandol

A few minutes by boat from Bandol, Île de Bendor reopened after a five-year transformation by Zannier. Paul Ricard bought the seven-hectare island in 1950 and treated it as a miniature Mediterranean republic, complete with theatre, gallery, diving centre, wine museum, sculpture garden and glassmaking workshop. Dalí came, as did Joséphine Baker, Fernandel, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Mireille Darc and Youri Gagarine; the old photographs are reason alone to visit.

The property reopens as a 93-key hotel, arts destination and wellness retreat, with Delos, Soukana and Madrague Houses forming separate addresses within the same small territory. The spa covers 1,200 sq m; the Rēsonance programme offers bioresonance, movement, vitality and beauty; restaurants and children’s programming make it open to all. In June, Bendor hosted a Fête de la Musique celebration, with boats running back to Bandol until 11.30pm. Bendor still has the charm of a place imagined in miniature: close enough to Bandol for an easy crossing, to witness the island returning to itself.

zannierhotels.com

It feels appropriate that Lisa der Weduwe is wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “TIME IS NONLINEAR”. As Archive Projects Manager at Camden’s newly opened Museum of Youth Culture, the 33-year-old is partly responsible for ensuring that this monument to youthful innovation is anything but a staid walkthrough where one historical event dutifully follows another. Instead, the colourful museum is vibrant and alive, with intermixed eras, cultures and formats all jostling for attention.

“One of our big arguments,” explains Lisa der Weduwe, holding court in the café on the museum’s ground floor just a few days after its grand opening, “is that the creativity and ingenuity of young people are what drives society forwards. That isn’t acknowledged, but I think it’s really important. Young people are so often at the forefront of social justice movements. Look at Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter: young people have really been pushing them forward, changing things and opening up new conversations.

“It’s a potent mix where you have a sense of independence, but you don’t have the responsibilities of being an adult. You’re looking at the world with new eyes because you’re trying to set yourself aside from the generation that’s gone before you. Because of your brain development, you’re also more likely to take risks and go into things head-first. That has led to so much positive change and creativity, and we should be celebrating that.”

Der Weduwe and the team have certainly risen to this brief – not least because their cultural hub has no permanent exhibition; rather, three temporary displays pay tribute to adolescent rebellion. Like youth culture itself, the museum has many guises. To ensure its accessibility, you’re invited to choose a price for entry. It’s capped at £10, but if your price happens to be ‘free’, so be it.

The world’s first youth culture museum dates back to 1997, when London-based photographer and Sleazenation magazine co-founder Jon Swinstead launched the Photographic Youth Music and Culture Archive (PYMCA), a library of images from youth culture that he collected and maintained in his garden shed. From 2015, with the help of curator Jamie Brett, it became a public digital archive consisting of more than 100,000 items. After a brief period at the sadly shuttered Printworks in south London, the latest site is the museum’s first permanent physical home.

Ahead of the move to Camden, der Weduwe and the team were in two minds about using the ‘M’ word at all. “We were discussing whether to be a ‘museum’ of youth culture or something else,” she says. “Young people don’t go to museums. They’re the least likely group of society to [do so] because museums don’t do a very good job of catering to young people – they’re very good at catering to children and families.”

With a laugh, she admits: “We’ve done ourselves a disservice by calling ourselves a museum when it comes to bringing young people through the door – but we needed to do that for the gravitas. It says, ‘This is such an important story.’”

Located on St Pancras Way, a short walk from the punks and goths who still congregate on Camden High Street, the new venue heralds itself with a multicoloured mural that boasts “100 YEARS OF YOUTH CULTURE UNDER ONE ROOF”. Inside the industrial-looking building, you’ll find the aforementioned café and possibly the world’s coolest museum gift shop, courtesy of Rough Trade. You’ll also find an exhibition space that’s currently displaying ‘Dancing Down The High Street: Club Culture in Camden 1988–2000’, a collection of photos and rave flyers that evoke the last pre-digital party days that shook the streets right outside the door.

In addition to this, there’s a small library of books that reflect the museum’s mission statement, including Emma Warren’s Up the Youth Club: Illuminating a Hidden History. As I’m chatting to der Weduwe, a group of teenagers wander over to the bean bags scattered about the library and each take a seat, chatting and mucking about, confidently making the space their own. According to joint research by the YMCA and the trade union Unison, more than 760 youth centres closed in England and Wales between 2010 and 2020. If you’re a young person in the UK, this kind of ‘third space’ – somewhere that isn’t your home, workplace or place of education – is in short supply.

“Post-austerity, with the closing of all the youth clubs and [the decline of] youth provisions,” says der Weduwe, speaking over Klaxons’ Day-Glo nu-rave cover of ‘Not Over Yet’ as it pulses from the museum’s speakers, “in the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of discussion of: ‘How can we better support young people?’ We want this to feel like a place where you can hang out. We encourage people to sit and have a read, and we have a foosball table.” Plans are afoot for the museum to host an actual youth club and various workshops, too.

Downstairs, the hangar-like main room is currently occupied by ‘Subculture Street Party’, a vast photography exhibition that depicts teenagers stepping out in parent-baiting outfits throughout the ages. From a cardboard cut-out of a 1920s flapper astride a motorbike to a young woman scoffing a burger and chips after a night out at Deptford Northern Soul Club, the whole story is right here. “We wanted it to be joyful,” explains der Weduwe. “We want to start with a really positive message about how young people come together, curate and shape things.”

A second downstairs space contains the venue’s most interactive and perhaps most fascinating exhibition, ‘Things I lied to my parents about’. This oral history was devised and produced by the museum’s youth collective of participants aged between 16 and 23, who’ve gathered visitors’ handwritten testimonies of fabulous – and sometimes poignant – fibs. One, signed by “Phil”, reads: “Bracknell, 1980: At 15, I told my parents I was dating a family friend’s cousin, Dawn. It was actually a family friend’s cousin, Steve.”

The exhibition is based around a recreation of a teenager’s bedroom, replete with a bed you can sit on as you take it all in; this isn’t the kind of museum to have a finger-wagging sign telling you to keep off. All in all, it sums up a mischievous enterprise with a healthy disregard for doing what you’re told.

Before I head back out to the streets of Camden, I get chatting to a group of teenagers gathered in the library on the ground floor. It turns out they’re students visiting the UK on a class trip. “We’re from East Germany,” explains 19-year-old Marlene, who notes that self-expression was “forbidden” in the repressive climate of the German Democratic Republic before the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. “It’s important to know what other countries’ youth cultures could do,” she says.

Sitting beside her, 18-year-old Eleni adds: “Youth culture is changing all the time. It’s a fight against rules, politics and the government.”

The Museum of Youth Culture reflects the kineticism and vitality of Eleni’s observation. Contrary to what the name might suggest, it’s not an exercise in nostalgia. This is a place where everything is always happening all at once – where 100 years of history, rebellion and youthful innovation dances towards the future, right before your eyes.

The 19th-century Château de La Colle Noire was Christian Dior’s Provençal bolthole, a world away from his busy dressmaking atelier on Paris’ central avenue Montaigne. The couturier bought the house and its surrounding gardens and orchards in 1951. Since 2013, the estate has been the property of Parfums Christian Dior.

A short drive away from Grasse – which since the 17th century has been known as the global capital of perfumery – Château de La Colle Noire has long had an affiliation with all things scented. In its gardens, Christian Dior cultivated fragrant flowers including jasmine, purple-petalled lavender and roses. The site’s grounds are also home to trees bearing fruits, almonds and olives. A horticultural Eden, the landscaped land surrounding the Château de La Colle Noire was also Christian Dior’s tribute to the gardens his mother planted in Normandy at Villa Les Rhumbs, his grand belle-époque childhood home.

It’s this mise en scène that inspired Francis Kurkdjian to create Dior Paradise, a new addition to the maison’s La Collection Privée Christian Dior line of prestige perfumes.

‘At Dior, everything begins and ends in a garden,’ says Kurkdjian. The French-Armenian perfumer, who grew up in Paris, joined Parfums Christian Dior as the business’ creative director in 2021, where he now gives olfactory expression to references, ideas and influences drawn from Christian Dior’s life and work. Dior Paradise, his latest release, sets a blend of citrus top notes (mandarin, lime, oranges) against a tonka bean base. For a middle note, the core of a perfume that unfolds once top notes have faded, Kurkdjian worked with bitter almond, a nod to Christian Dior’s orchards. ‘The bitter almond came first, the mandarin came after. The bitter almond is rarely highlighted in perfumery,’ he explains. ‘The heart of Dior Paradise offers a mouth-watering treat, like an irresistible almond biscuit.’

What is the first thing you see in the morning?

The only thing I can see first thing in the morning is my coffee. I make my own coffee. I like the whole ritual of it all – I’m not really in a rush. Often it’s iced espresso with a little bit of cold brew.

Describe the view from where you are right now

We are in a dimly lit – lit with a gilded, golden light – subterranean restaurant. It’s warm; it’s clubby; it’s vibey. It’s yet to open, so there’s a bit of anticipation in the air. I love this time of night – it’s just before the curtains rise on the stage.

Is there a view you can’t quite forget?

My fiancée’s face.

Which artwork could you see every day?

Francis Bacon’s Study for a Pope. It’s the most striking painting I’ve ever seen. When I first saw it in person I made, like, an an out-loud gasp. The colour of the Pope’s robe; the way that Francis manipulates the facial expressions. It’s haunting and emotional.

What gets you dancing?

Late-1990s hip-hop.

Which singer or song do you never tire of hearing?

Rags to Riches by Tony Bennett.

Which aroma takes you back to childhood?

The smell of breaded chicken that’s been freshly fried and is sitting out. I’ve got back from school, but I’m not allowed to have it yet. If I steal it I’ll get yelled at, but I want it very badly.

What do you smell of today?

I don’t know because I’m not wearing any cologne and I haven’t had a cigar yet. But I normally wear Tom Ford Tobacco Oud.

How does your home smell?

I have a big rosemary plant outside that I’m always snipping from – so some sort of combination of rosemary and the fancy candles that my fiancée leaves around the house.

Describe a dish that’s stayed with you.

I lived in Italy when I was much younger and, in the market, they made an elaborate seafood risotto. I’ve still never had anything that tastes like it.

What is the taste of summer?

Prosciutto with melon – usually cantaloupe melon.

Olive or a twist?

Olive, dirty.

What do you always have in your fridge?

A bunch of different kinds of spreads. Things such as pickled cauliflower and chopped-up veg. The Italians call it giardiniera.

Describe a dish you cook for yourself.

I enjoy making a really simple, nourishing pasta, like a spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino.

Silk or cashmere?

Silk.

Marble or wood?

Wood.

Do you have a favourite piece of furniture at home?

I have this amazing reproduction of a 1960s Italian record player in my living room that I’m obsessed with. I play only old records on it. The newest album I have is early- to mid-1970s.

Hunting out swimwear at the start of summer is a time-honoured ritual as embedded as a new white shirt in spring, or party shoes in November. The prospect of morning swims and sundowner dips, a cabana with a horizon view and games of bat and ball on the beach are often balm enough to shake down the actual ordeal of trying on styles. But try on, one must. Different body shapes require a panoply of designs that, this season, range from sporty, squared off-cuts, to plunging, high-legged goddess versions and, at the other extreme, embellished suits with pretty rosette twirls – not made with vigorous swims in mind.

Then there’s the destination/s to consider. Wild coastline vs architect-designed poolside; yacht deck vs beach club; Atlantic vs Med vs Aegean all impact choices. The designer’s background can often give clues to suitability. Where Italian brands like Versace and Pucci revel in prints that embrace the vivacity of Southern Italy, Chanel (white piped monotones), Alaïa (lace-up) and Courrèges (cut-out) champion the sporty simplicity of Biarritz and Cote d’Azur. Meanwhile, Colombian native Johanna Ortiz veers to tropical with ruffle details and palm-tree appliqués.

‘In Ibiza, life moves at its own rhythm between swims, slow afternoons on a lounger, long days at sea and lingering dinners as the light begins to fade,’ says interior architect Brigitta Spinocchia Freund, who holidays on the Spanish island. ‘For me, swimwear has to feel effortless and I am drawn to the sculptural and flattering: pieces that I can swim in, not simply pose. I return again and again to a Hunza G one-piece, layering it with a linen shirt, a sarong, a beautiful pair of sunglasses, a raffia bag and a little jewellery. That is the mood I love – sun-warmed and unstudied,’ adds Spinocchia Freund, who also favours Miu Miu triangle bikinis, Alex Eagle swimsuits and sustainable styles from Agora boutique at Six Senses Ibiza.

Just looking at images of treasured spots – the infinity pool at the Maybourne Riviera with views of Monaco, or pebbly coves on the Cycladic island of Schinoussa – is enough to trigger a yearning. The V-necked Icône suit by Eres, perhaps? Lou Stoppard’s book Pools (Rizzoli, 2020) is an excellent primer, bringing together imagery from greats such as Louise Dahl-Wolfe and Sølve Sundsbø to explore the lure of water.

‘For swimming, I rely on athletic silhouettes – usually a racerback or a minimal one-piece that feels unfussy and doubles as a body suit for evening,’ says Sarah Harris, editorial director of EE72, who rarely strays from black, chocolate and navy. ‘For lounging, it’s almost always a bandeau bikini. Halterneck triangle shapes are messy when you take the straps down for sunbathing. I’ll add a men’s shirt over the top, Uniqlo have some great ones, otherwise I borrow from my husband. Gold jewellery helps elevate and I recommend Tiffany hardware chains,’ says Harris, who adds a vintage silk scarf by Versace or Hermès as a sarong. All agree, it’s worth investing in great fabrics because they hold their shape and colour.

‘Swimming, like love, is hard to pin down,’ writes Stoppard in her book. Agreed – time to flirt with a new suit.

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

Named after a sad 19th-century clown and centred around ‘shepherd’s food’ from the underappreciated Abruzzo region of southern Italy, Auguste is the recently opened space from chef Mike Bagnall and ex-Bambi GM Dylan Walter. Yes, of course it is in East London – sliding into the plot formerly occupied by trendy London Fields eatery Papi to be exact. Yet whilst its specificity and spotlighting of simple, rustic technique might not make for particularly ostentatious fare, Auguste digs deep into the age-old adage that you don’t have to shout the loudest to make a hefty impression.

At the centre of their offering are arrosticini, aka dainty skewers fired over a furnacella: a sort of long, thin grill designed specifically for accommodating charred sticks of meat in vast quantities, that sits in a tiny open-plan kitchen area at the back of the restaurant. A cornerstone of the region’s cuisine to which Auguste has nailed its flag, arrosticini are delightfully unfussy things. Originally, their function was a way to reduce food waste. With origins dating back to 1830, shepherds in the mountainous slopes of the Gran Sasso d'Italia would cut their mutton into purposefully small cubes to take it right to the bone. Threaded onto skewers, they would go on to remain the area’s signature culinary export almost two centuries later.

Auguste has given their arrosticini a suitably 2026 update for a hip crowd that are more likely to have spent their working hours creating content than toiling in the fields. There are £5 camparinos (a campari spritz, served long and tall). The staff all look like they could have fallen out of a Charli XCX video, which is handy as her creative director is sitting happily at a corner table the night I visit. There’s an undeniable frisson of cool to the atmosphere here, but the space is minimal and chic, with a pleasingly old-school taste for white linen that’s rare for the area.

As well as the grill, they offer a daily, changing menu of streamlined starters (a plate of fat-flecked Cobble Lane finocchiona salami; thick slabs of Pecorino Romano D.O.P.), and a fresh and enticing array of small plates designed for sharing. Glistening slithers of cured sea bream are topped with piquant, olive-y puttanesca. Sweet datterini tomatoes and smokey peperonata come muddled with a generous amount of creamy stracciatella. I’m told in advance by a friend in the know that their blue cheese-laden potato rosti is a must, but sadly word has clearly spread as it’s already sold out by 7.30pm.

Given the more colourful nature of some of their sharing plates, it’s surprising that it is indeed the arrosticini that shoulder their way to top billing. But such is the easy pleasure of simple things done well. The night we dine, they have a quartet on offer including rose veal liver and a more upmarket wagyu. We’re guided towards the Salt Marsh lamb, and the chicken hearts – one classic, one offaly. Despite being cut so small, the lamb (served in portions of six) is impressively tender and full of flavour. Maybe there’s a little salt on there but Auguste is letting the fire do the talking. It’s confident, and far more memorable than you might expect.

Five plump little chicken hearts nestle up on each of their two spikes. Here, they’re served with a silky bowl of bagna cauda, a punchy Italian dipping sauce made with anchovies and garlic. Hearts and anchovies – they’re not flavours for the weak. Pair it with one of their vesper martinis or a fulsome red and you’re firmly in Grown Up Dining territory. But if your palette leans that way, there is enormous pleasure to be found.

Only four-percent of Italy’s tourism, we’re told by our impossibly stylish waiter, comes from Abruzzo. It’s not a go-to destination by any means and, as such, its food remains fairly under the radar. Auguste might well help bump up their numbers. If you see a crowd of tasteful Londoners roaming the foothills this summer, you’ll know why.

Auguste, 1F Mentmore Terrace, London E8 3DQ. Book a table.

What was once an industrial hub known for its grit and gall has all but transformed into one of the UK’s brightest creative centres, which welcomes visitors with signature Scottish warmth. As part of its shape-shifting, Glasgow has gradually become Scotland’s most exciting restaurant city; more creative and nuanced than its more well-heeled cousin over to the east. The dining scene here feels refreshingly unconcerned with trends or theatrics, focusing instead on something far harder to manufacture: genuinely good food served in places people actually want to spend time in.

The city’s restaurants reflect Glasgow itself. They are warm, confident and sometimes a little irreverent. You will find Michelin-starred tasting menus that remain pleasingly unpretentious, neighbourhood dining rooms where chefs cook the sort of food they crave on their days off and independent restaurants run by people who care deeply about ingredients, seasonality and hospitality.

Much of this momentum has been driven by a new generation of chefs choosing to build their careers here rather than move south. The result is a restaurant landscape that feels collaborative rather than competitive, with kitchens championing Scotland’s exceptional produce, from west coast seafood and Highland game to vegetables grown on small farms across the country.

What makes Glasgow particularly compelling right now is the range of experiences available within a relatively compact city. One evening might involve an intimate tasting menu beneath a railway arch, while the next could mean candlelit pasta, exceptional cocktails or some of the country’s best pizza enjoyed with a bottle brought from the corner shop.

Cail Bruich

A standout of Glasgow’s restaurant scene, Cail Bruich earned the city’s first Michelin star in 2021 under the direction of chef Lorna McNee. Its unassuming frontage on Great Western Road hints at the overall experience, elegant in its restraint. Interiors are beautiful and fuss-free, service is polished but discreet and the cooking is irresistibly confident. You are firmly in tasting-menu territory here, with dishes served under calm, warm lighting in a dining room that looks onto the open kitchen at one end. The best seat in the house is the chef’s table for two tucked beside the pass, where you feel right in the thick of it as you eat to the background notes of ‘oui chef’. Despite the high standards and relentless demand (it is almost always booked out), the atmosphere never feels frantic. Begin with bubbles or a well-made cocktail before moving through canapés, snacks, bread, fish and meat courses, finishing with dessert and petit fours. Signatures include McNee’s crab Thai green curry tartlets in the opening snacks and warm butter madeleines to close proceedings. In between come dishes such as buttery pork belly cooked until sticky and caramelised with the first wild garlic of the season, chive butter-doused Japanese milk bread with foie gras and cured duck breast, smoky beef tartare infused with coal oil and an outrageously good rhubarb and custard dessert that tastes like the realisation of all your childhood dreams.

725 Great Western Road, G12 8QX, cailbruich.co.uk

Celentano’s

Celentano’s serves the kind of food you could never tire of. Hearty Italian cooking brightened with the best seasonal produce from Scotland’s exceptional larder. Owners Anna and Dean Parker are deeply committed to sustainability, making everything from the bread to cocktail syrups in-house and cleverly repurposing what might otherwise be waste into new ingredients. You will struggle to find a better spicy margarita in Glasgow, which pairs perfectly with the excellent bar snacks. The mushroom lasagne fritti are particularly good. Creamy mushroom sauce layered between pasta sheets, cut into bite-sized pieces and breadcrumbed before frying make for nibbles so good they often cause a little light mouth burning as you greedily stuff them in before they're quite cool enough. Equally memorable are the cod’s roe doughnut bites topped with spicy kimchi, which has the acidity to cut neatly through the richness of the fish. Order a pasta course if you are doing things properly, perhaps Dexter beef ragù on tagliatelle or ricotta-filled agnolotti, before moving on to barbecued steak or fish with the restaurant's famed potato strati: its crisp layers pressed firm, then cooked in beef fat until golden. Tiramisu appears seasonally, but the affogato is a dependable favourite for dessert. You’ll find this restaurant inside the newly opened Arthouse Hotel in the centre of town, where a creative crowd gathers to fill the stylish dining room with a good level of buzz. The easygoing but knowledgeable team perfectly judges the rhythm of each table too, making you feel immediately at ease against a background playlist of uber cool music.

129 Bath Street, G2 2SZ, celentanosglasgow.com

Big Counter

The restaurant that kickstarted Glasgow’s red table trend, Big Counter is effortlessly cool thanks to its laidback attitude. A friendly team ushers guests into a dining room filled with cookery books and culinary paraphernalia, lit by candlelight dripping from wax-covered wine bottles. You won’t find hard-to-pronounce ingredients or encyclopaedic wine lists here. Instead, the appeal lies in excellent ingredients handled with care and turned into deeply flavoursome plates with little fuss. It is the sort of place that pulls in most of Glasgow’s best chefs when their own night off rolls around. Drinks options are short and sharp with a couple of cocktails and a concise selection of wines and beers. The food follows a familiar rhythm. Thick hunks of sourdough arrive first, pleasingly already buttered, followed by starters such as grilled mussels with garlic butter. Mains usually include a beautiful piece of fish, a sharing steak and handmade pasta, all accompanied by towering plates of chips and salad. And if proof is in the pudding then cosy classics such as steamed syrup sponge or bright lemon meringue pie seal the deal here.

76 Victoria Road, G42 7AA, booking.resdiary.com

Gloriosa

Rosie Healey has a knack for creating flavour combinations that transport you straight to the sunshine. Meals here almost always begin with squashy focaccia and glossy olives before the unnervingly stylish team talk you through a daily changing run of Mediterranean plates. Produce sits firmly at the centre of the menu with simple combinations that play on texture and the holy trinity of flavours that is savoury, sweet and sour. Bright salads might combine black figs, almonds, pancetta croutons and bitter leaves with red wine vinegar or tomatoes, peaches and cucumbers topped with feta and oregano, dressed with moscatel vinegar and olive oil. Meat and fish receive similar treatment, from whole roasted pheasant to British tuna crudo. Then there is the pasta which is freshly made each day and consistently addictive with unusual yet simply sauces. In winter a small log burner at the back keeps things cosy while candlelight flickers year-round. Add a strong drinks list and a very strong playlist and a good time is almost guaranteed.

1321 Argyle Street, G3 8TL, gloriosaglasgow.com

Margo

Scoop Restaurants owns several of Glasgow’s most popular dining rooms but the jewel in its crown is undoubtedly Margo. Opening in 2024, it filled a long-standing gap for a reliably good restaurant in the centre of town. The two-floor dining room has been packed ever since thanks to its lively atmosphere and a team that greets you like a regular, even on your first visit. There is an open kitchen, an excellent cocktail list and a jazzy playlist alongside plates that sit comfortably between comforting and inventive. Crunchy potato chipsticks with taramasalata became an instant hit and have remained on the menu since day one. Other standouts include crab and crayfish cocktail with a Bloody Mary sauce and pickled celery or a half duck served as both cassoulet and farce, accompanied by bitter leaves and brandy prunes. Those keen to extend the evening can head to the sister bar downstairs, Sebb’s, which won Michelin’s Exceptional Cocktail Award in 2026. Here, DJs spin records beneath converted arches late into the night.

68 Miller Street, G1 1DT, margo.restaurant

Errol’s

Not all pizza places are created equal and there are a few reasons why Errol’s sits firmly at the top of the pile. First it focuses almost entirely on the pizzas themselves rather than crowding the menu with endless sides. Secondly it is BYOB which makes for a pleasantly affordable evening. Thirdly the staff are genuinely warm which makes it the sort of place you immediately want to return to. There are only a handful of topping options with a favourite being sausage and onion finished with unapologetically generous quantities of finely shaved Parmesan. The bases are thin and crisp and the pizzas large enough to share if you are so inclined. Those craving extras can choose from only two sides, a burrata of the day and a sharply dressed salad topped with even more cheese. It is small and walk ins dominate so expect a wait at busy times. Secure a table though and you will be rewarded with a fun dive bar aesthetic and some of Glasgow’s best slices.

379 Victoria Road, G42 8RZ, instagram.com

Outlier

Outlier has evolved from a small coffee shop in Glasgow’s East End to an all-day destination and community hub. On weekends it plays host to its eponymous run club, attracting many of the city’s keenest athletes, while the evenings bring calm with a candlelit dinner service. Its minimalist interiors contribute to the zen, with a background of toning mustard tiles and pale wood tables and chairs surrounding an open kitchen. The menus are in a constant state of flux, but can be roughly categorised as modern European without too much of a firm grip on any one cuisine. Oysters, sourdough and other snacky bits being proceedings, followed by plates like beef tartare with gherkins and truffle mustard or trout with pumpkin, mushrooms and black olive. The desserts are equally as accomplished thanks to the in-house pastry team, and there are regular theme nights too, that span everything from burgers to pastas, so there’s always a new reason to visit.

38 London Road, G1 5NB, instagram.com

Fallachan

Entirely unique, Fallachan is fine dining for people who are genuinely interested in the process behind the plates. Here, in this converted railway arch, chef Craig Grozier leads his team in turning out an intimate tasting menu experience. There’s just one table where you sit communally with other diners while you watch the food being prepared about two feet away from you by the startlingly relaxed-looking team. And it’s not your typical fine-dining combinations either, with Grozier finding his own groove via a foraging and technique obsession. Borrowing a lot of methodology from Japanese cooking, you’ll find a wonderful harmony of umami peppered throughout the menu, plus all sorts of preservation at play here, from the homemade charcuterie and pickles through to the salted rhubarb and Scottish black crowdie cheese. If you’re a bit of a jaded diner, the fresh approach here is sure to appeal, with the restaurant’s unique approach to flavour combinations. There’s also a vegetarian tasting menu available, making this the perfect place for mixed groups celebrating something special. To match the food, there’s an equally strong drinks pairing, with a welcome mix of non-alcoholic and alcoholic serves that strike the perfect balance.

8 Eastvale Place, G3 8QG, fallachankitchen.co.uk

Crabshakk

A stalwart of Glasgow’s dining scene, Crabshakk has become such an institution that a second site opened beside the Botanic Gardens a few years ago. Larger and a little glossier than the original Finnieston restaurant, it retains the same relaxed spirit. The joy of Crabshakk lies in its consistency. You always know what you are going to get, and it is always good. Start with a cold glass of bubbles before ordering the wildly addictive scallops in anchovy and crispy sage butter. Bread or chips are essential here for mopping up the sauce. From there, you might move on to a daily seafood special or a classic such as fish and chips. There is no wizardry beyond excellent ingredients and accomplished cooking, though the atmosphere certainly helps. The room is almost always busy with the pleasant hum of a full dining room. It works equally well for intimate dates perched at the high tables looking out onto the street or larger groups tucked into the banquettes at the back.

18 Vinicombe Street, G12 8BE, crabshakk.co.uk

Brett

From the same stable as Cail Bruich, Brett displays a similarly high standard but in a less formal setting. It’s recently had a bit of an interiors refresh, which sees its dining room given a bistro edge, with crisp white tablecloths and flickering candlelight. The combination of being tight on space and its vibe of a high-end continental wine bar creates a really upbeat, adult atmosphere that is ideal for smaller groups and dates. It’s a menu focused around beautiful local ingredients enlivened by the odd Asian ingredient here or there. As is nearly always the case, the snacks steal the limelight with a fat tempura scallop served with warm tartare sauce and a vinegar powder-dusted crispy potato. The mushroom XO linguine with anchovies, Parmesan and crispy leeks is mandatory and a masterclass in creating rich, umami flavours by layering ingredients. Once you’ve completed that, your reward comes via mains such as stuffed chicken hind with Thai herbs and brown butter or venison with salted apricot and kuri squash. All that is a long way round of saying it’s hard not to like Brett, with its easygoing charm and complex plates all served in a convivial setting, accompanied by a top-class wine list.

321 Great Western Road, G4 9HR, brettrestaurant.co.uk

Eleven Fifty Five

After more than a decade at the helm of The Gannet, Peter McKenna and Kevin Dow have returned with Eleven Fifty Five, a reinvention of the space that trades in the original’s fine dining polish for something a little more relaxed. The new restaurant, the pair say, draws inspiration from Irish snugs and Parisian bistros, resulting in a dining room that feels lively, convivial and built for long evenings. The space now incorporates more dining within the former bar area and a rebuilt mezzanine, which includes a private room. The menu follows a similar philosophy. Expect generous bistro cooking built around excellent produce and robust flavours. Even oyster haters might be convinced by the team’s iteration here, doused in a Vietnamese dressing, and the beef tartare with bone marrow is one of those dishes you think about long after the meal has ended. Daily changing mains include a whole fish on the bone, beautiful steaks or grilled spring cabbage with white bean and mushroom cassoulet and a seaweed emulsion. The overall feeling is relaxed but assured thanks to tip-top service, wonderful drinks and a confident menu, which all contribute to Eleven Fifty Five being the sort of restaurant where you settle in easily and find yourself staying longer than planned.

1155 Argyle Street, G3 8TB, bistroelevenfiftyfive.com

Corner Shop

Corner Shop brings a slice of Basque cooking to Glasgow and does so with a distinctly cool, unfussy confidence. The small restaurant has built a devoted following thanks to its lively atmosphere, an achingly cool team and a menu built around snacking and sharing plates that arrive steadily throughout the evening. The cooking draws clear inspiration from northern Spain. Jamón croquetas are a must-order, crisp on the outside and creamy within, while simple combinations such as sticky chorizo on toast deliver the sort of punchy flavours that pair perfectly with a glass of something interesting. The drinks list is part of the appeal too. Wines, aperitifs and cocktails change frequently, often leaning towards unusual or lesser-known bottles that keep regulars coming back to see what is new. The room itself is intimate and full of energy, a clashing combination of red Formica tables and buffed stainless steel, and the sort of place where tables quickly fill with friends passing plates back and forth while the team behind the bar keeps the drinks flowing.

45 Old Dumbarton Road, G3 8RF, cornershopglasgow.co.uk

To re-cap: in November 2024 Jaguar was facing an uncertain future. Production on its existing fleet – great cars such as the F-Type, F-Pace and i-Pace – was coming to an end but without a clear path forward for this iconic British brand. Unable to compete in a marketplace increasingly dominated by German brands with much greater economies of scale, Jaguar had become an unprofitable part of JLR and this was not sustainable. The uncomfortable choice was to close down or to re-invent the brand. A transformation into an electric-only brand was needed, and the following month, at an event held during Miami Design Week a prototype EV model was duly unveiled to the world… occasioning a great deal of coughing and spluttering.

The concept launch generated headlines around the world and a staggering amount of publicity for the brand, but not necessarily of the right kind. There was uncertainty about whether this project would ever actually happen. Since then, there has been upheaval at JLR – not least the departure of Gerry McGovern, the design supremo and Chief Creative Officer who led JLR to extraordinary success over 20 years – while a great deal has also changed in both the industry and the world.

So where is Jaguar now? There is an actual car – the Type 01. Over the last few weeks, production prototypes have been shown to select journalists, culminating in a ‘launch’ in Monaco with almost-complete camouflaged cars driving on public roads in and around the principality. More importantly, the new Jaguar brand is itself coming into sharper focus. Back in Miami the message was all forward-looking with no references to the past. But that has been revisited and for the Monaco event, Jaguar’s best-of-the-best – an XK120 from the 1950s, an E-Type from the 60s and an XJS from the 70s - were celebrated as inspiration. That is quite a philosophical reversal and once again founder Sir William Lyons’ ‘Grace, space and pace’ is back on the agenda, or as MD Rawdon Glover put it, “First and foremost a Jaguar should be really desirable, really distinctive and provoke an emotional response both in how it looks and how it feels.”

So how did it look? Rather extraordinary. Jaguar has said the Type 01 is the first of three models, and as a four-door coupé, it is not small. Although the original concept was a two-door version, the camouflage could not hide the fact that much of the muscular original proportions are still there. Seeing a prototype on the street, as opposed to the studio, really brings a car to life, and The Type 01 is much more subtle than the original concept images suggested. Furthermore, the cars were in constant use over a couple of days, much of it at (very) high speed around the closed Monaco Grand Prix circuit (the event coincided with the Formula E series in which Jaguar is a leading competitor) and they just looked… cool.

Run-of-the-mill electric cars are a depressingly soulless bunch - apart from looking faceless, they often deliver power in the on/off manner and handling tends to be non-existent. That is absolutely not the case with the Type 01. Evidently, a huge amount of effort has gone into capturing the essence of Jaguar in a vehicle that is – as they say – ‘drivetrain agnostic’. The V12 XJ, XJC and XJS are all cited as inspiration and with the Type 01 you could imagine you had a super-silent V12 under the long bonnet in front of you. Which begs the question: does it in fact matter whether it is powered by a V12 or a brilliant electric powerpack if the effect is the same? The car is astonishingly quiet to the point of it being described by some testers as second only to a Rolls-Royce Ghost. Praise indeed.

Speaking of other brands… a couple of very significant things have happened in the last few weeks that are highly relevant to the Jaguar story. Firstly, Mercedes-AMG unveiled its GT 4-door EV coupé. This is not an attractive vehicle, exaggerating design themes from the already aesthetically-challenged EQS range. But worse, it creates artificial petrol-engine noise and a simulated gear-change feel. This lack of authenticity has been met with widespread derision. But second and even more curious, is the new all-electric Ferrari Luce, designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson, which has had the Ferraristi united in uproar. It is a 5-seat SUV that looks – ironically – rather like an enlarged Jaguar i-Pace. Inside, you are deep in Apple world – indeed possibly the Apple car that never was? As you’d expect, the interior is beautifully functional, but it is the exterior that is so challenging. The Ferrari brand has always been about Italian style, beauty and desire, but those qualities are extremely hard to find here. This car could just as easily have a mass-market badge on it. Oh, and did I mention it costs over half a million Euros?

Both approaches underline just what an existential crisis premium automotive brands are facing in the world and times we are in. Drastic times call for drastic measures and Mercedes, Ferrari and Jaguar have each chosen a different route. Cards on the table – I want Jaguar to succeed. Very much. It has an extraordinary heritage and is one of Britain’s great automotive stories. A few weeks ago, before seeing Type 01, I was hopeful but – I have to admit - concerned. Having now experienced it and, perhaps more importantly, having seen how not to do it, I am convinced Jaguar is roaring back.

Twenty years after the launch of its celebrated City Guides, Wallpaper* returns with a new series uniquely positioned to introduce design lovers to vibrant cities, cool escapes and emerging, design-focused destinations. Fully revised with one-of-a-kind intel for today’s global explorer, the series launches with guides to four of the world’s most stylish, culturally active and exciting hubs: Milan, Paris, New York City, London.

Each of these beautifully produced pocket-sized books has been curated by a Wallpaper* writer intimately familiar with their destination’s most exciting neighbourhoods, hotels, cafes, restaurants, bars, retail and wellness experiences – as well as ideas for culture-rich weekend excursions. And we are just getting started. Future Travel Guides will not only visit landmark cities, but also cultural capitals, island idylls and creative hotspots across the globe.

Available to buy on Amazon and online at wallpaper.com/wallpaper-travel-guides

‘Louis Vuitton is about fantasy,’ says Humberto Campana. ‘And I am a fantasy guy. I like to tell stories.’ Campana co-founded his company, Estúdio Campana, with his late brother Fernando in 1984. Their work, which centres on pieces of furniture but also includes smaller accessories for the home such as wall mirrors, is shaped from everyday materials. Creatively, they draw inspiration from Brazil, and more precisely the city of São Paulo, where Estúdio Campana is headquartered.

Estúdio Campana has been a collaborator with Louis Vuitton since 2012, the year that the maison first introduced its Objets Nomades line of limited-edition designs for house and home. ‘Everything is possible,’ says Campana of working with Louis Vuitton and its specialist workshops. It’s a creative to and fro that the Brazilian designer likens to ‘a game of ping-pong’.

Debuted in Milan in April, the most recent result of this exchange includes a limited-edition wooden box clad in marine leather, its shape and construction inspired by Louis Vuitton’s totemic travelling trunks. The leather has been dyed in vibrant shades and forms an impressionistic pattern that is Campana’s love letter to the nature of Brazil. ‘It comes from a drawing,’ he says of the multicolour scene. ‘I had been making a lot of drawings inspired by microorganisms, fungus, cell structures and plants. All from imagination. This design of mine was then transformed into the box.’

Sketching has long been a practice to Campana, who is seldom without a sketchbook to hand. ‘It’s a way to get my anxiety down, it’s therapeutic.’ He filled a whole book with new ideas on his flight from Brazil to Milan, he reveals. ‘I always try to find new stories to tell.’

Long before The White Lotus transformed Taormina into television's most coveted address, the town attracted a different kind of pilgrim. Artists, aristocrats and writers made their way to this sun-drenched corner of Sicily in search of beauty, inspiration and, occasionally, escape. Among them was Oscar Wilde, who arrived in 1898 after leaving England and found solace beneath the Sicilian sun. More than a century later, the allure remains much the same.

Dramatically positioned on a rocky terrace between the Ionian Sea and the slopes of Mount Etna, Taormina is a place of extraordinary contrasts. Ancient Greek ruins overlook designer boutiques. Baroque churches sit moments from glamorous beach clubs. Narrow medieval lanes spill into piazzas framed by bougainvillaea, and the sea views are so arresting they appear almost theatrical.

Yet Taormina's enduring appeal lies in more than its undeniable beauty. There is an effortless sophistication to the town. Mornings begin with granita and espresso on sunlit terraces; afternoons drift between hidden coves, historic palaces and elegant hotels; evenings are devoted to long dinners, local wines and golden-hour views across the bay.

Whether you're visiting for a romantic weekend, a grand Sicilian tour or because you watched that show, Taormina offers a compelling blend of history, culture, gastronomy and glamour. This is your guide to where to stay, eat, drink and explore in Sicily's most captivating coastal town.

Where to stay

By the sea: Belmond Villa Saint Andrea

Villa Saint Andrea has lived many lives. First built as a private home for an English family in 1919, it then opened as a glamorous boutique hotel in the 50s. In 2010, it was acquired by Belmond and transformed into a luxury hotel right on Taormina’s shoreline. The design is midcentury modern – a nod to its past – in pastel blues, pinks and olive greens. Pack a good book to enjoy in the bar’s cosy reading nooks or poolside, with expansive views. The rooms boast balconies overlooking the Ionian and in the summer months, you can dine right on the water’s edge – just one of three restaurants on site, serving Sicilian fare, fresh seafood and Etna wines. Be sure to pop by the bar for a paloma made with smoky, pineapple-infused Mezcal. Shuttles run into town on the hour or take the cable car.

In the town: San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel

Perched on a rocky promontory, San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel is arguably Sicily's most renowned address. Originally a 14th-century Dominican monastery, the property seamlessly blends centuries of history with contemporary luxury, its cloisters, terraced gardens and elegant suites all oriented towards breathtaking views of Mount Etna and the coastline below. While its starring role in The White Lotus introduced it to a new generation of travellers, the hotel's appeal runs far deeper than television fame. Impeccable service, exceptional dining and an unrivalled setting just moments from Taormina's historic centre make it the ultimate base from which to experience the town's timeless glamour.

Where to shop

Feliciotto

Taormina has no shortage of luxury stores along Corso Umberto but Feliciotto is a unique offering. The concept store is split across two sites for men and women, on opposite sides of the street, and boasts a great selection of sneakers, vinyl, fragrance and clothing. Issey Miyake’s Pleats Please collection sits alongside Margiela tabis, Bottega Veneta shades and Carhartt jackets. The store even produces its own zine.

Where to eat

Granduca

Hidden behind an unassuming entrance in the centre of town, Granduca occupies a beautifully restored 15th-century villa that opens onto one of the most spectacular dining terraces in Taormina. Set across a series of gardens and sea-facing terraces, the restaurant commands sweeping views over the Ionian coastline, the Bay of Naxos and the ancient Greek Theatre. The menu celebrates classic Sicilian cooking, with fresh seafood, local pasta dishes and wood-fired pizzas sitting alongside regional specialities, but the setting is undoubtedly the main attraction. Arrive before sunset and linger over dinner as the sky turns pink above Mount Etna – few restaurants in Taormina capture the town's blend of history, romance and old-world grandeur quite so effortlessly.

Milanese luxury maison Buccellati was founded in 1919, the year that goldsmith Mario Buccellati opened his first boutique. The business has since spread across the northern Italian city, from the neoclassical Palazzo Gavazzi on via Napoleone, home to a sprawling Buccellati boutique, to its temporary exhibitions during Milan Design Week. In 2020, the year that the family firm joined the Richemont Group, another Buccellati address was added on via Brisa, near Milan’s Duomo. A 1919 building designed by important local architect Piero Portaluppi is home to the Buccellati offices and workshop.

Buccellati currently operates six workshops; four are dedicated to jewellery, one to silverware and one creates watches. These are spread across Italy and beyond; a site near Como masters a particular twisted metal thread technique, silversmithing takes place near Bologna, while a Swiss workshop is charged with making jewellery watches – a category that was first presented in 2000. In Milan, Buccellati’s team of artisans focus on overall design and the making of unique high jewellery. Grouped on benches, there are specialists in stone setting, polishing and engraving, among others.

‘The workshop has always been our essential base, throughout the history of Buccellati. There is a very important connection between creativity and production,’ says Andrea Buccellati, the maison’s creative director. ‘When I create new pieces, it does not end with the initial design. There are many collaborations with the artisans, to explain a piece, to work out how we do it.’ Part of the founding family’s third generation, he first joined his father, Gianmaria Buccellati, as an apprentice aged 16. ‘When I was a kid, I loved to spend time in the workshop and work with the artisans. It was like a recreation for me! I learnt how to make the jewellery, I saw how they made it, and to understand this business.’

Much of what happens today inside the Buccellati Milan atelier is a type of material sorcery, or perhaps mimicry. Since Mario Buccellati first opened his boutique, his name has been linked to innovative techniques of working metal to echo the structure and surface of other materials. The intricate patterns of delicate Italian lace or airy tulle fabrics have inspired Buccellati creations cast and carved from precious golds and silver. Elsewhere, contemporary Buccellati designs nod to the Italian art of jewellery-making practised during the Renaissance. This includes the telato (cross-hatched lines that intersect at a right angle) and segrinato finishes, which give metals the look of linen and velvet respectively. Yet another technique, the lavishly textured ornato, is inspired by the damasks, laces and brocades of the Renaissance. ‘The connection between workshop and artist is most important,’ says Buccellati. ‘It’s a collaboration that has continued through generations. Without the artisans, there can’t be a Buccellati.’

At Buccellati, precious alloys are shaped to take on myriad forms and textures. The Eternelle line of pieces, for example, makes gold appear as spun lace. Seen left, a Rombi collection Eternelle ring in white and yellow gold, finessed with a total of 60 brilliant-cut diamonds.

The film to see…

The close friendship between Lucian Freud and Kate Moss is fascinating. Moss & Freud, it’s story on film, is written and directed by James Lucas and executive produced by Moss herself, after the director approached her in the script’s early days. Her commitment is testament to how much the relationship between the two of them meant, even if neither she nor Freud much cared for the resulting painting. Freud is played by Sir Derek Jacobi and

Ellie Bamber gets Moss’s mannerisms perfectly after spending time with her. As the nineties endures as a moment for vintage inspiration, it’s startling too to see early noughties Notting Hill (where Freud lived and worked) put on screen as a moment in very recent history. In cinemas from 29 May.

The exhibition to see

At Tate Modern Frida: The Making of an Icon runs from 25 June to 3 January. As well as gathering a huge once-in-a-lifetime collection of her own work, the show will include many works by artists she inspired. If you have the stamina it will also make for a fascinating double viewing with Dame Tracey Emin’s A Second Life which you can see concurrently until 31 August. And if it’s your own walls you’re thinking about, it’s time for the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition (16 June to 23 August). Members' preview days in early June give you the best chance to add a red dot and take something home. This year’s theme is Interconnectedness.

The theatre to see… 

Carrie Cracknell’s Old Vic production of Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece Arcadia moves to the West End with the Duke of York’s theatre being newly renovated into the round for this production, which runs for 12 weeks from 20 June. It’s a great way to toast a beloved intellectual giant of our time.

Meanwhile in Waterloo, The Old Vic’s winning streak continues with Glengarry Glen Ross reimagining David Mamet’s fast-paced real estate masterpiece for a snappy all-female cast, including Indira Varma. Directed by Patrick Marber, from 4 June to 18 July.

The collaboration to look out for…

After the thrill of sculpting a Kardashian, bringing a moment of true pop art mastery to the Met circus, closer to home see more work from the legendary British artist Allen Jones at Camden Arts Projects this summer (5 June to 30 August). Curated by his artist admirer Philip Colbert, this celebration of new and recent work is staged in collaboration with Almine Rech.

The event to attend…

Dalkey Literary Festival (18-21 June) overlooking Dublin Bay has speakers including local heroes Roddy Doyle, John Banville and Anne Enright alongside Sir Salman Rushdie and Charlie Mackesy. To do it in luxurious style, book into The Westbury, or at the very least head to the award-winning The Sidecar cocktail bar.

The album to buy …

What happens when you set out to write an album about being in love and then break up halfway through? Well, if you're Olivia Rodrigo you turn it into a concept album, starting with a first date and ending somewhere quite different. For third LP, You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love, last year's Glastonbury headliner explores the complex spectrum of emotions that comes with being in and out of a relationship. Much of this album was written here and she promises a big dose of her own “London vibes".

The TV to watch...

Cape Fear takes inspiration from a classic 1991 Scorsese/De Niro collaboration (1991) and is retold for long-form TV, starring Javier Bardem in the De Niro role over ten episodes. The remake comes with Scorsese’s blessing – along with Steven Spielberg, he is an executive producer on the series. The stellar cast also includes Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson. Get yourself hooked, as a compulsive psychological thriller is a great heat wave aid for any British summer nights too hot to sleep. On Apple TV from June 5.

The book to read…

As the centenary of Marilyn Monroe is celebrated this month all over the world, with highlights including the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery ​(4 June to 6 September) and the BFI’s season, settle in with Andrew Wilson’s biography which is finally a life to do her justice at a 100. After decades of sensational – or at best variable – lives, I Wanna Be Loved By You: Marilyn Monroe A Life In 100 takes (Simon & Schuster) is a superb cinematic guide, told through a series of cumulatively revealing snapshots. A great companion to this is Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe by Gail Crowther (Corsair) which goes to Marilyn’s rich inner life through close attention to her library... Happy birthday Marilyn and here’s to these new, far more subtle appreciations of her unique place in the canon of 20th-century artists.

In watchmaking, precision and craftsmanship reign supreme. So it is perhaps no surprise that the skeleton watch is one of the biggest visible trends for 2026, showcasing the intricate mechanics of a timepiece as a symbol of innovation and artistry.

At the heart of the skeleton watch is transparency. It invites the wearer to witness the very essence of functionality. The movement – gears, springs, escapements and all – are stripped bare and displayed, allowing you to admire the marvels of engineering that lie within. You literally wear its heart on your sleeve.

The style itself can be traced back to the late 18th century. But it was not until the 20th century that the skeleton watch truly gained prominence and, today, brands such as Richard Mille, Zenith and TAG Heuer are producing handsome new pieces that blur the lines between watchmaking and art.

This new wave speaks in a quieter, more architectural language, too. Brands are increasingly stripping back their designs to emphasise structure rather than encourage embellishment. The result is less filigree, more framing device.

Equally important is wearability. Earlier skeleton watches might have been guilty of prioritising spectacle over practicality, resulting in pieces that were visually impressive but difficult to read, or rendered fragile by the reductive nature of the approach. The current trend balances openness with clarity; applied indices, floating hands and carefully considered contrasts ensure that time remains central.

Creating these pieces is no mean feat, requiring true technical skill to carve away material from the movement, ensuring that decoration doesn’t compromise functionality and reliability. These intricate processes can take weeks – even months – to complete and the result has to be striking while capturing the essence of timekeeping. To ensure that they deserve their ‘close-up’, each component, from the smallest gear to the grandest bridge, must be meticulously crafted and polished. The interplay of light and shadow across the exposed movement is a modern celebration of centuries-old mechanical ingenuity.

Collaborations between watchmakers and designers further fuel the trend. Creative voices from outside the industry bring architectural and industrial perspectives. Brands are encouraged to reconsider proportions and structural logic, a canvas for experimentation, bridging disciplines and expanding the usual visual vocabulary.

The result is an opportunity for makers to showcase creativity beyond the mere mechanical, while designers are experimenting with materials, shapes and colours to create unique pieces. Carbon fibre, ceramic and titanium, together with bold colour palettes, avant-garde designs and engravings, help make each watch a statement piece.

For collectors, skeleton watches offer the appreciation of mechanical artistry alongside investment potential. As interest in unique and limited-edition pieces grows, brands are responding by producing exclusive models. The rise of social media has also played a role, enabling collectors to share their prized possessions – each ‘like’ a tribute to the intricate dance of gears and springs, the delicate balance of engineering and art.

In a world where time is fleeting, skeleton watches invite us to pause and appreciate the marvel of a mechanism that keeps us on schedule. They are a reminder that timekeeping is not merely a measurement, but a craft that should be celebrated.

As the trend continues to evolve, one thing remains certain: the skeleton watch will always hold a special place in the hearts of enthusiasts and collectors alike. B

Photo assistant: Nick Clarke

Dior introduced its Grand Bal in 2011, as an ode to the French maison’s haute couture heritage, and the life and work of its founder.

Christian Dior, who established his eponymous business in December 1946 and made history just two months later with his New Look collection, had a penchant for fancy dress balls and served as couturier to guests of the 1951 Ball of the Century in Venice. Hosted by Charles de Beistegui, a wealthy art collector and interior decorator, at his then recently restored 18th-century Palazzo Labia, the Ball of the Century drew a high-society crowd that included Leonor Fini, Salvador and Gala Dalí, and Cecil Beaton.

Occasions such as these called for one of the many gowns that Christian Dior dreamt up during his career. Standout designs included Junon, a 1949 silk tulle confection in pale grey finished with blue-green sequin embroideries by master workshop Rébé, or Mozart, a 1950s dress with glass beads and knotted passementerie fringing that follows the wearer’s every move.

Occasions such as the Ball of the Century, and designs such as Junon and Mozart, inspired the creation of the Grand Bal. The watch is fitted with the Dior Inversé calibre, a movement co-developed by Les Ateliers Horlogers Dior, a specialist manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, with the oscillating weight placed on top of the dial. Driving the timepiece, this innovation creates a movement that recalls the swish and swirl of a ball gown mid-dance.

Over the past 15 years, the Dior Grand Bal has come in many guises. There have been timepieces finessed with cut gems, feathers, cuts of silk or delicate gold threads. Even scarab beetle wings have made the cut. Hardstone marquetry, realised in pieces-of-a-puzzle shapes of lapis lazuli and opal, in addition to pearlescent mother-of-pearl, feature in Grand Bal Jardin Parisien, a collection that made its debut earlier this year. With flowers – clematis, dahlias and peonies – imagined with brilliant-cut sapphires and growing from yellow gold branches, the collection is an ode to the winter garden Christian Dior planted at his Paris flat on boulevard Jules-Sandeau.

Amid the homogeneity of the modern airport, there is always one thing that cuts through – that person with the aluminium case. One can’t help but notice it – those bevelled edges, the riveted silveriness of it, those eerily quiet wheels. In a universe of tired plastic luggage, the aluminium case is a beautiful alien, one that is as coveted by short-haul business warriors as much as dedicated fashionistas, and that’s because neatly packed into its chiselled contours is status – and everybody wants it.

In 1938, oil man and serial entrepreneur Erle P. Halliburton had grown so fed up with his leather and canvas bags disintegrating in the Texas oilfields that he commissioned aircraft engineers to fashion cases from lightweight, corrosion-resistant aluminium – necessity, as always, the mother of ingenuity. Little did he know the result would become a style statement.

Almost 90 years later, Zero Halliburton is still going strong. Besides looking good, aluminium’s advantages are self-evident: feather-light (sub 5kg for most carry-ons) yet tough as they come, while hermetically sealing your belongings. In short, not just a pretty face. On these pages, the finest iterations that money can buy.

Cruise shows embrace extremes that ready-to-wear cannot touch: far-flung destinations; multi-layered film and outdoor catwalk extravaganzas, starry front rows plus parties galore. The small number of luxury brands that go big on cruise – namely Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, Fendi – means there’s more ‘space’ to make an impression and more ‘space’ to spend where it counts. Guests were flown and chaperoned around L.A. for Dior; to NYC for Gucci; to Biarritz for Chanel; back to NYC for Hermes early June its Chapter 2 collection. That’s a spike on air miles.

Where the logic behind Cruise collections was once to offer a timely delivery of winter sunshine vacay garms in November, now it’s less about climate and more about fuelling the high gifting season with collectibles and novelties. Why the focus on the U.S.? The answer lies in the nation’s 0.1% of superlatively wealthy individuals and a newly loaded generation of Nepo inheritors benefitting from the great wealth transfer.

Chanel

But the Cruise route started with Matthieu Blazy’s giddy line-up revealed at the Art Deco Casino Municipal in Biarritz, the chic seaside town where Coco Chanel first set up shop.

With a view over the Atlantic (and thoroughly scrubbed up sand beaches), Blazy rejoiced in the fruits of the sea including lace and crochet dresses that looked like coral; deck chair stripe skirt suits; Mariner knits and classic bathing caps reimagined by Chanel milliner, Maison Michel. Sea horses and shells were embedded into tweed weaves and appliqued into circle skirts – Blazy is a master at 3D.

Touché: we love the ‘neck deco’ featuring silk scarves and chain necklaces; the thigh split skirts worn with bunched-sleeve shackets exposing fanciful print linings.

Dior

Maverick JW Anderson will be involved as creative consultant on no less three forthcoming Hollywood movies including Luca Guadagngino’s AI drama Artificial. That’s A LOT but Anderson takes his ventures in his stride. So, he took Dior to L.A. and set up stage at the newly expanded David Geffen Galleries at LACMA (a $724m project by Peter Zumthor) creating a parking lot scene. Hollywood legends – watcha Al Pacino! and pop stars Cyrus and Carpenter were out in force.

He invoked Grace Kelly in curvy bar jackets worn with ripped jeans (yes, Couture denim is back); Gloria Swanson in feather-trimmed boudoir coats and Cary Grant in lounge suits.

Gifting season? A sequin Cadillac bag revived from John Galliano’s era and a plaid shirt emblazoned with Ed Ruscha’s word art would make a dream duo.

Louis Vuitton

With equal cultural heft, Louis Vuitton chose the just reopened Frick Museum in uptown New York as a venue where guests could admire the grace of Selldorf Architect’s $220m extension. The line-up was an explosive mash-up of downtown/uptown New Yorker style laced with that Patricia Field SATC wrong is right kookiness.

Ghesquiere had discovered a 1930s suitcase in the archive that had been given a Keith Haring doodle makeover back in the 1980s: cue punky pop art get-ups. There were swirling denim rara skirts and belted leather jackets; metallic sports shorts and Haring graffiti tops; jeans featuring a trompe l’oeil print of worn stained denims, flamenco frilled boleros topping bodysuits and Diane Keaton Derby hats aplenty. The show marked the beginning of a three-year patron partnership between Louis Vuitton and the Frick.

Takeaways? A sequinned Chinese takeaway carton shaped evening bag and a mini Haring doodle briefcase.

Gucci

Demna went for a democratic open-air show and launched Gucci Core at a Times Square takeover. It was teased with a hilarious billboard show of Gucci-fied products including Gucci chocolate, Gucci water, Gucci pets, cars and longevity drugs. The Core collection will be a year-round offer of Gucci ‘staples’ that sweep from exec pinstriped suits, fake fur capes, lacquered denim, revived Flora blouses and scarves (the print debuted in 1966) and diva evening dresses as worn by Cindy Crawford. The New York moment was set on fire by the appearance of New Yorkers such as Tom Brady, Paris Hilton and interior designer @eyeswoon, on the runway.

Gucci for all? Demna looked back to the Tom Ford heyday of lifestyle marketing (remember the black Gucci mask and flippers?) and put the house stripes on everything from yoga mat carriers to back packs and water bottles.

Fendi

A Roman in Rome: Maria Grazia Chiuri released cruise through a film and lookbook and propelled her take on pragmatic glamour seen at her Fendi debut in March. The film nodded to Histoire d’Eau, Jacques de Bascher’s 1977 short commissioned by Karl Lagerfeld to coincide with Fendi’s first ready-to-wear collection.

The fictional star is a German tourist named Suzie, who explores Rome through a series of mysterious encounters and a wardrobe of linear coats, long pleat goddess dresses and sequin-embroidered split pencil skirts.

The Souvenir? A parchment lined studded leather and suede Baguette.

I’m on the phone to Jago Rackham. He’s taking the call hands-free, as he’s in the middle of prepping a sea bass – and its accompanying roe – that he’s just bought from his local fish van in east London. The groundwork sounds grand, but it’s all for a solo supper, because the friends he’d invited over have just bailed.

He doesn’t mind. In fact, the news prompted a masterclass in how to use his new book To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Party. Part cookbook, part memoir and part hosting manifesto, it has a page dedicated to cancellations. ‘When I got the text, I just sent them a photo of that passage from the book,’ he says, which tells readers to give notice, be upfront and not to feign illness. ‘I’m now officially on the record for not caring if someone drops out.’

Rackham is a writer (he has a restaurant column in The Observer) and self-taught cook (‘I don’t call myself a chef as I’ve never worked in a restaurant’). Aged 31, he’s also behind the cult Instagram account @ecstacy_cookbook, which showcases his ‘baroque, over-the-top, messy, medieval’ approach to catering. His style of cooking – which he describes as ‘sort of beastly and rough’ – is often presented with the help of his artist partner Lowena Hearn, and meets the current appetite for food paired with fashion, as spearheaded by one of his culinary heroes, Laila Gohar. Rackham and Hearn made a multi-tiered monochrome cake for Vogue editor Tish Weinstock’s Halloween-themed wedding; he created a six-hour food performance called Greed during Frieze art fair; and recently delivered edible vegetable sculptures for an event at London’s Serpentine gallery.

If these creations sound intimidating, know that his book is altogether more stripped back, featuring everyday recipes such as a lamb shoulder with honey and wine that’s made to be transformed into a ragu the next day. Inspired by the word-first 1950s cookbooks of Elizabeth David and Patience Gray, there are no photos of dishes. Instead, recipes are interspersed with gorgeously vivid vignettes detailing post-party spillages on a tablecloth or the buying of wine glasses at a flea market in France. The book is also punctuated by pencil and charcoal sketches by the painter Faye Wei Wei.

‘She came round to my flat, I made dinner and she sketched.’ Based on photos of Rackham’s food and friends, they capture movement and merriment. The book is deliberately smaller than your average cookbook too: ‘I want people to be able to read it in bed or in the bath.’

As well as notes on choosing music and handling unexpected guests, the message behind To Entertain is to encourage anyone to feel comfortable hosting at home, regardless of income or space. His biggest piece of advice? ‘Remember, people are coming to see you and your friends, not to eat. So don’t panic about the food. And never make something you haven’t cooked before.’ We’ll raise a glass to that.

To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Party by Jago Rackham is out now, £22 (Robinson).

As with most things, provenance in watches is everything – see Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona or Jackie O’s Cartier Tank. Now Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco, as worn in the legendary driving film Le Mans (1971), is up for auction at Sotheby’s New York on 15 June. In a heady mix of horological history, Hollywood glamour and the thrill of endurance racing, it’s an object that far transcends the sum of all its parts.

Heuer (today known as TAG Heuer) launched the Monaco in 1969 to much fanfare. Billed as the world’s first square, water-resistant, automatic chronograph, it landed just as the Swiss-watch industry was struggling against the rapid rise of quartz watches. This was a moment to fight back and to also celebrate a freshly inked association with Formula 1, with a watch named after the circuit that offered one of the most challenging and technical drives of the season.

A year later, six Heuer Monacos would be sent to the Le Mans movie set to be worn by McQueen as he filmed the cult classic during the 1970 running of the race. The model under the hammer this summer is considered to be the piece that spent the most amount of time on his wrist during filming. Offered with a trove of archival documents from the set and more than 200 photographs, the estimate is $500,000 – $1 million, but it will likely climb higher.

After relaunching in the late 90s, the Monaco has become a key pillar in the TAG Heuer lexicon, given the respect that a design icon deserves, while acting as a vehicle for the latest technical advancements and partnerships. Last year it announced, in addition to the brand’s role as Official Timekeeper of Formula 1, that it is now the Title Partner of the Grand Prix de Monaco, for the first time in the nearly 100-year history of the race. A Split-Seconds Chronograph was presented in a form of titanium that took four years to develop, and a Monaco Chronograph Stopwatch, in an overt nod to its motor-racing roots. This year, the offering includes the TAG Heuer Monaco Evergraph, with a new highly precise movement containing groundbreaking flexible parts. It promises the convergence of performance, durability and design – a winning combination that McQueen would have surely approved of.

What is the first thing you see in the morning?

Opening the shutters of our bedroom this morning, which overlooks the distant blue of the Mediterranean, the light was dazzling, the sky cerulean, the air light, a breath of wind stirring the silvery leaves of the olive trees that border and surround the house.

Describe the view from where you are right now.

From where I stand, my pergola is in full bloom, its cascades of mauve wisteria hanging low in the warm air. The flowers release a soft fragrance of carnation and jasmine, evocative of the elegance of 1920s women. If that scent were ever to find its way back into fashion, I would be quietly delighted.

Is there a view you can’t quite forget?

I know of no more beautiful landscape than this sea of trees flowing into the Mediterranean. It is the image of Delphi and its olive trees, a horizon that has never left me.

Which smell takes you back to childhood?

Olive. When L’Objet approached me to create Delphes, a new fragrance inspired by my childhood memories in the Mediterranean, an olive scent immediately came to my mind. I found a rare extract, never used in perfumery, called Olive Grignon Absolute, and decided to add it to Delphes.

What smell makes you feel at home?

Also the olive. The citrus is considered the heart of the Mediterranean. And the olive is considered the soul. That’s home for me.

What sound do you wake up to?

With the window open, the wisteria on the pergola laden with bees and flowers alike creating a gentle symphony around the house. I like listening to this soft murmur, like the muffled sound of brushes on a cymbal.

Is there a particular dish that has stayed with you?

One memory that has stayed with me is deceptively simple: a slice of warm toast, drenched in intensely green olive oil, topped with a sliver of black truffle and a touch of fleur de sel. It was both rustic and elevated, and it shaped my understanding that simplicity, when precise, can be sublime.

Which dish do you like to cook for yourself?

Something warm, immediate... guided by that instinct more than anything else.

What is your go-to dinner party dish?

I tend to prepare something quite simple. Things that come from what is at hand... made without complication. I prefer when it feels like home, and when the pleasure comes more from sharing than from the dish itself.

Describe your favourite meal.

I remember the company more than the place. A table, a certain light, a conversation... and a dish that arrives at the right moment. That’s what stays with me.

What is the taste of spring?

Artichoke.

Silk or cashmere?

Cashmere.

Marble or wood?

Wood.

Do you have a favourite piece of furniture at home?

It’s always the piece I return to without thinking. The one that receives the body naturally... where texture and presence create something almost instinctive.

Is there a particular object you cherish most?

Working for a time for a saddler, I encountered the most beautiful hides. Some were so fine, so soft, that I didn’t even dare to touch. Because they were tanned with natural tannins, they smelled of violet, narcissus, iris... scents which are considered sacred. I kept one, almost like a memory.

Photographs: Studio Birth, Getty

Boudoir style is a fantastic euphemism that has, over the centuries, covered everything from oil studies of bathing beauties concealed in steamy vapour and draped in cotton towels, to erotic pastels of semi-nudes and through-the-keyhole views of models in little nothings. The genre encompasses a whole litany of artistic techniques and features a dictionary of lingerie from bloomers and French knickers, to corsets and peignoir gowns. And now, it seems, boudoir is back on the agenda, as designers tempt us with the seductive language of déshabillé.

In these jolting, hard-edged times, the mood offers up an escape, a sprinkling of flirtation and suggestions of intimacy. There are plenty of inspirations to pull on. The genre has swerved in and out of fine art (François Boucher, Jules Hippolyte Ravel, Lawrence Alma-Tadema); early photography (EJ Bellocq’s studies of prostitutes in Storyville, New Orleans); and flickered through a century of fashion shoots and movies. Pretty Baby by Louis Malle (1978), starring Brooke Shields, was inspired by Bellocq’s documentary work in Storyville and triggered a vogue for lace-trimmed bloomers and camis. Meanwhile, Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), revealed another bonanza of boudoir moments, as Jane Fonda and her fellow contestants battled for survival in a Depression-era dance marathon. Flimsy house dresses, slip dresses and marabou once again found their way into high style.

The film inspired Alexander McQueen’s exceptional Spring 2004 Deliverance collection that was shown in the gilt- and velvet-swaggged auditorium of the Salle Wagram in Paris and choreographed by Michael Clark. Models danced to ‘exhaustion’ in the round, fainting in dramatic poses into the arms of sailors wearing tap shorts and stockings; crystal-strewn bias-cut gowns draped low over corset tops. It triggered a trend surge in corsetry, camisoles and lace, just as we are witnessing now.

‘Satin slip dressing has been trending for a few seasons, initially in a sleek 90s way; now it is taking a more lavish, glamorously nostalgic direction reminiscent of the 1920s and 1930s,’ says Net-A-Porter’s buying manager, Lydia Zacharis. ‘See it in luxurious fabrics such as silk and lace, corsetry, sheer details and pastels, but also marabou-trimmed chinoiserie robes and kitten-heel mules. Brands including Chloé, Saint Laurent, Conner Ives and Doën have been leading the way.’

The sense of lavish is a huge attraction with marabou trims and off-the-shoulder soigné effects worthy of Marilyn Monroe. But where these styles were originally conceived for indoor pleasures and intimate moments, the new chapter takes boudoir out into the open. How to transfer? Zacharis recommends lace-trimmed camisole tops paired with tailoring and kitten heels, semi-sheer slips with chunky knits or lingerie-feel satin slips under leather jackets (a Zoë Kravitz favourite). Stylistically, think about playing off opposites – even a baseball T-shirt looks good with a lace-trimmed skirt, or a Valentino feather-trimmed robe with jeans.

John Galliano is a master of dressing romantic heroines in ravishing or just-about-to-be-ravished style: bias cut, lace capelets, embellished chiffon and swooshing petticoat skirts are all part of his lexicon. It will be fascinating to see what he conjures up in a new two-year consultancy deal reconfiguring Zara’s archives; the first collection arrives in stores in September.

Meanwhile, there is a host of independent designers to sate desires, one of whom is Carlotta Danti, founder of rosamosario.com – a boudoir specialist who uses couture techniques (hand-rolled hems, tiny covered buttons) in her confections, which Rihanna has custom-made. Or consider Yuhan Wang, the London-based Chinese designer, who starts with a classical notion of femininity and plays with the ideals. There’s a rebellious streak in her tiered handkerchief skirts and draped ribbon-tied tops.

Boudoir is far from submissive; indeed, there’s something intrinsically powerful in all the delicacy – and in those peachy, lemon, lilac hues.

A beach club is the place to lose hours in the most gloriously barefoot manner possible. Call it a more alluring version of the quicksand effect; whether it’s down to Sancerre or Sangria, or just plenty of sea time, before you know it, sunset hits in the blink of an eye. From Amalfi to Antiparos, these fabled places offer plenty of restorative and indulgent fun, with generously spread-out sunbeds, not to mention platters of crudo and grilled seafood, best enjoyed after that first swim of the season.

After 60 years, Da Adolfo on the Amalfi Coast remains one of the most intensely rapturous (and languorous) daytime beach restaurants in the world. On the storybook, shingled Laurito Beach, a few coves around the coast from Positano, Sergio Bella and his wife Miriam maintain the properly egalitarian magic his parents created in the summer of 1966, and it remains as much a place for fishermen as it is for film stars and finance bros. It is like one long letter to a rarefied world of carefree joy, with the sonic haze of cicadas and a ’70s Rino Gaetano song playing in the background. Getting here is half the adventure, whether by water taxi or the restaurant’s cute wooden boat (crowned with Da Adolfo’s charming red fish logo) that chugs backwards and forwards to Positano every hour. The holiday merch is also divine, and you will want to take home the T-shirts emblazoned with that famous fish design, which also appears on the cutlery packets that adorn the ramshackle trestle tables.

And then there is the food and drink that is excellent and plentiful; order jugs of chilled Marisa Cuomo wine with white peaches, mozzarella grilled in lemon leaves, followed by the best zuppa di cozze (mussel soup). Yes, six decades on, the restaurant still serves food that tastes properly of summer – and the sea.

Just wait until you try the vongole at the new Le Sirenuse Mare beach club that recently opened further down the coast in Nerano. It’s the new hotspot from the bewitching hotelier family, the Sersales, who execute the perfect iteration of a modern-day dolce vita homage, with 1950s aquamarine-striped parasols and sunbeds, multi-layered terraces with chestnut wood pergolas jutting overhead and a statement Giuseppe Ducrot fountain that sits at the heart of the main restaurant, framed by fragrant Aleppo pines. Then there is the Dolce Far Niente Bar, which excels in imaginative spritzes, not to mention Rose’s Bar, named in honour of the British artist Rose Wylie. It’s as chic as it is romantic, cocooning you in a style that Ripley’s Dickie Greenleaf and Marge Sherwood would have appreciated.

For something that miraculously manages to be both bling and bohemian, Maçakizi in Bodrum is on another level. Sitting on a secluded bay, with a ley line of happiness seemingly running through this beach-club-with-rooms, you will relish eating bowlfuls of cherries on ice or stuffed vine leaves and lahmacun, the most addictive Turkish pizza. Our advice is to get the front-row beds on the far left to maximise tanning time. New this season is Maçakizi’s private yacht, Sentimental, designed by the hotel’s owner (and cigar connoisseur) Sahir Erozan, a man who certainly knows how to throw a good party.

For something a little more sedate, the beach restaurant La Table de la Plage at Domaine de Murtoli in Corsica is the holy grail. As well as being aesthetically pleasing, with its immaculate, purple linen-dressed tables overlooking a vast swathe of golden sand, the food is unparalleled. It’s a menu you could truly eat on repeat: lobster pasta, salt-baked sea bass and delicious yogurt and blueberry ice cream.

And if Odysseus was looking to return to the best beach club in Greece, he would forgo Ithaca in favour of Antiparos, seeking out The Beach House, a dream Greek island idyll of whitewashed walls and powder-blue shutters. Here, hotelier Athanasia Comninos has cranked up its mythical beauty that is both refined and imaginative. It’s also a summer-taste odyssey, the food whipped up by an outpost of the Athenian restaurant Cookoovaya, renowned for its grilled octopus – the best to be had in all of the Cyclades. Better still, dinner here is served early – the kitchens close at 10pm sharp – so you have the whole beach to yourself to watch the moon rise before slipping into bed. ■

One of the surrealist art movement’s most compelling figures, British-born Mexican artist Leonora Carrington is best known for her painterly dreamscapes, featuring fantastical quasi-human forms, both cosmic and horrific. Her latest exhibition, Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal, at the Freud Museum marks the first time her paintings have been displayed in London for 35 years.

Told through Carrington’s sketchbook drawings and letters from 1938 to 1941, the exhibition traces her escape from Nazi-occupied France, following the arrest of her lover, the German surrealist Max Ernst, to her hospitalisation in Peña Castillo sanatorium in Santander, Spain. During this time, she suffered a mental breakdown that sent her spiralling into severe psychosis, prompting doctors to subject Carrington – then 23 years old – to brutal Cardiazol shock therapy, while encouraging her to draw her experiences obsessively. Several of her works, most notably the seminal painting Down Below (1940), reflect on her psychic disintegration, also chronicled in her memoir of the same name: ‘I didn’t know where I was going. This seems to be a recurring thing in my life. I think it’s death practice.’

Giving form to her experience through alchemical and underworldly symbolism, the works see Carrington imagine herself as a cadaver, transforming the hospital into the world of the dead, with a lavish and masked cast of non-human characters drawn from myth, folklore, religious rituals and the occult. The exhibition is accompanied by extracts from Carl Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy, which greatly influenced Carrington’s work. Juxtaposed alongside the works are antiquities from Freud’s personal collection, such as an ancient Egyptian statue of Anubis – the half-human, half-dog deity of the afterlife – and several horse statuettes, an acknowledgement of Carrington’s horse alter ego and both individuals’ shared interest in the transformative properties of death and the unconscious realms of experience.

A deeply personal portrait of transformation, Carrington’s Santander sketchbooks depict her profound journey through the subterranean world of her psyche, culminating in her reincarnation as a hybrid and quixotic being: ‘an androgyne, the Moon, the Holy Ghost, a gypsy, an acrobat, Leonora Carrington, and a woman,’ as she writes in Down Below. Through this interconnected lens, themes of death and rebirth are reimagined as sites of potential, where the metaphysical dimensions of experience present an intimate understanding of otherness in all its shapeshifting forms. B

Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal is showing until 28 June 2026 at the Freud Museum London

Photographs by Chris Brooks. Fashion by Felix Bischof. Fashion Assistant: Alicia Ellis

Lost and found

For The Blend’s May issue, photographer Chris Brooks pictured the season’s most in-demand sunglasses as left behind across Paris. A new pair of glossy black cat-eye shades by Chanel, designed by the brand’s creative director Matthieu Blazy, remain table-top at a cafe; a pair of metal-tone Balenciaga Racer sunglasses wait for their owner’s return atop a roadside plinth, near the river Seine. Loewe’s Speed Shield sunglasses, a model made from metal that featured in the Spanish maison’s Spring / Summer 2026 show by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, have been propped up by a blue door; there are more sunglasses including a tortoiseshell theme pair by Celine and black Alaia aviators to be retrieved.

POLO 79 BY PIAGET

Piaget has long been known as a master of ornamental hardstone dials and this new iteration of the emblematic Polo 79 matches a white-gold case and bracelet with a textured, midnight blue sodalite dial.

POA, piaget.com

PREMIÈRE GALON BY CHANEL

Chanel first introduced its Première watch – with a geometric case shape inspired by Paris’ Place Vendome – in 1987. Last year, the maison added the Première Galon to its offering, fitted with a rigid bangle, and this year comes the launch of a limited-edition black-and-white version, set in white gold.

POA, chanel.com

MIDNIGHT JOUR NUIT PHASE DE LUNE BY VAN CLEEF & ARPELS

‘Poetry of the heavens’ is Van Cleef & Arpels’ creative theme for 2026 – cue cosmos timepieces such as the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune watch: a white-gold case houses two overlapping complications, one animating a day/ night-time display, the other showing the current moonphase.

POA, vancleefarpels.com

ALPINE EAGLE 41 XPS BY CHOPARD

Chopard’s line of Alpine Eagle sports watches is named for the eponymous raptor, for which the Swiss brand established the Alpine Eagle Foundation to protect. A new model features a gold base dial, which has undergone a galvanic treatment to obtain a finish inspired by the bird’s iris.

POA, chopard.com

CARTIER BAIGNOIRE CLOU DE PARIS BY CARTIER

A jewellery watch that has been worn by Catherine Deneuve and Romy Schneider, the Baignoire continues to inspire: a new model has been engraved with a Clou de Paris design, which results in a tactile, repeated pattern of small pyramid-shaped squares.

POA, cartier.com

LANGE 1 TOURBILLON PERPETUAL CALENDAR ‘LUMEN’ BY A. LANGE & SÖHNE

With a dial made from smoked sapphire, details of the timepiece’s movement can be glimpsed. The display includes power reserve, month, date, time, moonphase and leap-year cycle, finished with the glow-in-the-dark compound lumen.

POA, alange-soehne.com

OYSTER PERPETUAL 28 BY ROLEX

The Oyster Perpetual is best known as a stainless steel Rolex. However, new iterations this year include one model with a satin-finish, yellow-gold bracelet and matching 28mm case.

POA, rolex.com

OCTO FINISSIMO ULTRA TOURBILLON PLATINUM BY BVLGARI

Fitted with a satin-brushed and polished platinum bracelet, the 40mm platinum case of Bvlgari’s Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon Platinum frames a blue-tone skeletonised dial. The geometric timepiece measures a mere 1.85 mm in total thickness.

POA, bulgari.com

HISTORIQUES AMERICAN 1921 BY VACHERON CONSTANTIN

Cast in pink gold, the cushion case of the American 1921 references the design codes of the deco era. New this year is a grained silver-toned dial with blue markings.

POA, vacheron-constantin.com

Four thousand years ago, in Cyprus, lavender was blended into a fragrance that, when unearthed in the 2000s, became the world’s earliest surviving perfume. Millennia on, the herb remains at the apogee of aromatics. From medieval pomanders to 19th-century bestselling scents, lavender’s ancient appeal hasn’t abated with present-day perfumers either. Incense Water by Perfumer H, for example, could be a modern interpretation of a historic attar, mixing top notes of lavender with Roman chamomile, frankincense and saffron.

But what of the plant itself? ‘Lavender’s blue... lavender’s green,’ the folk song goes. It can be a great many other colours, too. With silvery foliage, scented by the tiny mauve, white or deep purple flowers that float in a crowd around each bush, they shift in the breeze, playing host to bees that prize its pollen as highly as we do its aroma.

Ready for harvest from mid-July onwards, lavender is a flower of the warmer months. One of the first plants we’re taught as children to rub between hands and inhale, thereafter sealing in our senses something special and reminiscent of summer. Riffing on this is A Balm of Calm from Penhaligon’s, combining it with other garden favourites, such as geranium and iris, for an instant hit of serenity. Alongside is Le Labo’s Lavande 31, a tongue-in-cheek take on lavender’s more old-school associations, updating the nostalgia with earthy oak moss and amber.

Jersey by Chanel, part of the house’s Les Exclusifs collection, blends the softness of lavender with Bourbon vanilla and notes of white musk, making for something as layered as the lavender plant’s own multifarious scent profile, or what David James, head gardener at Derbyshire’s Melbourne Hall, describes as hazy, blurry and enveloping but branching out well beyond those borders’. That would make sense, given the more than 450 different varieties available. Some of the most popular cottage garden types being English (Lavandula angustifolia) ‘Hidcote’ and ‘Munstead,’ along with lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia), which are those standing in rows on endless purple Provençal hills.

Where other herbs might ignite the senses, this small shrub is said to soothe the mind instead. ‘Despite evoking feelings of calm, lavender paradoxically thrives in the harshest of conditions. Intense heat, direct sunshine and sharp soils make up their preferred home,’ James, himself a collector of rare lavenders and custodian to numerous different varieties, concludes. ‘It’s as if, in taking on all that discomfort, they can impart solace to any wearer of their scent.’

Krishna Choudhary established Santi Jewels in 2019. Today, he unveils his pieces – which are unique, produced in small numbers and often set with heirloom gems of museum quality – in a townhouse showroom near London’s Green Park. And since last year, Choudhary has also been presenting his work at the Maastricht iteration of the important art, antiques and design fair, TEFAF. Among this year’s Santi Jewels offering is a pair of earrings, shaped from rose gold and titanium in a rich brown colour. One old-mine rosette-cut white diamond per earring is matched with a total of 550 pavé-set diamonds.

The earrings’ shape is an inverted lotus, a motif symbolising purity, rebirth and transcendence, and one that came to prominence in Mughal architecture. ‘It’s a style of designing buildings of which there are many surviving examples across Jaipur, the city in which Choudhary’s family has been a household name in jewellery, art and artefacts for 10 generations. ‘Lotuses have been a major form of ornamentation in the Indian subcontinent. Whether it’s architecture, textiles or thrones, they have been incorporated to amplify beauty,’ he says. ‘These earrings have been derived from the stylistic version of Mughal lotuses from objects like a silver rosewater sprinkler and domes of Mughal mosques in Delhi called Jama Masjid.’

Elsewhere at TEFAF Maastricht, other jewellery high points this year included a 1970 yellow and pink gold cuff bracelet topped with three midnight blue amethysts by Gianmaria Buccellati, and a new necklace by Fernando Jorge called Tambour, made of yellow gold, carved ebony, onyx and many baguette-cut diamonds. While Munich-headquartered master jeweller Hemmerle debuted a new take on its Harmony bangle, a design first made in 1991. This latest interpretation is crafted in Mokume-gane, a 400-year-old Japanese technique that sees layers of silver, copper and gold fused together, then carved to reveal a pattern that resembles woodgrain.

The jumbled letters on Diptyque’s classic black-and-white oval label were inspired by cryptography, the names of each scent becoming a kind of visual riddle for the customer to decode. Despite the deliberate complexity of its label, the formula behind Diptyque’s success is notably straightforward: minimal design plus quality ingredients plus impactful scents equals a product that is unanimously admired. A rare object that can transcend the particularities of personal taste to become something almost everyone wants in their home.

Now, for the first time in decades, these fabled candles have been given a revamp. The changes are subtle to the eye, but took years to develop, including packaging that is now completely refillable, and a three-year-in-the-making, high-quality mineral wax blend that is created almost entirely by hand using two factories in France; one in Provence and the other in Paris. Swiss-French designer Julie Richoz was called in to make subtle adjustments to the packaging aesthetic, such as a raised glass ridge around the label, while retaining the same oval outline and monochrome print that has become the brand’s signature.

The perfumers Alexandra Carlin and Olivia Giacobetti, both of whom have created a number of scents for the brand, have also crafted five new scents for the permanent collection: black sesame, rhubarb, nettle, shiso and coffee; each of which turns the core ingredient into something both recognisable and novel. The fruity acidity of rhubarb takes on a strange brightness with the addition of wood and lemon notes; the natural freshness of shiso leaves has been mixed with almond notes and a delicate spiciness; while the watery, green quality of nettle (ortie) is combined with a rich earthiness inspired by the underbrush. The remaining scents – black sesame and coffee – are slightly more potent, with the former quickly filling the room with a rich, roasted wood perfume, and the latter echoing the warm, invigorating scent of freshly ground beans.

As with all Diptyque’s candles, the wick’s diameter and cotton braiding has been specially selected for each scent to diffuse its fragrance most effectively – a detail few people know about, but which expresses the perfectionism that underlies the brand and has helped it to endure for over 60 years. As Amanda Morgan, MD of Diptyque UK & Ireland, says, “The classic candle has always been iconic for Diptyque, since the first candles came to light back in 1963 with its notable scents from the founders of Diptyque. With this new elevated redesign, we have expanded our herbarium of scents to 51 with new exciting additions and the glass vessel will frame our emblematic oval in a new way.”

Swimming pools are a recurring theme in the work of Paris-based digital artist Vincent Smadja, who uses AI to conjure fantasy images from familiar landmarks. Two of his most striking creations reimagine the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe as a sprawling waterparks, wrapped in a tangle of bouncy slides spiralling around the monuments.

London, in its own way, already hosts something that feels almost AI-invented: the Sky Pool at Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms. Suspended between two buildings, the transparent pool looks like an architectural fantasy brought to life.

More broadly speaking, there’s been a resurgence of statement swimming pools, particularly in high-end hotels across the capital. As wellness culture expands, pools are no longer mere amenities, they’re centrepieces. Designers are leaning into glamour: infinity edges, unusual materials, rooftop settings and immersive environments that blur the line between relaxation and impactful design.

At Claridge’s Spa, designed by Andre Fu Studio, the pool isn’t trying to impress through scale but through atmosphere. Drawing on references from Kyoto’s temples and zen gardens, the space is intentionally restrained. At just 9 metres, it quietly rejects the idea of swimming as exercise and reframes it as a kind of meditative drifting as you listen to the sound of flowing water, what’s more the water itself is salt-treated reducing chlorine and bringing softness to the skin.

More under the radar is The Other House, known for its exuberant Baroque interiors. It features a 10m pool, steam room and sauna, open to both guests and members, with monthly access starting from £165. The focus is firmly on wellbeing, with an extensive treatment menu ranging from holistic massage, reiki and craniosacral therapy to hypnotherapy—and even sound healing sessions held in the pool. Membership also extends to its soon-to-open sister location in Covent Garden, which will feature a rooftop terrace and a restorative, luxury stone-hewn vitality pool.

One standout is the spa and wellness centre at The Peninsula London, designed by Peter Marino —the man with the golden touch, whose clients include Chanel, LVMH and Tiffany &Co. — Marino has long defined modern luxury as spaces that feel expansive and light-filled, yet quietly intimate. Here, a 1,300 sqm subterranean oasis somehow evokes a penthouse setting, thanks to a generous double-height volume crowned with overhead panels that shift in tone throughout the day, simulating natural daylight. This is a pool designed for serious lap swimming: wide and, at 25 metres, among the longest private pools in London. With restricted access times for families, it remains notably peaceful and quiet. Yet it also channels a resort-like ease, with a generous lounge area encircling the water, complete with chaises and cabanas. Service is discreet but meticulous: mid-morning, staff circulate with sugar-free fruit popsicles. Beneath the surface, underwater speakers pipe in gentle music, heightening the sense of escape.

Silver membership (for spa and gym) starts from £9,000 per year and includes a range of perks, such as a massage and a personal training session. Alternatively, booking a 90-minute treatment — such as the Ricari Body Signature Massage — grants access to the spa and wellness areas.

By contrast, the 25m subterranean pool at Bvlgari Hotel London leans into the aura of Romanesque spa culture with a touch of luxury cruise liner elegance. It feels distinctly neoclassical, with thick-set fluted columns framing a pool lined in shimmering blue mosaic tiles. The focus here is on regeneration rather than pace, making it better suited to unhurried breaststroke. Therapies include hyperbaric oxygen sessions, ‘Zerobody’ dry float therapy, ice bathing and chakra realignment massages. A 90- minute treatment includes one hour of spa access before and after.

The Asaya Spa at Rosewood London Chancery delivers unmistakable wow factor—unsurprising given the building’s extraordinary past. Formerly the U.S. Embassy, designed by Eero Saarinen, it has been meticulously reimagined under the direction of Sir David Chipperfield.

Opened in 2025, the hotel has already become a magnet for tastemakers, including Manolo Blahnik who cites it as one of his favourite London boltholds.

The property is dripping in museum-worthy modern and contemporary art as well as design rarities, while its restaurants are led by Michelin-starred chefs, plus there’s also the thrill of sipping cocktails beneath a giant eagle on the top floor.

The wellness experience begins with a plush ground-floor boutique before descending into a warm, golden sanctuary below. Here, the latest Artis Line equipment by Technogym sits in soft cream tones that echo the serene interiors. The 25-metre, wide pool (enough for three lanes) suits confident lap swimmers, while partitioned lounge areas with thermal heated marble beds offer a more private retreat. A jacuzzi, vitality pool and sauna complete the offering, alongside a treatment clinic helmed by esteemed cosmetic expert Dr Wassim Taktouk.

Day passes are priced at £250 Monday to Thursday and £300 from Friday to Sunday, granting full access to the gym and spa.

The sprawling, four-level wellness space at the London OWO Raffles Hotel building was designed by architectural practice Goddard Littlefair, the same studio behind the plush residential spa at Chelsea Barracks. In keeping with the building’s Edwardian and Neo-Baroque architecture, the double-height pool area is framed by a refined material palette of marble and tone-on-tone timber. Textural circles on walls and a spiral staircase add a decorative Art Deco touch, while elegant arches separate a warm thermal pool from the main swimming pool, while pillars and curved alcoves create intimate spaces for private lounging.

At 20 metres, the pool is designed for gentle laps rather than intensive training. Access is more flexible than you would imagine, with a four-hour pass priced at £180 from Monday to Friday, which also includes use of the state-of-the-art gym. Additional indulgences, while not included, are well worth considering.

These include the luxurious Guerlain Atelier beauty space and the Pillar Kitchen, which specialises in fresh, healthy dishes.

For those unconcerned with cost, memberships are available in Classic, Silver, and Platinum tiers. The top-tier Platinum membership, priced at £25,000 per year, includes unlimited personal training, two complimentary nights’ stay annually, and a range of spa discounts and exclusive services.

The Maybourne Group has invested heavily in its Surrenne spa at The Emory, as well as its sister destination, Surrenne Riviera, at the Maybourne Riviera hotel —and the investment has paid off. The London spa secured the top spot at the World Spa Awards in both 2024 and 2025.

Masterfully designed by Rémi Tessier, whose studio is also renowned for crafting the interiors of private jets and luxury yachts, the space reflects an expertly curated sense of proportion and sculptural sensitivity. At its heart is a 22-metre pool, wide enough to accommodate two to three lap swimmers side by side.

As with Claridge’s, the pool uses a salt hydrolysis and UV system, producing chlorine naturally while keeping levels low for a gentler, more refined swimming experience.

Annual individual membership is £10,000 plus a £5,000 joining fee which includes a full fitness assessment with three follow-up sessions, plus two hyperbaric sessions, four advanced body treatments or facials, and twelve Tracy Anderson classes. It also offers twelve guest passes, complimentary laundry service, and preferential rates on suites, rooms, spa treatments, valet parking, and dining at The Emory, The Berkeley, and Surrenne. Day passes are not available.

You may be disappointed to learn that the UK’s first Six Senses hotel and spa, within the £1bn Whiteley redevelopment, will not open its wellness facilities to non- members or non-residents — at least for now. Access remains firmly exclusive. Still, there is a credible alternative within the wider luxury complex: the new Third Space club, where an 18-metre pool, hydrotherapy circuit and ice bath offer a more democratic—if no less design-conscious—option. Memberships start from £273 per month, for those seeking a similarly elevated, all-access experience.

Sixty years and counting. That is how long Elizabeth Gage has been creating jewellery and, in that time, she has become one of Britain’s most enduringly successful goldsmiths and designers.

Bold in form, scale and colour, her aesthetic has always been unmistakable. With a passion for the past, she blends historical references – everything from ancient Greek coins to medieval pageantry – with a love of vibrant gemstones. Cornflower-blue sapphires, fiery orange-mandarin garnets and lime-green peridots are just a handful of the gems that she sets in sculptural designs of rich yellow gold, which more likely than not are embellished with engraving, enamel and her signature wire-twist-wire edges.

The result is bold but harmonious and, over the years, she has attracted a legion of dedicated fans, including Jackie Kennedy and Lauren Bacall. She reinvents historic forms and techniques with a modern sensibility, and a newly published book, Elizabeth Gage: A Life in Jewellery, demonstrates just how much she was ahead of her time on multiple fronts.

Born in 1937 in London to a wealthy upper-class family, childhood illness restricted her freedom. Confined to bed, her creation of clothes and houses for her dolls was an early demonstration of artistic dexterity and unfettered imagination, qualities she shared with her mother and grandmother, both painters.

She later rejected finishing school, the standard route for young women of her class and generation, in favour of studying at the-then Chelsea School of Art. It was a chance experience, however, at the British Museum in the early 1960s that set her on an entirely different creative path.

Coming across a display of ancient Roman rings, she was immediately drawn to their beauty and buttery golden patina, and they led her to enrol at London’s Sir John Cass College. Six years of mastering the art of goldsmithing at the bench followed and it was not long afterwards, in 1968, that she received her first major commission, from Cartier New York.

Despite being a woman very much in a man’s world at that time, she possessed the single-minded creative vision and determination to succeed, and her original designs and exceptional craftsmanship attracted a following among newly liberated women who were seeking to express their own individuality and inner strength.

Gage’s output has been remarkably consistent over the decades. A set of jewellery in the permanent collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where she has long been a patron, is testament to that. A 1967 brooch, which features a diagonal cross of grey baroque pearls at its centre, is set with five carved black seals of steatite, or soapstone, which Gage discovered in Crete while working there early on in her career. Over the years, she created earrings (1970) and a necklace (1988) to match and they became treasured pieces in her own personal collection.

Elizabeth Gage: A Life in Jewellery by William Grant (£50, ACC Art Books)

The film to see...

All eyes on the Croisette to show us next year’s Oscar contenders from Cannes but right now, pass the popcorn please. The Devil Wears Prada 2 moves its fashion month focus to Milan. With its stellar cast, clothes and wit, Meryl, Stanley and all of the Emilies definitely merit a cinema outing (dress code, cerulean).

You can also catch homegrown talent Leo Woodall (One Day, Mad About the Boy) take the lead with support from a rare performance from Dustin Hoffman in Tuner. This unusual thriller, directed and co-written by Daniel Roher, lands in UK cinemas this month via strong reviews at Telluride and Toronto film festivals. Roher won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film for his must-watch 2022 documentary Navalny, about the late Russian activist. Here the tension is ramped up for a fictional piano tuner who learns to crack safes.

The exhibition to visit...

Photo London returns for its eleventh edition from 14 to 17 May 2026, with a VIP Preview on 13 May and a new home in Olympia. Annual catnip for collectors and window-shopping fans alike, the must-see is the Stephen Meisel presentation. This year’s Master of Photography, the fair will showcase a rare and apt chance to see Meisel’s London portraits which were made in the 90s for British Vogue. His punk spirit muses included Stella Tennant and Bella Freud.

Also this month, from 13 May, London duo Rob and Nick Carter show Transforming, bringing movement to art-history masterpieces. Working at the cutting edge of human-guided AI, these startling works are in museums around the world, but this is a chance to see them in West London

The theatre to book…

It’s almost twenty years since their legendary Chekhov production of The Seagull, which won Kristin Scott Thomas an Olivier, transferred to Broadway from the Royal Court and helped to catapult a teenage Carey Mulligan to stardom. Now Scott Thomas reunites with director Ian Rickson for their interpretation of The Cherry Orchard. In a new version by Conor MacPherson, it will run from 3 October to 9 January. Serious fans will want to book the hottest autumn ticket now, and you can still get them for £20

Meanwhile, “a summer reggae party driven by Jimmy Cliff’s music’ in the words of director Matthew Xia is back. The Harder They Come returns to Stratford East 16 May to 4 July led by Natey Jones who won rave reviews for his portrayal of Ivan in the show’s first short run. This is a great high-octane way to end the day if you’re close by at V & A East, seeing the brilliant inaugural show The Music is Black.

The collaboration to look out for…

Rurbanite bliss, as country life comes back to Mayfair thanks to The Newt in Somerset. From 18 to 31 May, A Farm in Mayfair pops up at Claridge's, the ultimate place to stay if you’re heading to Chelsea Flower Show (19-23) and a whimsical reminder that Shepherd Market was once the setting for a real rowdy Mayfair. Soak up all of this green inspiration via the bar (anyone for a Newt Cyder?) and a wander through the temporarily bucolic lobby. Many other Newt Estate ingredients will also be on the menu, along with the chicest tote of the month for all of your shopping.

The event to attend…

If you aren’t lucky enough to be bobbing around the Grand Canal for Venice Art Biennale, closer to home, Charleston Festival (13-25 May) has one of the most seductive festival settings. Get lost with a glass of wine or two as you soak up the work of Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell and their Bloomsbury time capsule gardens. From our own life and times, this year’s programme includes Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, painter Rose Wylie, Sir David Hare, Hugh Bonneville, Margaret Drabble and many more. Brighton’s City Books festival pop-up is also worth a trip in itself.

The album to buy…

New work from Paul McCartney is always an event. This is his first LP for six years and so far, there is one beautifully elegiac single, Days We Left Behind'. The full album The Boys of Dungeon Lane is coming on 29 May and promises a detailed look back at his childhood, his family and his first days with his future bandmates. As he’s said, ‘I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else?’ Plus, if you’re humming 'The Van' from Jack Antonoff, you’ll also be getting Bleachers' new album – Everyone For Ten Minutes – on 22 May.

The TV to watch

Made with the help and blessing of the late national treasure Dame Jilly Cooper, hit show Rivals takes us back to the 80s again with season two, helmed by rising star British directors including Dee Koppang O’Leary. The first six episodes of twelve land on May 15. Steady on…

The book to read

Paul Auster fans won’t be able to miss Siri Hustvedt’s tribute, Ghost Stories. (Hodder & Stoughton) The book includes letters from the New York trilogy novelist to his baby grandson, and a raw account of the last months of their four-decade-long literary love story.

Also this month, Oscar Wilde expert Matthew Sturgis studies three personalities with larger-than-life siblings in Relative Failures (Bloomsbury) Let him introduce Willie Wilde, Mabel Beardsley and Howard, brother of novelist Julian Sturgis (both his great great uncles). It’s a brilliantly off-kilter concept for a group biography, and a passport to the 1890s in the hands of a vivid raconteur.

What is the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning?

The lovely little face of my son George.

Describe the view from where you are right now.

Vanilla walls, white sheets.

Is there a view you can't quite forget?

Sailing in the south of France.

Is there a particular artwork you always return to for inspiration?

Grayson Perry’s Red Alan Manifesto.

Is there a particular artwork you're obsessed with at the moment?

Lily Allen’s portrait at the National Portrait Gallery, by Nieves González.

What sound do you wake up to?

George’s voice saying, ‘Good morning Mum, I love you.’

What gets you dancing?

An Irish bar and my children.

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

Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin – all the emotions.

What song always makes you cry?

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ Into My Arms – beautiful.

And which tune always makes you smile?

Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield^®.

Which smell takes you back to childhood?

Talcum powder.

What smell makes you feel at home?

Cigarettes and clean washing powder.

What is your earliest scent memory?

Fresh tomatoes in my grandad’s greenhouse.

What was the first meal that made you fall in love with food?

Sunday dinner with a hangover as a teenager.

Describe a dish that's always stayed with you.

Fresh fish while sailing.

What is the taste of spring?

Strawberries with sugar.

Olive or a twist?

Olive, always.

What is your favourite restaurant?

Gatto Nero in Lake Como^®.

Silk or cashmere?

Silk.

Marble or wood?

Marble.

Favourite piece of furniture at home?

My bed.

Is there an object you cherish above all others?

My grandmother’s nail kit; she used this to do my manicure every week for years. I cherish it.

Marrakech is a place of colour. Of terracotta tagines, of dusty tracks and the vibrant blue of the Jardin Majorelle. It’s a place brimming with energy but also – if you choose wisely – a place of calm, where the sun nearly always shines and luxury comes at a reasonable price.

Since Yves Saint Laurent laid down roots in the 60s, it has attracted a class of creatives concerned with great design. Whether enjoying the mayhem of the medina or Guéliz’s emerging bar and restaurant scene, here is The Blend’s guide to Marrakech.

Stay

In Palmeraie, a tranquil palm-lined neighbourhood to the north of the Medina, you’ll find J’nane Rumi. Opened in 2025, the artists’ retreat is a former private residence designed by Tunisian architect Charles Boccara, transformed into a live-in gallery. The eleven-room hotel is the perfect spot to inspire creative thought and unclutter the mind. Relax by the pool, lounge in a hammock in the immaculate gardens or eat a selection of small bites at the restaurant, headed up by Dutch chef Karin Gaasterland (formerly of El Fenn). Inside, the hotel’s design-forward credentials are on full display. Works by Moroccan artists such as Mous Lamrabat and Margaux Derhy adorn the perfectly curated and colourful walls. For an extra special stay, book the annexe.

Book at jnanerumi.com

Visit

When fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent first visited Marrakech in the 60s, he instantly fell in love. Over 60 years later, it feels fitting that the city has a museum dedicated to his life and work. Architectural buffs will marvel at the Studio KO-designed building and its impressive entranceway. Inside, the museum comprises a 400 sq m permanent exhibition space designed by Christophe Martin, a temporary exhibition space, a research library with over 6,000 volumes, a 150-seat auditorium, and a bookstore and terrace café. Located next door is the vibrant Jardin Majorelle, which Saint Laurent saved from closure in the '60s. Go early to avoid the crowds.

Book tickets

Eat

Sahbi Sahbi, Gueliz

The women-led Sahbi Sahbi is one of Guéliz’s buzziest addresses – and its most aesthetically pleasing. The restaurant is another project by Parisian architects, Studio KO, and its ethos is to spotlight the female cooks behind much of Morocco’s traditional food. At the heart of Sahbi Sahbi is an open kitchen, where chefs prepare charmoula prawns in sizzling tagines and a selection of tasting salads made from purslane, tomato and pumpkin. Go for modern Moroccan food done well.

Book in at sahbisahbi.com

Drink

Pétanque social club

Behind an unmarked door in Guéliz, you’ll find another of the city’s hottest hangouts. The latest venture from pioneering restaurateur Kamal Laftimi, creator of beloved Marrakech venues Le Jardin, Café des Epices and Nomad, PSC is a revival of a 1930s pétanque club. Inside its walled garden, sip cocktails (and throw boules) in a bustling courtyard and outdoor bar. Inside, vintage furniture – including revamped 1970s chairs from famed hotel La Mamounia – are paired with objets from local artisans.

pscmarrakech.com

Revive

1112 Marrakech Tea House

A haven in the midst of the medina, 1112 is a former riad lovingly turned into a teahouse, restaurant and museum. Serving twelve types of tea in a heavenly orange-blossom-scented courtyard, it offers a moment of respite during a day of shopping in the souks. Be sure to visit the roof.

1112marrakech.com

After a long, long winter, you know it's that time of the season, when the possibility of enjoying lunch outside at The River Cafe is on the table. That frisson of excitement as the winter menu changes to spring; bitter curls of Puntarelle alla Romana give way to the joy of eating English asparagus dunked in anchovy butter; and a chilled glass of something divine and rosy from Abruzzo replaces a warming bottle of a Barolo. Of course, the River Cafe is a perennial favourite and obvious choice, but when a flash of sunshine descends in London, there is nothing like finding a perfect table outside, away from the crowds, and relishing the return of summer.

Particularly the mythical tables that exist at Chelsea's ...At Sloane. Here, there's an ease, grace and sophistication to the whole place, largely down to its fabulous manager, Tariq, who you will want to have on speed dial to help you get one of these tables. It's an intimate affair with six tables immaculately laid out set on a small balcony, overlooking the storybook red-brick mansions of Sloane Gardens below. It's the definition of 'if you know, you know'. The menu is an homage to the original Parisian bordello-chic bolthole Hotel Costes (which also has one of the best courtyard gardens to enjoy a perfect plate of Pâtes pomodoro), and the menu here is an edited list of decadent hits, such as a superlative steak frites and that renowned signature tomato pasta.

Of course, Italy has an abundance of terraces and gardens made for long, languid lunches. Particularly under the most romantic loggia in the fabled Locanda Cipriani on the Venetian island of Torcello, which is said to reopen later this spring. As does Airelles Palladio, Venice – a majestic sprawling restored convent with one of the largest secret gardens in Giudecca, where you can savour some Jean-Georges Vongerichten classics next to vine-draped walls. And further down south at La Posta Vecchia, there are few culinary experiences that can rival dining under the umbrellas of this sun-baked Roman villa, a dolce vita vortex (and former home of John Paul Getty), with a terrace made for sipping negroni sbagliatos. New this year is a divine beach club, so there is no real reason to leave, as you bumble from your room to the pool or beach, via the terrace for a cocktail, ice cream or, indeed, the best bruschetta, overlooking the sea beyond.

Meanwhile, over in LA, which is a city that excels in high-octane al fresco terrace moments (hello, Polo Lounge and Chateau Marmont terrace), but there is something refreshingly low-key and down-to-earth at The Maybourne Beverly Hills, which has two distinctly different outdoor experiences, much like a Californian remix of dolce far niente. There is The Terrace restaurant, with colonnades strung with fairy lights, overlooking a fountain, which is the quintessence of quiet, refined glamour. Here, you can enjoy Tahitian vanilla French toast to a soundtrack of birdsong in the morning and in the evening, savour the signature corn agnolotti. Dusk is when the rooftop bar, Dante, comes alive on the hotel's ninth floor, serving delectable cocktails and icy Martinis as you gaze out to the most distinctive view of LA; the Hollywood sign glaring at you as you sip away on the signature Garibaldi (the fluffiest orange juice and Campari creation).

But no one can conjure up a series of eating 'en plein air' moments quite like hotelier Paddy McKillen at his wine estate- cultural space, Château La Coste, in the Luberon region of Provence. At this enlightening epicurean place, every night feels as if Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's wistful song Summer Wine has come to life (where McKillen's Château La Coste 2024 Rosé d'une Nuit really does taste like 'strawberries, cherries and an angel's kiss in spring').

The hotel, Villa La Coste, is an unquestionably aesthetic experience, where you're struck by the most romantic scent-scape, supplied by the rows of lavender and streams of jasmine arching down its walls. Then there is the dizzying repertoire of restaurants in the hotel and cultural estate's grounds, from the Terrasse bar and hang-out that centres around a gurgling fountain – perhaps the best spot to sip a chilled glass of the estate's rosé – to the flame-grilling of renowned Argentine chef Francis Mallmann, where you can enjoy generous cuts of rib-eye and sirloin steaks under big, starry skies. For al fresco eating as high theatre, make for the new star restaurant, Louison, headed up by chef Florent Pietravalle, who does tasting menus that subtly exaggerate the most distinctive flavours of Provence. And nothing compares to his version of the pissaladière tart, which tastes just like the end of a golden summer...

In 2021 a team of archaeologists reported that they’d discovered the world’s oldest jewellery. During a dig in a cave in western Morocco, they unearthed 33 sea snail shells, each one containing a hole where it had been intentionally drilled. Dated to 142,000-150,000 years ago (more than twice as old as the oldest known cave paintings), the beads would have been threaded on string, making them the earliest form of decorative adornment ever found.

It’s this simple construction that has made the bead the first and most enduring form of jewellery. With no melting of metal required, no setting or faceting, it meant the earliest civilisations could string and wear natural materials, such as animal teeth, bones, ivory and coral to display status, identity and wealth.

Later, between 400 and 800 AD, sapphire beads mined in Sri Lanka were drilled and strung and then traded west along the Silk Road. During medieval times, beads became decorative and devotional with the advent of the rosary. While from the 15th to the 19th centuries, glass beads would become an easily portable and divisible trading commodity; the Victorians using elaborate beadwork to display wealth and jet beads to signify mourning.

Today, beads continue to appear in fine and high-jewellery collections – from the biggest houses to smaller independents. Playful and informal, they’ve been an integral part of Carolina Bucci’s business since she launched her Forte Beads in 2018, after three years of development. ‘I had been making plastic beaded bracelets with my sons as a summer activity for years, and decided it was time to create something more precious,’ she says. Comprising carved hard stones, such as turquoise, tiger’s eye and lapis lazuli, customers can choose their configuration before stringing them on gold cord. ‘The reaction from the jewellery world and retailers was that they didn’t get it… clients, on the other hand, understood at once and it went on to become one of our biggest hits,’ she says. ‘There is a playful spirit to it and clients often find the process of choosing adjacent colours and playing with them like a form of meditation. It’s very therapeutic.’

Beads as talismanic amulets are the mainstay of Ananya’s proposition. The jeweller’s beaded Chakra bracelets, in a variety of stones, such as moonstone and amethyst, tap into the idea that crystals convey a healing and invigorating energy. Cartier has not been immune to the trend either – in 2024, the luxury jeweller brand created a special-order rosary for Wes Anderson’s 2025 film The Phoenician Scheme, made of rose-cut diamonds and emerald beads.

Redolent of childhood games (as noted by Bucci) beads as adult decoration offer a relaxed style. At Tiffany & Co., perfectly matched turquoise beads have been used in a lariat from the new Bird on a Rock by Tiffany collection, which sees the bird positioned in mid-flight on the necklace. Here, the turquoise beads signify the blue of the sky and also the house’s signature Tiffany Blue colour, which is thought to have taken its original inspiration from the gemstone in 1845. The beads add movement and a relaxed structure to the piece. ‘It’s high jewellery,’ says Victoria Reynolds, Tiffany & Co.’s chief gemmologist, ‘but it’s fun, whimsical and playful – and that’s a very hard thing to accomplish within this category.’

In a similar use of beads at this level, Jessica McCormack’s new Orbit collection offers the Planetary necklace as its hero piece. Here, beads of emerald, golden South Sea pearl, lilac jade, Melo pearl, sapphire and pink coral are strung between gold elements. The rare beads took McCormack two years to source and perfectly express her irreverent take on luxury that has become synonymous with her brand.

For independent jeweller Cora Sheibani, the appeal of beads started at a young age; after a business trip to Paris, her parents brought her back a bracelet from an art dealer. Constructed of African trading beads strung together with elastic and safety pins, they ignited an obsession with jewellery and beads specifically. ‘I thought it was so great and went off to a bead store in Zurich and made two more myself,’ she says. Now beads appear often in her work, particularly in Colour & Contradiction, a collection that sees Sheibani constructing beads from two halves of contrasting coloured gemstones joined in the middle by a band of faceted stone. It’s a complex and labour-intensive process. ‘You have to have seen a lot of jewellery to realise that, although the materials are simple, it’s an expensive way to construct a piece,’ she says.

For Munich-based family jewellers Hemmerle the sentiment is similar, often taking humble materials that they find beautiful and elevating them through craftsmanship and context. In what has become a signature for the house, husband-and-wife team Christian and Yasmin Hemmerle revived a historic Austrian technique that sees tiny hand-shaped and hand-drilled beads knitted in the round with silk to form a bangle. ‘It transforms a individual bead into a flexible, textile-like structure,’ they say. ‘We also enjoy searching around the world for remarkable historic materials, like coral beads recovered from shipwrecks, Tibetan dzi beads or ancient carved Chinese jade. What attracts us in these discoveries is not only rarity but also character: colour, texture and cultural history.’ In a recent piece, a fossilised mammoth tusk forms a statement necklace; confirming that the materials and beads that beguiled early man are just as treasured and sought-after today. A neat, full-circle moment.

“I’ve got a big sign in the other room,” says Chad Kassem, “where we took an article, blew it up and put it in a frame. The headline says, ‘Why Salina?’ – because I get asked that question about a hundred times a year.”

Kassem, the founder of ultra-high-end vinyl record manufacturer Acoustic Sounds, is speaking to The Blend from the company’s headquarters in the aforementioned city in Kansas. He grew up in Louisiana’s action-packed Lafayette but chose to start a new life in this obscure former cow town (population circa 46,000), at random, in his early twenties. A troubled kid with a drug problem that helped to earn him 16 criminal charges, he could have moved anywhere in the world to try and get clean.

So… why Salina?

The 63-year-old cracks a wide grin. “Why not?”

It’s certainly an unlikely place to start a business that had garnered annual sales of more than $1m within a few years and has gone on to become a major player in the global vinyl revival. 2026 marks the 40^th anniversary of Acoustic Sounds, which Kassem first launched as a mail-order vinyl retailer. By 1991, he’d founded Analogue Productions, the reissue label that specialises in audiophile pressings of classic albums by the likes of Etta James and Muddy Waters.

In terms of sound quality, Kassem’s records – which he presses at his own plant, Quality Record Pressings, in the Salina headquarters – are as good as it gets. Compared to streaming, he says, they are “cleaner, clearer, smoother, more realistic”. With near-religious fervour, he typically remasters albums from the original master tapes, which often have to be tracked down, and only world-class studios and engineers will do. This can come with a hefty price tag: some limited-edition releases reach up to $150 (£110) a piece.

Even as vinyl becomes ever-more expensive thanks to that much-trumpeted revival, this is pretty unheard-of for brand-new reissues. “We try our best to make the best,” Kassem says in his slow, Cajun drawl. “We’re not too cheap to pay attention. Everybody’s trying to cut corners in life. That’s not what my customer wants. They want me to be the one not to cut corners.”

And who is that customer? “Someone that cares an awful lot about hearing their favourite artist sound as good as possible and is willing to pay extra to be able to hear and feel that.”

The company is currently toasting its fourth decade with The Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series, having raided the archives of Warner Music Group’s catalogue label Rhino Records to release two timeless albums every month throughout 2026. Already they’ve put out reissues of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and Moondance, with the likes of The Ramones and Gram Parsons yet to come.

In October, Kassem will also host a jazz and blues festival at Quality Record Pressings, flying the likes of acclaimed saxophonist and trumpeter Chico Freeman over to Salina to celebrate the company’s success. It’s quite the vindication of his decision to start a vinyl label, which seemed highly questionable in 1991.

“When I first got to Salina,” he notes, pointedly, “it was 1984, the same year that CDs came out.”

Kassem was originally shipped to the city to stay in a ‘halfway house’, a transitional living facility for those on parole or recently released from prison, following yet another scrape with the law. A judge gave him a choice: it was that or jail. He’d previously lived in a halfway house in Iowa, but this one’s quietude appealed after the temptations of his hometown: “A lot of bars in Louisiana are 24 hours. When you’re 12 years old, you can buy beer. It’s just the way we grew up, but some of us can’t handle it – and I was one of ‘em. I got arrested a lot. I would get drunk, start shit, get in trouble. I dealt a little bit of drugs.”

Kassem understandably doesn’t seem keen to dwell on the past and skilfully turns the subject back to his passion: “[Selling drugs] isn’t much different to selling records. I sold records so I had more – buy three, sell two. Buy, sell, trade, keep your profits.”

Indeed, he was back in Louisiana when an old partying buddy introduced him to audiophile vinyl, imploring him to listen out for small differences in sound, explaining, “Subtle is big.” For Kassem, this changed everything. “I owe the guy,” he admits, before adding, quietly, “although he’s passed away from drugs.”

Upon his return to Salina, Kassem set about rebuilding his vinyl collection; in fact, it turned out, he was rebuilding his life: “A lot of my records, I had partied with, so they were rough. I had used them to roll joints on and partied all night with them.” Around this time, he worked as a cook and in a lightbulb factory owned by Philips, the company that helped to invent CDs, the technology that was supposed to put vinyl out to pasture for good.

That didn’t pan out, clearly, given that sales of the format surpassed $1bn (£790m) in annual revenue in the US last year, a figure not seen since 1983. In 2023, it was reported that UK vinyl sales had reached 5.9m units, their highest level since 1990. On both sides of the Atlantic, vinyl now easily outstrips CDs in terms of annual revenue as the unlikely comeback of black wax continues to gather apace.

“Here’s some quotable shit,” announces Kassem, a true raconteur. “I didn’t know this day was coming, but I spent every moment of my life, and every dollar that I had, as though I did.”

He believes people are simply realising that vinyl sounds better than other formats. Kassem is particularly scathing about streaming platforms, which he says engineers are catering to with a homogenised, “compressed” sound: “It kills the music.”

Either way, Kassem was well ahead of the curve, as he began buying and selling vinyl for fun before officially setting up his business in 1986. He now employs more than a hundred people, pressing around a million records a year and, he’s said, rejecting about 150,000 in his relentless mission for quality. His office, which is lined with shelves of vinyl, contains two turntables so that he can test pressings against one another, while he also scrutinises his records with a sound meter. “Nobody really does what I do,” he says.

Not many people, after all, would spend “25, 30 grand” on flying a small team, including himself, out to London’s Abbey Road Studios to remaster five Bob Marley albums, as Kassem did last year.

It’s a far cry from the ease of streaming, which, he argues, devalues the listening experience: “People consume way too much music. They listen all day long in the background. I believe the less you listen, the more you appreciate it when you do. If you’re gonna listen, fuckin’ listen. People say, ‘With an LP, you’ve gotta get up and flip it [halfway through].’ No, 20 minutes is the perfect amount for your brain to invest.”

To that end, 42 years since he came here to successfully get sober, Kassem is installing a record store at the Acoustic Sounds headquarters in Salina. Even back then, he says, “I knew vinyl would never die.”

Psychogeography tells us that places can exert an influence over our mood or being: we yearn to feel the meaning of somewhere as much as we need to experience its physical presence. Mount Med, a new wellness resort housed within a 12th-century barn that started life as a roadside rest and recovery site for Bavarian monks collecting tithes in the Austrian Alps, is therefore off to a resounding start. In the intervening centuries, the ‘Probstenhof’, as it was known, served as a post office and a courthouse before returning to its original calling as a guest house. Now the building sits at the heart of a refuge of a different, if no less rehabilitating, kind – one with a keen interest in preserving and rewarding health.

You’ll find Mount Med 90 or so minutes’ drive from Munich in one of Tyrol’s more glorious valleys. Here, Oberau-Wildschönau, with its beautiful baroque church, is a blissful setting in which to house a clinical redoubt from the pressures of life; the perfect spot to unwind, recharge and attend to some of those needing physio- and psychological issues that can plague our day-to-day lives. Comprising 10 buildings (including 46 rooms and 14 chalet suites) to form a self-contained retreat, Mount Med hosts a groundbreaking approach to healing developed by aesthetic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Alexander Papp and his Mylife Changer co-founder Horst Untemoser.

Together with Alexander’s brother, Stephan, a trauma surgeon specialising in sports injuries, the medical team at Mount Med embraces the holistic approach, advocating a low-calorie, protein-rich diet alongside a programme of vitamin infusions to aid detoxification, removing the need for fasting, while still achieving a state of ketosis (the process by which the body switches from using glucose to burning fat to create energy). The result: rather than enervating, the resort and its stylish yet comforting surroundings is remarkably energising, aided and abetted by Dr Stephan’s careful adjudication of skeleto-muscular fitness and the ample opportunity for both exercise and relaxation. As you would expect, Mount Med offers a plethora of programmes, from advanced diagnostics (Dr Stephan is the director of a local hospital offering next-day blood analysis as well as various scanners) to dermatology.

But staying the cruel hand of time seems uppermost in people’s minds here: hence the focus on cellular anti-ageing as the core of Mylife Changer’s manifesto. Regimens start with 23 key biomarkers being taken, after which personalised treatments reflect the goals of the guest: nothing particularly arduous is involved, simply the requirement to submit to evidenced-based protocols using intravenously administered supplements. Skilfully designed with plenty of soft furnishings, a bar (serving mocktails as well as alcohol on demand), the atmosphere here is more après-ski than sanatorium, with excellent food served in surroundings that in some cases (the fine-dining restaurant Aurea for instance) seem barely to have changed in almost a millennium.

For men, for a long time, there wasn’t much choice in the way of luggage. It was just suitcases and trunks for travel; wallets for cash; and a briefcase for your papers. But in the 1990s there was a cultural shift and the idea of a ‘man bag’ emerged. It was, of course, no different to the kind of roomy shoulder bag women had been shrewdly using for decades, but somehow... manlier.

Today, the briefcase is long dead, and though the backpack sustains, you’re just as likely to see a guy on the street hauling his laptop in an identity-signifying fabric tote bag, or stuffing his gym kit into a slick, boardroom-friendly duffel bag. Perhaps more so.

Statement-making bags have become commonplace on the catwalks of London, Paris and Milan, and, in January, a report by Global Market Insights projected that the men’s luxury bag market would grow from $12.2 billion in 2026 to $18.4 billion in 2035.

‘I think a big part of that is the continued blurring of traditional gender lines in fashion,’ says Benedict Browne, style director at menswear retailer Mr Porter. ‘While that shift has been happening for years, we’re now seeing it fully reflected in everyday accessories. The average man is much less hesitant about carrying a day bag as a statement piece, rather than relying solely on pockets or more traditionally “masculine” options.’

In turn, there are trends in the men’s bag scene, and the latest vogue is for the messenger bag, the original ‘man bag’. The parameters are quite vague, but a messenger bag tends to be defined by a simple rectangular body with a single strap that runs over the shoulder from one top edge to the other. The name is said to stem from the American West and the Pony Express, the horse-powered messenger service of the 1860s.

But in 2026, the gamut of men’s messenger bags is broad. At Lemaire, the achingly cool Parisian brand, new-season messengers are made in partnership with Filt, France’s oldest manufacturer of string bags, and shaped like upturned croissants. If your freight level is low, the fishnet outer can be removed, leaving a soft, simple clutch.

The same elongated shapes are on show at The Row, Gucci and Rick Owens, but more classic, cuboid shapes can be found at Loewe, Dior and Louis Vuitton. At the latter, the mega-brand’s famous monogram pervades, while at Dior, messenger bags double as dust jackets for literary classics such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘book bag’.

Browne describes the Lemaire and Loewe bags as ‘high status’, but also commute-friendly. However, if it’s low-key reliability you need, head to Japanese maker Porter-Yoshida, where, Browne says, bags are ‘consistently discreet, durable and extremely functional’. And sometimes that’s all you need from luggage, be it manly or not.

Saturdays are always special at Paris Fashion Week. Dubbed Super Saturday, it’s when a tribe in remarkable 3D-sculpted designs comes together and spills out over the pavements. Junya Watanabe jackets with geometric protrusions, Simone Rocha skirts in quilted floral silk, and Duran Lantink’s designs with bulbous padding on hips and breasts adorn these individualists. Outfits and accessories physically take up a lot of space. It’s the day when the Comme des Garçons collective of highly experimental designers, including Junya Watanabe and Noir by Kei Ninomiya, present – and a rebellious, avant-garde spirit really gets a grip on the style conscious.

Against a backdrop of 2D design (all streamlined silhouettes, harmonious colours and flat surfaces), this shape-morphing school of fashion stands out like a giant exclamation mark. The body, as Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons, has long explored, can be transformed into sculpture. And right now that fascination with kinetic movement, with blow-up shapes, with geometric as well as fluid organic lines, is driving a new chapter in style, as designers explore the joy of 3D to unexpected and often surreal effect.

How best to arrest the eye and body? It can happen with a side-bustle hipped skirt (Italian designer Niccolò Pasqualetti has made odd shapes a calling card); in a flurry of fringes (check Loewe’s silk velvet flares); in a billowing cascade of chiffons that fall into tendrils (via Sean McGirr’s trophy dresses for McQueen); the delicious billow of a marabou tunic (Bottega Veneta) or a giant flower-topped fabric mule (Dior).

This level of shape-shifting splendour used to be the preserve of haute couture, but now those handcraft techniques and the will to experiment is imploding the contours of ready-to-wear. Pieter Mulier, the outgoing creative director of Alaïa, had a field day. ‘I wanted clothes that cry,’ he declared of his taut cocoon dresses that stretch from the neck to the toe, and skirts that kick out into a waterfall of knitted fringes that move like feathers. The shapes are made to ebb and flow and place a focus on body in motion. One dress had a panel of hand-blown glass laced into the décolletage like an armoured breastplate. ‘They’re some of the most beautiful we’ve ever done,’ says Mulier.

The notion of clothes expressing themselves is a tantalising one. Paris-based Ukrainian designer Lilia Litkovska, who sells her collection at Dover Street Market and Selfridges, is a wizard pattern cutter, creating unexpected volumes and structural effects on her trademark tailoring. ‘What’s important is what is inside the volume – it’s like, without the need for words, the soul of the garment is revealed. These clothes I hope really “live” with you,’ says Litkovska.

Others excel in the expressive power of texture, such as the British designer Louise Trotter, creative head of Bottega Veneta. She embraced the scintillating with recycled fibreglass-lined ‘sweaters’ and party skirts in gradated ombré hues, while leather trench coats featured panels of the brand’s trademark Intrecciato plaited leather. ‘It has the feel of fur, and moves like glass,’ she says of the material.

‘How might craft be redefined today? How far can one push the expression of the handmade before its very traces of making disappear?’ These are the big questions running through the minds of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, creative directors at Loewe. The pair are having fun with polished leather crafted into hourglass coats, multiple collars sprouting from shirts and chunky knitwear.

For Junya Watanabe, 3D is an adventure playground. He turned mundane household items – boxing gloves, wine glasses, shoes, straw hats – into extraordinary pile-ups. ‘By treating ready-made items – objects originally intended for specific purposes – as one of the materials, I recontextualised them and explored forms that could never be achieved through conventional methods,’ says Watanabe. And he continued that journey with paintings, old motocross gear and ski goggles fashioned into ball gowns for his just-revealed AW26 collection. That’s why they call it Super Saturday in Paris.

At Van Cleef & Arpels, dance has long been a leitmotif. For one, there are the precious ballerina clips that the French heritage maison has been creating since the early 1940s. First presented in New York City, each clip captures a dancer’s movement in golds; tutus, headdresses and sometimes a post-performance bouquet of flowers imagined in coloured gems and diamonds. Collected widely, ballerina clips have made auction records and broken high estimates. Indeed, in New York last December, a 1955 yellow gold iteration set with white diamonds of various cuts more than doubled its Christie’s high estimate of $150,000.

And at Van Cleef & Arpels, dance is a leitmotif that extends beyond jewellery creation. From classical ballets that first premiered many decades ago, to fresh commissions, the art form features throughout the maison’s past and present.

In 1912, French jeweller Louis Arpels joined the company that Alfred Van Cleef, the son of a Dutch diamond cutter, and his older brother Charles, had founded in 1906, working alongside Charles and their brother Julien, who had joined the maison in 1908. Opening a first boutique at 22 Place Vendôme, the address placed it opposite the Ritz and within walking distance from the Palais Garnier, where Louis soon became a regular, following a programme of dance performances.

An interest in dance was passed down the family tree and most notably to Claude Arpels. In charge of the family firm’s stateside expansion, in 1966 Claude Arpels met important Georgian-American choreographer George Balanchine, the co-founder of the New York City Ballet, at the Van Cleef & Arpels Fifth Avenue showroom. The encounter eventually gave shape to Jewels, a ballet in three acts: Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds, set to scores by Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky respectively. Jewels is put on stages to this day, including at the Royal Ballet in London, a venue partnered with Van Cleef & Arpels.

Today, Serge Laurent is the director of dance and cultural programmes at Van Cleef & Arpels. In his role, Laurent guides Dance Reflections, an initiative ambitious in its programming and that offers a global reach. Founded in 2020, Dance Reflections partners with dance companies and major institutions; its support underpins the staging of both new productions and repertoire pieces. ‘We now have 60 different partners from 17 different countries,’ says Laurent.

At The Watermill Center, a sprawling site on Long Island’s East End, billed as an interdisciplinary laboratory for the arts and humanities and founded by director and playwright Robert Wilson in 1992, Dance Reflections supports a residency and partners an annual gala; elsewhere it is involved with the Berliner Festspiele in Berlin and London’s Sadler’s Wells. Its reach extends as far as Senegal – working with the École des Sables, centre for traditional and contemporary African dance, and the Dance Biennial in Africa, as well as Singapore’s national performing arts centre, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.

The initiative’s major event or, as Laurent refers to it, ‘the showcase’ is the Dance Reflections Festival. Held annually, it made its debut in 2022 in London, and has since touched down in Kyoto and Saitama, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Seoul. New York first hosted the Dance Reflections festival in 2023; the city was also the location of this year’s event, which saw a programme of 20 performances across various venues. Among them were the Guggenheim New York – the Early Works series by seminal postmodern American dancer and choreographer Lucinda Childs was danced in the museum’s famous rotunda – and the Park Avenue Armory. Merce Cunningham’s piece Biped, which first premiered in 1999 and places dance alongside technology in the form of motion-capture digital projections, was on stage at the New York City Center. ‘What I want to show is the diversity of dance, of creation,’ says Laurent.

(La)Horde, a French dance collective made up of co-directors Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harel, has garnered widespread acclaim for its blend of styles and references, and staged its 2023 work Age of Content, which incorporates movements inspired by video games and social media, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It had been a long-held dream for the trio, who in 2019 were named the artistic directors of the National Ballet of Marseille, to perform at the storied 19th-century venue. ‘We are very proud to be a part of that legacy,’ says Brutti, referencing Pina Bausch and Philip Glass, who have previously performed on the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s stage. ‘It’s like being books on a shelf with all the heroes that have been on these stages before.’

From forward-thinking Asian small plates to modern British classics built for long, lazy lunches, the restaurant scene in South East London has been upping its game in recent years to the point where, now, a hop south of the river is a must for anyone seeking the city’s finest fare.

Peckham alone has become a hotbed of exciting new openings vying for attention along Rye Lane and beyond. Here, the creative spirit of the area has concentrated into a culinary destination that takes this vibrancy and refines it, spotlighting heavyweight new talents and creating dining spots that feel elevated yet unfussy, with a focus on memorable dishes at an accessible price point. Elsewhere, head to Herne Hill for inviting neighbourhood restaurants, or to Bermondsey for natural wines and seasonal produce.

Read on for a potted guide to our pick of the region’s best restaurants.

Hausu

Taking up residence in the space formerly occupied by Peckham stalwart Coal Rooms, Hausu opened its first brick-and-mortar spot in 2024 after a series of successful pop-ups and its permanent incarnation has been just as much of a triumph. Helmed by head chef Holly Middleton-Joseph, Hausu is a true fusion of global ideas - inspired by her Trinidadian and Chinese heritage, an “Italian approach” to cooking, and copious travels to Cambodia, Australia and more. If all that sounds like a bit of a mish-mash then Middleton-Joseph knows how to curate this cultural smorgasbord into a menu that’s slick, stylish, and some of the best food we’ve had in a long time. Their toasted rice ice cream with a five-spice caramel is an expertly balanced dance of sweet and savoury, while a small bowl of what they call Dad’s Broth arrives as the most umami-drenched, soul-warming soup you’re ever likely to sip. All situated in a cosy yet chic railway arch that also boasts a newly-launched listening bar and drinking den upstairs, Hausu is a true gem in the crown.

11a Station Way, Peckham, SE15 4RX

Llewelyn’s

Sitting on the increasingly buzzy, pedestrianised stretch alongside Herne Hill station, Llewelyn’s has all the hallmarks of a perfect neighbourhood eatery: a bright and airy dining room ideal for friendly catch-ups or work lunches, with plenty of outside tables for the summer and a next-door deli, Lulu’s, selling provisions to take home. Their concise menu favours seasonal, modern British fare, with an above-average line in fish (a John Dory with chicken butter sauce dish is fabulous) and generous portion sizes that’ll leave you undoing a top button. If you’re in the mood for a snackier selection, plump for fat slabs of potato bread and delicate pink pickles to start, and order the finely sliced pork collar with peppery, horseradish-spiked celeriac remoulade whilst working your way through their abundant wine list.

293–295 Railton Road, Herne Hill, SE24 0JP

Levan

Beloved since its opening in 2018, Levan wears its European sensibilities proudly – from their menu, “inspired by the ‘bistronomy’ movement and [their] favourite restaurants in Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Barcelona and Stockholm”, to the relaxed yet spirited atmosphere of their Peckham space. With copious bottles of wine lining the walls to get you in the mood for a good time, grab a table at the counter for a short set lunch (£20 for two courses; £25 for three) or bed down in their central dining area for a long, lazy meal. A hefty stack of comté-festooned brick-like ‘fries’ is their indulgent signature dish, while other big-hitters include a rich massaman crab brioche, and a radicchio and Ossau-Iraty vol-au-vent.

12-16 Blenheim Grove, Peckham, SE15 4QL

Dockley Road

Affiliated with Bermondsey’s produce destination Spa Terminus, Dockley Road Kitchen takes both a super seasonal and super local approach, sourcing the majority of its ingredients from neighbouring vendors and using them to create magic. A bright and inviting space that opened its doors last year, most of their compact menu is ever-shifting, but a few playful sharing plates have become their trademark: a porky ‘banh mi’ terrine and an internet-baiting cacio e pepe dauphinoise that’s decadent in all the best ways. Here, chef Emily Chia (formerly of St. John) has created a menu of good mood food with an atmosphere to match.

1 Dockley Rd, Bermondsey, SE16 3AF

Forza Wine

Forza Wine may slowly be creating an empire, with branches now open at the National Theatre and in Soho, but Peckham remains restaurateurs Bash Redford and Michael Lavery’s spiritual home. Perched on the rooftop of the area’s bustling Cornerhouse building, it’s an oasis away from the hubbub of the streets below: a place to sip aperitivo, linger over “Italian-ish” sharing plates, and gaze across the city (in summer, Forza is a particular delight). Their signature Custardo - an affogato-style dessert that swaps vanilla ice cream for creme anglaise - has taken on a life of its own, but their generous savoury plates are equally worth the trip: fresh, ingredient-first delights such as braised beans with ham, pea, mint and pecorino, or bavette steak with spinach, chilli and fennel.

The Rooftop, 133A Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4BQ

Lai Rai

Within less than six months of opening, Vietnamese canteen Lai Rai earned a prestigious Michelin Bib Gourmand - the culinary institution’s marker of excellent cooking at an affordable price tag - and the Rye Lane restaurant’s approach embodies this spirit. Serving banh mi and Vietnamese coffee by day before pivoting to small plates and cocktails at night, it’s a place to go when you want quality cooking and a relaxed, unfussy ambience. Cross the threshold of their red-and-white striped awning, and embrace a social, snack-focussed menu that combines classic south east Asian flavours with clever twists. Their chao com prawn lollies covered in toasted rice are a must, while dishes such as a papaya salad with braised pig ear and pineapple come good on their experimental promise.

181 Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4TP

Marcella

The sister restaurant of Peckham’s Artusi, Marcella switches up the postcode but doesn’t skimp on the quality, offering up a short menu of Mediterranean dishes and an all-Italian wine list that will have you dreaming of balmy summer holidays far removed from Deptford High Street. If you want to fully indulge in tradition, order a small primi-sized handmade pasta course such as their pipe all'amatriciana – a classic Roman dish involving guanciale - and then move onto meat or fish secondi mains. Their wine selection is at least four times as extensive as their food, so if you’re just in the mood for a tipple, there’s plenty to keep you entertained on that side too.

165A Deptford High St, SE8 3NU

40 Maltby Street

An oldie but a goody, 40 Maltby Street – a gem in Bermondsey’s titular Maltby Street Market - has been luring happy diners to its railway arch enclave for a decade and a half now. Its pull still remains for good reason: attached to Gergovie Wines – importers of excellent, non-interventionist bottles that are available here to sip by the glass - their blackboard menu changes by the week, featuring a seasonal selection of dishes designed to “celebrate the produce of this island and also its proximity to the continent”. That means very British dishes such as a wild rabbit and bacon pie sitting next to salt cod brandade or pickled sardines with sorrel. It’s a place that demands you keep coming back.

40 Maltby St, Bermondsey, SE1 3PG

Forget diamonds, it’s all about divination decks. Over the past few years, tarot cards have quietly become the most romantic heirloom jewel to collect. Just imagine owning the rare deck that Sotheby’s had on auction: Sylvia Plath’s Tarot de Marseille deck, that was gifted to her by Ted Hughes in 1956...

In terms of captivating an aesthete’s imagination, nothing compares to the occultish beauty of tarot. Since its creation during the 15th century in Milan, the decorative appeal of the card’s artwork has continued over the centuries, from the curlicued beauty of the Visconti-Sforza Tarot set to the more graphic and bold Hermès Cheval Natte deck. Whether you believe in divination per se, in contemplating and being able to ascertain exactly what is happening in one’s inner and outer world, the visual storytelling of tarot is undeniably enchanting, thanks in part to its rich symbolism and that frisson of excitement it conjures up with its esoteric undertones.

Take Niki de Saint Phalle’s fantastical Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, dreamt up in the 1970s in coastal Tuscany, where she created 22 monumental sculptures that represent the 22 cards of the major arcana in tarot – special mention goes to the Empress, which rises 50 feet above the olive groves where Saint Phalle based herself while creating the tarot garden, her bedroom in one vividly decorated breast, her kitchen in the other.

The otherworldly and philosophical appeal of tarot amongst artists finds its best expression among the surrealists. During the 1940s, when Europe was in upheaval, André Breton became fascinated by tarot, and redesigned the Marseille tarot deck, replacing traditional figures with cultural icons such as Baudelaire and the Marquis de Sade, while Salvador Dalí’s 1980s deck remains an archive treasure. For sourcing rare tarot decks – and the classics – Wilde Ones in Chelsea, London, remains a trove of rare finds, from the Dalí set to a rare Augustus Knapp/Manly P Hall tarot deck, circa 1981, not to mention the classic Rider Waite set, which remains one of the most important decks for reading tarot.

As the illustrious tarot reader Annabelle Mitzman explains, ‘I still have my original Rider Waite deck from Hatchards in 1974 when I was at art school in London, although it’s now quite beaten up; it remains a favourite as all the cards were hand cut. The only other deck they had was an Aleister Crowley one, which was slightly more sex, drugs and rock and roll...’ Mitzman adds that, for teaching and reading, ‘I don’t know how you better the perfection of the Pamela Colman Smith drawings, every subtlety and philosophical meaning is there. It’s the most academic base for tarot.’

It’s all so enlightening, no wonder Mitzman has such a devout following for her readings on past, present and future; for tarot die-hards, no one else comes close. As for the resurgence and interest in tarot, ‘It always happens in times of trouble when people are looking for something else, another type of knowledge,’ she says. ‘It happened during the 1940s with the surrealists and it’s similar to now; tarot helps people make sense of chaos.’

South Londoners are notoriously protective of their local haunts, so when Grove Lane Deli announced its closure last summer, the neighbourhood was left briefly unmoored. It was a rare case of a restaurant becoming simply too popular; the queues for its roast chicken sandwiches had become victim to their own momentum, and for founder Danielle Moylan, its scale had become a gargantuan task.

A former UN spokesperson, Moylan saw the deli as a move toward something local and repeatable, a sort of counterweight to the abstraction of international work. “I thought I might have more impact working at a local level”, she said. Naturally, as it expanded, that proximity began to erode.

In its place, reopening in the same thirty-square-meter corner plot, Lala Books has established itself with unusual speed. Within a year, it hosted International Booker authors, introduced a ‘pay it forward’ scheme, and reinstated Grove Lane as a consistent Saturday point of congregation.

That unusual pipeline from deli to bookshop, a lateral shift into the literary, mirrored a broader cultural return to smaller, more considered spaces that operate as informal civic anchors. Moylan traded the frantic pace of the kitchen for a living room-esque aesthetic, its charming interiors rejecting the rigid, back-to-spine sterility of Waterstones.

Books are instead found in baskets or stacked in low-slung piles that prescribe slower, physical engagement, shaped by proximity rather than efficiency. You have to crouch, and flick through, and shuffle. It is a layout that privileges attention over throughout.

Coffee remains part of the offer, but the absence of indoor seating ushers activity onto the pavement. The threshold dissolves, and the shop expands into its immediate surroundings without altering its footprint. What emerges is a loosely held public realm, par structured by habit, par by design. This model addresses a specific modern malaise.

Gen Z, frequently dubbed as the ‘loneliest generation’, are finding an anti-phone sanctuary in Lala. You cannot scroll on your phone while reading a physical book; it demands a singular focus. “You cannot do that with a book. It is impossible. It demands your whole attention.” And while they say Netflix’s biggest competitor is sleep, the bookshop is perhaps the phone’s. And a more chic rival at that, non?

The curation is equally deliberate. Moylan describes the selection as a ‘spatial archive’ of her own reading life, shaped by time spent in Lebanon and Afghanistan. The shelves foreground translated fiction and voices from the Global South, bringing together International Booker winners such as Banu Mushtaq alongside titles from Africa, the Middle East and South America.

What Lala Books demonstrates, in times of isolation and overconsumption, is a reassertion of community. “It’s often not the people closest to us, but small interactions with strangers that shape our day-to-day happiness”, Moyan tells me.

The independent bookshop, long positioned at the margins, is returning as a viable form of cultural infrastructure, and one that accommodates both commerce and collective use without fully resolving either.

On Grove Lane, the pace has altered, the duration of stay extended, the space itself reoccupied: “I knew expanding would take me further away from the customers, and the whole thing becomes less personal”. And Lala Books holds its very shape by staying small.

The film to watch: The Drama

Zendaya’s faultless red carpet press tour with the help of Louis Vuitton, vintage Vivienne Westwood and Armani Privee has been entertaining enough, but there is also a new film in which she stars opposite Robert Pattinson. The Drama is in cinemas now but be warned it’s a lot darker than a standard rom-com with a tone that’s thrown some audiences. Between the Academy Awards and Cannes it’s full on popcorn season, so you might also want the Imax for wry science fiction with Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary.

The exhibition to see: Fashion Becomes Art, Victoria & Albert Museum London

It’s surrealism for spring from the 1920s to the work of creative director Daniel Roseberry. Fashion Becomes Art at the V&A is (somehow…) the first UK exhibition on Elsa Schiaparelli and runs till 8 November. To get you in the mood, listen to the designer’s granddaughter, 70s Queen of the Scene Marissa Berenson, share her memories and personal insights on the podcast A Life Curated.

The tickets to book: Les Liaisons Dangereuses, National Theatre London and High Society, Barbican London

A stellar cast including Lesley Manville, Aidan Turner and Monica Barbaro revive Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre. Manville appeared in the original 1985 production playing Cecile, one of aristocratic sexual adventurer Valmont’s victims. This time she schemes as his former lover, the Marquise de Merteuil. As dark as theatre can get, try to get a ticket till June 6 or see it through NT Live from June 25.

For something frothier, High Society starring Felicity Kendal and Helen George is at the Barbican from 19 May to Saturday 11 July. It’s a summer must if you love the classic film, its inspiration The Philadelphia Story or both. And while your humming True Love, look ahead too… For even a chance of tickets for their 2027 Sunday in the Park with George, you need to sign up for advance info. Ticket sales for the Sondheim show inspired by Georges Seurat starring Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande will start in May.

The event to attend: A new wine club at The Park, London

Hold the merlot, The Park is launching the Miles Raymond Society. Their first wine club event (inspired by Paul Giamatti in Alexander Payne’s Sideways, of course) is a masterclass in rose for spring, which hopefully will have come to London by Thursday 23 April. Book your spot and find out more at reservations@theparkrestaurant.com A few glasses, some sunshine and Hyde Park will definitely start to feel like Santa Barbara…

The collaboration to look out for: Musee Gainsbourgh, Paris

One of the most moving museums in Paris, preserved just as it was when it was his home for 22 years unitl his death in 1991, Musee Gainsbourg, on rue de Verneuil in the 7 th , is now subtly opening the doors to new ways to soak up the history in a manner in which you hope Serge would have approved. As well as visiting the evocative piano bar, Gainsbarre, just across the street, you can now plan a small party or dinner here surrounded by the history and time capsule atmosphere. Put us on the list s’il vous plait…

The TV to watch: Babies, BBC

Rising star Paapa Essiedu has recently won rave reviews on stage opposite Bryan Cranston in All My Sons. Through NT Live from 16 April you can catch that performance in cinemas if you missed the live run, and at home, on the small screen Babies is new from Mum writer/director Stefan Golaszewski. Here, Essiedu stars with Siobhan Cullen as a couple navigating babyloss. While it’s undoubtedly hard material, it’s one of the best reviewed BBC dramas in years. Six parts available to watch now.

The album to listen to: Your Favourite Toy, Foo Fighters

The new album from the Foo Fighters Your Favourite Toy is out at the end of the month. Four years since the untimely loss of the band’s drama Taylor Hawkins in 2022, Dave Grohl has described the start of this album as their therapy for the tragedy that ‘that threw our world upside down.’

The books to read: Fame Sick, Lena Dunham and See You on the Other Side, Jay McInerney

When Jay McInerney eulogised 80s downtown in his fiction Lena Dunham could have been a kid with the crayons at the Odeon. Grown up, Dunham’s precocious first work Girls drew many comparisons with Bright Lights, Big City. This month her second memoir, Fame Sick is a coruscating must read, with the same intensity of the TV show and her first coming of (under) age book Not that Kind of Girl.

Meanwhile, McInerney, is, he says, concluding his portrait of a marriage with See you on the Other Side. Fictional literary It couple Russell and Corrine Calloway, whom he first introduced to readers in Brightness Falls (1992) have grown-up twins, including a girl of their own trying to open a restaurant in Brooklyn. They’re still frequenting the Odeon as the pandemic takes hold of life as they (and we) knew it. McInerney’s emotional realism, unerring social observation of several generations and subtle hints of autobiography in his fiction make for a great New York pairing with Dunham’s mordant millennial memoir.

The mid-Nineties were a strange time for the artists formerly known as Peak Eighties, yacht-going dandies in Antony Price suits.

A decade after crashing straight onto Top of the Pops with New Romantic-defining first single ‘Planet Earth’ and their debut self-titled album (1981), Duran Duran entered the new era a depleted force. In the wake of Andy Taylor (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums) quitting in the months after the band’s appearance at the Philadelphia leg of 1985’s Live Aid concert, there were only three original members still standing: singer Simon Le Bon, keyboard player Nick Rhodes and bassist John Taylor. Sixth album Liberty (1990) came and went with nothing-to-see-here alacrity. The musicians’ private lives were in some turmoil.

But then, with American guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, a member of the line-up since 1989, taking a more active role, the band slowly got on the front foot once more. The result: this pair of albums, fascinating in different ways, re-released this week in sparkling new editions. In a nod to the band’s career-long interest in art and design, Duran Duran (1993) – the second self-titled record that’s better known as The Wedding Album (due to the sleeve featuring marriage photographs of the members’ parents) – and Thank You (1995) are available in deluxe new vinyl and CD packaging, with the music itself benefiting from audio remastering.

The Wedding Album might also be better known as The One with ‘Ordinary World’. The dreamy but soaring synthpop ballad, blessed with one of Le Bon’s best ever vocals, was a chart hit all over the world, and won the band an Ivor Novello Award for Most Performed Work. With over half a billion streams on Spotify alone, it’s their most-streamed song, narrowly besting talismanic early banger ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’.

‘Ordinary World' still sounds terrific now, as does the album’s other big song, ‘Come Undone’, the production and beats leaning into the then-voguish trip-hop vibe. Some album-only cuts retain age-defying freshness, too, notably ‘Too Much Information’, which opens the 13-song set with punchy, crunchy INXS-esque rock’n’roll, and the house-y ‘Drowning Man’. It all speaks of a rebooted band brimming with renewed confidence and swagger…

…which might go some way to explaining Thank You. Released two years later, it is, as the title would have it, the band’s offering of gratitude to those artists who’d inspired them. And while it’s hard to divine Year Zero hip-hop’s influence on the Brit electronic pioneers, Duran Duran’s cover of Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel’s ‘White Lines (Don’t Do It)’ is riotously good fun, that feeling definitely helped by contributions from the track’s originators. But as for the other hip-hop cover, of Public Enemy’s ‘911 Is a Joke’, reinvented as a Beck-style blues jam with Le Bon rapping over the top: no thank you.

Their furiously funky take on Sly Stone’s ‘I Wanna Take You Higher’ is more successful, as is their moody, art-electronica recasting of Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’. But Elvis Costello’s ‘Watching the Detectives’ done reggae-style; Bob Dylan’s ‘Lay Lady Lay’ done DD synthpop style; and Led Zeppelin’s ‘Thank You’ done like unleaded Zeppelin all collapse uncomfortably somewhere between heartfelt homage and wince-inducing cringe.

Three decades on, though, Thank You stands up better than we might expect for the album voted in 2006 the worst of all time by music magazine Q. With the benefit of snark-free hindsight it sounds less like Duran Duran’s bonkers shark-jumping moment than an out-there curio from a crucial, lane-shifting phase in their career.

Certainly it didn’t hurt them in the long run. Later this month Duran Duran release a scorchingly funky new single, ‘Free to Love’, recorded with old mate Nile Rodgers, and this summer they’re headlining a night at BST Hyde Park in London. These still-got-it veterans’ lounge-act cover of The Doors’ ‘Crystal Ship’ likely won’t appear in the set list, but ‘Ordinary World’ will be right up there.

There’s a prawn toast revolution going on in London right now. No longer consigned to the stuff of grease-sodden paper takeaway bags or sharing starter platters down your local Chinese restaurant, now a host of the capital’s most exciting eateries are doing increasingly cheeky and experimental things to the humble combination of shrimp and carbs; dressing it up and deconstructing it into ever more seductive shapes that have made it an unlikely frontrunner for the city’s most playful plate.

At Jikoni in Marylebone, which describes itself as “a mixed heritage restaurant serving food inspired by Asia, The Middle East, East Africa and Britain”, their viral prawn toast scotch egg has become a word-of-mouth favourite – a soft-boiled quail’s egg encased in prawn meat and festooned with a mix of panko breadcrumb and crushed spicy prawn crackers. Hausu in Peckham serves theirs with an elevated mix of prawn and scallop while, down the road, 2025 new opening Lai Rai has already become known for its Chao Com: Vietnamese prawn lollipops that surround pork fat-infused mounds of prawn in crispy young rice.

It is to Bethnal Green, and the fittingly named Paradise Row, however, that we travel to reach an exemplary gem in the prawn toast crown. Founded by Chinese-Vietnamese chef Eric Wan (ex-of Dinner by Heston), Tempo only opened its doors last winter but is one of those special places that flies from Day One. I first visited a couple of weeks in and there were no early-doors hiccups, no feeling of a staff still trying to find their feet. A wine bar with a succinct menu of 10 plates (three snacks; four small; three large) and a few sides, they’ve done away with any of the fluff and narrowed their offering down to only the top tier - with a breezy, unflustered atmosphere to match.

It’s all killer, no filler; the equivalent of an album full of singles. And, amongst a menu that will leave you reminiscing on its mouthfuls of spicy braised aubergine, draped atop a bed of whipped tofu with a side of crisp, gnarly wontons for scooping, or XL prawns the size of your head, barbecued with a zingy citrus chilli glaze, it is their two-slab portion of shrimp toast that has swiftly claimed the Number One spot.

Tempo is not trying to rewrite the rulebook with their take on the classic. Though it looks more like a sando after a fight with a deep-fat fryer, its prawn mousse – spiked with chunks of prawn meat – spread in the middle of two fat slabs of golden bread rather than sat on top, the main elements are all there. Instead, it’s the perfect balance of texture and flavour that makes this a dish worth returning for. By encasing the shrimp on all sides, it retains its plumpness and moisture far more than usual. Each bite is all the right kinds of crisp on the outside and unctuous on the inside. Meanwhile, their MVP is a bright green chilli sauce, delicately piped onto the top of each piece, whose piquancy (a little citrus; a little – I would guess – coriander) offsets the richness below. On the side is a roll of finely sliced, translucent pickled daikon - another fresh note to level the balance.

There’s something incredibly confident about dishes this good coming from a place this relaxed and easy to spend time in. Tempo know what they do and they do it extremely well. The staff are friendly, their natural wine list starts at an accessible £9.50 per glass, while the menu is concise enough that, between three or four, you can forgo the conversations and order the whole thing. Do that, but make sure to ask for two of the shrimp toast – trust me, you won’t want to be sharing.

Tempo, 252 Paradise Row, E2 9LE

The Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella is over 800 years old. The Italian heritage business’ first retail site opened in 1612, on Via Reginaldo Giuliani, in Florence. Here, in Tuscany, temperatures can reach the low 40s from early July to late August. Reason enough for Santa Maria Novella to create a number of products that offer cooling salvation across the summer season. One even wards off biting insects.

The line of products includes a cleansing gel and a serum enriched with pomegranate extract and niacinamide (a form of vitamin B3) inspired by the brand’s traditional Acqua di Rose, which is made with damask rose flower water and has been in steady production since 1381. Acqua di Fior d’Arancio, for which the scent of bitter orange blossom bud is distilled via steam, is an alternative. The formulation for Santa Maria Novella’s Citronella and Costmary Emulsion blends citronella essential oil with eucalyptus, lavender and mint; an aromatic mix put together to keep mosquitoes away.

Scented with Santa Maria Novella’s signature Melograno eau de cologne, the Dermo-protective Oil nourishes skin after days in the sunshine. Its recipe includes sweet almond oil and jojoba oil, in addition to extracts of St John’s wort and helichrysum, both traditionally cultivated for their anti-inflammatory properties.

Italian fashion designer Simone Bellotti presented his first designs for Jil Sander, the brand he was named creative director of in March last year, at Spring Summer 2026 Milan fashion week. His debut designs are now in store. There, they will now be joined by a line of trainers, the second partnership between Jil Sander and sportswear heavyweight Puma. “I like footwear that is streamlined, with the thinnest of soles, embracing the foot with a natural line,” says Bellotti of K-Street.

Unisex, the K-Street fits close to the foot; an ultra-thin sole is inspired by traditional karate footwear. A running trainer found in the Puma archives gave shape to the K-Street’s upper, which is available in a choice of two materials - perforated suede or nylon - and in three colourways.

One of the most charming Easter-themed cinematic creations is the 1907 short Les Œufs de Pâques produced for Pathé by the visionary Spanish film pioneer Segundo de Chomón. An early example of stop-motion and playful manipulation of scale, it features his wife, the actress Julienne Mathieu, dressed as a pagan enchantress gathering giant eggs before a baroque gilt frame. As if by magic, each egg hatches to reveal a Lilliputian dancer, brought vividly to life through delicate hand-stencilled colouring. While only just over three and a half minutes long, this celluloid gem perfectly captures a nostalgic sense of magic, one that adults rarely allow themselves to indulge in anymore.

Some luxury chocolatiers manage to capture this same sense of mystery, innocence, and wonder with carefully crafted confections that, like Chomón’s enchanted eggs, conceal delightful surprises within. Presenting a perfect fusion of fashion, artistry, and irresistible indulgence is Maxime Frédéric, the pastry chef of Louis Vuitton, who has reinvented the Chocolate Egg Bag (250 Euros) based on a 2019 design by Nicolas Ghesquière.

First released last year, this is quite literally arm candy: a dark chocolate shell embossed with the maison’s signature Monogram pattern, filled with roasted nuts, candied fruit, and hazelnut praline. The white chocolate top handles and zipper, rendered in an Easter chick yellow, are new to this model. While it may not unzip, hands-on handling is entirely encouraged; inside lies a sleek bar of milk chocolate with a centre of praline and lemon caramel.

Alongside this showpiece, LV’s luxury chocolate assortment extends to a box of six adorable miniature Chocolate Egg Bags (65 Euros) in a variety of flavour combinations, as well as a trio of exquisitely crafted chocolate chicks (35 Euros). Each offers a distinct filling: one pairs crunchy buckwheat praline with buckwheat caramel; another combines oat praline with honey caramel; while the third features praline enriched with smooth vanilla caramel.

Claridge’s Executive Pastry Chef, Thibault Hauchard, has fully embraced the concept of unlocking surprises with his functional chocolate egg (£70). The dark outer shell, made from Claridge’s own in-house chocolate, features miniature doors inspired by the hotel’s iconic gold Art Deco entrance. Opening them reveals a second, golden-wrapped egg filled with a decadent combination of vanilla, buckwheat praline, and caramel. For a quick luxury grab-and-go treat, Claridge’s new bakery, led by baking supremo Richard Hart, also offers delectable hot-cross buns available for £3 from 3–6 April 2026.

Cédric Grolet, The Berkeley’s master pâtissier and taste trickster, has created an Easter oxymoron: not a bunny, but a chocolate squirrel (£65). Naturally, it’s stuffed with hazelnut praline croustillant with a hint of fleur de sel, available in milk or dark chocolate.

Nicolas Rouzaud at The Connaught has embraced a more bacchanalian aesthetic with his ornate Easter egg (£65), inspired by the orchards of his childhood in the south of France. Baroque in style and bursting with chocolate and candied fruit, it is positively sculptural and almost too good to eat.

The Birley Bakery offers a menagerie of Easter confections, including a traditional Easter Colomba cake and plenty of chocolate bunnies. The pièce de résistance is the Mother Hen and Family (£67) featuring a mother hen and her chicks set on a milk chocolate slab encrusted with roasted, salted corn kernels, and completed with sugared ladybugs, spring flowers, and grassy details.

Mayfair restaurant Il Gattopardo presents the glamorous Claudia Cardinale of Easter eggs (£48), a dazzling creation hand-painted in a striking blue leopard print. Radiating pure seduction and decadence, the egg boasts a shell of silky Valrhona dark milk chocolate, concealing hidden pearls of caramel chocolate within.

The empress of all Easter eggs is without a doubt Marchesi’s dark chocolate egg, adorned with swallows and pink flowers. Priced at £1,300, it is an objet d’art in its own right, with painted and sculpted details as intricate as a Fabergé egg, and a centrepiece that resembles a miniature Rococo-style tableau. While it is sold out, the pâtissier offers plenty of regal alternatives: the pink raspberry egg (134Euros) is particularly beautiful, perfectly timed with London’s current Schiaparelli exhibition at the V&A, since the designer famously adored shocking pink. Elsewhere, the four little Aztec eggs (83 euros) exude a refined, couture-inspired elegance, perfectly reflecting the sophistication of this historic pasticceria, now owned by Prada. The assortment includes white chocolate with cocoa nibs, milk chocolate with hazelnut nibs, white chocolate with pistachio, and white chocolate with raspberry.

Sometime around early March, following a long and unreasonable stint at the business end of Britain’s grimmest weather, thoughts turn to new clothes. Suddenly, we have had enough of heavy fabrics, enough of rain-ready outerwear, enough of layers. We want delicate clothes that billow in a coastal breeze and convey our sun-soaked insouciance. We want sunglasses, light jackets and linen tailoring. We want shoes that can be slipped into a carry-on with minimal fuss.

This summer, those shoes will likely take one of two forms. First, as a driving loafer, which looks to be making something of a comeback. The style is perhaps best typified by the Gommino by Tod’s, an uber-popular, easy-wearing slip-on, upon which the Italian brand has built an empire. ‘Gommino’ means ‘pebble’, and refers to the underside of the shoe, where a solid sole has been substituted for an array of tiny rubber ‘gommini’.

Though Tod’s popularised the form – further typified by a stitched moccasin toe and soft construction for better tactility on the pedals of a car – it did not invent it. That was another Italian brand, Car Shoe, in the 1960s, which was later bought by Prada. When Connolly owner Isabel Etedgui first opened a London store three decades ago, she stocked Car Shoe shoes.

‘I have had a bee in my bonnet since then to create [Connolly’s own] driving shoe that actually is really comfortable to wear when you’re not driving,’ said Etedgui at a recent in-conversation event with shoe designer Álvaro González, ‘and that was always the slight problem with the bobbily one.’

Well, Connolly now has that non-bobbily driver, designed by González. It is sleeker and narrower than the classic shape, and built with glove-making techniques that stitch the thin, solid sole to the upper.

There are great drivers at Gucci and Louis Vuitton this season, too. And at Prada, the driver has equally been put back in focus – although, rendered in black leather, with a sleek Prada logo on the tongue, it is perhaps more Berlin than Balearic. Prada states that the shoe is created via an 800-step, handmade process, so it should fit comfortably, wherever you wear it.

The other summer shoe making early strides is the sort of low-profile, barely-there sneaker. Following on from the recent trend for minimalist, slide-on leather mules, a wave of delicate lace-up trainers is hoving into view, courtesy of the likes of Celine, Dries Van Noten, Hermès and Loewe.

All are unified by a thin sole and a low, elongated upper that recalls 1970s running shoes. Celine’s Flat Sneaker, for example, is positively balletic; available in a range of retro colour combinations, it features suede, velvet and calfskin. The Jet sneaker at Hermès is a little more hefty, but equally as old school, and would look especially good with a gently flared trouser or McEnroe-style short-shorts. Seriously.

Now all you need is for the weather to play ball, too.