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

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

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

GOOD TO KNOW

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GOOD TO KNOW

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

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

What sound would you like to wake up to?

Tropical birds.

What gets you dancing?

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

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

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

Which smell takes you back to childhood?

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

Describe a dish that’s always stayed with you.

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

What is the taste of spring?

Fresh and floral.

Olive or a twist?

Twist.

What is a dish you love to cook for yourself?

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

What is your go-to dinner party dish?

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

Silk or cashmere?

Silk in the summer and cashmere in the winter.

Marble or wood?

Wood.

Do you have a favourite piece of furniture at home?

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

What is the first thing you see in the morning?

My dog, at the foot of my bed.

Describe the view from where you are right now.

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

Is there a view you can’t quite forget?

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

What sound do you wake up to?

My alarm clock in the morning.

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

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

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

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

GOOD TO KNOW

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GOOD TO KNOW

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PRE-RAPHAELITE

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

ART NOUVEAU

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

POP ART

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

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

Kerry James Marshall

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

Yayoi Kusama

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

Marilyn Minter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A good body cream shouldn’t just put a band-aid on dry skin, but provide enough hydration that skin remains soft long after application. With that in mind, we’ve selected the best creams to help reconstitute your skin into the greatest it’s ever been within only a few uses.

Up first is The Geranium Rose Body Cream from Augustinus Bader, which is formulated with the brand’s patented TFC8 blend of lipids, vitamins and peptides to support cell renewal while drastically improving the skin’s appearance. Specifically designed to target cellulite and stretch marks, it visibly transforms skin within 12 weeks and leaves behind a delicate rose and geranium scent after every use.

Similarly, La Mer’s The Body Crème is formulated with the brand’s signature anti-ageing formula to resurface skin within a few weeks of use. La Mer’s patented Miracle Broth undergoes three to four months of fermentation and exposure to light and sound waves to make it a powerful antidote to environmental stressors. In the body cream, this unique formula is combined with jojoba esters (organic compounds derived from jojoba oil), sesame seed oil and eucalyptus to rejuvenate skin as it moisturises it.

Equally luxurious is Chanel’s classic Fresh Body Cream, with a silky texture that leaves skin baby soft and perfumed with a subtle floral and musky scent.

But when it comes to perfumed lotions, none beat Byredo’s Black Saffron Body Cream, which leaves behind a rich amber-y scent, infused with notes of black violets, raspberry and blond woods.

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.’

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.

‘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.’

Hunza G is bringing its bold, carefree summer spirit to Marylebone on Saturday 6 June with the opening of its first London pop-up store.

An immersive space designed by studio Boom, Under the Water captures the feeling of a day at the beach with warm yellow floors, a rippled mirror that reflects light, a large pink inflatable dolphin and finishes in Hunza G Blue – the brand’s new signature colour.

"This is the first time we have created a physical home here, and we wanted the space to feel like stepping into the world of Hunza G, not simply shopping it. Under the Water is for our community. A place to experience the brand in person, in summer, in the city” says Founder and Creative Director Georgiana Huddart.

Huddart relaunched the Hunza G brand in 2025. Originally known as Hunza, the label rose to fame in 1990 when Julia Roberts wore its iconic blue mini dress in Pretty Woman. Building on this legacy, Hunza G revisits 80s and 90s silhouettes (one-shoulder tops, high-leg cuts, asymmetrical lines) and retro colour-block hues (metallic tangerine, bubblegum and mango sorbet) in swimwear designed to make every woman feel confident. The brand’s signature is the one-size-fits-all Original Crinkle™ fabric, an ultra-stretch knit providing a flattering fit for all body types.

A curated selection of new arrivals, exclusive products from the recent Burberry x Hunza G capsule and signature bestsellers will be available alongside limited-edition merchandise: tote bags, luggage tags, and water bottles. All the essentials for sun-soaked days.

6 June to 7 August 2026, 3 Paddington Street, Marylebone, London, W1U 5QD, Monday to Saturday: 10am to 7pm. Sunday: 11am to 5pm

Ropes of pearls (some from oceans, some man-made), two-tone slingbacks, straw boaters, a black-and-white palette: the stylistic codes of Chanel are manifold, and known to many. All are anchored in the life and work of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, who established her namesake business in 1910 in Paris. There are the tweed jackets, their woven fabric a takeaway from long weekends spent in Scotland with Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster; striped Breton tops are a nod to the marinière sailors’ uniforms she spotted in and around Deauville on Normandy’s Côte Fleurie.

Piebald leopard prints are perhaps a lesser-known Chanel heirloom. The pattern first started appearing in Chanel’s work in the early 1930s. Coco herself wore a leopard-print ensemble for Cecil Beaton, when he took her portrait in 1933.

In New York, creative director Matthieu Blazy brought back Chanel’s mastery of big-cat print for his first Chanel Métiers d’art collection, shown inside an abandoned subway station in Lower Manhattan last December. Counting 81 looks that creatively draw from Chanel’s link to the city, the collection comprised skirt suits, billowing silk chiffon skirts, shoes and bags emblazoned with leopard prints. All were made by Chanel’s group of specialist ateliers, including milliner Maison Michel, who imagined a leopard-themed fascinator. Meanwhile, shoemaker Massaro finished Chanel’s totemic slingback in shaved shearling with a spotted animal print.

Handwoven by the artisans of legendary couture embroidery house Maison Lesage, slubbed, knotted leopard tweed shapes a new take on Chanel’s flap bag. A mini version of the Chanel 25, a hobo-style bag available in three sizes, each with two large patch pockets, now comes in a tactile, ponyskin-effect leather.

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.

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.

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.

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.’

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Schiaparelli is synonymous with art. Elsa Schiaparelli founded the French fashion house in 1927, embracing the burgeoning surrealist movement while working directly with some of art history's most important names, from Salvador Dalí to Jean Cocteau. This spring, London's Victoria and Albert Museum is celebrating a century of art-inspired style, from Schiaparelli's early designs through to Daniel Roseberry's reawakening of the brand for a 21st-century industry.

Using humour and radical creativity, Elsa Schiaparelli sent shock waves through the fashion world when she launched her initial designs. Cristóbal Balenciaga would go on to name her the 'only real artist in couture', thanks to her in-depth knowledge of art and early inclusion in some of the defining creative movements of the 20th century. She embraced free thinkers and created era-defining fashion moments, designing a pair of culottes for tennis star Lili Álvarez at Wimbledon – a sight unseen at the deeply traditional tournament in the 1930s and dressing Wallis Simpson, the wife of abdicated King Edward VIII, in a lobster dress designed with Dalí.

Her artistic collaborations sometimes veered into darkness a slinky black 1938 'skeleton' dress, made with Dalí, features exposed boning – while also embracing flamboyance, such as an ornate gold bracelet with the face of chimera, made in collaboration with Alberto Giacometti in 1935. The exhibition includes a playful coat from 1937 designed with Cocteau, featuring the outline of two figures moving together to kiss on the back, the shoulders entirely covered by pink folded roses.

A series of original artworks that trace links between Schiaparelli's designs and those in her creative circle are also included, from Dalí's renowned 1938 'Lobster Telephone' sculpture, to a 1937 Pablo Picasso portrait of Nusch Éluard, which has clear parallels with the fashion house's angular and asymmetric definition of the body. Archive images of the young designer highlight how authentically she was enveloped within the surrealist world, as seen in a 1933 Man Ray portrait, in which her head peers over a naked, armless stone bust.

There are plenty of treats for visitors who have discovered the brand through its most recent designs too. The Autumn/Winter 21-22 couture 'lungs dress' worn by Bella Hadid in Cannes is on show, with a simple black silhouette cut-off under the breasts and a hefty gold necklace bearing the pattern of a windpipe and fine network of bronchi. An armour-like Autumn/Winter 2024 design also appears, its intricate features creating sweeping featherlike plates across the chest and arms. A rich celebration of a fashion house that has stayed uniquely ahead of the curve, still able to surprise a century after the movements that first gave shape to it made their mark on the world.

Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art, 28 March until 8 November 2026, V&A South Kensington

‘I do believe that Italy really purifies and ennobles all who visit her. She is the school as well as the playground of the world,’ wrote Italophile E.M. Forster in his 1905 novel Where Angels Fear to Tread. He was referring, of course, to the very features that have defined Italian culture for millennia: the glorifying beauty of its art and nature; the effortlessly elegant style (or ‘sprezzatura’), mixed with an exacting seriousness about doing things right (drinking cappuccinos before noon, no cheese with seafood); the vivacity of its people; and the unparalleled quality of everything they make, from cashmere sweaters to olive oil.

For 110 years, Acqua di Parma has dedicated itself to bottling this unique Italian arte di vivere, creating fragrances as refined as the film stars – Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, to name a few – who chose them as their signature scents. The brand traces its heritage back to Baron Carlo Magnani, who wanted a fresh alternative to the opulent, heavy perfumes that were popular around the turn of the 20th century. His answer was Colonia, a fragrance meant to bottle the feeling of basking in an Italian sun that combined the ‘frutti d’oro’ of Italy (lemon, orange and bergamot) with a bright citrus heart tempered by fresh lavender, rosemary, verbena and warm vetiver, sandal and patchouli.

Now, the premier name in Italian fragrance is celebrating its anniversary with a reinterpretation of Colonia, created by perfumer Alexis Dadier. Colonia II Profumo Millesimato retains the signature aspects of its forebear, but is enhanced by the addition of a special 2024 harvest of Madagascan ylang-ylang, a uniquely complex and rich variety of the plant known for its creamy, slightly banana-esque smell.

‘For this anniversary edition, I wanted to honour Colonia II Profumo by highlighting a rare discovery: the 2024 Ylang-Ylang White harvest,’ says Dadier. ‘Its extraordinary radiance and natural solarity inspired me to revisit the icon in a way that feels even more luminous and precious. By incorporating this unique quality, the fragrance glorifies Colonia Profumo, elevating its character while remaining faithful to its timeless spirit.’ The result is a distinctly Acqua di Parma blend of refreshing, clean notes and warm skin-like qualities; enriched by the addition of a note probably unlike anything you have smelled before. It is, in short, another icon, created by the icon.

The suit’s demise has been announced and reannounced over and over again, and yet it persists. However, in this era of hybrid work, slackening dress codes and mass-casualisation, a new type of formal dress has emerged – and, in its wake, a made-to-measure culture has taken hold, too.

‘Over the past few years we’ve seen a clear shift in attitude toward custom-made casual clothing,’ says Adam Cameron, co-founder of British clothing brand The Workers Club. ‘Clients increasingly want pieces that feel personal and genuinely useful, rather than clothes that impose a lifestyle on them.’

The Workers Club is one of a clutch of brands offering tailored knitwear, T-shirts, coats and denim, and the market is growing. There are big, direct-to-consumer players, including Copenhagen-based Son of a Tailor and New York’s Proper Cloth, smaller brands such as Casual Fitters, and even well-established tailoring houses, such as Thom Sweeney, offer a wider ‘wardrobe’ service beyond their mainstay of tailoring – they can get a custom-fitted merino sweater or pair of Japanese denim jeans to you in just five weeks. But the pitch is the same: why settle for ill-fitting, off-the-rack clothing, when you can commission pieces that make your everyday wardrobe feel more special?

Cameron says his clients are especially open to buying into ‘investment pieces’ such as knitwear and outerwear. The TWC customer, he explains, is interested in design and fabric, and is happy to wait for something that feels unique and long-lasting. And, unlike a bespoke suit, the focus is more on quality and comfort than outward impression. ‘The man who orders made-to-measure from us is usually thoughtful rather than showy,’ adds Cameron.

At Son of a Tailor, the client is more business-focused. ‘Our customers span a fairly broad age range, typically from 25 to 60,’ explains Jess Fleischer, co-founder and CEO. ‘They tend to live in or around larger cities, have an international mindset, and many of them are entrepreneurial in some form.’

The Danish brand’s bestseller is a simple, custom-fitted crew-neck T-shirt, a garment that seems to represent the gateway into custom casual wear. British heritage brand Sunspel recently launched a bespoke T-shirt service to great fanfare.

Beyond fit and convenience, both Cameron and Fleischer note an ethical benefit to commissioning custom clothing. ‘Our model avoids a lot of the waste built into traditional fashion,’ says Fleischer, noting that the wider apparel industry typically operates with around 25 percent overproduction. ‘We only produce what is ordered,’ he adds.

And then there’s the romance of made-to-measure: the process, the sense of authorship, the old-school timeframe. ‘There’s something quietly rebellious about shopping at a slower speed,’ affirms Cameron. ‘It brings back a sense of humanity that’s often missing from modern menswear.’

Kerry Taylor Auctions in London is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading salesrooms specialising in rare and historic fashion. The auction house focuses exclusively on vintage couture, designer fashion, and exceptional garments, with many lots achieving five-figure sums, and occasionally even six.

Among the most sought-after pieces are creations by Alexander McQueen, particularly those designed by the late, eponymous founder himself. His theatrical, boundary-pushing designs consistently generate global interest among collectors and institutions.

One of the most famous examples came in 2019, when a pair of McQueen’s iconic ‘Armadillo’ boots from his Plato’s Atlantis Spring/Summer 2010 collection sold for £60,000, rumoured to have been bought by Lady Gaga.

On March 10, the auction house will present a more focused sale dedicated to rare menswear, including 21 pieces from Lee McQueen’s personal wardrobe. The selection spans sharply tailored suits by Gucci, Margiela and Prada, as well as rarities by Vivienne Westwood – including pieces from her legendary Seditionaries boutique and some extraordinary knitwear finds – alongside a selection of his much-loved trainers. For example, a pair grey pony skin and blue suede Nike Terminator High Supremes lined with faux fur are sure to excite sneakerheads.

Menswear sales devoted to collectible fashion remain rare, making the event something of a milestone. As Director and Auctioneer Alex Baddeley explains, “Men haven’t typically been well served in fashion auctions. We were among the first houses to stage dedicated menswear sales beyond the draw of celebrity wardrobes.” Baddeley, who began his career in the contemporary art department at Sotheby's in London and New York, notes the breadth of the offering: “The earliest piece in the sale is a green silk waistcoat dating from 1770. From there, we move through to a menswear Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld piece from his 2016 Métiers d’Art show, and garments by Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton.”

Baddeley introduced “The Male Sale” as a recurring event at Kerry Taylor Auctions, and this edition casts its net wide. Among the highlights are 63 lots by Austrian designer Carol Christian Poell, all from a single private collector. One of fashion’s most elusive figures, Poell has cultivated a near-cult status among aficionados. He is renowned for avant-garde footwear and artisanal ready-to-wear crafted from experimental materials and treated leathers that evoke a distinctly gothic sensibility. Assembled largely by hand, his pieces are textural, distressed and sculptural, probing the boundaries between beauty and horror.

“There’s something unsettling about Carol Christian Poell’s designs,” says Baddeley. “The way he treats leather can make it appear almost skin-like, the stitching reminiscent of sutures. They are so rare and hard to come by. In fact, one collector told me that there are only 10 clients in the whole of the UK, so they really they are like art objects. There’s a tragic brilliance to them that echoes McQueen’s work, something you saw so powerfully on the runway." It's no wonder that McQueen was a fan too: among his 21 lots are a pair of Carol Christian Poell grey leather pointed boots, with side zips extending all the way to the soles.

Another standout piece from the late British designer’s wardrobe is a striking white double-breasted suit by Tom Ford for Gucci’s Spring–Summer 2003 collection. McQueen wore it to accept his International Award at the 2003 CFDA Awards in New York, cementing his place in fashion history. He later rewore the suit for his Autumn–Winter 2004–05 “Pantheon as Lecum” show, where he was photographed backstage with his close friend Kate Moss, she holding a glass of wine and a cigarette, perhaps accounting for the faint burns visible on the jacket’s white cuff. Far from detracting from the garment, these marks are a kind of label-defining hallmark, underscoring the glamour, mischief and creative freedom that defined McQueen’s life and aesthetic vision. "It's rare that a condition report that includes faults actually adds to the allure of a piece!" laughs Baddeley.

Another label close to Baddeley’s heart is Paul Harnden, who began his career as a shoemaker before moving into meticulously crafted, handmade clothing. His work is steeped in Victoriana, blending a romantic, bucolic spirit with a subtly distressed, modern edge. Each fabric is woven on handlooms exclusively for the designer, underscoring the rarity and uniqueness of his practice. The ultimate niche designer, famously worn by John Galliano, Harnden’s pieces are released in small drops through highly specialised boutiques, such as the Blue Mountain School in East London.

Among the eight Harnden lots on offer is a single ensemble: a brown waxed cotton coat layered over a green tweed jacket and an ivory cotton button-down shirt, paired with a grey lambswool–cashmere rib-knit cardigan and completed with brown leather gloves. The look channels a hardy, rugged strain of workwear, timeless in construction and evocative of a bygone era.

As for the Alexander McQueen headline pieces, Baddeley explains, they offer a fascinating window into the designer’s personal journey through the fashion industry. “In the 1990s, he had a slightly larger physique and dressed casually in plaid shirts and trainers. Coming from a working-class background, he gradually entered the world of luxury, and you can trace this evolution through his wardrobe. By the 2000s, his choices became sharper and more tailored reflecting his own background as a tailor on Saville Row, with carefully selected pieces by Gucci, Prada, Ralph Lauren, and Hermès."

Lot 134 is something truly special: a black-and-white photograph of Lee McQueen by Craig McDean, taken in 2002. McQueen is captured walking with his hands tucked into his jean pockets, a cigarette perched in his mouth, the background a wire fence lending the shot a raw industrial edge. “I think this is a touching image of a man deep in thought,” says Baddeley, “pensive, yet marked with quiet determination.”

The Male Sale takes place on March 10th at 14:00. Register to bid.

Since the 1950s, the mid-length grey skirt has swung between provocative allure and conservative modesty. On the one hand, this classic garment evokes images of demure workwear tied to the secretarial trope and popularised, for better or worse, by Hitchcock’s heroines. After all, who can forget Kim Novak in Vertigo, looking polished and oh-so-proper in an Edith Head-designed wool grey skirt suit? The actress later admitted she hated the ensemble, but acquiesced when Hitchcock insisted that its restrictiveness would enhance her portrayal of the deceitful Madeleine.

Figure-sculpting, soft on the hips and turning each step into a soignée sashay, the grey pencil skirt first entered the fashion scene as a prim-yet-sexy head-turner. But every classic can overreach: after power dressing peaked in the 1980s, the grey pencil skirt lost its potency along with its form-fitting edge. It became looser, duller and less flattering, a quick office uniform snatched from the high street rails. No longer a signifier of sharp sophistication, it became a ubiquitous functional go-to, at least until mid-1990s minimalism reinvigorated the style with low-slung waistbands and stretch fabrics.

In our collective memories, the grey pencil skirt continues to vacillate between quick-grab fashion and cool sartorial statement, and while it is often labelled a ‘wardrobe staple,’ this understates its standout moments on the catwalk and in fashion culture.

In 1995, the late Stella Tennant fronted an entire Vogue editorial dressed in grey tweed pencil-skirt suiting; in one now-famous image shot by famed photographer Arthur Elgort (see top of article), she dives fully clothed into an outdoor pool on a country estate, wellies and all.

Years later, Sex and the City offered its own subversive take on standard office wear: in season 5 of the series released in 2002, Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw wears a tight dove-grey pencil skirt with a black tank top, fuchsia Manolo Blahnik Hangisi heels and a tiara, transforming what was once associated with a nine-to-five uniform into a defiantly impractical, fashion-forward look – and, importantly, one more suited to a freelance, work-from-home life.

American Vogue’s former editor-in-chief Anna Wintour remains an enduring fan of this ashen-grey style, as does French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld, but the ultimate devotee is Miuccia Prada, who frequently dons a dark grey, slightly more A-line version to take her final runway bow.

The spring/summer 2026 catwalks signal a renewed embrace of the grey pencil skirt’s stylish credentials. Wraparound styles showcase dynamic front slits and straight silhouettes sit high on the waist, while low-rise iterations echo the archival looks of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Calvin Klein’s new wool Luna skirt, unveiled during Veronica Leoni’s debut for the house, is one such Y2K-inflected example. Paired with a coordinating blazer on the SS26 runway, the style reads as a sleek reimagining of the brand’s minimalist DNA, defined by precise tailoring and clean lines. If the cult 1988 movie Working Girl, starring Sigourney Weaver and Melanie Griffith, were ever to be remade, this would be a costumier’s dream.

According to a February 2026 Net-a-Porter report, customer searches for grey skirts on the shopping platform increased by 275% in the first month of the year with the Luna in high demand.

Coming at this classic skirt style from a more creative perspective, Prada’s rendition feels distinctly collegiate, defined by a high waist and soft pleating. The new skirts are spliced with contrasting fabrics to form an asymmetrical silhouette, reinforcing the theme of the SS26 show, ‘The Body of Composition’, which explored the “dispersion and reunion of different elements, unexpected and unanticipated, composed on the body.” Prada’s charcoal grey mid-length skirts mix textures for a modern take on a classic, pushing the boundaries of femininity and formality.

At Chanel, creative director Matthieu Blazy’s SS26 ready-to-wear collection featured grey, knee-length wrap skirts characterised by a loose and breezy ease of wear. A low-slung, pocketed silhouette was punctuated by a front slit cut high across one thigh, asserting bold femininity. Inspired by an imagined conversation with Gabrielle Chanel, the collection evoked freedom, fluidity, and self-assuredness, with the skirts reinforcing this sense of autonomy and agency.

Jil Sander has long been a go-to for knee-grazing grey pencil skirts. For the coming season, creative director Simone Bellotti has revisited this archival style with a range of pencil silhouettes, enhanced with cut-outs at the waistband, deep central slits at the front, and even dramatic slashes across the fabric, creating a sense of fluidity, as if the material has a rhythm of its own.

Ultra-sheer fabrics, some sculpted into layers resembling plumage or floral clusters, were de rigueur on the Max Mara SS26 catwalk. Yet a dove-grey pencil skirt was crafted in its purest form, featuring a seamless, gossamer construction that sat low on the waist.

For something completely different, Dries Van Noten’s cotton-jersey longline skirt features a ruffle at the waist and an asymmetrical cut, lending a couture twist to a loungewear-inspired look.

For a more minimalist take, turn to The Row, Totême, or Victoria Beckham, where sleek pencil skirts are structured for effortless elegance. Unchanged since 1993, the Issey Miyake Pleats Please midi skirt remains the ultimate classic, with a straight cut, elasticated waistband, and two pockets. Available in slate grey No. 12 or silver light No. 10 from the brand’s coveted (and often sold-out BASICS series), it proves that a classic grey skirt is a timeless investment that never goes out of style.

Back in the hazy days of 1980s London, a group of six Belgian designers arrived to show off and sell their radically new styles. They were billed as the Antwerp Six. Now, 40 years on, MoMu (Fashion Museum Antwerp) is devoting a show to the work and impact of the group: Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene and Marina Yee, who collectively put Antwerp on the fashion map.

The Antwerp Six, although very different in their stylistic language, were united by pragmatism, ambition and a belief that a team can make a bigger impression than going solo. They chose the British Designer Show as the launch pad in 1986. ‘You had the post-punk movement; you had the New Romantics. London really was a centre for innovation, for youth culture, which was also inspiring the Six,’ says Kaat Debo, director of MoMu. ‘I think fashion was also ready for something new,’ she adds.

Their ‘newness’ ranged from Demeulemeester’s languid gothic garms to Van Noten’s elegant textile-rich ease, Van Beirendonck’s provocative street style and Bikkembergs’ new-wave tailoring – yet the Six were unified by their passion for craftsmanship. ‘They never collaborated on collections in a creative or artistic way. Yet they studied together, influenced each other and inspired each other,’ says Debo.

Belgian fashion at that time was known for mid-tier contemporary clothing, but not for ‘designer’ fashion, and the Antwerp Six grew out of a state initiative to boost the country’s emerging creative capital. ‘The Belgian government came up with a five-year programme, which was a kind of Marshall Plan for the industry. It founded an institution called ITCB (Institute for Belgian Textiles and Clothing of Belgium) to develop this plan, and one of the ideas was to foster young talent and matchmake that talent with manufacturers through a competition called the Golden Spindle Contest,’ Debo says. For the Six, that meant high-profile campaigns, editorial and professionally produced collections that met the high standards of luxury. They were soon picked up by retailers including Barneys in New York, and Whistles and Browns in London. A guerrilla runway show at London’s Westbourne Studios cemented their reputation. Today, the fashion department at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts is one of the most renowned in Europe, spawning talent including Raf Simons, Meryll Rogge, Julie Kegels, Demna Gvasalia and Haider Ackermann. They too benefited from the Antwerp Six’s impact with Dirk Van Saene and Walter Van Beirendonck holding professor positions.

Around 80 designs are on display, alongside memorabilia, video and photography. ‘I hope that the show will also bring attention to the importance of building ecosystems in fashion. The system has to come up with new recipes,’ says Debo.

The Antwerp Six, 28 March 2026 until 17 January 2027, MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp

One of the most anticipated debuts at Milan Fashion Week this month was undoubtedly Demna's collection for Gucci. When the Georgian fashion designer took the reins from Sabato de Sarno last year, he began immersing himself in Italian culture. Visits to museums and galleries ensued, with Demna finding himself particularly captivated by Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.

His debut collection was a celebration of Gucci's heritage. "Above the product, Gucci is culture, it is a way of thinking and a way of being," Demna said in a press release before the show. And the pieces certainly created a mood. Walking in a set that resembled a museum, a star-studded cast of models – including Gabbriette, Alex Consani, Kate Moss, Karlie Kloss, Amelia Gray and Emily Ratajkowski – wore silhouettes that heralded a new era for Gucci, while fully comprehending its enormous legacy.

It was sexy – skin-tight mini dresses, gothic lace and fur coats were accentuated by sequins, slits and cut-outs. The hues were dark and metallic, the makeup moody. Nods were paid to Tom Ford's revolutionary reign at the house back in the 90s – but this was no throwback. Demna just ushered in a new era of Gucci girl.

The baseball cap has evolved far beyond the sidelines. Now a staple of the fashion crowd the world over, it brings ease, attitude and subtle luxury in equal measure. From understated classics to designer statements, these are the caps we’re wearing now.

Dries van Noten first launched the eau de parfum Soie Malaquais in 2022. Created in partnership with perfumer Marie Salamagne, the formulation of Soie Malaquais lists notes of blac currant, bergamot, cacao, silk and roses. “The most striking note is the chestnut,” says Dutch artist Bouke De Vries. “It’s so rich and warm and it reminds me of when I first got to London in the winter and there would be people roasting chestnuts on a brazier creating the evocative smell of chestnuts .”

Born in Utrecht, Netherlands, De Vries trained at the Design Academy Eindhoven and in London, at Central Saint Martins. Following a period of working with fashion designers including John Galliano and Zandra Rhodes, De Vries changed tact somewhat, specialising in the conservation and restoration of ceramics. And he continues to work with ceramics to today, which led Dries van Noten to partner with him. Five masterpiece bottles of Soie Malaquais are the result of the collaboration, rendered in De Vries’ signature collage of ceramic fragments. “The fragments I use are from everywhere, they are mostly 17th and 18th Century porcelain from China and Delft ware from the Netherlands. These are all things I have collected over the years,” explains De Vries.

“For this project, it wasn’t just the fragrance itself that directly inspired the work, but mainly the blue-and-white porcelain element of the bottle,” he continues, describing the scent’s Delft ware influenced flacon. “The Dries van Noten team felt that this detail, belonging to their iconic Soie Malaquais, resonated strongly with my style, providing an opportunity to take a fresh and distinctive approach to the bottle design.”

One particular De Vries Soie Malaquais vessel is festooned with a rose-like arrangement, ceramic shards fanning out like a circle of petals. “The idea was that roses grow well in clay soil,” De Vries explains. “Clay was also used to make these porcelain objects, the fragments of which I then used to grow my own rose.”

Swiss perfumer Christine Nagel has been with Hermès since 2016. During her decade as the French maison’s in-house nose, Nagel has authored scents such as Agar Ebene – part of the Hermessence line of perfumers’ perfumes, Agar Ebene lists notes of oud, ebony and vanilla – and Twilly, which smells of ginger, bitter orange, tuberose and jasmin, and is named after a signature ribbon-like Hermès silk accessory. To Nagel, Hermès is a house with kaleidoscopic inspirations and themes. And for her, all began by researching the materials Hermès works with across its many metiers, from saddlery to fashion and jewellery.

“Right from the start, I immersed myself in materials – the leather store in particular – because at Hermès, everything starts with exceptional materials, unique know-how and carefully executed gestures,” she explains. “The saddle stitch, for example, is not just a technique, it’s a language: a way of assembling two elements together in such a way that they reveal each other over time.”

It’s this stitch that recently inspired a new scent. Released this month, Musc Pallida is part of Fleur de peau, a Hermessence group of skin scents. “In Musc Pallida, I have translated this idea into fragrance – like two pieces of leather stitched together, iris and musk gently merge, intertwine and gradually reveal their intimacy.”

Musc Pallida is above all a tribute to these two key notes, iris and musk.“Iris pallida is one of the most precious raw materials in my perfumer’s palette. It is a form of olfactory gold: radiant, subtle and profoundly elegant,” explains Nagel. “With Musc Pallida, I want to move away from an overly powdery or distant iris to reveal instead its softness, its light and its almost tactile dimension.”

To this, she added musk. “Musk is a surprising material that is difficult to describe in words,” says Nagel, and continues, “If I had to express it in an image, I would say it acts like an invisible underskirt. When it’s not there, everything is flatter. It gives a fragrance more volume. Together, iris and musk form a second-skin fragrance that is at once intimate, sensual, carnal and extremely delicate.”

As tributes and reflections on the late Valentino Garavani still reverberate, one striking and emotive exhibition tells a world of stories through the eyes of artist Joana Vasconcelos. Entitled Venus and staged at Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti’s art and educational foundation, PM23 in Rome – it is the last exhibition that Garavani conceived before his death in January this year.

Garavani first met Vasconcelos in 2018 visiting her studio in Lisbon. “Valentino had an instinctive and deeply cultivated relationship with art. For him, art was never distant; it was a living presence, a space of dialogue and transformation. His sensitivity extended far beyond fashion: he understood the power of creation as a shared human language, capable of expressing fragility, strength, beauty, and resistance all at once,” says Vasconcelos of the kismet.

Known for her provocative mega-scale installations – often made from everyday objects (tampons, mirrors, pots included) conversations continued with Garavani, inviting the Portuguese artist to offer an interpretation of his archive through her eyes. The upshot, Venus, sees 33 couture outfits in dialogue with 12 artworks that play off the abstract and the intimate, the rigour of couture with explosive soft sculptures. The centrepiece is Valkyrie Venus – a monumental work featuring a host of spectral ceiling-hung female forms created in an intricate patchwork of 3D textiles and illuminated with tiny LED lights. “Valkyrie Venus emerged from an in-depth study of Mr. Valentino’s aesthetic codes – his reverence for line, texture, and expression – reconfigured through scale, abstraction, and craft. Couture maintains an intimate relationship with the body, while my work externalises and amplifies gesture into spatial and symbolic realms. Both are languages of form and presence,” explains Vasconcelos.

The creative confluence is vibrant and expansive. While Valentino gowns are adored for their jewel-like colours, poetic embellishments and serpentine silhouettes, Vasconcelos takes ideas of beauty, gender and identity as her field of exploration. She examines female archetypes such as Marilyn: a site-specific installation created from domestic objects (pans, pots) sculpted into towering heels and flanked by three couture gowns. The exhibition culminates with Garden of Eden, an immersive environment inhabited by mythic women – Cinderella, the Femme Fatale included – who are positioned amongst a series of iconic embellished black dresses in tulle, silk, georgette and lace. Outside the gallery I’ll Be Your Mirror is giant mask fashioned from multiple decorative vanity mirrors acts as entrance and finale.

Vasconcelos does not work in an ivory tower and engages communities to take part in the artistic process. ForValkyrie Venus, she worked with social platforms across Rome, including a woman’s prison, inviting over 200 participants to create crochet panels that weighed in at 200kg and which wrap the 13m long Venus in a ‘second skin.’ “I hope visitors leave with the sense that beauty is generative – capable of provoking thought, fostering empathy, and creating unexpected connections. Seeing art and fashion as complementary ways of engaging with human experience can open broader reflections on identity, craft, and collective life,” she says.

When Valentino planned his legacy, PM23, was conceived as a cultural and educational arts space and also a tribute to Rome, the city that spawned Valentino Garavani’s ambition and profound sense of beauty. “The collaboration with Joana Vasconcelos allowed us to explore new languages, weaving together different skills, hands and stories, and to make visible the value of collective work and creativity as tools for empowerment,” said Garavani and partner Giammetti.

The Venus exhibition opens to the public on January 18 at PM23 – Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation. Tickets are available via the PM23 website or at the ticket office in Piazza Mignanelli.

Valentine’s Day has a habit of swinging between cliché and excess, but at its best, it’s really about attention: little gifts that suggest you know your beloved better than most. This edit, for him and her, is for those who’d rather sidestep the obvious in favour of objects that feel considered – offerings with a sense of story and craftsmanship, that will be treasured beyond February 14th.

Jonathan Anderson’s first couture show for Dior, presented in Paris this January, was a reminder that great design often starts with a simple idea. This creativity touched everything from the silhouettes to the beauty looks, including the remarkable hairstyles, masterminded by revered hairstylist Guido Palau.

Mirroring Anderson's own directive for the collection, Palau translated a personal exchange between the Irish designer and former Dior creative director John Galliano into a romantic vision: a series of blush-pink wigs and pom-pom florals. The inspiration came from a bouquet of cyclamen – soft lilac and powder-pink blooms tied with a black silk ribbon – that Galliano gifted Anderson during a visit to his atelier last year. Anderson later described the gesture as “perfect,” and it ultimately became a defining motif of the collection, subtly referencing Christian Dior’s enduring love of flowers and horticulture.

The wigs were cut into ultra-short bobs with veil-like fringes obscuring the models’ faces, evoking mystery and purity. Their unexpected faded-pink hue added an avant-garde edge, encapsulating a fashion house that has balanced elegance and innovation since its founding in 1946.

Pink hair has an uncanny ability to etch itself in the collective imagination, repeatedly emerging as a symbol of joy, rebellion, and romance. Among its most iconic moments is Kate Moss’s Spring 1999 Versace runway appearance with bright pink hair, a seminal example of unconventional beauty styling. This same year, she posed for Juergen Teller’s famous 1998 photograph 'Young Pink Kate', in which she is seen tucked up in billowy white linens, her head surrounded by sprawl of pink locks, capturing the nonchalant, kittenish charm that defined her public persona.

Pastel-tinted hair, however, is far from a modern invention. In the late 17th century, women of the French royal court dusted their wigs with soft pink, lavender, and baby-blue pigments, an aesthetic echoed in Kirsten Dunst’s cotton-candy coiffure in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 iconic movie, Marie Antoinette. In Britain, this rococo hairstyle trend was more subdued, embraced by flamboyant dressers and rendered with particular sensitivity by miniature portraitist John Smart who excelled at capturing its rosy tones.

The appeal of pink hair arguably reached a pinnacle of popularity in the bold, defiant aesthetics of the 1980s, swiftly embraced by music icons such as Cyndi Lauper and Madonna. In more recent decades, the shade has been revisited by a wide range of celebrities, from Lady Gaga and Lily Allen to Nicki Minaj and Bella Hadid. Guido Palau famously coloured model Kaia Gerber's hair pink in 2020, a colour he later described as " a little soft and a little antique," a description that seems fitting of his latest wigs for Dior too.

On the runway, Jean Paul Gaultier was an early pioneer. His Fall 1992 show at Los Angeles’s Shrine Auditorium, staged as a fundraiser for amfAR, featured male models with choppy, bubble-gum-pink crop cuts, setting the tone for an evening of irreverence and expressive freedom. Madonna, bleach-blonde on this occasion, famously walked the runway in a black maxi dress with cut-out breasts.

For Spring/Summer 2003, Gaultier adopted a more sculptural approach inspired by the mobiles of Alexander Calder. Natalia Vodianova appeared in two memorable pink constructions: an exaggerated nest-like topknot, followed by a swirl of candyfloss shaped like a giant sunhat, both styles finessed with long, cascading strands. For his Spring-Summer 2003 Haute Couture collection, some models' hair was braided with pink buttons.

Pink hair also recurred throughout Galliano’s work, both at his own label and during his tenure at Dior. In his Belle Époque–inspired Spring/Summer 1998 collection, Shalom Harlow appeared in a rose-embroidered pink organza gown, complete with a cherry-hued flapper wig. Galliano’s long-time collaborator Julien d’Ys later created the now-iconic carnivalesque wigs for his Fall 2009 catwalk, including a vivid candy-pink version that remains widely circulated on social media today.

Beyond Galliano, d’Ys’s decades-long collaboration with Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons has yielded countless sculptural hair designs, with bright pink a recurring favourite. For the Fall/Winter 2009 'Wonderland' collection, exaggerated fuchsia chignons crowned the head like balls of wool, transforming softness into something strange and otherworldly.

A new generation of models has continued to redefine pink hair as a statement of self-defined beauty. Charlotte Free sparked a global craze in the early 2010s with her trademark pink locks, walking runways and fronting campaigns for the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Jeremy Scott, and Chanel.

More recently, Chinese-Australian model Fernanda Ly has brought a sleek, retro-goth sensibility to pastel pink hair, photographed by Juergen Teller for Louis Vuitton’s Fall/Winter 2015 and Spring/Summer 2016 campaigns. Kate Moss reprised her electric pink 90s look for Marc Jacobs' resort 2022 campaign, while Aeri Uchinaga (AKA Japanese-South Korean rapper and singer Giselle) who recently embraced what fans are calling her 'pink-haired era', was the star of LOEWE Paula's Ibiza 2025 campaign. Proof that pink hair remains a potent and exciting force in fashion imagery.

From wrists to necks, Guerlain has added scent to pulse points for almost two centuries. The French heritage brand was founded in 1828, when Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain, a chemist and perfumer, opened his first boutique Paris’ on rue de Rivoli. Following generations were to cement the Guerlain family name within modern perfumery, authoring fragrances such as Jicky - a unisex scent released in 1889 that is notable for its use of synthetic molecules – Shalimar, Samsara and the 1959 Guerlain Vétiver, a masculine best-seller.

And throughout, six raw materials proved pivotal in defining what Guerlain smells like. Notes of bergamot, jasmine, iris, vanilla, rose and tonka bean are listed in many of the company’s formulations. They make up the so-called Guerlinade, a secret concoction – or concorde – that since its introduction in 1921 by Jacques Guerlain has united a number of Guerlain creations. It’s there in Jicky and in Shalimar, in L’Heure Bleu and also in more recent launches such as Mon Guerlain.

This year, Guerlain pays further tribute to this sextet of scents by introducing a line of candles as an extension of its prestige L'Art & La Matière collection. The bee has long been a Guerlain mascot; here, highest-quality beeswax is perfumed and contained within two-tone, mix-and-match jars, which are refillable.

Blended by the brand’s perfumer creation director Delphine Jelk, among the offering is Iris Pallida (iris butter, musk and almond), the jasmine, strawberry and candied apricot Jasmin Grandiflorum and Rose Centifolia, a mix of May roses, patchouli and frankincense. Each L'Art & La Matière Guerlain candle can be engraved with initials or a personal message.

On Paris’ glamorous Rue Saint-Honoré, dwarfed by the vast, gleaming shopfronts of Saint Laurent, Dior and Balenciaga, there is a charming little outpost of the shoemaker Paraboot. The store is blink-and-you’ll-miss-it small, but it holds its own against the industry’s biggest fish. And it’s all thanks to one decades-old creation.

The Michael is the French brand’s flagship design, and the closest thing menswear has to an ‘it’ shoe. For the uninitiated, the Michael is a simple Derby with a flat, moccasin toe, short laces and chunky rubber sole. Not as sleek as a Chelsea boot, nor as elegant as a cap-toe Oxford. You might even call it ungainly. But for those in the know, the Michael is a fail-safe style icon and a totem of good taste. Sitting somewhere between a sneaker and a dress shoe, it marries equally easily with casual wear and tailoring, and is at once low-key and interesting.

In turn, it has become almost ubiquitous amongst the men’s style community over the past few years, with scores of collaborations, special-edition models and even copycat brands. It’s been so popular, in fact, that American GQ recently asked, ‘Is this the most important shoe in menswear right now?’

‘I’ve worn Paraboot since I was a young man,’ says David Keyte, co-founder of cult British clothing brand Universal Works. ‘I bought my first pair of Michaels 40 years ago.’

Keyte espouses the Michael’s versatility, but also appreciates the design for its post-war asceticism. ‘It was made at a time when World War Two was still fresh in the mind in Europe, [so] clothing and shoes had to suit the times; had to be versatile; had to be practical; had to be affordable; had to be utilitarian.’

‘Maybe the design came from post-war austerity, but it’s really stood the test of time,’ Keyte adds.

The Michael turned 80 this year and, as part of the celebrations, Paraboot and Universal Works have come together on a project titled ‘La Beauté Dans L’Imperfection’, which explores the nature of leather and how a piece’s flaws make it all the more special.

The collaboration has resulted in a concise clothing collection featuring graphics lifted from the Paraboot archive, and a reworking of the Michael in three colours. It features a removable leather tassel under the laces and the project’s poetic title embossed onto the side. ‘Every pair is made by hand,’ says Keyte, ‘so no two are ever identical. That’s where their soul lies.’

Foulard – doesn’t it sound so much more suggestive than the Anglo-Saxon scarf?

But that is the way with our French neighbours and silken scarves – at once a trophy, a social signifier and a seductive flourish that might swish past or simply shield la coiffure from the fluctuations in weather. The foulard is a gesture as much as it is an item – and it tells many tales.

At the Hermès Spring/Summer 26 collection, artistic director Nadège Vanhee reimagined the house’s leitmotif silk scarf as a flirtatious accessory to drape around the neck and down over the nipples via the revealing cut of her crop-leather harness tops. ‘I was thinking about the Camargue landscape and Arlésienne folk dress,’ said Vanhee of her stylistic triggers. Once a symbol of French upper-middle-class status, here the scarf took on an impromptu role of breast veil.

And don’t the French do impromptu well? It’s the reason why the silk scarf has been in the armoury of women (and men) for generations, magically transforming into a weather shield, flirtation tool, savvy neck wrap, sarong, bag accessory, and – via the ever-changing artistic prints – a talisman of the zeitgeist. Along the way, legions have tutored newbies in the dexterous skill of scarf tying, extolling its various functions in a way that British royalty never quite proffered.

‘What is interesting is how just a square of silk can become such a symbol for other things,’ says French author and writer Kelly Kaprielian. ‘For instance, wearing one vintage Hermès on my hair one day outside a pub in London, a man asked me if I was Muslim, while my scarf was – in my poor mind – a reference to the style icons of the 50s and 60s: Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly or Jackie Kennedy.’

In the UK, silk scarves were once firmly in the SW1 and shires postcodes, but now, thanks to the voracious appetite of Gen Z and a general impulse to upturn conventions, the scarf is coming into a new golden age. ‘We are draping and tying silk foulards to add colour, drama and interest to simple, elegant looks – styling small scarves on wrists as belts, hair ties and bandanas to bring colour and quirk and character to the everyday,’ says Jacqueline Ednie, head of design, scarves and soft accessories, at Liberty. ‘The origin of every Liberty scarf is an authentic archive source and each has been redrawn and reimagined for today,’ says Ednie, of the ever-growing library of styles.

The big boon to scarves is that they are precious yet versatile – wearing a big headscarf with a sporty tracksuit thwarts expectations, as does tying a triangle fold over the hips of a sheer midi skirt. Luxe brands, including Celine under the new artistic direction of American Michael Rider, are also upping the ante. Rider turned a blue-toned, white-edged, emblem-printed scarf into a number-one accessory, floating from bag handles, over shoulders and cowboy-style tucked into necklines.

In a delicious entente cordiale, I’m taken by the Bouquet Final design in Hermès’s seasonal collection, designed in collaboration with illustrators and artists across the globe. The bicolour orange and ivory design by English creative Katie Scott comes in a leather-fringed silk twilly version. In my view, that’s value-added swish and sway to the foulard game.

‘The scent of skin after effort, of strength giving way to intimacy. Notes of frankincense, patchouli and sandalwood linger like heat on the body, evoking the aura of a man returning from battle, ambition still in his blood.’ Sharmadean Reid, a successful serial entrepreneur, is describing the scent of Denarii, one of four oil body cleansers with which she recently launched 39BC.

With her business, Reid references traditions of bathing. Many are centuries old; cue North African hammams and Japanese onsens. It’s a proposition anchored in historical research: when developing the brand, Reid read widely, and her debut offering is inspired by Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

As well as Denarii, there is Sage Water, which Reid developed ‘thinking of the Priests of Isis in retreat from Rome’ and which lists notes of salt, aldehydes and moss; Silk Veil is a tribute to Cleopatra and smells of neroli, musk and tuberose. The aromas of violet leaf, coconut, fig and cyclamen feature in Fig Milk. ‘It smells of ripeness and of something on the verge of becoming,’ Reid muses. ‘It’s inspired by Cleopatra’s handmaiden but carries the same tenderness and tension as a French coming-of-age film, when yearning and discovery blur into one. A study of pleasure before experience, of desire before understanding.’ Rich in narrative, 39BC is a luxurious addition to everyday rituals.