Romy Gill shares her go-to hotspots in the capital
82 TABLE TALK
Hilary Armstrong reviews the buzziest new openings
Travel
88 TRAVEL NOTES
The most exciting new hotels around the globe
90 LA DOLCE VITA
Amber Guinness reveals her insider guide to Tuscany
96 CITY OF LIGHT
The new boutique hotels in Paris with a certain je ne sais quoi
Home & Interiors
104 DESIGN NOTES
Interior design ideas and inspiration
106 MEET THE MAKERS
Discover the UK’s most exciting independent creators
Editor’s Letter
The worlds of art and fashion have always been intertwined, this Autumn more than ever. We celebrate both in our Arts & Style Issue, not least the welcome rise of inclusivity within the realms of fashion. London is leading the way, with a generation of city-based, sizeinclusive designers - Sinéad O’Dwyer, Karoline Vitto, Michaela Stark and Chet Lo among them - who are creating clothes for all body shapes. Concurrently, adaptive fashion for individuals with a disability, whether physical or hidden, is also on the rise. We spotlight the creatives who are challenging the confines of ‘normal’, both on the catwalk and in their collections.
Jewellery, one of the oldest art forms, shines this season, too. Nigerianborn, London-based jewellery designer Thelma West - a favourite of Rihanna, who wore her Rebel Black ring on the Met Gala red carpettells us why she will always champion women within the industry.
The cultural landscape in the capital is buzzing, with exciting exhibitions from Tracey Emin and Marina Abramovíć to Yayoi Kusama and Lygia Clark. We take a closer look at the new Outlaws show at the Fashion & Textile Museum, which brings to the fore the experimental flair and flamboyant fashion of London’s 80s club scene. Meanwhile, artist Nicky Carter, who has been director of art at the Groucho for more than 30 years, gives us an insight into the extraordinary contemporary collection she’s curated at the legendary club.
Plus, we meet the buzziest homeware designers whose cult pieces we all want in our homes, each one totally unique and handcrafted by these independent creators. After all, now more than ever, it’s vital to support small British businesses.
Enjoy the issue.
Charlotte Adsett, Editorial Director
Dress £1,400; JOSEPH Coat £1,225; MAISON MARGIELA Jumper £630
LAURENT Glasses £200; MANOLO BLAHNIK Pumps £645; ASPINAL OF LONDON Bag £750
Fields of Gold
Buccellati Macri Watch
The Milanese jewellery house adds to its repertoire with a glittering iteration of its Macri watch featuring a jade dial and dazzling diamonds. buccellati.com
The
Edit
Heaven Scent
Louis Vuitton Lovers, £255 Fall in love with the vivacious notes of galbanum, ginger and sandalwood in LV’s latest fragrance. louisvuitton.com
Feel uplifted with this season’s most joyful nds
On a High
Izie Port Sandal, £595
With its focus on high, sculptural heels, new London-based footwear brand Izie, founded by Isabella Bowie, is one to watch. izie.co.uk
Shine a Light
Trudon De Oro Candle, £98
Brighten up grey days with the Mediterranean sunshine-inspired scent of bergamot, orange and gardenia. trudon.co.uk
Bright Eyes
Tasaki Pearl Sunglasses
The Japanese high jewellery brand marks its 70th anniversary with a limited-edition collection, embellishing sunglasses to trainers with pearls.. tasaki.co.uk
Pitch Perfect
Maggi Simpkins x Bose Earbuds
The Los Angeles-based jewellery designer puts a new spin on sparkling with these custom-made gold and white diamond-set earbuds. maggisimpkins.com
Fall in Love
Miu Miu Joie Bag, £2,350
Reprised from Miu Miu’s archives, the Joie bag has had a 2024 refresh. miumiu.com
Our Place Wonder Oven, £195 It may be bijou but this cute six-in-one oven will cook up a storm - it can air fry, bake, roast, grill, reheat and toast. fromourplace.co.uk
Culture
YAYOI KUSAMA: EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR LOVE
VICTORIA MIRO
Until 2 November
If you missed the chance to catch Yayoi’s Infinity Mirror Rooms at Tate Modern, you’ll be delighted to hear that her latest solo show offers the opportunity to experience a new Infinity Mirrored Room - Beauty Described by a Spherical Heart Also on display is the artist’s latest series of paintings and new sculptures, across both the gallery and its waterside garden. Booking is essential. victoria-miro.com
WHAT ’ S ON & WHERE
By HARRIET COOPE R
Don’t Miss
LYGIA CLARK: THE I AND THE YOU
WHITECHAPEL GALLERY
2 October - 12 January 2025
Lygia Clark was a founding figure of the Brazilian neo-concrete movement and a pioneering painter and installation artist. This new exhibition focuses on her body of work from the mid-1950s to the early 70s, a volatile period in Brazil’s history that also saw more radical modes of artistic practice emerge. whitechapelgallery.org
VAN GOGH
Poets and Lovers
NATIONAL GALLERY
Until 19 January 2025
The National Gallery marks its 200th anniversary in style with a once-in-a-century Van Gogh exhibition. The focus here is the Dutch artist’s time in Arles and Saint-Rémy, a decisive period in his career when he was inspired by poets, writers and artists. With his finest and most famous works on show, this is a chance to see up-close Starry Night over the Rhône, The Yellow House, Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s Chair nationalgallery.org.uk
THE
GRIFFIN CATALYST EXHIBITION:
MONET AND LONDON. VIEWS OF THE THAMES
THE COURTAULD
Until 19 January 2025
This is the first time that this series of Monet’s impressionist paintings of London, depicting Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, has been hung together in public in the UK. Started by the French master during visits to the capital between 1899 and 1901, they were unveiled in Paris in 1904 and Monet keenly wanted to show them in London, too. Now, 120 years later, The Courtauld is making his dream come true. courtauld.ac.uk
One of the most extensive displays to date of the work of Peter Kennard, the Londonborn and based photomontage artist and Professor of Political Art at the Royal College of Art. It brings together seminal pieces from his prolific five-decade career - reflecting key social and political moments of history spanning the Vietnam War to the current conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza - forever designed to confront and challenge the status quo.
whitechapelgallery.org
MIKE KELLEY GHOST AND SPIRIT
TATE MODERN
3 October - 9 March 2025
American artist Mike Kelley’s experimental practice ranged from drawings and collages to videos and performances, his oeuvre referred to as ‘dark pop art’. For the first time, these radical works are on display together to showcase how he drew inspiration from media, philosophy and literature to question how our societal roles are entangled with historical fact and the popular culture we consume. A major highlight is his Kandors series - illuminated models of Superman’s mythical lost home, each in a glass bell jar, hinting at the psychological depths of the iconic superhero. tate.org.uk
IN THE EYE OF THE STORM: MODERNISM IN UKRAINE, 1900-1930s ROYAL ACADEMY
Until 13 October
Collapsing empires, the First World War, the Ukrainian War of Independence… The first few decades of the 20th century were turbulent ones in Ukraine. But against this profound upheaval, the arts were thriving and a wave of bold, modernist experimentation was taking place. Around 65 works across oil paintings, sketches, collage and theatre design highlight the wide range of artistic styles and cultural identities that flourished in the country during this period.
royalacademy.org.uk
Peter Kennard, Union Mask, 2007. Courtesy the artist
ZANELE MUHOLI
TATE MODERN
Until 26 January 2025
Describing themself as a visual activist, Zanele Muholi has been documenting and celebrating the lives of South Africa’s Black lesbian, gay, trans, queer and intersex communities from the early 2000s. Tate Modern’s exhibition presents over 260 of their photographs, including the series Only Half the Picture and Faces and Phases, both of which capture the fortitude of the photographs’ subjects in the face of prejudice, intolerance and violence. Other standouts include Brave Beauties, which celebrates empowered non-binary people and trans women, and Somnyama Ngonyama, meaning ‘Hail the Dark Lioness’, in which Muholi turns the camera on themself. tate.org.uk
Making a rukus! Black Queer Histories Through Love and Resistance
SOMERSET HOUSE
11 October – 19 January 2025
This is a fascinating exhibition about the radical and disruptive world of the rukus! federation, an art project and living archive celebrating contemporary Black LGBTQ+ cultural and political history. Curated by artist, filmmaker and co-founder of rukus! Federation Topher Campbell, the show explores Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans creativity, activism, community and pride through more than 200 objects, including archive materials, contemporary artworks and brand-new commissions. A short film depicting an intergenerational conversation between Campbell and the artist Evan Ifekoya is a particular highlight. somersethouse.org.uk
ANTONIO CALDERARA:
A Certain Light
ESTORICK COLLECTION OF MODERN ITALIAN ART
Until 22 December
Antonio Calderara lived in the north of Italy, the captivating landscape offering him a constant source of inspiration. This, the first museum exhibition to be dedicated to the abstract artist in the UK, comprises 50 works spanning his career. From the 1920s onwards, we see how he moved from his expressive figurative style to his colourful landscapes and urban scenes, later refining them to the geometric forms for which he is well known. estorickcollection.com
TOP LEFT: Zanele Muholi, Julile I, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2016 Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson, New York.
It’s a double celebration for Tate’s prestigious visual arts award. Not only is it the 40th anniversary, but it also returns to London’s Tate Britain for the first time in six years, where you can see the work of the four shortlisted artists - Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas - on display. All have highly-individual practices and will be judged by an eminent panel, with the winner announced at a glittering ceremony in early December. tate.org.uk
THE WORLD OF TIM BURTON DESIGN MUSEUM
25 October – 21 April 2025
Tim Burton has written, directed and produced so many iconic films, there’s even an adjective describing his style - ‘Burtonesque’. From blockbusters to cult favourites, he has been the creative force behind some of the most celebrated films of the last four decades. The Design Museum explores the filmmaker’s unique vision, drawing together a kaleidoscope of drawings, paintings, photographs, sketchbooks, moving-image works, installations, set and costume design, all of which give the visitor a glimpse into Burton’s fantastical world. designmuseum.org
VANESSA
BELL: A PIONEER OF MODERN ART
THE COURTAULD
Until 6 October
Painter and designer Vanessa Bell was one of the founding members of the Bloomsbury Group, an avant-garde circle of artists, writers and intellectuals in the first half of the 20th century. This is the first display to showcase the gallery’s own collection of Bell’s work, including her masterpiece A Conversation, depicting three women deep in conversation, as well as a series of textile designs she produced for the Omega Workshops, which sold furniture, fabrics and household accessories designed and made by artists. courtauld.ac.uk
Aki Abiola, an art collector who serves on the Board of Pallant House Gallery and on the Acquisition Committee at the Tate, is set to open Hope 93 in Fitzrovia. The art advisory and project space - which is named after Abiola’s late father’s presidential campaign for a better Nigeria in 1993 - will be a platform where he intends to showcase underrepresented Black and African artists, as well as diverse global talents, within modern art circles. hope93.com
SARABANDE’S HOUSE OF BANDITS POP-UP
5 CARLOS PLACE
7 - 12 October
A highlight of the inaugural Mount Street Neighbourhood Arts Festival, curated to celebrate ‘culture, community and conversation in central London’, is the Sarabande Foundation’s House of Bandits pop-up at 5 Carlos Place. Sarabande was established by the late Lee Alexander McQueen in 2006 to accelerate emerging artists’ and designers’ careers. Fourteen years later, the charitable foundation launched its gallery and concept store, now in Tottenham, selling work by creatives supported by the foundation.
In October, the House of Bandits crosses London to W1, with a six-day pop-up showcasing artworks, ceramics, fashion, homeware and jewellery by more than 100 of Sarabande’s alumni and resident artists, while also shining a light on the new-gen artistic visionaries.
mayfairldn.com
HARD GRAFT WELLCOME
Until 27 April 2025
Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights explores physical work and its profound impacts on those who are most marginalised in society. The show is divided into three sections - The Plantation, The Street and The Home - shining a light not just on the gruelling physical labour and the precarious working conditions in these locations, but also the workers who have little to no access to healthcare, a stable income or basic rights. wellcomecollection.org
TRACEY EMIN: I
FOLLOWED YOU TO THE END
WHITE CUBE BERMONDSEY
Until 10 November
Following on from her critically-acclaimed 2019 solo show at White Cube Bermondsey, Tracey Emin returns to the London gallery once more with I followed you to the end. A leading figure of the YBA, Emin is known for incorporating themes of love, desire, loss and grief in her works, which are at once emotive and emotional. Her latest oeuvre, which spans the entirety of the huge light-filled space, is no different, with Emin drawing on her recent experience of a life-threatening illness. As is Emin’s way, the new body of work is raw and visceral, as she reflects on this recent, transformative chapter of her life. In the centre of the gallery, a monumental bronze sculpture - which lends the exhibition its name and is Emin’s largest to date - emerges from the floor, while a second bronze depicts a female torso. On the walls canvases drip with crimson and white paint, perhaps representing blood and tears. The paintings are interspersed with more reflective autobiographical markers - there are references to her beloved cats and her home in Margate, Kent. Also on display is a new short film, made by Emin, revealing in candid detail the stoma she now lives with after her treatment for severe bladder cancer. whitecube.com
If you happened to be in Leicester Square on a Thursday night in 1985, you’d have seen queues snaking around the corner to a club called Maximus. Nothing unusual, except for the flamboyant, over-the-top-fabulous outfits worn by those in the line. This vibrant, outlandish crowd were waiting to get into Leigh Bowery’s infamous club night Taboo, and all of them were adhering to the Australian designer and performance artist’s “dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother” code of attire.
“Everyone dressed up, you couldn’t get in if you didn’t,” Martin Green tells The Glossary, himself one of those club goers. “Leigh had a different look every week - he pushed it and pushed it. When I first saw him he was covered in red spots all over his face, his wig, his clothes. Another occasion, he had coloured drips of paint covering his bald head. Next time, he had white spikes on his head and was wearing a black-and-white checkerboard dress. People were really living it, but they weren’t dressing up in a fancy-dress way - this was fashionably outrageous.”
Green is the co-curator (alongside NJ Stevenson) of a new exhibition opening at the Fashion & Textile Museum this autumn, Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London. Though Leigh Bowery was undoubtedly the king of this fantastical, boundary-pushing scene, the show is also a celebration of the anarchic spirit and experimental energy of those around him, the artists, writers, performers, filmmakers - but mostly the fashion designers, with garments and accessories from Bowery and more than 30 designers on display, including custom-made pieces from private collections.
Some are well-known - John Galliano, Red or Dead, Pam Hogg, BodyMap - others less so, such as John Crancher, John Flett, Dean Bright, Elmaz Hüseyin, Annie La Paz and Rachel Auburn. This avant-garde community weren’t just defining an era of hedonism, they were changing the landscape of British popular culture. “There were a lot of people who came out of Central Saint Martins and the colleges in the early 1980s who might have only had a few collections and been around for a short period, but they made a big impact. They were provocative, non-conforming and progressive.”
It took Green two years to track down the clothes for the exhibition. The first part of the show recreates Kensington Market, where many of the designers had stalls, before segueing into the legendary dancefloor of Taboo, styled by performance artist and club kid David Cabaret, complete with a DJ booth and original Adel Roostein mannequins showcasing outfits worn by Bowery and his fellow club kids.
Upstairs, the exhibition focuses on the dissemination of Taboo’s unique flair, from the magazines such as The Face and i-D, to the pop stars who brought the clothes to a wider audience, the likes of Boy George, Neneh Cherry, Kim Wilde and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. There’s also a Remake and Remodel section, showing garments made from found fabrics and objects because the “majority of the designers were from workingclass backgrounds, they went to college on a grant, they lived in a squat. It was upcycling before we called it upcycling,” says Green. “One of my highlights is a pair of Mark and Syrie trousers made out of London souvenir tea towels. Another favourite of mine is a fantastic red pleather coat with huge collars by Elmaz Hüseyin.”
“I would like the visitor to come away from the exhibition with that awe I had as an 18-year-old going to Taboo,” continues Green. “There was a real sense of energy, everywhere you looked there was a new outfit, another provocation. I also want people to appreciate the actual clothes - the designs were incredibly inventive and the pattern-cutting highly-skilled. This was a time of individualism and pure creativity.”
fashiontextilemuseum.org
Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of Leigh Bowery’s 1980s London by Martin Green and NJ Stevenson (£35, Scala Arts & Heritage) is published on 7 November
Jeffrey Hinton (centre), Lanah Pellay (in red) and Richard Habberley
Maia Norman wearing Rachel Auburn Nicola Bateman
Mr Pearl and Mike Nichols
Hilde Smith and Caroline Houghton, styled by Iain R Webb
Culture CLUB
Artist Nicky Carter has been director of art at The Groucho for three decades and counting. Here she talks to us about her career, creativity and building the club’s exceptional contemporary collection
Words EMILY GOSLING
Portraits LUCY SILVERWOOD
Nicky Carter - one half of husband-andwife artist duo Rob and Nick Carter, and director of art at The Groucho Club for the past 35 years - is a superb conversationalist. Indeed, ‘conversation’ is a subtle but palpable thread running through her career, life and art - the dialogue between the two artists themselves; between analogue and digital; between cuttingedge technologies and art historical techniques. Conversation is a medium that comes very naturally to her.
As soon as I step into the couple’s RNat5A gallery in Bayswater, we don’t stop talking for two hours. Nicky (as she is known to her friends) shows me around the airy space, filled with her and Rob’s work across camera-less photography, painting, installation, neon, sculpture and time-based media. Known for harnessing the contrast between light and darkness - or “painting with light” as the Carters term it - and using vibrant combinations of tones that pulsate with energy, their pieces are held in the collections of the V&A and Sir Elton John, among others; and they are the only living artists to show a work at the renowned Frick Museum in New York.
Nicky and Rob first met in the 1980s at the boarding school Uppingham in Rutland, though they were firmly “just friends” until years later. “I didn’t realise he liked me - I was a bit slow,” says Nicky. As for how they started working together, “It just sort of happened… We were engaged, and one day Rob said, ‘Come
and work with me.’” They made their first pieces together on the sitting room floor when Rob was living in Shepherd’s Bush. A friend came in and bought them “and it all evolved from there”. Now married and still collaborating artistically, they have two daughters, both of whom are also artists - Jessica is at Camberwell College of Arts doing her MA and Saskia has just finished her BA at Oxford Brookes.
Despite working together for more than 25 years, Nicky and Rob show no signs of slowing down. Over the summer, RNat5A presented its inaugural group show This Person Does Not Exist, which sought to challenge the boundaries of traditional portraiture. “There’s a website called thispersondoesnotexist.com which showcases AI-generated faces. We invited 24 artists including Gavin Turk, Natasha Law, Will Ayres, Jonathan Yeo, and Helen Beard to react to it,” explains Nicky. The pair have a new show Chroma-Viscosity II opening at the gallery in October, exploring the tension between painting and photography.
Nicky points out various works to me as we talk, like the 1999 work, Happy Together (a reference to The Turtles’ 1967 song. “Our titles are a bit simpler now,” smiles Nicky). The piece uses a grid of multiple square cibachrome prints - a material hailing back to the earliest days of photography. “Our work is always a blend or hybrid of photography and painting, and sometimes performance: it’s looking back at the past, but using cutting-edge technology,” says Nicky. It’s obvious that process, colour, light and the magic that happens in the spaces between them all is as visibly thrilling to her today as it was when she and Rob first started creating together. There’s a romance and playfulness to their pieces - both in the literal sense of a couple making art together and in the processes themselves, despite their apparent complexity and technicality.
Years before the endless headlines about Chat GPT or the recent wave of Tomorrow’s World-esque creations like the humanoid ‘artist’ robot Ai-Da, Rob and Nicky were developing robotic arms which could accurately create portraits of their sitters and mimic the works of Old Masters. Dubbed Heidi and Peter, these arms have also created a series of portraits of stars like Madonna and David Beckham, rendered in striking chiaroscuro. Such works situate cutting-edge technologies firmly in the lineage of art history, bringing Andy Warhol’s idea of industrial level artmaking at The Factory to the 21st century.
Later, we stroll round the corner (rather surreally for London, through a cobbled street replete with ponies) to Rob and Nicky’s other gallery/studio space and former home at 37 Bathurst Mews. If 5A is about painting with light, this space is about the duo’s dark side: we’re greeted with macabre sculptural pieces like 2015’s Calf, a decapitated head; and 2016’s skeletal Bronze Frog and Bronze Rat - all of which reference Dutch artist Jacob de Gheyn. Upstairs feels more light-hearted: here, we see the beautifully simple but brilliantly effective Yoga Photogram series, on which various yogic poses are captured as silhouetted cibachrome prints.
Nicky says she’s loved artmaking since childhood. She was born in Yorkshire to an interior designer mother and solicitor father who were both very supportive of her pursuing a career dismissed by her schoolteachers as “just a hobby, not a career”, says Nicky. “Fortunately, my parents thought this was rubbish and thank goodness, because that could be really disheartening. They understood the value of embracing ideas rather than focusing on being commercial, as long as I could get by.” After her art foundation year at Leeds, Nicky studied fine art and art history at Goldsmiths, joining at something of a belle époque for the institution. “It was an exciting time because the focus seemed to be moving away from New York to London,” says Nicky. “We were encouraged to experiment. Goldsmiths was very conceptual, but whatever you made had to be really well produced.” Her own student work included
Nicky Carter in The Carter Room at The Groucho Club
The Carter Room at The Groucho Club features Jonathan Yeo’s Cara Delevingne portraits
painting, installations, light work with lasers and mirrors, ready-mades and more - “a bit of everything”, she says. “Anything was possible, but there was some harsh criticism as well: the tutors were talented artists themselves and they were demanding. It gave you a work ethic and you built up a real crew of peers. The more you worked, the more liberty you were given.”
student friends might want to show some work at the club. There was no brief as such; any medium was welcome, as long as the work reflected what was going on in the art world at the time. “It just had to be forwardthinking,” says Nicky.
Among her peers at college were Mat Collishaw,
At 19, during her studies, Nicky began waitressing at The Groucho Club on Dean Street in Soho. The private members’ club was founded in 1985 as an alternative to the stuffy gentlemen’s clubs, a place for those working in creative industries (crucially, both men and women) to socialise. It became famous almost overnight, frequented by the likes of Francis Bacon, Liza Minelli, George Michael and the rock band Queen, and later pretty much everyone on the ‘Cool Britannia’ scene - and to this day, it continues to be the epicentre for London’s arts, media and literary crowd.
When Nicky started working at the club in 1989, she was asked by then-general manager Liam Carson if any of her
Michael Landy, Fiona Rae and
Abigail Lane. “I got in some work by Angus Fairhurst, Rachel Howard, Damien Hirst and so on; those early artists really kickstarted the contemporary art collection [at Groucho],” says Nicky. “When I first asked fellow students if they wanted to show work there, a lot said no as they didn’t want to be seen in the context of a restaurant or club - they wanted to be in a gallery… but I really believe strongly that art asked by then-general manager
should be seen in a convivial setting.” She adds, “I think I was ambitious without being conscious of it; I was quite bold in who I approached.”
Nicky has held the role of Groucho’s director of art ever since - for three and a half decades - making her the longestserving member of staff at the club. Indeed, they’ve even named a room after her there - the Carter Room - a private dining space with works by Chris Levine, Marc Quinn, Jonathan Yeo, Charming Baker and Tracey Emin lining the walls. In exchange for gifting their work (“the generosity of the artists is eye-watering”), the artist receives free Groucho club membership and today the collection
Bronze Rat, 2016. Courtesy of Rob and Nick Carter
Rob and Nick Carter in the studio. Photography: James D Kelly
The Carter Room is named after Nicky Carter, The Groucho Club’s longest-serving member of staff
“The Groucho was the first club to get contemporary art in: lots of other clubs have done the same since and I think that’s brilliant for artists. Galleries can feel a bit elitist, but this is so much more embracing and offers artists a lot more opportunity”
numbers 150 or so pieces. There are multiple works by Sir Peter Blake, including his famous painted piano; Gavin Turk’s typically tongue-in-cheek resin GT ; a rather phallic monoprint by Tracey Emin; Yinka Shonibare’s 2015 Love in a Time of War 3; and a playfully gaudy neon piece, fuckingbeautiful (hot pink version), by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, to name a few. Naturally, it also includes Rob and Nicky’s own vibrantly pulsating Spectrum and Transforming Portrait that playfully blinks at the members in the bar.
word of mouth, keeping my ear to the ground. I am quite good at spotting people who have the tenacity to carry on as artists.” She’s typically modest about her achievements. “I went to an event last night and someone was raving about the collection - I sometimes need to be told it’s good. I am quite self-critical, and I am always wanting the next thing and to better it by keeping on building.”
Circle
places like clubs and restaurants,
“It’s so normal now to see art in places like clubs and restaurants, but back when I first started it really wasn’t,” says Nicky. “The Groucho was the first club to get contemporary art in: lots of other clubs have done the same since and I think that’s brilliant for artists. Galleries can feel a bit elitist, but this is so much more embracing and offers artists a lot more opportunity.” She is particularly proud of the aftercare the artists receive once they’re members, including artist lunches which are great networking opportunities. “It’s not just a case of getting art in, it requires nurturing and befriending the artists to make sure we support them,” she explains. Amassing such a collection is testament to Nicky’s innovative and bold approach to mixing work by established artists and emerging talent from around the world, which she seeks out at “degree shows, MA shows,
The Groucho, which two years ago was acquired by Artfarm, will, she says, soon be redoing its bedrooms, providing an opportunity for solo hangs from the artists. Plus, of course, the club is set to open its first venue outside London at Bretton Hall in Yorkshire, for which “we will need a lot of works - including by northern and Yorkshire-based artists.”
Does Nicky have any favourite pieces in the collection? “I definitely collect what I would want myself, so it does feel personal,” she says. “Each work has a story to it, so it resonates in a different way. I look at a piece and I remember going to an exhibition or a degree show, or a lunch or a studio visit I have had with the artist.”
In addition to building the collection at Groucho she continues, of course, to be one half of the hugely successful Rob and Nick Carter. It’s hard to think of another contemporary married couple who work so well together; so it’s little surprise to hear that Nicky and Rob rarely switch off. “We’re always talking about new ideas and work,” she says. “Creative ideas are everything.” And I’ve no doubt they’ve got more than enough to last at least another 25 years.
5A Bathurst Street, Bayswater, W2 robandnick.com
ABOVE: Bronze Frog, 2016. Courtesy of Rob and Nick Carter
BELOW: Yoga Photograms series (2017) in Rob and Nick’s mews viewing space in Paddington. Photography: James Brittain
Self Portrait, 2002. Courtesy of Rob and Nick Carter
BIGGER PICTURE The
Surrealist, model, war correspondent, photographer… Lee Miller was one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century. Now the subject of a new film starring Kate Winslet, her son Antony Penrose looks back at his mother’s extraordinary life
The Lee Miller I knew as a child was deeply affected by wounds that were invisible to us all. Profoundly secretive about her own inner life, she gave no hint of the traumas that had shaped her from an early age. She never told my father, Roland Penrose, or even her closest woman friends that she had been raped at the age of seven and infected with gonorrhoea. Social pressures had forced the family to close ranks and no one spoke of it. After her death in 1977, it was revealed to me by my uncle Erik, Lee’s younger brother, and, in that moment, I suddenly found a rationale for all my researches on her life.
A few weeks after Lee died, my late wife Suzanna discovered the stash of her work hidden in the attic of Farley Farm House, our family home in Sussex. It was not photos she found but the pages of a manuscript recounting an intense infantry assault on the heavily defended fortress that guarded the port of St Malo. The prose was vivid in an up-close-and-personal way that suggested it was written by a hardened war correspondent. There was no byline, but my father produced an old copy of Vogue and there was the banner headline: St Malo
… the siege and the assault
… covered by Lee Miller of Vogue
… only photographer and reporter there under fire throughout
Lee had never talked about the war. Like her childhood trauma it had remained sealed inside her. We were astonished by our find and took all the boxes from the attic to examine them.
It was not self-evident at the time, but this was a life-changing moment. I was born to Lee in 1947 when she was suffering acutely from what we now term as posttraumatic stress disorder. Back then it was barely understood. Millions had their post-war traumas to deal with and Lee had accumulated more than most from combat and from witnessing the liberation of the death camps of Buchenwald and Dachau. The enforced secrecy of her youth gave her a means of coping. She sealed off the trauma and self-medicated with whiskey. The woman I knew as a mother was badly afflicted by alcohol and depression. There was always the uncertainty of the massive mood swings, the distance, the irascibility, and the dramas she played out incessantly. How could I believe this person had ever been admirable and accomplished?
The contents of the boxes in the attic told a different story. There was a front cover of American Vogue from March 1927, a portrait of her wearing a cloche hat against the background of Manhattan, drawn by Georges Lepape. She had been discovered by Condé Nast, the owner of Vogue and Vanity Fair, when he snatched her to safety from the path of an oncoming truck. She posed for Edward Steichen and other great photographers of the day, a sheaf of cuttings attesting to her fame as a model. Every photo session was a tutorial for Lee. She learned about being a model and learned about photography.
“Lee and surrealism defined each other. Here she found the perfect freedom of expression and way of life that she had craved ”
Antony Penrose
After about a year of being what we would call a ‘supermodel’, this career came to a crash stop. Without her knowledge, an elegant shot of her in an evening gown had been sold to the Kotex company, the makers of the innovative women’s hygiene products, which used it widely for its advertisements. It caused a scandal, being the first time the photograph of a woman had been used for this type of product. All Lee’s modelling work vanished. No couturier would have ‘The Kotex Girl’ modelling their frocks. Lee was unfazed. By now she had tired of being a model; “I would rather take a picture than be one she declared”, and with an introduction from Steichen in her pocket, she left for Paris in search of Man Ray, the most exciting surrealist photographer of his time. Lee and surrealism defined each other. Here she found the perfect freedom of expression and way of life that she
had craved. She and Man Ray became lovers. She was his assistant. It was the fertile and synergistic relationship that gave us some of the best images of Man Ray’s career and gave the world the technique of solarisation which they accidently discovered. Within a year, Lee had her own studio and her fashion photos were being printed in American Vogue. She starred in Jean Cocteau’s film, Le Sang d’un Poète, and in her own work created some of her most striking surreal images. Surrealism was to be a key part of her way of seeing, detectable in her war work, fashion shots and portraiture right to the end of her life.
Her reasons for leaving Man Ray in 1932 and returning to New York remain unclear, but I suspect she tired of his possessiveness. Despite the recession she managed to find backers to establish the Lee Miller Studio at 8 East 48thStreet. Her Parisian chic soon won her work for pack shots, then fashion and soon she was the go-to
photographer for stylish portraits. Then without warning Aziz Eloui Bey arrived in New York. A rich Egyptian businessman, he had met her in Paris and fallen in love with her. Within a week or so they were married. Lee closed the studio and headed to Cairo for a new life with Aziz.
To begin with, the luxurious ease of the expatriate lifestyle pleased Lee, but very quickly she became bored. She made long-range explorations into the desert and resumed her photography. Her images from this period, featured in a book titled Love Letters Bound In Gold Handcuffs edited by her granddaughter Ami Bouhassane, indicate she saw the
world with the clarity of a surrealist, finding the marvellous and the metaphoric. Aziz realised that not even desert trips were enough for Lee who clearly missed the stimulation of Paris, so in 1937 he indulged her with a visit.
On the night of her arrival, she met Roland Penrose at a wonderful surrealist fancy dress party. They fell deeply in love and had an enchanted summer together, first in Cornwall and then on the Côte d’Azur where the celebrated ‘Picnic’ photo of Paul and Nusch Eluard,
“As an American, Lee could have gone back to the USA, but knowing her dearest friends in Paris were under a deadly threat from the Nazis she stayed, wanting to contribute to the war effort”
Antony Penrose
Man Ray and Ady Fidelin and Roland Penrose looking beatific shows she was, at last, back among her tribe. The next year they travelled in the Balkans and then in 1939 Roland went to Egypt. When Aziz met him, he gracefully let Lee go, realising she would be happier with Roland than she could be with him.
She arrived in London with Roland on 3 September, the day Britain declared war on Germany. As an American, Lee could have gone back to the USA, but knowing her dearest friends in Paris were under a deadly threat from the Nazis, she stayed, wanting to contribute to the war effort. Audrey Withers, British Vogue’s
editor, hired Lee, who became their key photographer, augmenting her fashion work by photographing the women serving in the armed forces. In 1943 she became a US Army war correspondent and followed the allies from Normandy to the far side of Germany.
It was here she witnessed the liberation of Dachau, and that night she and her war-time buddy David E Scherman found their way into Hitler’s apartment in Munich, at that moment occupied by members of the US Army signal corps. Being Hitler’s residence, it was one of the very few places that had coal and therefore hot water. This was irresistible to them, as they had not washed for three weeks. As they ran the bath, they realised they had a scoop and photographed each other in the tub.
Today the image of Lee Miller in Hitler’s bath is widely known as a symbol of defiance. They had positioned a vanity portrait of Hitler on the side of the bath. This picture, by Hitler’s revolting personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, was the centrepiece of posters all over Germany and the Nazi-occupied territories, extolling
One People, One Nation, One Leader - Great Germany. Positioning it on the edge of the bath was a calculated snub, but that was not the key to the photograph. This lies in Lee’s boots that have stamped the filth of Dachau into Hitler’s pristine bath mat, much as if she were grinding her heel into his face.
This scene is admirably played out in the movie Lee , with Kate Winslet as Miller and Andy Samberg as Scherman in a set made with unerring accuracy
to resemble the original bathroom. Watching their performance brings us the triumph and the tragedy of that moment. The war would soon be over, but as they had witnessed in Dachau, so many of their friends would never be coming home.
For me, watching Lee is a landmark in the 47 years of work that has followed the discovery of her material. It is a trail that has led me to the most wonderful adventures and been
filled with both triumph and tragedy. Kate Winslet is the most perfect embodiment of my mother and her spirit. Lee Miller is back, alive and well on the silver screen - and that is surreal in itself.
Lee Miller: Photographs by Antony Penrose is published by Thames & Hudson (£30)
Lee, a Sky Original production, is in cinemas now. leefilm.co.uk
STYLE
WHAT LIES BENEATH
As this season’s collaborations go, Nensi Dojaka for Calvin Klein must be one of the most thrilling. The LVMH Prize-winning designer, who is known for her intricately sensual, empowered aesthetic, has teamed up with the American fashion powerhouse on a 44-piece collection, here modelled by actor Rebecca Ferguson against a London backdrop. The capsule includes spaghetti-strap triangle bras, slinky second-skin dresses and sheer-knit bodysuits, designed for all body types. nensidojaka.com
Fashion Notes
A future-classic pump, studs go supersized and the coat of the season
Compiled by CHARLOTTE ADSETT
SKIRTING THE ISSUE
The statement skirt is an easy wardrobe win. Whether just-below-the knee pencil straight or maxi, the bolder the better, with sparkly embellishments or maximalist prints, like this design from Ulla Johnson. Pair with a simple slouchy knit for a fresh new look. ullajohnson.com
LOOKING BACK
Corey Shapiro has long been the go-to for a pair of retro glasses - and now he’s bringing his Americanbased Vintage Frames Company to the UK. Spanning six decades, it is home to the largest designer vintage eyewear archive in the world with over one million original frames, as well as its own limited-edition VFC designs. Crime sunglasses, £135, vintageframescompany.com
HEAVY METAL
They may be a throw-back to the mid-Aughts, but studded bags are ubiquitous this season. New York-based fashion label Khaite leads the way with its Elena design. The minimalist, slouchy silhouette is available in five colours from black to nude, and accented with supersized metallic embellishments. From £1,710; khaite.com
PUMP IT UP
As seen on the Prada AW24 runway, these prettyin-pink pumps reference a 1950s silhouette but with a modern spin, the satin adding some lowkey luxe. With its tapered, elongated lines and chunky heel, this is sure to become not just the shoe of the season but a wear-forever classic. £1,020; prada.com
FLEXIBLE FRIEND
Fashion rental platform Hurr has launched a new credit system, Hurr Flex. To meet the demand for longer-term and more flexible rental, its latest two-tiered offering gives customers the chance to purchase £170 of credit for £99, or £225 of rental credit for £125, allowing you to elevate your everyday wardrobe with new-season designer pieces from the likes of Jacquemus, Simone Rocha and Loewe for a fraction of the cost. Each of these Flex passes is a one-off and if you don’t use the credit, it can be carried over to the following month. hurrcollective.com
GET YOUR COAT
A winter coat from the London-based outerwear label Charlotte Simone is on every fashion lover’s wish list this season. The retro faux-fur designs, which often come with a fuzzy collar and cuffs, are regularly seen on the capital’s It girls. The brand now sells via a limited-edition collection, which is only available for online purchase for one week, with imminent drops in early October and late November. Sign up to the newsletter so you don’t miss out. charlottesimone.com
LIKE A CHARM
Charms are having a moment right now, with designer bags embellished with all manner of kitsch accessories and keychains. It was Jane Birkin who originated the idea, adding her own personal touch to her namesake Hermès tote with ribbons, stickers and trinkets and now celebrities including Lily Allen are getting in on the act. With fashion houses and designers all bringing their own twist to the nostalgia trend with love hearts, smiley faces and cute animals, we’re charmed.
INCLUSIVE Fashion Designers London’s
Body positivity in fashion is gaining momentum thanks to the London creatives shaking up the status quo
Words EMMA SELLS
How representative should a fashion show be? How often should the wonderfully broad spectrum of body types be reflected back at us from the pages of glossy magazines? And how often do you see yourself represented in the world of luxury fashion? The conversation around inclusivity and diversity, the myriad ways in which the industry is made more exciting, inspiring and joyful when the community it welcomes in is as all-encompassing as possible, has been gaining momentum in recent years. There’s a definitive vibe shift happening, with a global collective of models, casting directors, designers, stylists, writers and campaigners determined to make the industry inclusive and accessible for all bodies.
Models like Alva Claire, Ashley Graham, Paloma Elsesser, Tess Macmillan, Precious Lee and Jill Kortleve have gained huge followings and become regular bookings among some of the biggest and most storied fashion houses. Elsesser, who this year has fronted campaigns for Marni, Burberry and Marc Jacobs, was crowned Model of the Year at 2023’s British Fashion Awards – the first plus-size model to receive the accolade.
ELLIE MISNER
This year, curve model Alva Claire is in the running for the prestigious accolade alongside Alex Consani, the first openly transgender woman to be nominated.
Casting directors like Emma Matell, who works with Sinéad O’Dwyer, Vivienne Westwood, Cecilie Bahnsen and more, are playing their part, too, intentionally drawing on an ever-widening pool of women to ensure that catwalks become a celebration of all bodies.
At the same time, the representation of those with both hidden and visible disabilities is at last gaining traction. In 2023, Unhidden, founded by designer and disability campaigner Victoria Jenkins, became the first adaptive fashion brand (serving up clothes designed specifically with the day-to-day needs of those with disabilities in mind) to join the British Fashion Council. Advocate Sinéad Burke and her accessibility consultancy, Tilting the Lens, have been working with the likes of Gucci, Farfetch and the Parsons School of Design to try and change the face of fashion behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera. The idea is that by getting people with all bodies in boardrooms, design studios and editorial teams, inclusivity and accessibility will become the default rather than an exception or afterthought.
were few and far between, with London’s Sinéad O’Dwyer and New York’s Collina Strada being the only labels to cast women in wheelchairs.
The truth is that most brands and designers still routinely direct their gaze towards women who are overwhelmingly young, thin and living without disabilities. This is often chalked up to logistics and cost: it’s easier to make the samples for each look in one (small) size and cast models that can fit into them, and far cheaper to scale those samples up than to fit them to multiple body shapes and sizes. But the reality is that the beauty standards of the big four fashion capitals have remained pretty firmly fixed in place for decades, not least because the people working behind the scenes have historically been a pretty homogenous group, too.
to a comprehensive report by Vogue Business into size the 8,800 four cities, just 0.8% of bigger
But the future is hopeful, and the needle is moving. And London is leading the charge. Meet six game-changing designers who are shaking things up, creating and casting with intention to make sure that everybody gets to look good, feel good and be seen. teams, exception while big strides towards change, it can
But while many people are making big strides towards change, it can feel like two steps forward, one step back. AW24 should have been the most size-inclusive season ever. That’s how things are supposed to go: moving onwards and upwards. Or maybe not. Because, according to a comprehensive report into size representation in the season’s catwalk shows, there was actually a downturn in the number of curve and plus-size models being cast. Across 230 shows, 8,800 looks and four cities, just 0.8% of models were plus-size (that’s bigger than a UK16) and 3.7% were mid-size (UK 10-16). And models with visible disabilities
And models with
MICHAELA STARK
SINÉAD O’DWYER
Has there ever been a more genuinely inclusive designer showing at London Fashion Week than Sinéad O’Dwyer? The casting of her shows, led by the brilliantly disruptive casting director Emma Matell, is game-changing, encompassing not only larger bodies but models across the spectrum of gender, sexuality and disability, too; she is one of the only designers around right now trying to normalise models with mobility needs going down the runway.
sineadodwyer.com been in the women who wear her clothes and
of this year. O’Dwyer studied first at the ArtEz University of fibreglass and silicone moulds, she made casts of her friend’s pairing
O’Dwyer, whose studio is on Hackney Road, spent years struggling with body dysmorphia, in part fuelled by experiences studying and working in fashion, so it’s no surprise that the lynchpin of her label has always been a desire to inspire confidence in the women who wear her clothes and give them an improved relationship with their own bodies. Her designs run from a UK4 to a UK32. “Bodily diversity is our inspiration and driving force and we believe that designing inclusively is the only way to create ethical, sustainable, functional and modern clothing,” the Irish designer said after receiving a visionary award in May of this year. O’Dwyer studied first at the ArtEz University of the Arts in Arnhem, Netherlands, and then at London’s RCA where, frustrated with the sample-size focus of the fashion industry’s pattern cutting, she started experimenting with the use of body casting as the starting point for her clothes. Using fibreglass and silicone moulds, she made casts of her friend’s torso, embedding them with silk and mesh to create beautiful, wearable structures in bewitching pastel shades. Her pieces and technical wizardry have evolved since then and her AW24 collection riffed on the idea of a corporate dress code, twisting and subverting it for after dark by pairing neatly tailored and oversized pieces, so cleverly constructed that they verge on shapewear, with figure-skimming mesh and lattices of lacing and binding. It was a masterclass in the art of reveal and conceal. And, to make sure that the cut and fit were just right for everybody, the casting was done months in advance so that each look could be made to the exact dimensions of the woman who would wear it. She partnered with charity Hair & Care to invite three blind and low vision women to the show, inviting them to explore the collection through touch and providing audio descriptions of each look. It’s an all-inclusive approach that’s obviously working; not only can O’Dwyer count the likes of Björk and Bella Hadid as fans, but her shows are garnering the kind of buzzy, all-eyes-on-her attention that will surely encourage others to follow suit.
verge lattices of lacing and binding. It was a masterclass them to explore the collection through her shows are garnering the kind of buzzy, all-eyes-on-her to
Every time Karoline Vitto sits down to design a new high-octane dress in her studio space in Smithfield Market, she considers the body that’s going to wear it ahead of anything else. The scope of the bodies in question is unusually broad for the world of luxury fashion – her sizing runs from a UK8 to a UK24 – but she doesn’t think of her brand as a plus-size label. Instead, to Vitto, designing for all shapes and sizes seems like a no-brainer.
“As a fashion designer, I ultimately am a product designer, so designing for a range of sizes, understanding fit and investing in grading are natural elements to the practice of fashion for me,” Vitto tells The Glossary challenging as an emerging brand, because the development costs are higher and we need to build our own library of resources in some cases. That’s why it’s important for us to keep pushing, as I believe we truly are developing something that has so much room to grow.”
. “It’s Royal process followers who resonated with the way she saw the female body. panelling.
The Brazilian designer moved to London in 2016 to study at Central Saint Martins and then for an MA at the Royal College of Art. The relocation made her reappraise the way that growing up in Brazil had shaped her beauty standards. Vitto’s RCA graduate collection was inspired by a waist cincher that she had bought as a teenager. After graduation and during the pandemic, when she started uploading process photos of her designs and the way they neatly balanced freedom and restriction, she amassed a community of followers who resonated with the way she saw the female body.
cut-out
Vitto showcased her SS24 collection in Milan rather than London. Thanks to an introduction by stylist Katy England, she was the season’s pick for Dolce & Gabbana’s emerging designer support, getting access to the brand’s atelier and deadstock materials, as well as being given a show space and the wide-ranging platform that the D&G name provides. Ashley Graham opened the show in a long dress that was classic Vitto: stretchy and figure-hugging with ladder cut-outs running down the front and sheer panelling. Vitto riffs on the idea of traditional boning by using curved metal hardware that laces fabric together and accentuates the body’s folds, snaking down the cut-out side of her signature Metal Ladder Dress or holding together the stripped-back, cleverly draped pieces of a top – all the better to show off parts of the body usually concealed.
karolinevitto.com
When does a fashion piece become truly iconic? Because Di Petsa’s signature wet-look dress has surely crossed the threshold. Crafted from an extraordinary fabric that’s made using a top-secret process honed over months, it gives anyone that wears it the appearance of having just stepped out of the ocean, wet dress clinging to their body. It’s been worn by FKA Twigs, Doja Cat and Kylie Jenner, to name a few. Gigi Hadid wore it for an ethereal pregnancy shoot that she shared with her 77 million Instagram followers. It’s a contemporary fashion phenomenon.
The London label, founded in 2019, is the creative brainchild of Greek designer Dimitra Petsa. Its aesthetic, and its appeal, is the result of a trifecta of influences: the sewing skills that Petsa learned from her grandmother growing up; her Greek heritage, which can take credit for the contemporary takes on classical draping; and her background in performance art which ensures that her pieces are as truly comfortable and easy to move in as they are sexy. Each collection plays with women’s relationships with water, both literally (cue those wet-look dresses, which can be made to order in sizing XS to XL), but also the bodily fluids like tears and breastmilk that they’re raised to hide away rather than embrace. “The wet-look dress is inspired by the devotion of self-mothering, to love oneself unconditionally, embracing the strength that comes with self-acceptance of our female identity, vulnerability and emotional expressions of wetness, which in society we learn to constantly sanitise and shame,” the designer explains on her website.
The Di Petsa women are sirens, aquatic goddesses in perfectly draped clothes that irresistibly skim and sculpt. That fabric has more stretch to it then you might expect, made to accommodate changing body shapes – there’s a reason why it’s so appealing to those with pregnancy bumps. you might expect, made to accommodate changing body shapes – there’s
ELLIE MISNER
elliemisner.co.uk
When Katy Perry wore an Ellie Misner
ensemble to the Billboard Awards early this year, the look generated headlines around the world. And no wonder. It wasn’t just that the
bandeau corset with its boned peplum and thong-baring fishtail skirt, both conjured in lipstick-red taffeta, perfectly skimmed and enhanced Perry’s curves. It was that when she turned around, both were revealed to have lace-up detailing that was undone to a daringly provocative degree. Not all Misner’s many fans want to reveal quite as much, but the look was a pure distillation of what makes her offerings tick: expertly handcrafted, boldly feminine and packed out with sex appeal.
daringly provocative degree. Not
is
pieces is made to order by a small team in Misner’s East London studio and runs
The list of stylish women that Misner has dressed to date is ever-growing. Alongside Perry she’s created bespoke corsets for Raye and pieces for Paloma Elsesser, Julia Fox, Dove Cameron, Alva Claire and more. Her roster is impressively all-encompassing, too, when it comes to size and shape: each of her demi-couture pieces is made to order by a small team in Misner’s East London studio and runs to size 30 and beyond. “Women come in all sizes, and couture isn’t just for one type of person,” Misner tells The Glossary . “I don’t think the narrative is going to change that easily, but the more we show that clothes are for all bodies, hopefully the more people will feel it for themselves.”
Corsetry has been at the heart of the young designer’s collections since she graduated from Brighton School of Art in 2019. She rode out the pandemic making bespoke corsets and selling them online before launching her eponymous label in 2022 and pairing them with impeccably draped and folded silks, satins and tulles to make redcarpet worthy gowns and extraordinary wedding dresses. “I am truly inspired by the couture designers from the 1950s and also the 1990s,” she says. “I think they all bring an incredible individuality that doesn’t exist any more. I love period dramas, and I have always loved costume design, too.” But alongside the beauty and provocation, there’s a good dose of tongue-in-cheek humour: these are dresses designed to make an impact but worn by women who don’t take themselves too seriously.
there’s a good dose of tongue-in-cheek humour: these are dresses designed to make
Pchetlo.com
owerful and sexy aren’t usually the first words that come to mind when you think about knitwear, but Chet Lo’s figure-hugging pieces are anything but ordinary. Each one of his striking looks gives off a grown-up, cyber-punk glamour, all sculptural shapes and tactile finishes. He even has a signature: a futuristic, spiky textile that, worked up into head-turning dresses or cutaway tops, becomes a kind of sensual armour (and that, whipped up into colourful bunny-shaped bags, has earned a cult following). It helps that a four-year stint learning ballet gave him an innate sense of how bodies move, and a determination that how you feel in what you wear is just as important as what you look like.
The Asian American designer works (alongside his muchloved dog, Akira) out of a studio in Hackney, east London, but grew up in New York, where he was inspired to work in fashion by watching Project Runway as a teenager. He crossed the Atlantic in 2015 to study for a BA in knitwear design at Central Saint Martins, during which time he interned at Maison Margiela under John Galliano and Proenza Schouler. Following the success of his first collections, including his otherworldly graduate collection Cnidaria’s Wife, inspired by Japanese comics and the 1950s, Lo went on to spend three seasons showing as part of incubator programme, Fashion East, before flying solo. He now counts the likes of Michaela Coel, Dua Lipa and Zendaya as fans.
Comfort and confidence are at the heart of every piece that he conjures up and, for Lo, that goes for all bodies. His show casting is diverse and inclusive - AW24’s Terracotta Army-inspired collection saw curve models including Ariish Wol, Davina Nkusi, Maia Ekua and Mesrara El Madahi take to the runway. And the innate stretchiness of his pieces, which run from a UK6 to a UK14, means that they’re built to accommodate the fluctuations in weight that go hand-in-hand with most women’s lives.
Michaela Stark’s lingerie is a joyful and visceral celebration of flesh. The artist, designer and couturier, whose studio is in Hackney Wick, is on a mission to shake up traditional beauty standards with her body morphing custom-made corsets and to empower the women that wear them. Her ultra-feminine pieces, impeccably crafted in silks and often hand dyed, are designed to enhance the natural curves, sensuality and squishiness of the female form. They’re unashamedly sexy and defiantly off-kilter: see her asymmetric corset that distorts the wearer’s breasts and stomach so that they spill out in unexpected shapes, or the silk wrap belt that’s made to bind tightly in whatever way you choose to wear it. Her aesthetic is ever-popular; last year, she crafted three looks (complete with wings made from a giant bow) for the Victoria’s Secret VS20 presentation, as part of a group of artists tasked with reimagining the lingerie company’s fashion show, and her loyal following is growing, including Beyoncé, Shygirl and Sam Smith. And now, alongside her bespoke, made-to-measure business, Stark has a ready-to-wear line, Panty, offering up playful lingerie with a vintage, pin-up feel, from silk bloomers to swishy babydolls, in size XXS through to 5XL. “My following is largely women who feel represented in what I do,” Stark tells The Glossary. “But they don’t necessarily have the money for a made-to-order piece - everything is embroidered and it takes about a week to make each corset. That’s one reason why I created Panty, plus I’m quite theatrical.”
Stark grew up and studied in Brisbane, Australia, before moving to London after graduation. In 2018, while working as a freelance seamstress, she started making clothes in her home studio, draping and fitting them to her own body. “Ever since I was a teenager I had an inbuilt lust for fashion - it was an escapist world I could enter. I loved it. But none of the designs fitted my shape, no matter what size I was - I used to think it was a problem with me,” says Stark. “When I worked with different brands, I realised that larger bodies were so often not even considered in the design process. There isn’t one type of beauty and I felt there were - and still are - so many possibilities that haven’t been considered, playing with different shapes, styles, silhouettes. It’s really exciting. I feel like I’ve explored that a lot in my artistry but we’ve only just scratched the surface with Panty.”
The NEW SEASON BAG EDIT
The AW24 bags take inspiration from New York to Scotland, with heritage materials and metallic embellishments
ASPINAL OF LONDON Hudson Collection aspinaloflondon
com
DIOR
Lady Dior Collection dior.com
evergreen to a rich purple, to reflect urban life in NYC.
Named after the river that runs through New York, Aspinal of London’s capsule has been designed to capture the city’s dynamism, but with all the elegance of the British luxury brand. The four styles of bag, which include a woven leather tote and a crossbody pouch, come in a deep palette of tones, from dark signature style a ‘rock vibe’, keeping the palette
Each season, Maria Grazia Chiuri introduces a reinterpretation of the iconic Lady Dior bag. This autumn, the designer has given the maison’s signature style a ‘rock vibe’, keeping the palette to just black and adorning the newest variations with embellishments such as piercings with dangling pearls and metallic studs - or simply keeping things minimal with a one-colour matte.
MULBERRY x Regina Pyo Collection
mulberry.com
Mulberry has tapped South Korean-born, London-based designer Rejina Pyo for its latest fashion collab, a limitededition collection made up of 15 pieces including three bag styles. All are reworkings of the British brand’s designs, with the Top Handle Crossbody inspired by the slouchy silhouette and minimal hardware of the Clovelly. Sustainability is woven throughout and all the leather used is carbon neutral through offsetting with the World Land Trust.
CELINE Nino Bag
celine.com
BALENCIAGA Bel Air Bag balenciaga.com
The classic, structured silhouette of Hedi Slimane’s new Nino bag, with its sleek lines and top handle, comes in calfskin, canvas or patent leather, its Triomphe logo hardwear - Celine’s motif dating from 1971 - taking centre stage. A triumph, literally.
A fashion editor one-tocovet, Balenciaga’s Bel Air bag is the new, laidback successor of the fashion house’s Rodeo bag. Indeed, they have much in common: both are named after places in Los Angeles, their slouchy silhouettes crafted from supple leather and striking gold-tone hardware. But the capacious Bel Air has been designed to reflect a more carefree, coolgirl vibe.
Look around and it would be easy to think that somehow we have been transported back to the Noughties. Why? Quite simply, boho is back. Floaty ankleskimming skirts paired with knee boots are all the rage; headscarves, peasant blouses, prairie dresses and wedge sandals now fill our social feeds. Perhaps the most poignant sign of all is that the queen of boho herself, Sienna Miller, is back, too, and leading the revival.
eBOHO
aesthetic for 2024 is far more luxury
But this new wave of bohoism is not the boho of yesteryear. Of the Olsen twins with their gigantic bags and heavy hardware, Kate Moss in waistcoats and tiny shorts, and Nicole Richie who transformed - thanks to stylist Rachel Zoe - from club princess to Pinterest board-worthy muse thanks to her extrawide belts and studded boots. The boho aesthetic for 2024 is far more luxury - part polished, part free-spirited, it is ultimately more grown-up.
was one of chiffon-filled celebration. To the sounds of Kate Bush’s sleeves and sweeping trains. Silhouettes
McCartney before her, rippled
The question ‘why now’ can be explained as the Chloé effect. Chemena Kamali’s AW24 collection for the French maison - her debut as creative directorwas one of chiffon-filled celebration. To the sounds of Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting and Femme Fatale by The Velvet Underground and Nico, models floated down the runway in sheer diaphanous gowns with tiered ruffles, billowing sleeves and sweeping trains. Silhouettes were fluid - flouncy minidresses, freeflowing trousers and lace bodysuits paired with 70s-style denim jeans, in neutral tones of tan, blush and beige with pops of mauve and dusty blue. Echoes of Phoebe Philo’s designs in the Noughties, and those of Stella McCartney before her, rippled through the collection.
Chemena Kamali’s bohemian look perfectly encapsulates and feminine spirit of the house’s roots
Words FLORA MACDONALD JOHNSTON
staples in the form of soft leather thighand written Philo the ultimate must-have item - Kamali’s
For the accessories, aviators were oversized, paired with chunky talismanic pendant necklaces and chokers, while the FROW were all wearing the newseason chunky wooden wedge heels. And, of course, there were the key Chloé staples in the form of soft leather thighhigh boots, and hardware, belts with Chloé written in gold and bohemianutilitarian bags. For those familiar with the house, a Chloé bag by Philo was the ultimate must-have item - Kamali’s bracelet bag will be no different.
Playful and romantic, hard and soft, free and yet considered, Kamali’s collection had shades of Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks, who was a master at adding a little edge to an ultrafeminine garment, pairing her long floaty dresses with wedged or suede boots. This new boho energy from the German fashion designer, who actually began her career at Chloé as part of Philo’s team, later rejoining as design director to Clare Waight Keller in 2012, has been received with open arms by the fashion world, who were quick to praise her
free-flowing vision, heralding her ‘Chloé girl’ aesthetic.
Perhaps this obsession with Kamali’s boho is because, currently, it is the perfect antidote to our highly frenetic world. Going with the flow has never looked - or felt - so beautiful, and you can clearly see its ripple effects. Actress Daisy Edgar-Jones is currently turning heads with an impeccable new wardrobe that’s down to stylist Dani Michelle and her Chloé looks. Beautiful and sweet floaty minidresses, or lace tops paired with easy, no-fuss, highwaisted jeans, middle parted hair that’s perfectly done and yet ‘untouched’. And it's not just celebrities seeking to amplify this new, easy-going, effortless Chloé look. Following Kamali’s debut, the search term ‘boho’ on Google has doubled and the vintage resale platform The RealReal saw a 43 per cent increase in searches for fringe.
The mood of boho within Chloé has a rich legacy. It was impossible not to notice that Kamali’s collection was deeply woven with the threads of Karl Lagerfeld’s tenure throughout the
1970s. One look, a scalloped blouse
1970s. One look, a scalloped blouse with flared jeans and kitten heels, was a direct homage to Lagerfeld, who, at the time, was mirroring the zeitgeist of the era when women were expressing themselves more freely and demanding more choices politically, culturally and socially. This was reflected in their wardrobes, with Lagerfeld designing for females who wanted to forge their own paths away from convention and tradition. Designs became less restrictive, linings and paddings done away with, replaced by light, sheer fabrics and flowy, easy-to-wear shapes. As Kamali wrote in her show notes: “The fluidity, motion and movement of the Chloé silhouette is all about this freedom.”
Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of Kamali’s Chloé - and the current elevated boho chic trend as a whole - is that there really is something for all. Beautiful yet wearable, it allows women to pick and choose what suits them best and to evoke whatever emotion they feel, to touch with their past and present self. The look may be rooted in nostalgia, but this new boho is timeless.
MODEL Behaviour
Model and muse Penelope Tree was an icon of Swinging London. Here, she talks to The Glossary about the zeitgeist of the Sixties, her spirituality and the value of self-worth
Words LUCIANA BELLINI
Photography
DAVID BAILEY & FENTON BAILEY
With her round, saucer-like eyes, signature blunt fringe and otherworldly aura, Penelope Tree has a face that defined an entire era. A style icon of the Swinging Sixties and credited with launching the flower power movement, she was one of the decade’s most sought-after models, photographed by everyone from Richard Avedon and Patrick Lichfield to Cecil Beaton. So, I’m a little surprised when we speak over the phone at how quiet and contemplative she is. I’d expected someone more bombastic, a larger-than-life character full of larger-than-life stories; instead, Penelope is softly spoken and selfdeprecating, as well as refreshingly honest. We’re speaking following the release of her first book, Piece of My Heart, an autobiographical novel told through the eyes of a teenage girl called Ari that chronicles Penelope’s extraordinary life, from her unhappy Upper East Side childhood to her explosive relationship with David Bailey, who here appears as the charismatic photographer Bill Ramsey. But Penelope is quick to point out that it’s not a roman-à-clef. “Everyone thinks what’s in the book is exactly how it happened, but it’s not,” she says in her soft American lilt. “But I’ve always wanted to write a novel,
and I always wanted to cover that period in my life, because it seemed I hadn’t really sorted that time in my head. I felt like there was still a lot of unfinished business.”
Penelope grew up in New York, the only child of the wealthy British MP Ronald Tree, who was a confidant of Winston Churchill, and the American socialite Marietta Peabody. Born into immense privilege, with a staff made up of butlers, maids and chauffeurs, she has described herself as a “poor little rich girl”, who was raised by nannies and spent little time
with her parents. Her mother was hugely ambitious and came to represent America at the United Nations, while her father spent most of his time in the West Indies (Penelope was 41 when she discovered, long after his death, that he had been gay). As a teenager she was incredibly shy and plagued by insecurities, but at 16 her life changed overnight after she attended Truman Capote’s 1966 Black and White Ball. The next morning, the legendary American Vogue editor Diana Vreeland rang her up.
“She said that Dick [Richard] Avedon had seen me at the ball - a week later, I found myself being photographed by him,” she recalls. “I’m quite a nervous and anxious person, but as soon as I got in front of his camera, I started to relax. It was quite a strange phenomenon, really; I just felt like I knew what to do, especially for him.” Avedon couldn’t get enough of her unique look - “She’s perfect. Don’t touch her,” he said at that first shootand Penelope was catapulted into the spotlight, with work flooding in. “It was an intoxicating time and so much fun as well,” she says. “Hanging around Dick was extraordinary, such a stimulating and inspiring atmosphere. My parents weren’t thrilled, because I was still at school. But suddenly I felt like I was coming into my own. I come from a complicated family and getting some recognition out from
In 1967, after she graduated from high school, Penelope headed to London. Once there, within a matter of months she met the British Vogue editor Beatrix Miller at a party, who also fell for the beguiling ingénue and immediately started booking her for shoots. Penelope quickly became one of the defining British models of the Sixties, alongside Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. Her extraordinary face - those enormous eyes, those impossibly high cheekbones - and her kooky sense of style perfectly encapsulated the free-spirited mood of the times. When John Lennon was asked to describe her in three words, he is said to have replied: “Hot, hot, hot, smart, smart, smart!”
But though it all sounds like something out of a fairytale, her sudden meteoric rise to fame came with its downsides. Penelope was secretly suffering from anorexia and had been since her boarding school days, when she got into the habit of weighing herself daily. “I came to modelling with my own set of complexes and neuroses, it wasn’t the fault of the fashion business,” she says. “But my anorexia did happen to dovetail with the look of the time. Back then it seemed to serve me well, but of course a few years down the line it really messed with my hormones and produced this sort of skin outbreak, which was horrible.”
Penelope battled with eating disorders well into her thirties and suffered terribly
from appearance addiction. “I had this bravura type of confidence when I was 18, but when things started to go bad with my skin, I lost it all, because it was based around the way I looked and that’s never a good thing. Basing your entire life around your appearance is just never going to be healthy.”
Yet, until Avedon spotted her, Penelope had never thought about going into modelling as a career. She’d hoped to study English literature at university and originally moved to London to be a reader for the renowned publisher Rupert HartDavis. “I didn’t think I could be a model, because I looked pretty weird,” she says. “A lot of people thought I looked like an alien and that I was hideous. I mean, the diameter of my head was bigger than my waist at the time. I was prone to breakouts, and I bit my nails; I wasn’t a typical model. But modelling also made me really happy.”
It was a chance encounter in the hallowed halls of Vogue House that really cemented her modelling career. It was there, in Beatrix Miller’s office, that Penelope first met David Bailey. “It was an instant attraction; I’d never had anything like that before,” she recalls. “I just knew in my bones that we were going to be together. But he was married [to Catherine Deneuve] and also had a girlfriend, so I didn’t even give it a second thought.” It wasn’t until almost a year later that the two became a couple, after Bailey (as she calls him) brought her back from New York to live in his flat in Primrose Hill. Penelope was 18 and Bailey was 30 - her parents were shocked and appalled - but she was wildly in love. “Those first few weeks were filled with unbelievable euphoric happiness.”
Through her relationship with Bailey, Penelope found herself at the heart of London’s social scene. “I much preferred London to anywhere else and I spent a lot of time in Chelsea,” she says. “Back then, designers and models mixed with all kinds of people; it was a time when all these different worlds were colliding - musicians and filmmakers and actors and aristocrats. There was this buzzing, cultural atmosphere, which made for the most amazing parties. It felt like a fresh take on life. A lot of my friends were older than me - people like Cecil Beaton and the writer Edna O’Brien. I mean, the mind boggles - it was such
a great mix. Society was very fluid; you never knew where you’d find yourself each evening.”
Despite the Sixties being an era of sexual liberation, it was rife with sexism. “The men still had all the power,” says Penelope. “Of course, there were some very strong women who took the reins in their own right, women like Germaine Greer and Beatrix Miller, but mostly girls my age were in the thrall of their boyfriends. The girlfriends were always in the shadows, and I think a lot of girls really suffered from that.”
“I much preferred London to anywhere else. It was a time when all these different worlds were colliding – musicians and filmmakers and actors and aristocrats. There was this buzzing, cultural atmosphere, which made for the most amazing parties. It felt like a fresh take on life”
That was certainly Penelope’s experience with Bailey, though, at first, she was too swept up in it all to notice. “We were working together and we were really, really happy for the first couple of years,” she says. They travelled the world together - “India, Nepal, Egypt, Turkey, all over Europe” - shooting magazine covers, while in London Penelope says
“every single day of our lives together was extraordinary. We’d be hanging out with the Kray twins, Robert Mitchum, John Lennon; it was crazy.”
But it wasn’t long before the cracks started to show. “There were a lot of different energies pulling at him, including lots of girls - every model in the world wanted to show him their book, as it were. I was desperately jealous, but I was so in love I thought it would last forever. It was unsustainable because it just wasn’t in him
to be monogamous. There was a famous line, ‘David Bailey makes love daily’. I don’t know why I didn’t pay more attention to that at the time… I just thought it was going to be roses and castles forever – or roses and baked beans, more likely. But it was not to be.”
Her relationship with Bailey fell apart around the same time as her skin deteriorated, which put a swift end to her modelling career in 1974. “I had these deep scars on my face and nobody could really talk about it or look at me,” she says. That same year she was arrested for possession of cocaine the very first time she bought it. But despite their relationship imploding, Penelope says she and Bailey remain close friends. “I visit Bailey often and we still have a lot of laughs; he’s very funny. His wife, Catherine, is great too. They made me godmother to their son, Fenton. And even though he’s not particularly well, he’s still very much Bailey. I’m really
fond of the old bugger and I know he’s fond of me, too.”
After splitting from Bailey, Penelope moved to Los Angeles and then Australia with her first husband, Ricky Fataar, a musician with the Beach Boys. There she gave birth to her daughter, Paloma, now 44; 10 years later she had a son, Michael, with a Jungian psychotherapist, her partner for many years before they split a decade ago. Motherhood had a profound impact on Penelope. “Having my daughter was a huge breakthrough; before then, I wasn’t really interested in children - I’d never even held a baby. But from the second she was born, I adored her. It really helped my confidence, because I had a natural birth and I breastfed her for a couple of years, which gave me a deeper experience of life - much more than any experience I had when I was modelling.”
She credits motherhood as one of the main things that finally helped her overcome decades of eating disorders, as well as her many years of therapy. In the 1980s she discovered Buddhism, at a time when she was surrounded by friends who were dying from Aids. “I met the Dalai Lama in New York and I felt such a deep connection with him; I decided I wanted to find out as much as possible about Buddhism,” she says. “Now I practise at least an hour every day.” She also works closely with the charity Lotus Outreach, which was founded to help street children in southeast Asia.
Now 74, Penelope’s happy to be ageing gracefully. She says she hasn’t had anything done to her face and feels “very lucky” because she can still move her body. She puts this down to a daily exercise regime which includes a mix of kundalini yoga and something called the five Tibetan rites, which she says keeps her supple. For her, it’s all about balance. “I don’t have eating disorders anymore, but when I’m on my own I don’t drink and I try to eat very healthily - lots of vegetables, carbs and protein,” she says. “I’m not into faddy diets; I just try to listen to my body.”
Though she rarely models anymore, Penelope made a catwalk comeback for Fendi in 2020 and recently appeared in Vivienne Westwood’s SS24 campaign. Why did she say yes to that one? “Because I knew it would be a lot of fun – it took place in this mannequin factory in Walthamstow and Juergen Teller took the photographs. And I love Andreas
“A lot of my friends were older than me – people like Cecil Beaton and the writer Edna O’Brien. I mean, the mind boggles - it was such a great mix. Society was very fluid; you never knew where you’d find yourself each evening”
Kronthaler [Westwood’s widower]– he’s like a mad genius,” she says. “I really enjoy working in a creative team. I enjoy that so much, it’s what I liked about modelling to begin with. And now it’s great to meet lots of young creatives as well.”
“The thing is, I’m 74 and I haven’t had plastic surgery, so I know it’s not going to be easy for the photographer. I figure if they do hire me, they must know what they’re getting into.” She thinks the recent vogue for including older models in campaigns is a hugely positive thing. “Well, aren’t we half the population or something? I mean, it just sort of makes sense. Why only use 21-year-olds who weigh eight stone or less when most of the population are not like that?”
Now based in the Sussex countryside, she says she now basically lives in jeans and no longer has much need for the couture clothes of her youth. Indeed, she has just one shirt from her modelling heyday. “It’s one of those Hungarian white cheesecloth shirts with the most beautiful old-school embroidery. That’s the only thing I have from then because I moved about a million times. Moved hemispheres even.”
She’s an avid art lover and has long collected Australian art, as well as amassing a vast book collection. She comes to London at least two or three days a week, to get her cultural fix but also to see her son and her friends. “I can’t really do three weeks on the trot in the country living on my own,” she says. “Again, it’s about getting the right balance.”
When I ask her why now felt like the right time to write her book, she says she actually started the process when she was in her early sixties, after she broke up with her long-term partner. “I needed solitude to write, and suddenly I had it,” she says. “It took a lot longer than I anticipated, because I really had to learn to write.” She describes it as a cathartic process. “It felt exposing, but also freeing.” Are there plans to write more? “Definitely. It gave me a lot of satisfaction; when you’ve written a paragraph that you’re pleased with, it feels like you’ve achieved something solid.”
“But I’m still very excited by fashion and the new collections,” she continues. She cites Pierpaolo Piccioli, who until recently headed up Valentino, and Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri as two of her favourite designers, while her favourite British designer is Duro Olowu. “And who could fail to love the John Galliano couture collection for Maison Margiela? It was on another level,” she says. “They’re all such amazing talents - and also they employ so many amazing talents. The women who work for the couture houses, they’re just incredible people and artists themselves.”
And now that Piece of My Heart is out there in the world, how would she like it to be received? She stops to think for a moment. “One of the main issues in the book is appearance addiction. I think that’s a problem most girls face these days. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like if there’d been social media when I was modelling - it would have been horrendous. It was bad enough comparing myself to all the other models; imagine comparing yourself to the whole world of beautiful women.” She pauses. “I just hope it can be helpful to people who might be battling some of those same issues. I feel so lucky and grateful to have found a way to move beyond them myself. When you can do that, it completely changes your life.”
Piece of my Heart by Penelope Tree (£18.99, Moonflower Books) is out now
WATCHESJewellery
RARE BEAUTY
Giorgio Armani’s latest fine jewellery collection seeks inspiration from that most rare and graceful of flowers, Sambac jasmine. The exotic bloom, carved from milky agate and adorned with delicate diamond stamens and drop-shaped peridot leaves set in gold, blossoms across a necklace, earrings, ear cuff and rings. Available from October. giorgioarmani.com
RAY OF LIGHT Watch & Jewellery Notes
The latest launches & most covetable new pieces to have on your radar
Compiled by KIM PARKER
Creating Change
“The act of creating is one of hope, of optimism,” says Pippa Small. Since 2008, the London jeweller has worked with artisans in Afghanistan to give them a creative outlet and a commercial platform. Their latest collaboration, The Afghanistan Coins Collection, incorporates ancient solar symbols “to denote life and positivity”. From £230 for the 18k gold vermeil earrings pippasmall.com
FLYING HIGH
Taiwanese high jewellery designer Cindy Chao has unveiled a sparkling 20-year anniversary collection. Inspired by nature and studded with rare gemstones, it features her signature leaf motif across six exquisite pieces, as well as four titanium Dragonfly brooches to represent both the ever-evolving seasons and her personal journey as an artist. Four Seasons and Dragonfly collection cindychao.com
Seasons collection
CANDY CRUSH
Showcased at this year’s Watches & Wonders fair, Vacheron Constantin’s limited-edition Égérie Moon Phase watch was designed with Chinese couturier Yiqing Yin. A ‘pleated’ mother-of-pearl dial and plenty of diamond detailing nod to Yin’s bespoke gowns, while soft Parma violet shades “are the delicate embodiment of daydreams”, she reveals. vacheron-constantin.com
JOY DIVISION
Kia Schwan, founded by New York jeweller Kia Schwaninger, is the new jewellery brand to have on your radar. The debut Colorhythms collection draws inspiration from the geometric lines of Art Deco design, resulting in a capsule of one-of-a-kind creations that combine architectural motifs with custom-cut stones and diamond accents in cheerful colour-block combinations. Disc Brooch with turquoise, chrysoprase, opal, sapphire and diamonds in 18k gold, price on request kiaschwan.com
PITCH PERFECT
Classical music’s “voice of an angel” Carly Paoli has lent her heavenly features to the Italian fine jewellery house Fope by becoming its ambassador. “It is jewellery I can wear all day, every day, and yet still stands out as unique statement pieces on a stage,” says the soprano, whose Apulian heritage means she feels a special a iliation for the iconic brand. The maison is renowned for both its signature Novecento mesh chain design and groundbreaking Flex’it technology, which allows its pieces to bend and adapt to the wearer. No other brand is able to produce flexible jewellery entirely and solely using 18-carat gold, so exquisitely exemplified in the elegant white gold and diamond pavé Super Eka collection, worn here by Paoli.
RING TRUE
The British jeweller Cece Fein Hughes found herself in the spotlight earlier this year when it was revealed that supermodel Gigi Hadid commissioned her to create special signet rings for her BFFs Taylor Swift and Kendall Jenner, featuring their beloved pets. While Swift’s ring includes an enamel portrait of her cat Benjamin Button, Jenner’s design features her Doberman pinscher dogs. The brand’s bespoke service allows Cece to hand-paint and engrave meaningful motifs from your life on rings or pendants using traditional techniques and ethically-sourced materials, creating a truly one-off personalised piece. cecejewellery.com
1A Old Bond Street, Mayfair, W1 fope.com
TWIST IN THE TALE
Inspired by the Futurism movement, the hand-twisted links in Buccellati’s best-selling Hawaii collection were the brainchild of founder Mario Buccellati in the 1930s. This season the high jewellery brand has added a new update, the Hawaii Oval line. It comprises a necklace and a matching pair of earrings featuring cascades of oval motifs in different sizes, reminiscent of the eye, crafted in yellow gold or in a combination of yellow, pink and white gold – as befits a house that is proud of its storied goldsmithing origins. buccellati.com
All Points
WEST
The diamond dealer and jewellery designer Thelma West has been blazing a trail in the industry for two decades
Words KIM PARKER
Portrait ALESSANDRA FINELLI
“Ialways tell people if you need a creative boost, you’ve got to come to London. If you want to get your senses awakened in all sorts of ways, it is the place to be,” says the bespoke jeweller Thelma West over the phone from her Soho studio. Having moved from Hatton Garden to her current location in Kingly Street in 2021, West is certainly never far from artistic inspiration. “I love the vibe in Soho. It’s close enough to Mayfair and all the traditional heritage brands there, but the energy is different – it’s a bit cooler and more eclectic, which I like,” she says.
Born in Lagos, West has been immersed in the sparkling world of diamond dealing and jewellery design for almost two decades and says her fascination with the industry began early on. “I have a photo of myself at nine months old, I can barely sit up and yet I’m covered in jewellery. Jewellery is a big thing in Nigeria. Everyone - men and women alike - loves to look their best and jewellery is an enormous part of self-expression,” she explains. “The women in my family would spread out their clothes and match their jewels perfectly to their outfits. It’s not necessarily always about expensive pieces, it could be semi-precious jewels with corals or citrines - it was just about what worked with your outfit and brought you joy. For special parties or birthdays I would be allowed to wear a pair of my mother’s earrings or one of her bangles, but if I wore them I had to behave well and play nicely. It was a choice I was happy to make. I think it definitely helped to shape my love of jewels.”
West’s prodigious curiosity led her to studying mechanical engineering at university in the UK - “Back then, jewellery design wasn’t considered a legitimate career choice compared to other, more stable jobs” - but a family misfortune led to her having to leave her course early and enrol onto a much more affordable
apprenticeship at the Diamond Bourse in Antwerp, the city’s main diamond-dealing organisation. “After that, I did a course at HRD Antwerp [an academy of gemmology and diamond grading] and then came back to London in about 2002, ready to pound the streets and look for a job in diamond trading,” she recalls.
Despite West’s obvious passion for diamonds (she even developed her own method of tracing the gems using a pair of specialised tweezers, which earned her a patent in 2008), her entry into the secretive and relatively closed world of stone dealing was far from straightforward. “Being a woman, people didn’t want to give me a chance. Some wouldn’t even shake my hand. At first, I had to send my male business partner into meetings to do the deals on my behalf. I’d coach him on what to say and how to get the job done,” she says.
ABOVE: photo by Christina Nwabugo LEFT: The cool contrast of black ceramic and pear-cut diamond makes West’s Rebel Black ring a standout piece. Seeing Rihanna wear it to the 2021 Met Gala, West says, was a “life-changing experience”. Rebel Black Ring, price on request
“I always tell people if you need a creative boost, you’ve got to come to London. If you want to get your senses awakened in all sorts of ways, it is the place to be”
“Things are definitely moving in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go. I’d like to see more openness within the industry. It’s a slow change but we need to keep pushing for innovation from every angle. We need more young women to come into the industry and be unafraid to try their hand and ask lots of questions.”
Far from allowing it to set her back, West channelled her frustration into two separate businesses: Yeraua Diamonds, an ethical diamond sourcing company she co-founded in 2008, and her own gemological lab, IGR London – an independent diamond and gemstone grading service catering to retailers, jewellers and dealers. “At the time, no-one was hiring many women around Hatton Garden, where I was based, so I set out to change that. Everything really stemmed from my love of the stones themselves. Traceability and sustainability has always been crucial to me, and I wanted to look at stones that no one else wanted, because they were not as symmetrically perfect, or not standard size. I wanted to find the magic that I knew was beneath what others saw as flaws and find the best way to release it.”
Not only that, but West’s work now also supports two female-focused philanthropic programmes in Lagos, both run under the name ‘Tsedek
LEFT: photo by Christina Nwabugo ABOVE: West’s Embrace Untamed bangles are so popular people buy them directly off her wrists. “It’s because I don’t stack them. I let each one be its own statement,” she says.
Embrace Untamed Bangles in 18k Rose, Black and Yellow Gold with Trapeze-Cut Gemstones, prices on request
be Libi’, which translates to ‘Justice in my heart’. One provides widows with the means to achieve financial independence by setting up their own businesses, and another offers scholarships to schoolgirls throughout secondary school. “We support them with books, uniforms, equipment, whatever they need until they graduate. So far, we have supported 214 girls,” she says.
It was a friend’s request for West to design an engagement ring using an antique diamond that led her to establish her eponymous, custom design business in 2012. “I transitioned into designing quite organically. People had been asking me to design pieces for them for ages, but I’d always resisted because I never had time. It was the thought of using an old-cut stone for my friend, which was shaped by hand and therefore much more romantic to me, that melted my heart. I love the more subtle, gentle sparkle of an antique diamond so I felt like I just had to design the piece for her,” she says.
The jeweller describes her aesthetic as “bold and eclectic” and she looks up to innovators such as JAR, Wallace Chan, Suzanne Belperron and Elsa Peretti for their uncompromising attitudes and innovative approaches to design and materials. West’s own sculptural silhouettes are often derived from nature, highlighting “the beauty of rare and unusual diamonds”, which are, of course, her favourite gem. Her Sugar Cane bands, for example, which debuted in 2018, owe their knobbly outline to a favourite childhood snack and have proven popular as modern engagement rings. West’s creations are formed using only ethically sourced diamonds and recycled gold, though she’s also experimented with more unusual materials such as titanium and ceramic, as seen in her iconic Rebel Black ring design, which also launched in 2018.
Indeed it was a Rebel Black ring that helped to catapult West’s profile into the international spotlight, when Rihanna was photographed wearing one at the Met Gala in 2021. “That moment changed everything,” West recalls. “I had so many wonderful messages from other jewellers and
The Glossary Edit
Going West
The designer’s sculptural jewels will add drama to any collection
artists recognising my work, which meant a lot to me. It was an emotional time. It also led to a huge amount of interest - I even had to expand my team to keep up with the enquiries.” Despite this surge in demand, West has (so far) resisted the pressure to launch seasonal collections. “For me, a lot of the joy in my work is getting to know people and hearing their stories and creating something unique for them.”
Resolving to blaze her own trail has certainly paid off. In 2022, West was one of 25 leading Black contemporary jewellery designers who took part in Brilliant & Black, a travelling exhibition held by Sotheby’s. Her chosen design, the Nokturna headband, featured a diamond-set African moon moth motif perched on a stalk of yellow gold sugarcane, a tribute to her heritage. “I fell in love with the rebellious nature of the lunar moth, which always flies towards the light even though it hurts,” she says. Shortly after that Kensington Palace requested one of West’s Rebel Black rings for its sellout 2023 fashion exhibition, Crown To Couture, where it was displayed alongside pieces by Schiaparelli and Chopard; a “pinch me” moment that still thrills West to this day.
Today, when she isn’t exploring the woods around her Highgate home or taking in retrospectives at favoured haunts like Kenwood House or the Victoria & Albert Museum, West finds plenty of inspiration at an 18th-century farmhouse in Puglia that she and her family have been restoring for two years. “We’re doing a lot of reforesting on the land and producing wine from our own vineyard. I’m really enjoying learning about an entirely new industry,” she says. Later this autumn, West hopes to expand further into Asia with her first exhibition in Singapore and there may also be a potential studio move in London next year. “I love my studio in Kingly Street but the one thing I don’t have there is a window display, where I can tell the story of my brand to everyone that walks by. I’d really like a window,” she says. “I can’t say where yet, but I’m excited to get going.”
thelmawest.com
CHAUMET Brooch in White and Rose Gold, Turquoise, Diamonds and Enamel POA
WATCH REPORT
From 1970s-inspired dress watches to ultra-tough titanium timepieces, 2024’s latest innovations prove there’s something for everyone
Words KIM PARKER
The sun shone brightly at this year’s prestigious Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva, illuminating what was a dazzling week of style and innovation, mixed with a handful of astonishing record-breakers. Previously aimed at industry press, buyers and a few lucky insiders, this year’s event turned out to be the biggest and most successful to date, with 54 fine watchmakers showcasing their latest novelties, which meant there were hundreds of fabulous new timepieces to discover. Building on the success of last year’s salon, this year’s iteration also saw 19,000 general admittance tickets being sold to curious and watch-loving members of the public, who were able to attend the final three days of the fair, taking the total number of visitors to over 49,000.
It was high times all round and there was plenty of haute horlogerie for everyone to marvel at. Bulgari presented its 1.7mm-thick Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC, which scooped the record for being the thinnest watch ever made. Meanwhile, Vacheron Constantin unveiled two surprising novelties: the Égérie Pleats of Time concept watch, which was created in collaboration with the haute couture designer Yiqing Yin and boasted a bejewelled, perfumed strap, and The Berkley Grand Complication pocket watch, the world’s most complex timepiece with 63 different complications (including the first perpetual Chinese calendar). Alongside this, there were elegant future classics, retro-inspired bracelets, chunky tool watches, sleek sports timepieces and even marvellous automatons, created as mechanical odes to nature. Here, we bring you our Watches and Wonders highlights, plus the noteworthy novelties released since then.
GOLD Retro
Luxury makers are betting big on bold, gold watches with design cues from their past
This season’s freshest timepieces were undoubtedly inspired by archival designs.
Patek Philippe evoked the heady jet-set era with a reinterpretation of its 1968 Golden Ellipse dress watch, with its unmistakable, elliptical case now housing an ultra-thin, self-winding movement and adorned with a slinkier chain bracelet with a patented new design. An ebony-black sunburst dial provides a bold contrast to the case and bracelet’s warm rose gold, making the latter glow and allowing its slender hands and hour markers to be seen clearly.
To celebrate its 150th anniversary year, Piaget has looked to its goldsmithing patrimony and revived its glamorous Polo watch, which debuted in 1979 and was the first in its collection to be individually named. While the sports-luxe look of the slimline original has been preserved, the novel Polo 79 is now powered
by an automatic calibre, rather than a quartz battery - yet is only a touch larger than its predecessor, a feat which took Piaget’s design team six years to perfect.
Having its own foundry means Chopard can guarantee the ethical sourcing of the 18-carat rose gold that makes up its new 44mm Alpine Eagle XL Chrono, a re-envisioned, all-gold edition of its iconic flyback chronograph. Continuing to extend its Royal Oak family, which has been a success since 1972, Audemars Piguet has introduced a new 41mm, yellow gold model of its Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked watch, with a cool anthracite-coloured inner movement and bezel. And just prior to Watches and Wonders, Bulgari introduced a bold take of its Octo Finissimo in yellow gold with a blue dial that basically kickstarted 2024’s gold rush.
Back to Black
This season’s all-black watches look to the dark side
Perhaps taking inspiration from its fashion house’s roots, Gucci has introduced a touch of monochromatic magic with its Interlocking watch collection. The 41mm automatic variant is crafted in midnight-hued PVD (coated steel), paired with a sporty rubber strap and an interlocking monogram motif at the 6 o’clock marker that ticks out the time as the seconds pass by.
Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms Automatique diver’s watch now comes with a chunkier, 42mm diameter case made from titanium, with an inky-black dial and matching strap available in either sail canvas or NATO fabric, as an homage to its watery origins. Tissot, too, has reworked a classic, with a skeletonised, allblack version of its handsome Chemin des Tourelles - a timepiece named for the street in Switzerland where Tissot’s factory was established in 1907 and where it still operates to this day.
TOP TO BOTTOM: TISSOT Chemin des Tourelles Skeleton, £870, tissotwatches.com
Fifty Fathoms Automatique, £14,600, blancpain.com
Green Dream
Shades of green are everywhere in a timeless ode to nature
From dials to straps to luminous detailing, green was all over Watches and Wonders, with shades ranging from aqua (Grand Seiko, Parmigiani Fleurier) through to forest (Oris, Tag Heuer) and, yes, even ‘brat’ green - though we simply called it lime back then. Vacheron Constantin’s new Overseas models were some of the loveliest, boasting racing green dials on a chronograph, date watch and dual time version, their leafy hues contrasting beautifully against their rose gold casing. British watchmaker Bremont was on a mission to reinvent its Supermarine 300m diving watch, which now features a slimmer case, hardy rubber or leather strap, a clearer dial in dark green, and a case back engraved with a map of the world’s oceans.
bracelets
Jewellery-inspired bangle watches to accessorise with, now and forever
We just cannot get enough of a sparkling wrist stack, complete with a braceletshaped timepiece. Chanel, Bulgari and Dior have all launched bejewelled versions, designed to be worn alongside our favourite bangles. At Watches and Wonders, however, this category surely belonged to Cartier. The maker unveiled new versions of its much-lauded Baignoire and introduced a cuff-watch hybrid called Reflection de Cartier. Available in either plain yellow, rose or white gold, or high jewellery gemset versions, these pieces resemble sculptural bracelets at first, revealing a watch face at the cuff’s opening, reflected in a mirror-like surface at the other end.
PINK In The
From baby to bubblegum, pink adds softness to even the most complex pieces
Maybe it’s because the world feels so uncertain, but watchmakers have been seeing things through rose-tinted spectacles of late and our wrists are set to be all the happier for it. Tudor led the way earlier in the year with a limited-edition version of its traditional 41mm Black Bay automatic watch in steel. Its striking, pale pink dial with contrasting black sub-counters and bezel instantly made it a new must-have and the timepiece became immensely tough to track down.
Collectors proved equally smitten by Hublot’s limitededition Big Bang Unico Pink Sapphire, which showed off its decidedly complex inner workings through baby pink polished sapphire crystal. Not to be outdone, Louis Vuitton’s Sakura Vivienne placed a technical, ‘jumping hours’ mechanism behind a sweet facade inspired by the Japanese cherry blossom festival, complete with its playful Vivienne motif dressed in a powder kimono and adorned with glittering white diamonds.
TTITANIUM
Hardier than steel yet lightweight, titanium is the must-have modern metal
Renowned for its toughness and lightness, titanium is a favourite material for endurance watch makers, who introduced several unexpected models this year. Case in point: Roger Dubuis’ Excalibur Monotourbillon
Titanium, crafted from grade 5 titanium (dubbed ‘the workhorse’ of alloys due to its strength and corrosion resistance) and therefore hypoallergenic - perfect for even the sweatiest adventurers. Pilot watchmaker Bell & Ross’s X5 Titanium features a micro-blasted, matte finish, upgrading its classic good looks with a tougher edge. Meanwhile, titanium imbues this year’s most avant-garde timepiece, the limited-edition Casquette 2.0 co-created by Girard-Perregaux and Saint Laurent, with a space-age sheen - an homage to the polycarbonate covering of its 1970s predecessor. The new Casquette is also leaner and more comfortable than its forebear, with an upgraded quartz movement LED display that allows its wearer to check the day and date, plus a memorable anniversary of their choice, as well as the time.
check the day and date, plus a memorable anniversary of their choice, as well as the time.
Supermodel skin.
Supermodel skin.
The Moisturiser
The Moisturiser
The Hydrator
Hydrator
The Brightener
The Brightener The Anti-Ager The
Your skin’s needs are unique and always changing. World-renowned beauty trailblazer and cosmetic doctor to A-List supermodels, Dr Jean-Louis Sebagh created the concept of mixing different, powerful serums to create a truly personalised daily ritual. Pioneering a sustainable approach to beauty packaging, products are also available box-free, at a saving of 10% when you shop at drsebagh.com. Potent and award-winning, the iconic serums—including the trio shown here—can be used alone or combined, for agelessly radiant results. Moisturising is essential to restore the skin barrier, protect against environmental aggressors, seal in hydration and keep skin plump. Deeply moisturise and soothe your skin using Rose de Vie Serum, with antioxidant and nourishing rosehip oil, blended with the hydrating, hyaluronic acid-rich Serum Repair, which instantly leaves skin looking and feeling plumped, firmer and tighter.
Your skin’s needs are unique and always changing. World-renowned beauty trailblazer and cosmetic doctor to A-List supermodels, Dr Jean-Louis Sebagh created the concept of mixing different, powerful serums to create a truly personalised daily ritual. Pioneering a sustainable approach to beauty packaging, products are also available box-free, at a saving of 10% when you shop at drsebagh.com. Potent and award-winning, the iconic serums—including the trio shown here—can be used alone or combined, for agelessly radiant results.
Moisturising is essential to restore the skin barrier, protect against environmental aggressors, seal in hydration and keep skin plump. Deeply moisturise and soothe your skin using Rose de Vie Serum, with antioxidant and nourishing rosehip oil, blended with the hydrating, hyaluronic acid-rich Serum Repair, which instantly leaves skin looking and feeling plumped, firmer and tighter.
Add a trouble-shooting, ‘Ageing-Maintenance’ hero to the mix with a few drops of Supreme Maintenance Youth Serum. Boasting a high percentage of expertly targeted active ingredients, this advanced, luxurious serum includes the ‘youth molecule’ Resveratrol, three antiaging peptides, a mineral radiance booster and an anti-pollution film.
Add a trouble-shooting, ‘Ageing-Maintenance’ hero to the mix with a few drops of Supreme Maintenance Youth Serum. Boasting a high percentage of expertly targeted active ingredients, this advanced, luxurious serum includes the ‘youth molecule’ Resveratrol, three antiaging peptides, a mineral radiance booster and an anti-pollution film.
Power-up your serum blend even more with a little Pure Vitamin C Powder Cream. This patented, highly concentrated and stabilised powder-to-cream formula can be mixed with any serum to brighten the skin, prevent pigmentation and bring back its glow.
Power-up your serum blend even more with a little Pure Vitamin C Powder Cream. This patented, highly concentrated and stabilised powder-to-cream formula can be mixed with any serum to brighten the skin, prevent pigmentation and bring back its glow.
To find your nearest Dr Sebagh stockist, or to shop online with the option to go box-free, visit drsebagh.com
To find your nearest Dr Sebagh stockist, or to shop online with the option to go box-free, visit drsebagh.com
BEAUTY
BELLA EPOQUE
Supermodel Bella Hadid’s new natural fragrance line Ôrebella comprises a trio of alcohol-free intentional skin parfums, each one a bi-phase formula, meaning you have to shake the scent to activate it. Created to amplify the wearer’s aura, they are powered by the brand’s proprietary Ôrəlixir, a blend of essential oils to nourish and hydrate the skin. A percentage of each sale goes to Bella’s Alchemy Foundation, which works to create positive change from empowering young women to elevating lives through nature. orebella.com
Beauty Notes
The future-forward facial, a flawless foundation and the new self-care bodycare brand
Compiled by CHARLOTTE ADSETT
Haute Makeup
FRENCH KISS
Celine Beauté is the first ever cosmetics line in the Parisian house’s near 80-year history. The collection - designed by Hedi Slimane - comes in chic art deco-inspired gold casing and will feature new pieces unveiled each season, starting with the launch of Le Rouge Celine in Rouge Triomphe, a satiny letterbox-red lipstick. celine.com
GLOW AND TELL
French natural nail brand Manicurist has launched the first ever colour-and-conditioning hybrid nail polish. Active Glow not only gives a minimal, natural aesthetic, the clean formula is infused with nourishing sweet almond oil and regenerating plant extracts and AHAs for brighter, healthier nails with long-lasting brilliant shine. £16; manicurist.com
IN THE PICTURE
Augustinus Bader has collaborated with Sofia Coppola on a trio of sheer tinted lip balms, in shades that have personal resonance with the film director. As well as delivering a wash of buildable colour, The Tinted Lip Balm is enriched with a blend of hydrating plant-based butters and oils, to keep lips soft and moisturised in the colder weather season. £33; augustinusbader.com
HIDE & CHIC
The new Vital Skincare Concealer from clean beauty brand Westman Atelier is a makeup bag essential. The melt-in formula not only comes in 16 shades and offers buildable coverage to neutralise dark circles and hide imperfections, it is packed with serum-strength actives to hydrate, firm and brighten the skin simultaneously. £45; spacenk.com
COMFORT & JOY
Joonbyrd, the creation of dermatologist and aesthetician Dr Alexis Granite, has swiftly become a beauty editor favourite. The new bodycare brand is formulated using a patented blend of actives, botanical extracts and pre-, pro- or postbiotics, and is designed to bring joy to your everyday rituals. The Moon Swim Body Wash, Little Love Body Lotion, Violet Haze Body Scrub, Sunday Sofa Body Butter and DayDreamer Body Serum all feature the moodboosting fragrance of vanilla and caramel latte - and all are refillable. The latest addition to the collection is a trio of nurturing hand care products including our go-to, the Palm Wild Hand Wash, formulated to leave hands nourished and silky-smooth. From £48, joonbyrd.com
STAR QUALITY
Hollywood makeup artist Patrick Ta is renowned for the dewy luminosity he bestows on his clients. So when he launches a new foundation, it’s a guaranteed glow-up. The Major Skin Hydra-Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation is a lightweight, buildable formula that comes in 30 shades. Formulated with serum-inspired ingredients, including hyaluronic acid and squalane, it delivers a soft-focus finish, leaving skin with a natural radiance and freshness. £45; patrickta.com
ABOUT FACE
Dr Sebagh has introduced The Ultimate Skin Booster, a new bespoke skincare treatment at his flagship clinic in Marylebone. Tailor-made personally by the world-leading aesthetic doctor and anti-ageing expert for each individual patient, the innovative facial combines cutting-edge technologies, ingredients and therapies. Expect high-intensity focused ultrasound, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and fibrin treatments (PRF), polynucleotides, hyaluronic acid and exosomes, designed to target micro areas of the face, leaving skin noticeably lifted, smoothed and overall texture and condition dramatically improved - and all with zero downtime. No wonder Dr Sebagh is the supermodel go-to for long-lasting radiance and rejuvenation. For optimum results, he recommends a course of three treatments, spaced three months apart. From £800 Chandos House, 2 Queen Anne Street, Marylebone, W1; drsebagh.com
SKINCARE EDIT eBODY
Skincare shouldn’t stop at the neck. Beauty Director Alessandra Steinherr shares the face-grade products to enhance your body care routine
It can be easy to overlook skincare for the body, especially if we’re pressed for time. While we are fastidious in implementing a skincare regimen for our face in the morning and evening, our bodies get less attention. Perhaps because we usually shower or bathe just once a day and, of course, we’re often covered up, so there is a sense of ‘out of sight, out of mind’. We just aren’t as diligent and, as a result, the skin on our bodies doesn’t have the same clarity, can be super dry and prone to pigmentation (while we’re assiduous about applying SPF daily on our face, for example, we aren’t quite so attentive when it comes to our arms or chest). Personally, I know I spend more attention on my face, but skincare shouldn’t stop at the neck - we need to take a similar approach to the skin on our bodies. Thanks to a new wave of high-performing skincare formulas that contain results-driven ingredients, you can now implement a face-grade routine for your body. Powered by peptides and antioxidants, gentle acids and botanicals, this new breed of products will leave the skin on our bodies as bright and smooth as our complexion. Retinol, for example, often considered as the gold standard face ingredient for plump and youthful skin, is being added to body creams and lotions for similar results. Meanwhile, body care brands are now targeting specific skin conditions such as keratosis pilaris, with dermapproved products to tackle the red bumps often found on the back of arms and legs. Call it the skincare-ification of body skincare if you will. Here’s my guide to the ultimate body skincare routine and the products that will help you achieve an all-over glow for the season ahead.
SKINCARE SAVIOURS
Just as you would start your daily face regimen with cleansing, the same goes for your body care. Whatever your facial type, the skin on your body will be drier, so the key is to always use a gentle cleanser such as Rahua Enchanted Island Body Glow Wash (£32). This plant-powered body wash contains hyaluronic acid to really nourish and hydrate, leaving the skin super soft and moisturised. It’s also infused with coconut and guava for a tropical island paradise vibe. The next stage is exfoliation, which is key for sloughing away dead skin cells and revealing silky, smooth skin. A fantastic new exfoliator is Bamford B Vibrant Tonifying Body Polish (£45) Made with upcycled coffee grounds
from Daylesford cafés, it gives that polish without being too harsh on skin and the peppermint leaf oil delivers an invigorating freshness.
(£124)
Daydreamer Firming Body
Serum (£90). The ultra-light, gel-like formula, powered by 18 different actives and botanicals, transforms into an oil when you massage it into the skin, giving an extra layer of hydration and leaving skin pepped and rejuvenated. If your skin is parched, Augustinus Bader The Body Cream (£150) is hard to beat as a moisturiser; it’s super rich, nourishing and will bring back all the oils you’ve lost from your skin.
If you don't want to use a scrub on the body, U Beauty Resurfacing Body Compound a topical product for those particularly bumpy patches of skin, such as your heels, elbows or knees. It’s a very light gel, more like a serum, that’s packed with gentle acids which will refine and soften the dry, rough areas. We all know about the brightening benefits of Vitamin C for the facenow we have Vitamin C for the body. If you have dull skin, ThisWorks Perfect Body Vit C Glow (£38) is absolutely gorgeous. It sits between a serum and a lotion, so feels very fresh, and its sweet orange and geranium scent is divine. As well as containing 2% vitamin C to revitalise and brighten skin, it has vitamin B12 which is conditioning, hyaluronic acid for hydration and shea butter to support the skin’s barrier. In the same way you’d use a hydrating serum on the face, if the skin on your body is dry as the desert, I recommend Joonbyrd
To potentially slow the ageing process on the body and stimulate collagen production, use a retinolbased body product. As well as helping reduce wrinkling or fine lines - especially on the neck, decolletage, arms and inner thighs - it can also work on sun damage and scarring; it’s the ultimate boot camp for the body. As always, my advice when using retinol is to introduce it slowly, maybe once or twice a week, and always at night. Chantecaille Rose de Mai Body Cream with Retinol (£135) not only feels luxurious to apply, it has encapsulated retinol in it which means it won’t leave skin feeling dry (retinol can be very drying) but supple and soft. While retinol is for use at night, if you’re looking for a smoothing, toning product for daytime, I like
Clarins Body Fit Active (£44) . It contains matcha tea extract and plant caffeine which work together to lift and tighten the skin, while the cryo-active, gel-like texture feels cooling on skin, especially if you tend to have heavy legs. Another way to eliminate the puffiness we sometimes get is body brushing, which boosts the circulation. If you want to supercharge your brushing, the Argentum Exfoliating Silver Body Brush (£88) is infused with silver for its antimicrobial properties. Always brush dry skin and use small circular motions, starting at the ankles and working your way towards the heart. Gua sha is also very effective at boosting the lymphatic system and ridding the body of toxins - I like the Holidermie Body Gua Sha (€49) , which is made from rose quartz.
THE GLOW-GIVERS
I am a huge fan of self-tanning for the body but remember, preparation is key - the better condition your skin is in before application, the better your tan will look and last. The self-tan will latch on to rough, dry areas, so make sure you exfoliate ankles, knees, elbows and hands using a non-oil-based scrub. Don’t apply the self-tan straight after exfoliating, as you need to wait until the skin’s pH returns to normal, which takes around 30 minutes to an hour. Instead, use a little fragrance-free moisturiser on dry areas like elbows, again to prevent the self-tan sticking. When applying the self-tan, I always find it easiest to work from the ankles upwards.
There are several self-tanning options for the body - mousses, tints, drops, lotions; some gradual, others immediate - it depends on your preference. My current favourite is Self Glow by James Read Sunrise to Sundown Tinted Tan Serum (£44) . It’s packed with skin-boosting ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, cacao extract and fermented mushrooms, as well as a natural plant-based DHA for radiance. This is less about a deep ‘I’ve just been in the Caribbean for two weeks’ bronze and more about an instant, sunkissed look.
Another brand I recommend is Sunless by Jimmy Coco . Jimmy is the go-to celebrity tanner in LA and he has developed the incredible Tinted Tan Souffle (£29) . Not only does it deliver a subtle, buildable glow, but what’s amazing is the shading - you can really customise it to your skin tone. I also rate Tan-Luxe The Body Illuminating Self-Tan Drops (£44) - you add the drops to your body moisturiser, so you can dial your tan up or down. For the most flawless finish, I recommend a brand called Tint whichs offer a professional spray tan in the comfort of your own home across London, via the Ruuby app (from £45) . It uses a spray tan that not only comes in a wide range of customisable shades but is enriched with aloe vera, vitamins and collagen to boost skin, which is applied with a special odour-masking technology. I always book this before going on holiday.
THE MULTITASKING SPFs BODY MAKEUP
If you don’t have time to apply a self-tan or it’s fading and you need a quick-fix glow, there are instant makeup products for the body that I use. Vita Liberata Body Blur (£33) has been a favourite of mine for years; available in five finishes, it’s almost like a tinted moisturiser for your body, with enough coverage to hide small blemishes, veins and imperfections. It dries really quickly, so it won’t stick to your clothes, and gives 24-hour wear without fading, making it a life-saver if you have an emergency leg situation.
Fenty Beauty Body Sauce Body Luminizing Tint (£40) is also really good. It’s an everyday buildable tint in the form of a lightweight, transfer-resistant gel-cream that literally glides onto skin to deliver a natural-looking radiance and it comes in six different shades.
The newly-launched By Terry Tea to Tan HydraBronze Skincare Mist (£59) is a mist that gives an instant, long-lasting matte tan without coverage. The lightweight water-based formula, which contains skinnourishing and protecting ingredients, is transfer-proof, dries immediately and comes in one shade so it works for every skin tone.
Just as my advice is to wear a high-factor SPF on your face every single day, it’s always a good idea to apply sunscreen to your body too, especially in strong sunlight. What I love about HelioCare 360° Body Glow (£28.99) is that while you get the high-level, broadspectrum protection against UVA and UVB with SPF50+, as well as the antioxidant technology to protect against free radicals, it is also infused with shimmering golden particles for a subtle glow. I also really like Sensai Cooling Protective Suncare Spray (£90). This ultra-fine mist not only gives water-resistant SPF50+ protection from the sun, but it’s also incredibly cooling and refreshing when applied - perfect if you’re on a hot beach - with a silky, nonsticky finish. For those who prefer more of an oil formula, Clarins Glowing Sun Oil (£28) comes as a spray, offering SPF30 for the body, while the argan oil feels super nourishing on skin without leaving a greasy residue. You can also spritz it into hair to protect it against the drying effects of the sun, particularly useful if you’re in and out of the ocean or pool.
Scents of the SEASON
e freshest new fragrances to spritz this autumn
Compiled by CHARLOTTE ADSETT
PARFUMS DE MARLY
Palatine
Eau de Parfum, 75ml, £245
This French perfume house is known for its lavish scents inspired by the 18th-century perfumery traditions of King Louis XV’s court - but with a contemporary twist. The haute parfumerie looks to the free-spirited Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria, aka “La Palatine”, for its latest. Top notes of bergamot, mandarin and pear combine with the slight sweetness of violet petal and the warmth of sandalwood and musk for a modern fruity- oral spritz. selfridges.com
SANA JARDIN
Air of Aquarius
Eau de Parfum, 100ml, £180
The conscious fragrance house looks to the skies and the power of cosmic alignment, signi cantly Pluto’s return to Aquarius in January 2024, for its latest scent. Echoing the brand’s ‘alchemy of energy’ ethos, lemon lies at the heart - chosen for its spiritually cleansing properties - grounded by rosemary and lavender to ‘foster deep meditation’. Available from 14 October. sanajardin.com
TRUDON
Absolu
Eau de Parfum, 100ml, £210
Maison Trudon - the oldest candlemaker in the world, founded in 1643 during the reign of Louis XIV - continues its foray into ne fragrance with Absolu. Taking power, elegance and the beauty of nature as its centre point, the scent opens with cardamom, mandarin and sa ron, followed by iris and orange blossom (one of the Sun King’s favourite owers), all anchored by the warm depth of guaiac wood, cedar and tonka bean. trudon.co.uk
ROJA
Elysium Pour Femme
Eau de Parfum, 75ml, £245
Roja Dove, the British master perfumer and fragrance historian, has let his imagination run wild, creating a scent that captures a world full of colourful fruits and nectar- lled owers. He tempers juicy top notes of mandarin and peach with a blend of elegant orals - peony, cyclamen, violet, lily of the valley, to name a few - adding weight with a smooth blend of sandalwood, vanilla and musks and a touch of Baies rose for a nal ourish. rojaparfums.com
MAISON FRANCIS KURKDJIAN
APOM
Eau de Parfum, 70ml, £185
LALIQUE
Soleil Lunar
Eau de Parfum, 100ml, £110
This is a reimagining of two of Francis Kurkdjian’s earlier creations - APOM pour femme and APOM pour homme. Again, it takes the acronym as its name - APOM, aka A Part of Me. E ervescent notes of orange blossom and lavender combined with the comforting warmth of white musk and vanilla and uplifting ylang-ylang bring a sense of both familiarity and individuality. selfridges.com
The French luxury glassmaker-turnedperfume house adds to its sunshine bottle series with Soleil Lunar. Perfumers Nathalie Lorson and Alexandra Monet play with the duality of the sun and moon, combining sparkling mandarin and the radiant heat of pink peppercorn with the heady essence of lady of the night and the earthiness of crystal moss, bringing the woody- oral scent to its twilight nale. lalique.com
CLOON KEEN
Báinín
Eau de Parfum, 75ml, £111
This light-as-air fragrance from the Irish artisan perfumery takes its name and inspiration from the creamy-white homespun wool that’s traditionally used in the jumpers and clothing worn by Aran shermen. Bright, citrusy top notes of bergamot and yellow mandarin are knitted together with gorse and jasmine and the dryness of musks, cedarwood and sandalwood, creating a scent that’s imbued with warmth and freshness. cloonkeen.com
ACQUA DI PARMA
Luce di Rosa
Eau de Parfum, 100ml, £250
BYREDO
Desert Dawn
Eau de Parfum, 50ml, £150
The latest addition to Acqua di Parma’s Signatures of the Sun collection o ers a modern take on the classic rose fragrance. The rare and noble rose of Bulgaria is balanced with the spiciness of pepper and cardamom oil, alongside smoky musk and the evergrounding vetiver to deliver an intoxicating and heady scent guaranteed to turn heads. selfridges.com
Opening with the sweet spice of cardamom and delicate rose petals, this woody-spicy scent is a warming combination of sandalwood, carrot seeds and cedarwood, rounded out by notes of smoky vetiver and crisp, clean papyrus to perfectly capture the arid heat of the desert and the magic of those rst rays of morning sun. byredo.com
PHLUR
Soft Spot
Eau de Parfum, 50ml, £99
Building on its collection of cult fragrances that draw on memories, experiences and feelings, this time viral sensation Phlur takes our ‘soft spot’ as inspiration. Sheer oral notes of jasmine, freesia and waterlily are blended with warming amber and velvety musk for a comforting skinon-skin scent, evoking a sense of nostalgic intimacy.
spacenk.com
D.S. & DURGA
Big Sur Eucalyptus
Eau de Parfum, 50ml, £155
Following the success of its Big Sur After Rain candle, the cult New York-based brand has taken the dominant accord of eucalyptus - one of self-taught perfumer David Seth Moltz’s all-time favourite scents - to create a perfume. Combining its green, woody, spicy aroma with cardamom, rosemary, magnolia and cypress, the fresh fragrance beautifully evokes the cool coastal groves of California after a rainstorm.
libertylondon.com
BDK PARFUMS
312 Saint-Honoré
Eau de Parfum, 100ml, £175
There was only one way David Benedek, founder of BDK Parfums, was going to mark the opening of his rst agship in Paris - and that was with a fragrance. 312 Saint-Honoré, which joins the La Collection Parisienne range of fragrances, was created in collaboration with Alexandra Carlin. Together they’ve merged notes of pink peppercorn, delicate orange blossom and warm musks to perfectly capture the chic design of the store.
harveynichols.com
GRAND DESIGNS
Leydi, the new modern Turkish restaurant at Hyde London City, marries the joyous cooking of chef Selin Kiazim with hospitality group Ennismore’s unmatched knack for creating buzz. What better showcase for Kiazim’s geniality than this dreamily appointed dining room with its scalloped arches, curvy banquettes and warm lighting?
Gather friends or family, and feast on freshly baked lahmacun, spiced beef köfte buns, platters of kebabs and dips. Just add raki.
6 Holborn Viaduct, City, EC1 hydehotels.com
Tasting Notes
Compiled by HILARY ARMSTRONG
On a roll
ENDO’S JOURNEY
Fans of Endo Kazutoshi will discover a di erent side to the sushi master’s cuisine at Kioku by Endo, his new restaurant at The OWO.
Sushi is on the menu, of course, but also some original dishes inspired by his travels. Try lobster with fregola, shiso oil and sansho pepper or pork loin, tonkatsu, sweet potato and kimchi.
2 Whitehall Place, The OWO, St James’s, SW1 kiokubyendo.com
A NEW LEAF
If you watched Kirk Haworth triumph on this year’s Great British Menu, now’s your chance to taste his winning plant-based dishes at his first bricks-and-mortar site in Shoreditch. Haworth - whose diagnosis of Lyme disease saw him transform the way he ate and cooked - offers a complex tasting menu involving think-outside-the-box dishes. 320 Old Street, Shoreditch, EC1 plates-london.com
IN THE CLUB
A follow-up of sorts to celebrity favourite Gymkhana, its two Michelin star restaurant in Mayfair, JKS Restaurants’ lavish new Ambassadors Clubhouse has already become a star magnet in its own right. Order your food (lobster curry, lamb biryani, BBQ butter chicken chops, etc) before marvelling at not only the glittering clientele but also the opulent interior design with its swathes of animal print, swirly carpets and mirrored ceilings. After hours, Ambassy, on the lower ground floor, welcomes Punjabi artists and DJs. The talk of the town. 25 Heddon Street, Mayfair, W1 ambassadorsclubhouse.com
HERO’S WELCOME
Every famous Londoner and their dog has fallen for The Hero in Maida Vale, the latest opening from the team behind The Pelican, Portobello and The Bull, Charlbury. Sink a pint in the candlelit ground-floor pub with a toastie, shepherd’s pie or ham, egg and chips; or crack open a special bottle in the first-floor Grill restaurant. Head chef Ed Baillieu is ex-Kitty Fisher’s. 55 Shirland Road, Maida Vale, W9 theherow9.com
THE WEST WAY
The Barbary Notting Hill is the first west London opening for Zoë and Layo Paskin, the siblings behind The Palomar, Evelyn’s Table and The Barbary, Neal’s Yard. This second outpost of the latter takes all the best bits of the original - the kitchen counter, the wood-fired cooking, the vibe - and adds a wider North African-inspired menu. Make a beeline for homemade merguez, aubergine ajo blanco, and the famous ‘IYKYK’ hashcake. 112 Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill, W2 thebarbary.co.uk
MY FAVOURITE LONDON RESTAU NTS
ROMY GILL
The British-Indian chef and broadcaster reveals her must-visit foodie spots in the capital, from Fitzrovia’s nest bar food to the best biryani in Mayfair
As told to
JAMAVAR
This is one of Samyukta Nair’s restaurants, along with Bombay Bustle and MiMi Mei Fair. I really admire her and how powerful she’s become on the London restaurant scene. Jamavar is all about combining different flavours from across India, and they do it so well. I usually go for a few dishes from the tandoor, where they do great spiced prawns, chicken and lamb chops. There are very few places in the city that do a really good biryani, but this is one of them. It takes a lot of time to make it correctly and requires slow cooking; here, they have a chef solely dedicated to the biryanis, which is why they’re so good. I also love their Laal Maas, which must be made specifically with Rajasthani chillies. 8 Mount Street, Mayfair, W1 jamavarrestaurants.com
JIKONI
The restaurant’s founder, Ravinder Bhogal, is a good friend of mine - we met through the industry and as women in hospitality, we need to stick together. Her ancestors are from Punjab but she was born in Kenya, and ‘jikoni’ means kitchen in the Kenyan language of Kiswahili. The food here is a melting pot of flavours and cuisines. There are Indian dishes, but also Middle Eastern and Asian influences. I celebrated my 50th birthday here, which was a lot of fun, especially as the cocktails are so good. My favourite is the pomegranate Negroni. I always order the crispy aubergine, which is sweet and comes with sticky garlic rice. The okra fries are amazing, as are the prawn toast scotch eggs. And you can’t leave without trying the banana cake, which comes with miso butterscotch and Ovaltine kulfi. For me, the food is like the very best kind of home cooking. 19-21 Blandford Street, Marylebone, W1 jikonilondon.com
SABOR
CAROUSEL
you get specialities from the Galicia
I’ve known Nieves Barragán since she was at Barrafina and I think she’s one of the best women chefs in the UK. Her ethos is less is more - she’ll do ten things, but they’ll be the ten best things you’ve ever eaten. The menu is slightly different depending on whether you sit on the ground floor or upstairs. I prefer the latter, where you get specialities from the Galicia and Castile regions. My favourite is the octopus, which Nieves poaches and grills, keeping the flavours simple - butter, oil and maybe a little garlic or paprika. If you’re going with a few people, order the whole suckling pig to share, which they roast in a traditional wood-fired oven. Downstairs it’s more about small plates and the vibe is always buzzy. Wherever you sit, just make sure you book in advance because walking in and getting a table is almost impossible. 35-37 Heddon Street, Mayfair, W1 saborrestaurants.co.uk
Carousel completely changed my life. Seven years ago, they invited me to do a guest chef residence and I’ve been going back ever since. I am a big fan of their new space on Charlotte Street, which has a beautiful bar that serves wine by small producers. The bar food is fantastic - they make their own sourdough and do great fried chicken with pickled cucumber. I also enjoy their vegetarian dishes, things like pumpkin and hispi cabbage with ricotta. The chef residencies are brilliant - they bring chefs in from all over the world, giving you the opportunity to try food you might not otherwise. The last one I went to was with Alice Arnoux, who’s a young French chef. I’ve also eaten food from Angela Hartnett there, as well as the Glaswegian chef Julie Lin. The food is always exciting. 19-23 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, W1 carousel-london.com
PAHLI HILL BANDRA BHAI
The head chef is my dear friend Avinash Shashidhara – I call him Avi – and I truly believe he’s one of the most underrated chefs in London. He worked with Ruth Rogers at The River Café for ten years before opening his own restaurant serving the cuisine of Karnataka, where he grew up. I like to go for the set lunch, which is a thali spread, but there’s plenty to choose from on the à la carte menu too. I’ll order the Mangalore bun and Scottish crab sukkha, as well as langoustines and perfectly spiced lamb chops, which Avi does on the grill. For pudding, the mango tart is another level and you can get amazing cocktails in the bar downstairs, Bandra Bhai.
2� Arlington Street, St James’s, SW1 arlington.london
There was a knack to securing a reservation at Le Caprice in its heyday. You simply set your alarm clock for 9am three months ahead of time, dialled the restaurant’s landline, and spent the entire day, ear glued to the receiver, hitting redial on repeat. Worked like a charm every time! It may be that the restaurant’s regulars Princess Diana and Madonna had more efficient methods but whatever; my way worked fine for us normies.
Three, no, four decades later, some things have changed, some things have stayed the same. The restaurant’s changed names – it’s now simply Arlington; it’s changed owners – Jeremy King has bought it back; and it is now somewhat easier to get in, thanks to advances in digital technology (making a reservation is now the work of a minute on Sevenrooms, but you should probably still do it three months in advance).
In most other regards, all is soothingly, reassuringly, as it was. The mirrored monochrome interior looks timeless; the David Bailey prints are back on the walls; the salmon fishcakes are back on the
Vongerichten in Belgravia
Restaurant editor Hilary Armstrong savours the capital’s most exciting culinary openings, from the renaissance of a Notting Hill favourite to the arrival of Jean-Georges
menu; and the ladies who lunch are back in force. In this cosseted corner of St James’s, we find a protected world where gentlemen have pocket squares, ladies wear Chanel, and waiters take orders with paper and pen.
Mindful that nostalgia might dull my critical faculties, I persuade my teenage daughter to join me for lunch. She can always be relied on for a sneer and an eyeroll. In fact, the menu easily passes the teenager test. Haddock and chips, chicken Milanese, bang bang chicken, and tortellini are easy wins, while hokey pokey ice cream for pudding is a given. Turns out, I’m the difficult one. There’s nothing I really fancy among the ‘80s and ‘90s Caprice classics. Even the updated weekly specials such as king prawns and tomato salsa, and halibut with asparagus and sauce vierge, read ‘dinner party’. So, slightly sulkily, I order a chopped salad for vitamin C, steak tartare for my iron levels, figuring I might as well get something out of a dull lunch.
What do I know? As soon as my chopped salad arrives, I gasp with delight. It’s so pretty! I probably have all the ingredients in the crisper drawer at home – gem lettuce, tomatoes, celery, avocado – but I’d never cut them so precisely nor dress them so assertively. It’s an excellent salad. Steak tartare too is comme il faut, and the fries are perfection: skinny, salty, crispy. I try, for the first time (I must confess) the famous iced Scandinavian berries with white chocolate, invented by Mark Hix and now synonymous with both Le Caprice and The Ivy. What a creation! I feel silly for never having tried it before.
I get a taster of the fish and chips before the teenager polishes them off (a matter of seconds). I can happily report that they are what I, or indeed a tourist, would recognise as ‘proper’ fish and chips. The peas may be delicately crushed and minted, not mushy, but the chips are hand cut and chunky, the batter is crisp and golden, and the only other departure from chip shop tradition is a muslin-wrapped lemon. The hokey pokey ice cream, with dark, deeply caramelised chunks of honeycomb and dark chocolate sauce gets full marks.
Le Caprice worked then, and Arlington works now, because King knows his SW1 audience. They didn’t want fussy 1980s haute cuisine then any more than they want fussy 2020s fine-dining now. He’s providing comforting, uncomplicated cooking at common sense prices (our bill was little over £120) in a pleasant environment where anybody can feel at home. You could bring your grouchiest uncle, your trickiest client, your fussiest niece, or sulkiest teenager, and watch as their bad mood evaporates. This spoiled brat stands corrected.
MEAL FOR TWO (with wine): £160
SIGNATURE DISHES: Plum tomato and basil galette; bang bang chicken; salmon fish cake with sorrel sauce WHAT TO DRINK: A ‘sharpener’, a shorter pour of classic cocktails
THE COCOCHINE
Have you heard about The Cocochine?
It may well be that you haven’t. Despite the millions spent on it and the flurry of pre-launch publicity, The Cocochine is an anomaly among Mayfair restaurants.
It’s the most highly anticipated opening of the year – as the debut restaurant of gallerist Tim Jefferies, swain of many a supermodel back in the day, and former Petrus chef Larry Jayasekara – and yet, somehow, the most hush-hush.
Even before stepping through the door, I’d heard all about the build, how the entire street – Bruton Place in the very heart of Mayfair –had to be rewired to supply enough power to fuel the state-of-the-art kitchen. I’d heard about the private room with its gold latticework ceiling and handset mosaic; about
Herb Ritts, Helmut Newton –all from Jefferies’ Hamiltons Gallery. So why isn’t this vision, this magnum opus, this masterpiece, all over our social media feeds? Because, quite simply, The Cocochine is doing things differently.
This much was clear from the first press announcement, released long before The Cocochine opened its doors. At The Cocochine, the guest would come first. There would be no turning of tables (book a table and it’s yours for the night); there would be no online bookings (update: they’ve quietly joined OpenTable since then); and the menu would be à la carte. The Cocochine would also be exclusive; even though it occupies the full four storeys of a Mayfair mews house, it would seat just 28 in the dining room, 7 at the chef’s table, and 14 in the private room.
The wine cellar accommodates 1250 bottles of rare wine, among them sought after vintages of Tignanello, Vega Sicilia, Ornellaia and Petrus. Compare that with the made-for-Instagram Mayfair archetype, with the supercars outside, the plastic flowers crawling up the walls, and dry ice cocktails, and you can see The Cocochine’s brand of luxury is, whisper it, quiet.
the serving station hewn from a single 1,800kg block of Devon stone; about the waiting staff’s Savile Row suits; and, of course, I’d heard about the art on the walls – Richard Avedon,
After glasses of BillecartSalmon, our first course is a plate of canapés. In a standard-issue ‘tasting menu’ restaurant, each one might constitute a course in itself. Here we get five in one go. It’s almost too much to take in at once, so complex and multilayered are the individual snacks, so detailed their description by the chef, but I recall a stunning carrot and smoked Norwegian reindeer heart tartlet, a crisp croustade of yellowfin tuna and caviar, and a perky little Comté doughnut with truffle.
The menu doesn’t quite meet my definition of ‘à l carte’, given the price is set at £145 for three courses, but it does offer rare choice. For my friend, a whopping roasted scallop, hand-dived from financier Ian Wace’s private island Tanera Mòr in the Inner Hebrides, with pickled strawberry and elderflower sauce. My first course boasts prestigious Pertuis asparagus and Alsace bacon with a moussey, aerated bacon hollandaise. Jayasekara takes his sourcing seriously; he’s said to have visited 26 countries in pursuit of the very best for The Cocochine.
The dishes get only better. Dry-aged wild turbot, again from Tanera, with white asparagus, Dorset crab, with lemongrass sauce; chicken from Les Landes by legendary producer Arnaud Tauzin, with Tanera langoustine, morel, jus gras and, on the side, the cutest, most scrumptious chicken hand pie. (Since our visit, Jayasekara has introduced a £45 pie menu, and a £70 set lunch; word of his pie-making clearly having got out).
We finish with a cheese course: quince and vinegar tart, with ripe Gorgonzola and an aged Parmesan crust. Again, blissful. I’m poised to post some pictures on Instagram but think better of it. I think I’ll keep The Cocochine all to myself. It can be our little secret.
MEAL FOR TWO (with wine): £380
SIGNATURE DISH: 66% Cocochine chocolate biscuit; Golden Oscietra caviar WHAT TO DRINK: Vintage Burgundy
Julie’s
1�� Portland Road, Holland Park, W11 juliesrestaurant.com
Julie’s in Holland Park has a new owner and a new look. The legendary Holland Park hangout is almost unrecognisable from days of yore when Biba interior designer Julie Hodgess opened it in 1969. However, all the celebrity knees-ups, lovers’ trysts and raucous parties it has borne witness to over the years must have seeped into the very bones of the building, because you can feel it the minute you walk through the door. Julie’s absolutely fizzes with energy. The mood is as effervescent as the gallons of Champagne that fuelled an average night at Julie’s in its heyday, when the likes of Mick Jagger, Naomi Campbell and Princess Margaret would pop by for supper; where Kate Moss
had her 21st birthday bash; and Tina Turner got on the table and danced. This isn’t the first time Julie’s has come back to life. It awoke from a four-year slumber to celebrate its half century in 2019 but drifted back off to sleep again when its new look and ambitious finedining menu failed to take. New owner Tara MacBain, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and venture capitalist, who remembers the joy of going to Julie’s as a youngster, is determined to see it teeming with life again. So far, so good. On a balmy evening, you can hear Julie’s before you can see it. The chatter and laughter of diners sitting out on the terrace carries all the way down Portland Road. We’re offered a table outside but choose to sit inside, the better to gaze upon the new interiors by Rosanna Bossom that feature 40 different printed wallpapers, upholstery in custom-made Le Manach fabric, a chandelier by Tord Boontje and a vintage Steinway piano. Tables are packed in tightly, not so much to maximise space, I don’t think, as to get the guests to cosy up. In our little corner of the room, we compare notes with other tables and swap recommendations. MacBain, a young first-time restaurateur, works the room, stopping by every single table to introduce herself and make all guests – not just the VIPs – feel welcome. She’s brought in a new chef patron in Owen Kenworthy who joins from The Pelican, in Portobello, so knows a thing or two about how West London’s social set likes to eat. His menu is a rewrite of a brasserie one, with some things you
would expect and plenty you wouldn’t. We might have ordered some simple caviar and Jersey Royals, a steak, asparagus, a chopped salad or the signature carabinero carpaccio, but we want to see what Kenworthy’s about, so order greedily and go for all the most intriguing creations.
Moules would be a classic brasserie dish, were it not for the Roquefort amping up the cream sauce and the handfuls of shoestring fries scattered over the top. There’s no element of this dish you could dial up higher. I love it. We manage a few snacks too, including spider crab toasts to go with our pear and pastis cocktails. My friend Joe has a duck liver ‘schnitzel’ topped with a fried quail egg, Holsteinstyle, and sticks with the unapologetic epicurean theme for his main course, which is lobster soufflé, another house signature. He pronounces it “very rich” while licking every last drop of bisque off the plate. We’re too sensible, or too full, to explore the menu further, but we look longingly at the adjoining table’s crab and scallop tortelloni and sole meunière in a pool of melted butter. Space is made, however, for a textbook blueberry cheesecake, and a crème caramel that comes with more caramel than any crème caramel I’ve ever known. If we hadn’t been so full, we might, like Tina, have got up on the table and danced. Welcome back, Julie’s.
MEAL FOR TWO (with wine): £160 SIGNATURE DISHES: Carabinero carpaccio; lobster soufflé WHAT TO DRINK: Martinis from the trolley
ABC KITCHENS
at The Emory
Old Barrack Yard, Belgravia, SW1 the-emory.co.uk
Ihave not yet succumbed to the Zoe app. I do, however, subscribe to the Zoe principle of eating ‘30 plants a week’. It seems sensible. Achievable. But you might be surprised by how difficult it is in my job. When I’m at home, it’s easy, I know exactly what I’m putting in my mouth, but when I’m out and about, dining in a multi-Michelin star restaurant? Not so much. All those teeny-tiny courses, those slivers of protein, those dabs of purée, those microscopic leaves and tweezered petals, at the end of the umpteen courses I may know what I’ve tasted; but I’m never quite sure what I’ve eaten. Was it a lot? Was it a little? Was it good for me? Did I have one of my 30 plants – or ten of them? Should I be eating an apple in the cab home?
So it is with a feeling of relief – scratch that, joy – that I watch the first wave of dishes heading for my table from JeanGeorges Vongerichten’s open kitchen at abc kitchens, his restaurant at The Emory, the Maybourne hotel group’s new all-suite hotel in Belgravia. The dishes are colourful, bountiful, generous, and, for the most part, identifiable.
There’s the odd headline-grabbing exception, such as the signature guacamole, “the world’s most divisive dip” per The Times, which is actually not all avocado but one part peas to two parts avo. But that’s all the better for me. With the sunflower seeds on top, that
has me three plants into my weekly regime before I’ve even finished my first ginger margarita. 27 to go!
abc kitchens is a hybrid concept, unique to The Emory, fusing three of Vongerichten’s successful restaurants: the original abc kitchen (opened in New York in 2010), abc cocina (the Latin-accented follow-up of 2013) and abcV (a plant-focused variation on the theme from 2017). All are New York restaurants, invented by a French chef, but with a mania for local organic ingredients that verges on the Californian. It’s an intentional, international way of eating, designed to restore the spirits of even the most jetlagged traveller and weary shopper.
The room, too, soothes. It occupies the ground floor of the property – one of the late Richard Rogers’ last London buildings – and looks out at the buses, taxis and trees that make London London. Designer Rémi Tessier has created a cocoon, with velvet and silk cushions against tan leather and a palette of copper, rose and amber. The Damien Hirst artworks on the walls pop in vibrant shades of violet, yellow, pink and electric blue.
Popping on the plate, meanwhile, are our next dishes: a two-ply taco of sorts with kohlrabi and shiso leaves enfolding scallop tartare; kale salad –a dish I’ve been back for since – with
crunchy croutons; white asparagus with Amalfi lemon and sunchoke ‘hollandaise’; rainbow-coloured beet carpaccio with chives and shallots; whole roasted cauliflower with red zhug and turmeric tahini; and… have I had my 30 plants yet? I think I have!
So let me tell you about the dishes that might make Zoe’s Professor Spector tut: extraordinary crackling fried chicken, bathing in a pool of scotch bonnet butter; arroz con pollo with shards of crackling; and the black truffle pizza with a runny egg, as seen at The Connaught (if you haven’t tried it, you really should - hang the £36 price tag). Everything’s designed to share, with dishes from £14 to £60, so take friends and order with abandon. This is feel-good food you can count on.
MEAL FOR TWO (with wine): £220
SIGNATURE DISH: Spring pea guacamole; Dorset crab toast with lemon aioli WHAT TO DRINK: Spring pea and herb Martini
lunetteriegenerale.com
VIEW TO A THRILL
Islas Secas, Panama’s extraordinary private island eco-hideaway, has unveiled its new super villa Casa Cavada. The 8,300 sq ft four-bedroom, four-bathroom clifftop property, which comes with a dedicated chef and house manager, has been designed for indooroutdoor living, with a semi-Olympic infinity pool and secluded beach offering as-far-as-the-eye-can-see views across the Pacific Ocean. islassecas.com
Travel Notes
Sip sundowners in Greece, reset in Zanzibar and embrace the magic of Menorca
Compiled by HARRIET COOPER
BON VIVEUR
Nestled amongst the pine-clad hills just outside Mougins (the village where Christian Dior once lived), on the Côte d’Azur, Le Mas Candille is the epitome of effortless French Riviera chic. The traditional mas-turned-five-star hotel - gloriously updated by interior designer Hugo Toro - is spread across 4 hectares, with 46 rooms and suites, two restaurants and a bar, the Glow House spa by Clarins and its sizable pool, and a newly-built, retro Orangerie. mascandille.com
PEAK SLEEK
Mondrian Ibiza - the brand’s 12th property and its debut in Spain - is open for its first full season. The 154-room seafront hotel in Cala Llonga, on the island’s charming east coast, is typically bold in design, with its inventive spin on local, natural materials, huge glass windows, sculptural furnishings and offbeat contemporary art collection. Bungalow is the cool poolside bar and grill, while Niko serves up modern Japanese fare. mondrianhotels.com
HEART & SOUL
Son Vell in Menorca, an 18thcentury manor house that’s been exquisitely converted into a 33-room-and-suite boutique hotel, is a place where nature leads. Set in a wild landscape of olive trees and grassy fields, just 1km from the sea, it offers atone-with-the-earth luxury, from the farm-to-table meals served in the shady cobbled courtyard to the rustic, textural interiors. Days here are spent swimming in the original 18th-century pool, horse riding and practising outdoor yoga - on repeat. The property has recently partnered with the sustainable Spanish beauty brand Rowse, with its natural, plant-based products in all the rooms and used in the bespoke spa treatments. vestigecollection.com
ISLAND HIDEAWAY
Beyond the well-travelled Greek island path lies the secluded isle of Folegandros and its first five-star resort, Gundari. Each of the hotel’s 27 bioclimatic suites and villas comes with a solar-heated infinity pool, while the main pool has a swim-up cocktail bar. Greece’s very first Michelin-starred chef Lefteris Lazarou helms the kitchen. gundari.com
Haute Hotel
A NEW DAWN
Mnemba, off the northeast coast of Zanzibar, promises great things when it reopens in October. Conservation-led luxury travel company andBeyond has completely transformed the exclusive barefoot island paradise, with the 12 beachside bandas redesigned, a brand-new wellness area with treatment rooms and a yoga deck, and a renovated dive centre. andbeyond.com
ON TRACK
Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train, is welcoming passengers on board once more, taking them on a spellbinding journey across Malaysia. As if the wild landscapes weren’t enough, the train is home to a new Dior Spa, the first in Southeast Asia, with two treatment rooms adorned in the maison’s Toile de Jouy motif. belmond.com
A Tuscany Taste of
Cook and author Amber Guinness, who divides her time between her Florence home and the family farmhouse in the rolling Tuscan hills, shares her guide to sun-drenched Italy
Words LUCIANA BELLINI
What Amber Guinness doesn’t know about Tuscany isn’t worth knowing. The cook, author and journalist was born in London but grew up in the bucolic Tuscan countryside, where she learned to cook at her mother’s side in the kitchen at Arniano, her idyllic childhood home in the southern part of the region. An enchanting farmhouse set on a hill with rolling Tuscan views, Arniano was lovingly restored by Amber’s parents Jasper and Camilla in the late 1980s and, in 2014, Amber chose it as the location to co-found the Arniano Painting School, along with her friend, the artist William Roper-Curzon. Their luxury artist’s retreats have proved hugely popular, with William teaching guests to oil paint and Amber serving up delicious home-cooked feasts.
Those meals formed the basis of her two cookbooks: the first, A House Party in Tuscany, was released in 2022, while the second, Italian Coastal, came out earlier this year. In them, Amber shares her deep-rooted love of Tuscan food and the local dishes she grew up eating with her family, which were all based around the freshest seasonal ingredients. She now splits her time between Arniano and Florence, where you’ll find her scouring the daily food markets, browsing in the local boutiques or unwinding with an aperitivo in a charming piazza. A passionate advocate for all things Tuscan, she has the inside track on all the best things to see, do and – most importantly – eat in the region. Here she reveals her must-see spots and invaluable tips for experiencing Tuscany like a local.
Amber Guinness in the kitchen at Arniano, the family farmhouse in Tuscany where she hosts artist’s retreats with her friend, artist William Roper-Curzon
I have many cherished food memories from growing up in Tuscany. There was always so much excitement around seasonality; when broad beans came into season, we’d eat them raw with hunks of pecorino and they still remind me of spring and coming out of hibernation. What you’re eating is completely demarcated by what month it is.
What I ate as a child has had a huge influence on the way I cook. Food was central to everything we did when I was little, and there were always amazing feasts and lunches outside. When she moved to Tuscany in the 1980s, my mum got under the skin of Italian culture through food. If she met someone who was particularly good at making pici, for example, she would befriend them and they would teach her; it became a good way to learn Italian and the history of the place.
Tuscany is the home of cucina povera People were historically very poor, they had to make do with whatever they had. So ribollita, a veggie soup made with lots of beans and day-old bread, came about because you couldn’t throw away the stale bread - you had to do something with it. Tuscans are very good at making unfussy food, which I think is the most satisfying because there’s no ego to it. It’s just figuring out what to cook based on what’s cheap and what’s in season. It’s a sustainable, useful way to eat.
One of my favourite restaurants is Carmen Bay at Macchiatonda beach, where I always order spaghetti con bottarga. Bottarga is dried fish roe, it’s deliciously salty and tastes like that feeling of jumping into the sea. Near Arniano, there’s the family-run La Torre, which is all about championing local dishes, like pici with wild boar ragu or cacio e pepe. In Florence, Alla Vecchia Bettola serves up traditional local dishes including its famous penne alla bettola, which is pasta with a tomato and vodka sauce.
For coffee, it must be Rivoire in Florence. It’s opposite the Loggia dei Lanzi, right by the Uffizi. It’s a touristy spot, but I always go before 9am; if you sit in the square a cappuccino will be around €7, but if you stand at the bar, it costs much less. The display case of pastries there is wonderful - millefeuille, brioche filled with pistachio cream, custardy things, whatever you want.
You’re spoilt for choice with food markets in the city. My favourite is the Mercato Sant’Ambrogio, where the farmers sell produce they’ve picked fresh that morning. For fish, I’ll go to the Mercato Centrale. There are six markets to choose from, so there’s somewhere to go every morning. And a deli I particularly like is Pegna dal 1860, where the high-end products and niche wines are beautifully packaged.
One of my favourite vineyards is Fonterutoli in Chianti, which has a lovely osteria set in a pretty garden. Another is the small, family-run Tenuta Buon Tempo in Montalcino. It’s quite rustic, and they make good Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino. The hotel Castiglion del Bosco also has a beautiful winery - it feels quite James Bond, slick but fun.
There are plenty of spots to get a good Negroni in Florence. Cibrèo Caffè in Sant’Ambrogio is a favourite - they always bring you something delicious to nibble on with your drink, like a little mini pizza with tomatoes and capers, or olives. It’s a cut above
a normal aperitivo. I like a Negroni sbagliato, which translates as ‘wrong Negroni’. Apparently, it came about because a barman once didn’t have any gin, only Prosecco, so it’s Prosecco with Campari and a splash of vermouth. It’s a bit less intense, which I like.
CIBRÈO CAFFÈ
CASTIGLION DEL BOSCO WINERY
One of my favourite shops in Florence is Giulio Giannini e Figlio, where you can pick up the marbled paper which the city is famous for. Ginori 1735 has been making porcelain pieces in the Florentine style for centuries, and Castorina is an incredible artisan workshop that specialises in woodwork. Everything is carved in the atelier, from huge oldfashioned frames to tiny wooden dogs.
For something special to wear, I’ll go to Loretta Caponi. It’s a proper atelier, where everything is made by hand using archive fabrics. I love the embroidered skirts. There’s also a shop called Tak in the city, north of the river, which sells fitted, tailored pieces. You see all these smart ladies wearing chic jackets and you know exactly where they’re from.
You can’t leave Tuscany without buying a bottle of cold-pressed Fonterutoli olive oil. It’s made by my friends [the Mazzei family], who have a winery in Chianti, and it’s got this amazing peppery flavour. A visit to Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella in Via della Scala, the oldest pharmacy in the world, is a must - my favourite scent is the pomegranate-inspired Melograno. And you can pick up really pretty wooden chopping boards, linens and tablecloths in the hill town of Montalcino.
When it comes to interiors, my friend Marina [Lambton] has a villa called Cetinale, and it has just started making these blue and white splatter plates, which are typically Tuscan. I’m also obsessed with Murano glasses and Ortigia on Borgo S. Jacopo does striped ones that are beautiful. Lisa Corti is a go-to for tablecloths, cushions and bedspreads. For furniture I’ll usually go to the Mercato delle Pulci (flea market), also in Sant’Ambrogio. You can find real gems there.
I like visiting churches, and near where I live there’s the tiny Santa Felicita, which houses one of Pontormo’s
Deposition paintings. In the countryside, a monastery called Monte Oliveto Maggiore has this cloister with different frames of the life of St Benedict painted around it. And Niki de Saint de Phalle’s Tarot Garden near Capalbio is a must-see. It’s a sculpture park made up of giant mosaic works, all based on figures from tarot cards.
Our family farmhouse Arniano is a magical place in the Tuscan hills , with views towards Montalcino. The villa’s aesthetic is courtesy of my mother, the interior designer Camilla Guinness. It’s very narrow, which means you have windows on both sides and there’s so much light. And the garden which my dad [Jasper] created, with lines of cypress trees and olive groves, makes it very special. It’s here that I host the Arniano Painting School with my friend William.
Scala, the oldest pharmacy in the
When it comes to
LORETTA CAPONI
OFFICINA PROFUMOFARMACEUTICA DI SANTA MARIA NOVELLA
Tuscany is home to lovely beaches. My favourite is Ansedonia, along the Maremma coast, which is all undulating hills, sand dunes and wildflowers. Another of my top spots is Macchiatonda, which has gorgeous views and good restaurants.
There are many places to escape into nature. At Arniano, we’re on an old pilgrim’s route called the Via Francigena, so there are great walks with poppies and birdsong all day long. The island of Giglio is another favourite spot. It’s very small, with six or seven beaches, and the port town is made up of these pastelhued buildings. It’s low-key and easy-going, and the water is gorgeous. Audrey Hepburn used to love visiting.
One of my favourite hotels is La Guardia on Giglio. It’s all white and beige, designed so that the sea out of the window is very much the main colour. In Florence, AdAstra is a fun place to stay with gorgeous rooms and a charming garden. There’s also Palazzo Guadagni, which we took over for our wedding. It’s got this amazing loggia on Piazza Santo Spirito and has proper oldfashioned, chintzy pensione vibes.
Italian Coastal by Amber Guinness (£29.99, Thames & Hudson) is out now amberguinness.com
A MAZZEI WINERY
LA GUARDIA HOTEL
ADASTRA
THE ISLAND OF GIGLIO
Wanderlust
Joie De Vivre
From their secret gardens and sunshine interiors to avant-garde menus and indulgent spas, these new boutique hotels in Paris promise something to write home about
Words CHARLOTTE ADSETT, HILARY ARMSTRONG, LARA KILNER
La Fantaisie
24 Rue Cadet, 75009, Paris lafantaisie.com
Since opening last year, La Fantaisie - in the lively Faubourg-Montmartre neighbourhood in the 9th arrondissement - has been hailed as a design triumph. Created as a ‘garden in the heart of Paris’ (Rue Cadet is named after 16th-century gardeners Jacques and Jean Cadet), it is a maximalist’s haven.
Interior designer Martin Brudnizki runs with the horticultural theme, bringing his uptempo playfulness to the public spaces. Everywhere is a bold, bright ode to nature, with an undercurrent of art deco opulence - the palette of greens, yellows and coral; the custom botanical wallpaper; the lavish upholstery; the parquet flooring; the Pierre Frey rugs. Look closer and the attention-to-detail from the London-based Swedish creative is even more onpoint, from the glass wall lamps that resemble petals to the cane backrests of the chairs and the floral embroidered banquettes. The 63 rooms and ten suites are considerably calmer, with a pleasing pastel colour scheme.
Dominique Crenn - the first female chef to be awarded three Michelin stars in the US - has returned from San Francisco to helm the sunshine-yellow, glass-roofed Golden Poppy restaurant. Hers is a laid-back French-Californian (pescatarian) menu, which centres around local and sustainable ingredients in keeping with the hotel’s zero plastic, zero waste philosophy. There’s a cafe too, where you can sit with a Pastis and watch the world go by.
The holistic spa, with its pale plaster-pink walls adorned with a mosaic of wildflowers, is enchanting and offers tailored treatments by Holidermie, the cult vegan brand created by Vogue France’s Mélanie Huynh. There’s also a steam room, saunas, a hot tub and mineral pool.
Outside in the leafy courtyard garden, scalloped parasols and outdoor furniture invite guests to bask in the warm weather, while up on the seventh floor (take the lift for its soundtrack of chirruping birds) the intimate rooftop bar serves cocktails, conviviality and views of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. This hotel is a dream come true. Charlotte Adsett
Maison Proust
26 Rue de Picardie, 75003, Paris
maison-proust.com
Maison Proust in Le Marais may be bijou but, since welcoming its first guests in 2023, it has made a sizable impact. As its name suggests, the 23-room hotel is an homage to France’s beloved novelist Marcel Proust and fin de siècle Paris. This was an era of decadence - and Maison Proust embodies belle époque glamour to the (gilt) hilt. French designer Jacques Garcia has imbued the spirit of the age throughout the downstairs areas, evoking the gilded salons of yesteryear with rich, dark wall colours, glittering gold-leaf ceilings, period furniture and exquisite tapestries. Rare, museumworthy artworks line the walls - each one chosen to tell its part of the story of Proust’s life - while the library, inspired by the Salon du Soleil at the Palais Garnier opera house, is lined with books by Balzac, Hugo and Racine. This is a place
where you’ll likely want to put away your phone to play chess or philosophize.
The rooms and suites are spread across six floors, each level inspired by acquaintances of Marcel Proust, from prominent Parisian characters to painters, authors and the great man himself. The individually designed rooms are works of art themselves, with silk wall coverings, brocade upholstery, bespoke lampshades featuring Proustian quotes
and bathrooms lined with Cordoba leather.
Not to be outdone, the Salon d’Eau (spa) is Moorish in style, inspired by the salons of Proust’s Aunt Léonie, where he spent part of his childhood. The centrepiece is the swimming pool, surely one of the most striking in the city, with its columns and navyand-white zellige tiles. There’s a hammam, too, and a La Mer treatment menu.
As is often the case with the more petite hotels, there is no restaurant - but do not bypass the seductive bar, with its dark woodwork, midnight blue drapery and gilded mirrors, for a glass of vintage Champagne or one of mixologist Colin Field’s literary-inspired cocktails. Breakfasts are served in the winter garden, beneath a gold-threaded ceiling canopy and surrounded by late19th-century portraits - surely one of the most glamorous spots for morning coffee and madeleines. Charlotte Adsett
Hôtel Balzac
6 Rue Balzac, 75008, Paris
hotelbalzac.paris
Newly relaunched after a year-long renovation project, the refreshed Hôtel Balzac is the work of Festen. The go-to interior design studio for the five-star Parisian hotel world have revamped this famous address - formerly the home of 19thcentury writer Honoré de Balzac - while maintaining a classic, timeless feel.
The lobby and lounge, lit by a large glass roof, are filled with sumptuous sofas in creams, fawns and deep browns, while the striking art deco ceiling lights evoke the 1930s; the bar area also channels bygone decades with its grand, wall-length mirror. The design flows through to the 58 rooms. Muted fabrics lend both warmth and quiet in ours, and huge windows open onto the courtyard below (classic wrought iron Parisian balcony, check).
It’s hard to believe we are in the 8th arrondissement, a mere croissant throw from the Champs-Élysées. After a retail splurge, the Balzac is the place to refuel and restore. Not just in the brand-new Ikoi spa, influenced by the aesthetics and values of Japan, but also at the
intimate bar, where the cocktails are magnifique. There’s no hotel restaurant per se, but the bar snack offerings extend far beyond the Nocellara olives that arrive with our drinks. We ate divine lobster brioche rolls and some of the best crispy prawns I’ve encountered. The reason for the minimalist food offering is the Balzac’s close friendship with its next-door neighbour – the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Pierre Gagnaire, the place to fully appreciate the artistry of highend modern French dining. The Balzac
breakfast of pastries and organic coffee is served in the lounge.
After all this excitement, you may need to lie down on a tatami mat for one of the hotel’s spa treatments, perhaps after a dip in the plunge pool and a visit to the sauna. Based on Japanese wellness rituals, treatments include Kaîho, designed to purify your body and mind, while the harmony ritual uses a type of massage called Komorebi. The service throughout the hotel is warm and helpful. This is the perfect place for a work trip, a couple’s weekend or even a family visit to see the sights. Parfait. Lara Kilner
BEST FOR ART DECO
23 Rue du Château Landon, 75010, Paris
bloomhouse-hotel.com
The 91-room Bloom House, which opened last September, is in the increasingly cool 10th arrondissement, convenient for strolls along the Canal Saint-Martin and surrounding streets with their independent bistros and boutiques. It feels both in the thick of it and away from it all.
A feeling of calm is engendered the minute one walks through the door. First, you notice the fragrance - Bloom House’s signature orange blossom; then the colours - terracotta, stone and sage; and then the tumbling foliage of the interior courtyard. We may be well within the périphérique but the mood is positively Mediterranean. French design studio Wunder has kept the look coherent, using tactile materials like terracotta, terrazzo, zellige tiles and natural oak, tied together with swathes of natural linen, woven wall-hangings and mountains of scatter cushions.
The naturalistic theme continues up to the bedrooms which are simple and soothing. Rooms on the top floor benefit from terraces and views out over the rooftops. I get into the habit of taking my first coffee of the day on the balcony before heading down for a breakfast of croissants and apricot jam.
The bar, lounge and courtyard stay gently buzzy throughout the day, picking up in the evening as guests enjoy aperitifs before dining at the restaurant, where chef Olivier Streiff cooks contemporary dishes infused with sunshine. A light lunch might be linguine alle vongole; dinner new season vegetables with sweet garlic ice cream or monkfish with crab sauce Américaine.
If it’s pampering you want, the Bloomy Spa has an 18m pool, as well as a sauna and a menu of treatments created by niche French brand Fleur’s. The signature is the Golden Spa, a wrap, massage and facial that utilises 24-carat gold powder. You will go home glowing. Hilary Armstrong
Bloom House
BEST FOR SUNSHINE VIBES
Hôtel Hana
17 Rue du Quatre-Septembre, 75002, Paris
hotelhana-paris.com
Opened earlier in the year, Hôtel Hana is a compact boutique hotel, housed in a classic Haussman building in the 2nd arrondissement. There are just four rooms on most floors, 25 in total, and an intimate lobby bar and restaurant.
Interior designer Laura Gonzalez has merged the minimalism of Japan with the maximalism of the belle époque; the bar banquettes are covered with sumptuous pink, gold and green floral silks, while the petite restaurant is a more muted olive green with subtle Japanese wall screens, its crowning glory the wooden beamed ceiling.
The menu at Hanabi, the hotel restaurant, is the handiwork of Shirley Garrier, co-founder of the culinary art studio The Social Food. Any Japanese eatery that delivers a bread basket from Maison Lalos, which our waiter claims to be the best boulangerie in Paris, is good by me. And if there’s a more fusion dish than camembert tempura with yuzu jam, then I’d like to know about it. Everything we eat is an assault on the senses. The black sesame tofu; the kinmedai crudo; the Asian riff on a lobster linguine in the
form of udon noodles with langoustine tartare; the chirashi, a mix up of sushi rice, sashimi, salad and edamame beans decorated with edible purple flowers. We rounded things off with a soy sauce crème brûlée - it shouldn’t work, but it does.
And so to the rooms, all Japanese straw walls with slats of iroko wood, also the material of choice for the beautiful, vast wardrobes. The look is softened by rugs from Parisian textile designer Marguerite Le Maire, while the beds feature velvet headboards with dark wood backdrops. And then there are the bathrooms with their beautiful vintage washbasins and generous array of Diptyque products. Which takes us to the spa, a bijou basement affair containing a small but
stylish pool (with, cleverly, a current to swim against). The Japanese influence, unsurprisingly, is strong. I plumped for a Jōka treatment, a ritual which uses acupressure and lymphatic drainage all over the body. The treatment ended with a soothing symphony of sound from the therapist’s ocean drum, before I headed off to battle the throngs in Galeries Lafayette, feeling rejuvenated. Lara Kilner
Eurostar operates up to 17 trains a day from London St Pancras International to Paris Gare Du Nord. Business Premier (£275 one-way, based on a return journey) offers flexible booking, a dedicated check-in area, exclusive lounge access, extra baggage allowance and a premium food experience onboard. eurostar.com
BEST FOR ZEN
T HE FIRST N A TURE IMMERSIVE WE L L BEING ISLAND RETRE A T I N T HE MALDIVES
Designed as a nature immersive wellbeing retreat with 68 private pool villas, the island’s wild forest remaining untouched, JOALI BEING offers personalised transformative programmes and unique transformational spaces, including hydrotherapy, movement, and sound healing experiences.
HOME &
SHLEEP WELL
Shleep, the luxury Australian bedding brand, has recently launched in the UK at John Bell & Croyden in Marylebone. The ShleepHalo bed linens and sleepwear are made of the finest merino wool, a fibre renowned for its natural properties. Not only is it super-soft and comforting, as if you’re sleeping on the finest cashmere, it is highly breathable and can adjust to your body temperature, ensuring a great night’s sleep. Dreamy. shleep.co
Design Notes
Floral glassware, the accent armchair and Gubi arrives in Clerkenwell
Compiled
by
AMY MOOREA WONG
IN FULL BLOOM
Adorned with colourful clusters of lily of the valley, honeysuckle, forget-me-nots, wild daisies, lavender and more, the blooms blossoming across Petra Palumbo’s jugs, carafes and tumblers are joyfully everlasting. Made from crystal glass in France, each one-of-a-kind piece is delicately hand-painted using non-toxic inks, bringing flower power to any table.
From £30 for a tumbler petrapalumbo.com
CUPBOARD LOVE
Crafted from solid oak, the Bamboo wardrobe by Studio Ham is an ode to the beauty of bamboo. Available in soft plaster pink, forest green or a natural stone shade, it also comes primed and ready to paint in any-colour-yourheart-desires, while behind its decorative doors is a drawer lined in charming striped wallpaper.
TILE STYLE
£3,450 studioham.co.uk
Since his pivot from ready-to-wear to oven-ready, Henry Holland’s ceramic studio has become celebrated for its take on the Japanese nerikomi technique. Its collaboration with tile-maker Bert & May sees the aesthetic transferred onto surfaces for the Pour collection, in a palette of natural tones to be used indoors and out.
From £120 for 60 bertandmay.com
TAKE IT SLOW
With plenty of wiggle room and just the right amount of cocooning, the Slow Armchair by Aaron Probyn for Another Country is both generously sized as well as being neat and visually light. Its solid oak frame keeps things strong and sturdy, while feather-filled back cushions are there for the cosy-factor.
From £3,129.17 anothercountry.com
OPEN HOUSE
Danish brand Gubi now has a London HQ with its first showroom located in a Grade-IIlisted Georgian townhouse in Clerkenwell. Across the four-floor Gubi House, you’ll find a curated collection of 20th-century icons and innovative contemporary pieces from the likes of Gabriella Crespi, Greta M. Grossman, Pierre Paulin, Space Copenhagen and GamFratesi et al (by appointment). 12 Charterhouse Square, Barbican, EC1 gubi.com
AFTER A FASHION
Fashion and art combine once again… this time in our homes, with designer brands collaborating on new-season homeware collections that will make a bold statement in any space.
London-based label LF Markey has joined forces with Heal’s on a 15-product capsule comprising crayola-bright table linen, soft furnishings and crockery. While Marni teams up with Belgian design experts Serax on its Midnight Flowers collection of tableware, featuring o beat, hand-illustrated botanical motifs across plates, dishes, bowls, teapots and more. heals.com; serax.com
MARNI X SERAX
Makers Meet the
HARLIE BROWN STUDIO
Witty, hand-built tableware
harliebrownstudio.co.uk
“CThe London and UK-based independent creators who are carving, stitching and painting a name for themselves
Words GRACE CAIN
lay was never just a hobby, it was a form of medicine,” says ceramicist Harlie Brown of her eponymous design studio on the Kent coast.
“I find it therapeutic to work with my hands in such an organic way.” Brown’s desire to create functional art translates into playful, experimental pieces, such as her signature Wiggle mugs and jugs with their comfortingly tactile finish and distinctive coiled handles. Each is completely unique thanks to Brown’s preferred technique of hand-building. “It allows you to create more organically; you’re not forcing the clay to do what you want by throwing it on a pottery wheel,” she explains. “It also means you can create batches where each piece is totally different to the next, but they can all sit together without looking out of place.”
work they love.” The brand will soon launch new products Ward, plus, there’s an upcoming collaboration with a major
If the Wiggle established Brown’s quirky style, her French plates elevated it to a new level. Hand-painted by her husband Dan, these designs are rooted in the couple’s love of France. They made their first, Le Crabe, during lockdown when they could see (but not visit) their favourite destination across the Channel from their home in Deal. Now, the plates are among Harlie Brown Studio’s most popular products; keep an eye on their social media and website for one-off designs, which you can purchase directly from the studio. “When you buy from an independent maker, you know how much stress, tears and joy has gone into each item,” says Brown. “Supporting them means they can continue to create freely and complete the work they love.” The brand will soon launch new products in Heal’s, as well as a collection in LA’s Pierce & Ward, plus, there’s an upcoming collaboration with a major retailer due to drop early next year.
ROBSON STANNARD
Expressive, multi-tonal paintings
robsonstannard.format.com
When Robson Stannard came across the fashion illustration course at the London College of Fashion (UAL), it was one of those ‘meant to be’ moments. “I’ve always had a love for fashion and art, so I thought this was exactly what I needed to do,” he recalls. While the London-based artist acknowledges Matisse and Hockney as sources of inspiration, he credits the documentary Francis Bacon: A Brush with Violence for encouraging him to take the gestural, abstract approach that has become his signature. “It completely transformed the way I paint.”
Since graduating in 2017, Stannard’s distinctly expressive, multi-tonal fashion portraits proved an instant hit, and he was invited to join Liberty London’s Artist in Residence programme. He also shares an ongoing creative relationship with Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio, which began over seven years ago when he was first invited to join its roster of illustrators at New York Fashion Week.
More recently, Stannard’s work has expanded beyond portraiture to include non-figurative explorations of colour and form - specifically, flowers. It’s some of these pieces that adorn the walls of the Velvet Bar at The Corinthia hotel, which was redesigned last year by David Collins Studio. “Creating artwork and being a part of the design process for The Corinthia was magical,” says Stannard. “The team at David Collins Studio was beyond helpful and really informed the work I created for the space.”
Stannard sells a selection of original pieces on his website, including homewares such as platters and coasters handpainted in his signature floral style, and he’s also available for illustrative commissions in London.
GATHER
Exuberant, hand-blown glassware gather.glass
n my experience of glassmaking, it is all-encompassing,” says Phoebe Stubbs, founder of London-based glassware brand Gather. “There’s a sense of getting to grips with the whole: you get to experience the immense satisfaction of the small completion of a thing.” Stubbs has been glassblowing for over 17 years, but Gather was born in 2020 when she found herself missing production glassmaking and the feeling of gathering with friends around a table. The pandemic is also at the root of her kaleidoscopic style, as she explains, “After all the gloom, I wanted the glassware to be abundantly joyful.” That philosophy is certainly evident in Gather’s work - vibrant, candy-bright glasses, jugs and vases in hot pinks, neon yellows and bright greens which blend the decorative with the functional; not least the latest collection, which takes inspiration from the candied-sunset tones of Miami (made-to-order pieces are also available).
Glassblowing boasts a rich tradition spanning 2,000 years and many of the processes and tools have hardly changed in that timesomething that is very much at the heart of Stubbs’ connection with the craft. “Working with glass feels deeply historical, but also excitingly elemental and primordial because of the extreme heat.” For her, supporting independent glassmakers is key to helping them evolve their craft and in turn train the next generation. “It’s a small but rewarding ecosystem to be part of,” she says. “I want to keep the skills alive because I love the way it feels, and I want other people to experience it.” And you can - Stubbs’ hot glass studio in Woolwich offers a variety of classes for all abilities.
HANNAH SIMPSON STUDIO
Playful statement ceramics
hannahsimpsonstudio.com
Who wouldn’t want to adopt a friendly little monster from Hannah Simpson Studio? From sculptures filled with personality to lamps and vases that look as though they could step across your table at any second, Simpson’s ceramic creations take inspiration from the sculptures of Franz West and the art of the surrealists (Desmond Morris is one of her favourites). Simpson’s business started as a hobby and therapeutic outlet during a stressful time: it was 2020, and her mother had bought home an old kiln. She started creating monsters as a tangible representation of her negative thoughts, transforming them into something humorous and approachable. “Clay comes from the earth, so it’s a grounding material by nature,” Simpson explains. “I can lose myself in the joy of making the forms. Then it will all change in the kiln, which can either be extremely humbling or rewarding! You have to learn how to control your emotions when working with ceramics.”
Since then, Simpson’s work has been picked up by the curated online boutique SSENSE and exhibited in galleries around the world - one of her sculptures was recently selected for the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. Today, Simpson has a team of four people working in her west London studio. “One of the things I enjoy most is being able to give more people the opportunity to be creative every day,” she says. “Independent makers are so important as they produce work that has a meaning and a story. We need to celebrate individuality and stop chasing trends – buying items you love from small businesses is a more sustainable way of living.”
TESSA LAYZELLE
Abstract applique quilts
tessalayzelle.co.uk
“Practical paintings” is the name that artist Tessa Layzelle has given to the abstract large-scale quilts she hand-stitches in her Yorkshire studio. “I source deadstock, upcycled and remnant natural fibres where possible, often dyeing and painting in small batches,” she explains of the process. Having formally trained as a fine artist, Layzelle taught herself the art of quilting by studying traditional embroidery practices from around the world - think Japanese Sashiko and Indian Kanthaas well as 17th-century wholecloth quilts from the UK and USA.
you see the maker’s hand in a work, you start thinking of the person independent
“For me, these techniques are about connection and curiosity - when you see the maker’s hand in a work, you start thinking of the person and the materials,” she continues. “Supporting independent makers means these objects of connection can continue to circulate.”
She describes her vibrant aesthetic as “windows of imagery” borrowed from popular culture, nature and painting - particularly 20th-century Modernist art. “I was very inspired by other artist mothers, like Sonia Delaunay and Barbara Hepworth, who made their best work while looking after their babies,” she says, explaining that it was the birth of her own son that drove her to start quilt-making in 2012. “I was eight months’ pregnant and wanted to continue painting - not so practical with a new baby on the way. Quilts enabled me to work large-scale, to play with colour and composition and, crucially, to fold it away.” Although Layzelle creates collections (her winter range will drop on her website in late October, and you can also buy her work at Couverture & The Garbstore in Notting Hill), she mostly focuses on bespoke pieces for clients and interior designers, including Christopher Farr Cloth, Studio Peake and Buchanan Studio.
GRAIN & KNOT
Organic wooden homewares
grainandknot.com
Sophie Sellu was not always a woodcarver - once upon a time, she was a busy trend forecaster for a major fashion retailer.
“I needed a creative outlet away from my computer screen,” she recalls. “I started wood carving as a way to keep my hands busy and express my creativity.” After facing redundancy in 2014, she made the decision to turn her hobby of crafting spoons into a full-time job: thus Grain & Knot was born. Working out of her studio in New Cross, south east London, Sellu uses traditional hand tools and techniques to create functional homewares from reclaimed and storm fallen timber, all of which she sources locally and sustainably. Organic and tactile in look and feel, her sculptural vases, brushes and kitchen utensils may have that aesthetically pleasing minimal appeal, but they are all designed to be held and used on a daily basis. It’s her choice of material that makes each one truly unique. “Wood is so varied: in look, tone, pattern and smell,” she says. “It’s also incredibly versatile, sustainable and grounding.”
Over the years, Sellu has garnered an impressive following in the world of wood-making - her carving workshops always sell out fast. But Sellu’s business model remains inherently slow and thoughtful. She releases collections seasonally and will also accept commissions, but she only makes around ten pieces every day. “I think any independent maker is doing something special,” she says. “They put their soul into each piece to create something that tells a story.”
