Fashion

Amazing. Thatcherite propaganda at the Young Vic

30 May 2015 9:00 am

St James Theatre hosts a new play about Alexander McQueen (real name Lee), whose star flashed briefly across the fashion…

Dear Mary: How to cope with London Library overcrowding

9 May 2015 9:00 am

Q. As a writer I find working at home too distracting. I am a longstanding member of the London Library…

Whose hair are you buying?

25 April 2015 9:00 am

British people buy £43 million worth of human hair a year. So who’s selling?

‘Combs, Hair Highway’, 2014, by Studio Swine

Luxury isn’t the opposite of poverty but the opposite of vulgarity - but don’t tell the V&A

25 April 2015 9:00 am

Different concepts of luxury may be inferred from a comparison of the wedding feast of Charles Bovary and Emma Rouault…

‘Propeller (Air Pavilion)’, 1937

Better than Robert? Sonia Delaunay at Tate Modern reviewed

18 April 2015 9:00 am

In 1978, shortly before she died, the artist Sonia Delaunay was asked in an interview whether she considered herself a…

Style council: left to right, Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper), January Jones (Betty Draper), Jessica Paré (Megan Draper), Jon Hamm (Donald Draper)

Will you miss Mad Men? James Delingpole won’t

21 March 2015 9:00 am

Mad Men looked great but, as the final season draws to a close, was there really anything to it, wonders James Delingpole

Mary Portas: anything but ordinary

Madly Modern Mary overcomes childhood hardships to become the Queen of Shops

14 March 2015 9:00 am

In this autobiography, Mary Portas doesn’t dip into the fabled store of her talents by giving an account of her…

The dramatic centrepiece to McQueen’s 2001 spring/summer collection set in an asylum

Alexander McQueen may have been a prat but at least he was an interesting one

14 March 2015 9:00 am

Alexander McQueen may have been a prat but at least he was an interesting one, says Shura Slater

Why I detest clothes with words on

3 January 2015 9:00 am

Clothes with slogans on them are a sure sign of a bore

Edie Campbell’s catwalk notes: the joys of the hunt ball, and mystery of Grozny fashion week

13 December 2014 9:00 am

It seems as though I have just been on some grand tour of the absurd. It helps that I work…

The most preposterous restaurant to have opened in London this year

13 December 2014 9:00 am

Somerset House, a handsome Georgian palace on the Thames, was once the office of the Inland Revenue, and the courtyard was…

It’s time to shave that beard: the decade of the hipster is over

25 October 2014 9:00 am

Take heart: the age of the stupid beard is coming to an end

Dear Mary: Can I run out on an apprenticeship for my dream interview?

11 October 2014 9:00 am

Q. I have been trying to get an apprenticeship in fashion for over a year without success. I just had…

Don’t worry Brooks Newmark: paisley was sexy once...

4 October 2014 9:00 am

Paisley power Paisley pyjamas were in the news. While associated with the town in Renfrewshire, whose mills produced the patterns from 1805,…

Status Quo. Photo: BBC

I love that people assume I’m gay

20 September 2014 9:00 am

At a birthday dinner over the weekend I was introduced to this delightful party girl of a certain age whose…

Dear Mary: Is it an insult to be given anti-ageing cream?

30 August 2014 9:00 am

Q. When someone gives you anti-ageing cream as a present, is that an insult or a compliment? — A.O., Provence…

L.P. Hartley’s guide to coping with a heatwave

26 July 2014 9:00 am

Those of us who have been struggling to endure the recent heat should turn to L.P. Hartley’s classic coming-of-age novel The…

What’s wrong with sunglasses

26 July 2014 9:00 am

People who wear sunglasses all the time seem to radiate disdain

Would you have been let in to an '80s club? 

18 January 2014 9:00 am

People will go to extraordinary lengths to get into a nightclub. Nowadays you must wear something tight, and look slinky.…

The week in words: 'Pull & Bear' is all style, no substance

2 November 2013 9:00 am

‘This’ll make you laugh,’ said my husband, sounding like George V commenting on an Impressionist painting. ‘Someone in the Telegraph…

The World According to Karl, edited by Jean-Christophe Napias - review

14 September 2013 9:00 am

Every fashion era has its monster and in ours it’s Karl Lagerfeld, a man who has so emptied himself on…

It’s the summer of the topless man – and there’s nothing we can do to stop it

20 July 2013 9:00 am

Topless men. What does that mean, then? I was opposite one on the tube the other day, heading north from…