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On the agenda: Harry Brown; Radley; Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre; Masterchef; Ctrl.Alt.Shift

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Poetry in motion: The guerrilla wordsmiths bringing a literary touch to vintage chic

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

"Words have a magical power," says Kate Daudy, sitting in her kitchen, surrounded by the multicoloured swirls of poems that she has appliquéd across the walls. "If I walk down [west London's] Harrow Road and there's a great big poem by Lorca written down my back, the person on the bus who sees me might have a happy afternoon."

First Person: 'I can identify 1,000 different scents'

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

I am a professional perfumer for Miller Harris. Like many in my field, I can honestly say the foundations of my craft were laid down in childhood. One of my pivotal influences was my grandparents, whose house in Scotland I used to stay in from time to time. They really instilled in me an appreciation for life's interesting smells. They were into organic food, and grew everything themselves. They had a flower garden, too. My grandmother made her own jam and bread; my grandfather was a carpenter. It was all so pure. I yearned for that kind of lifestyle. That's how my journey began. I worked in my school holidays in a fragrance shop in my home town, Halifax; it was one of those beautiful places where all these grand old ladies would come in and sample some of the fragrances. It's very different today – now you can buy these things anywhere.

The Fashion Audit 02/11/09

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:46 GMT

What we love, we're not sure about, we're buying and we can't wait for...

Edun: Fashion, hope and charity

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:40 GMT

For someone who runs her own fashion label, throws herself into promoting charitable causes, is married to the world's most prominent rock-star-turned-campaigner and has four children, Ali Hewson is very calm.

Dress Code: Pearl Lowe, designer

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

What are you wearing right now?

Because I live in the country, it isn't that easy to buy clothes anymore, so I get them made up instead. Right now, I'm wearing a black crepe dress from my autumn/winter 2010 range, with lace tights and some great lace-up high heels by Vivienne Westwood.

Ready to Wear: Houndstooth is fierce, and signifies power over and above prettiness

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Houndstooth check is very fashionable just now and if ever there was a signifier of fashion aimed squarely at those with womanly – as opposed to girlish – tastes, then this must surely be it.

The bold shoulder at Balmain

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The fashion crowd are used to being ahead of the curve, but when in September last year Balmain's Christophe Decarnin sent models down the catwalk in frogged, shoulder-padded jackets, to a soundtrack of Thriller, no one could have guessed how perfectly – and poignantly – the designer would nail the upcoming zeitgeist of spring/summer 2009.

Carola Long: 'Deep-red lips are not an easy look to pull off – the wrong shade can leave one looking like an anaemic vampire'

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

There's a general consensus that opting for a sexy Halloween outfit is bad form. Dressing up as a Playboy cat or a 'Witches of Eastwick'-type sorceress rather than your more traditional green-faced cackling version is cheating. If you want respect, get gluing those Rice Krispie warts on now, or for the more artistic out there, try the ghoulish looks demonstrated by Mac on YouTube.

Dressing Table: Make-up for a ghouls' night out

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The fabulous world of Nick Knight

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:52 GMT

The Fashion Audit 26/10/09

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:33 GMT

What we love, we're not sure about, we're buying and we can't wait for...

Coat check: The best high street cover-ups

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:28 GMT

Every winter, shopping for your new cover-up gets a little harder, as designers introduce further trends and variables to the mix. Looking for a long-line coat, but don't want it too princessy? Try the resurrected Crombie. Perhaps you're after a looser cape, but don't like the idea of the breeze blowing up the back? Look out for belted cocoons that have similar volume but none of the vents.

Ready to Wear: Everything from vintage dresses to fine furnishing fabric is dissected

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

It's all the things that mean something to me, things that I love," says the former journalist/stylist/photographer and suitably impressive fashion Renaissance man, Iain R Webb, about his latest venture.

Alexander Wang: Too cool for school

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

While some designers look to the past or future, Alexander Wang is as right here, right now as it gets. The American designer is zeitgeisty, he's of the moment and in fashion-speak he's also having a moment; quite an extended one to judge by his growing popularity.

On The Agenda: Hammer time! No, not parachute pants, but a series of scary movies for Halloween...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Best beauty products: Pretty in pink

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:28 GMT

Best beauty products: Groomed to perfection

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:17 GMT

Best beauty products: Lad about town

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:03 GMT

Claudia Schiffer: 'It's only on a shoot that I become sexy'

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

in an age where airbrushing rules supreme, we no longer expect celebrities to actually look like their magazine or screen images. It comes as a strangely reassuring sort of surprise then, when Claudia Schiffer looks, well, just like Claudia Schiffer. For a start, she is so tall that tilting my head to look upwards at her face feels like staring up at one of her billboards. Then there is her skin: taut, unlined, and as creamy and pale as a panna cotta. Her cheekbones are arched and cat-like, her eyes a bright ice-blue. Her long, thick blonde hair is straight out of a Timotei advert – it's the kind of thick, shiny mane that men want to tousle, and schoolgirls want to plait.

Best beauty products: The powder room

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

What is power dressing?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Power dressing. For anyone old enough to remember the 1980s in all its Dynasty/Duran Duran-inspired glory, this entails shoulder pads that are the envy of an American football team, colour so brash it necessitates the wearing of sunglasses and viscose-knit dresses so eye-wateringly tight they come with their very own knickers attached. But while all these elements of the Decade That Subtlety Forgot have been re-visited for autumn/winter 2009, the notion of projecting power through dress today is, of course, a little more complicated than that.

Don't call me Gordon Gekko: Power dressing for the boys is all about subtle, stylish touches

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Pinstripe double-breasted suit, £1,447, shirt, £303, and tie, £163, all by Raf Simons, Liberty, Regent's Street, London W1, 020-7734 1234

Power dressing essentials

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Before you come over all Working Girl 2, a word of warning: this season's power dressing is not simply to be confused with the Eighties revival.

The joy of socks

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:00:29 GMT

Remember when socks were something to be ashamed of, something to be hidden furtively under boots or trousers? Back in those unenlightened days the cold-of-foot were forced to shiver their way through winter in horrible trainer or pop socks, dreaming of the toasty warmth of chunky wool. And forget being imaginative with your tights; it was black opaques or bust.