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The 50 Best Handbags

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:39 GMT

The Ten Best Weekend Bags

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:38 GMT

Chosen by Gemma Hayward

Dressing table: Bee happy with this honey treatments

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Carola Long: 'People often get distracted by high SPF numbers, but protection against UVA is also important

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

To tan or not to tan, that's the, ahem, burning question that troubles sun worshippers every summer. When the weather is hot in the UK it can seem like a "waste" not to rush outside and bask in it. However, given that cases of malignant melanoma are at a record high and dermatologist Dr Nick Lowe describes sun damage as "the skin's biggest enemy when it comes to premature ageing", it's important to use the right protection and apply it correctly.

They call me 'Twiggy'

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:38:33 GMT

In 1966, a sixteen-year-old gamine girl with an urchin haircut and a nickname of "Twiggy" become one of the most iconic models of all time. She turns sixty in September and The National Portrait Gallery are celebrating her birthday with a photographic biography of her life.

They call me "Twiggy"

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:38:33 GMT

The Ten Best Summer Dresses

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:11 GMT

Chosen by Beth Dadswell

The Fashion Audit 06/07/09

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:05 GMT

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

Click on the image (right) to see this week's fashion picks

Ready to Wear: Are polka dots acceptable for a woman over the age of seven?

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The world's gone dotty. And not just because the unusually clement weather has scrambled Europe's collective brain.

Dress code: Octavia Bradford, Buyer, The Shop at Bluebird

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

What are you wearing right now?

A silk maxi-dress by Maje with a studded Acne denim jacket (that I just cut the sleeves off) and gladiator sandals. Accessories-wise, I'm busting a plaited headband, an Annina Vogel charm necklace and tons of random bangles. I think I'm having a Stevie-Nicks-meets-the-Hell's-Angels moment!

A bit of ruffle: Something for every frill-seeker

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

From rippled Renaissance collars to New Romantic flounces; the ruffle has reinvented itself more often than Madonna. And appropriately, given the plurality of modern fashion, this season's takes on the detail are multifarious and therefore egalitarian. There is a perfect ruffle for everyone.

Dress code: Olivia Bradford, Buyer, The Shop at Bluebird

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

What are you wearing right now?

Hot under the collar: Steamy menswear for next summer

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Summer 2010 is going to be hot. Boiling. Of course all those zany scientists – global warming, what will they think of next! – have been harping on about this for a while, but now, thankfully, we have it from a much more reliable source: the luxury fashion industry.

Fashion: Chiffon takes on a new toughness with Autumn's transparency trend

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Spotted at Glastonbury: Lily Allen's pants. Not that they were easily missed, mind you, with the young singer wandering around in the most transparent of sheer slips. It actually looks a bit like it was drawn on to her later by an injurious censor, so clear were her matching undies beneath its gauzy netting.

Best of Breton: Simple, chic and stripy fashion

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:00:54 GMT

The Breton top. What other mythical, magical garment could sit comfortably on the backs of so diverse a crowd as Kate Moss, Patti Smith, Faye Dunaway and Alexa Chung?

The Fashion Audit 29/06/09

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:00:02 GMT

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

Click on the image (right) to see this week's fashion picks

Ready to Wear: Is it fair to lambast such an innovative designer in this way?

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The exposure of even the most rarefied fashion via the internet is responsible for many things – good and bad.

Dress code: Nikki Sixx, Rock star

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

What are you wearing right now?

I've got on a black suede jacket and a white T-shirt, some black jeans which I customised and black leather Chuck Taylor high-tops by Converse. It's pretty much my uniform, and works for whatever I'm doing every day.

Parties: A day at the races

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Ascot hasn't been this cool since Cecil Beaton did the costumes for My Fair Lady. Providing a sartorial sanctuary in a sea of safe dresses and high-street hats, British designers Luella Bartley, Vivienne Westwood, Gieves & Hawkes and milliner Stephen Jones demonstrated the art of breaking the rules. Their fashion show took place during a four-course lunch at the Bessborough Restaurant, where models including William Gladstone's great-great-great granddaughter, Olivia Inge, strode the catwalk while a champagne-fuelled audience whooped with approval.

Miuccia: the metal guru

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Further proof, if ever we needed it, that where Miuccia Prada leads, the rest of the fash pack follows. There were precious metals across the catwalks for autumn, in homage to Prada's spring/ summer collection, which featured knowingly rumpled gold-jacquard skirts, bra-tops and drawstring cropped jackets.

The Ten Best Shaving Products

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:00:45 GMT

Chosen by Gemma Hayward

Bronze age: How the sun tan became a standard summer accessory

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Fashions, and beauty trends in particular, are grounded in aspiration. Everything, from acne cures and women's magazines to cars and stripy toothpaste, is marketed with the premise that we're not good enough as we are, and that we ought to, in some minute way, be better. It's no surprise then, that the fashion and beauty trends that really take off are the ones that are nigh-on impossible to achieve. The perfect suntan is a prime exemple of such a fad.

Plain and simple: The Uniqlo formula

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

On a recent visit to Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo, I set aside several hours to browse the famously hip Harajuku boutiques in search of quirky, non-chain-store clothes that you can't buy in London. I imagined basking in the compliments that they would attract back home, replying with a nonchalant: "Oh this old thing? I picked it up in this fantastic little boutique in Tokyo."

Eco Chic: Should we wear a uniform?

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:53:57 GMT

Last week I blithely ended my column by saying that to be fashionably ethical what we need to do is to buy fewer clothes.

Ready to Wear: On the catwalk shorts are high on the agenda – and on the thigh

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:00:58 GMT

Driving around London in a heatwave has never been the most aesthetically pleasing of experiences. Say what you will about the perpetually tanned southern Europeans but, for the most part, they can show us Brits a thing or two about how to dress in the sunshine.