Wedge sandals, crop tops and vintage silk kimonos are the new wellies and parkas of this summer's festival fashion. With the Glastonbury festival almost upon us, Jess Cartner-Morley runs the rule over a selection of clothes and shoes that would make ideal additions to your festival wardrobe Continue reading...
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Glastonbury 2014: how to dress for festivals - video
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How to dress: festival fashion
'Nothing not to love about supermodels in hot pants, obviously, but those images are not helpful in terms of festival dressing as it is on the ground'
Festival fashion used to mean wellies and parkas; now it means wedge sandals, crop tops and vintage silk kimonos. The Californication of dressing for a Somerset field progresses every summer. Why? Because festival fashion is a global industry, and photos of Victoria's Secret models wearing hot pants at Coachella get more hits than ones of Florence Welch in overalls, that's why.
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How to wear the holiday shirt video
Everything you take on holiday, you need to be able to wear more than once this is the key rule to any summer holiday packing. The shirt is perfect for travelling as well as on the beach and in the evening and can be worn so differently, which makes it the most hard-working piece in your holiday wardrobe Continue reading...
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Diane von Furstenberg: 'I danced at Studio 54. Now I work with Google'
It's 40 years since the designer invented the wrap dress that made her a fashion legend. She discusses Oprah's influence, working with Warhol and what Anna Wintour once confided over breakfast
It is completely impossible to interview Diane von Furstenberg. It is almost as impossible to meet her without falling just a little bit in love with her. The first, because it is not in her nature to follow another person's lead, whether in conversation or in anything else, so instead of answering your questions she just tells whatever tale from her fabulous life she feels like telling; the second, for much the same reason.
We are sitting together on a yellow velvet sofa in the penthouse suite of a smart Munich hotel, balcony doors open to a breeze drifting in over the red gothic rooftops. She puts her glasses on to get a better look at me, then leans back and props her feet nude fishnets, high-heeled sandals on the coffee table, and tells me about the time she told Oprah Winfrey that as a little girl she "didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew the kind of woman I wanted to be an independent woman, who drives her own cars and pays her own bills" and how Oprah loved the story so much that Von Furstenberg has named her forthcoming memoirs The Woman I Wanted To Be, "because if Oprah thinks it's important, it's important, right?"
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How to dress: holiday cover-ups
'A cardigan is a bit mumsy, a denim jacket is a bit arrested development'
Swimwear may be a horror to shop for, but it's the easy bit when it comes to packing. You need two, so you don't have to wear a wet one; one should be tan line-oriented, the other sturdier to maintain dignity during actual swimming. Do not overthink poolside outfits: this is a holiday, not a yacht-based promotional opportunity for your lifestyle range, so celebrity style rules do not apply.
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The rise of the underbum: how to flash the flesh this summer
A sneaky sideboob or a brazen underbum? Before you strip off, read Jess Cartner-Morley's guide to contemporary exposure protocol
How much for a pound of flesh? That depends whereabouts it's from. Always has done, actually: think of those Sunday night period dramas, where ankles are kept strictly under wraps even as bosoms heave and quiver. Fast-forward to 2014 and the flesh-flashing choices are many and varied. Which bits to show, from what angle, and how far to go? When clothes get this personal, the politics are a minefield. Do you know where to start? And more importantly when to stop? Before you strip off, read our guide to contemporary exposure protocol.
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How to wear the new It bags - video
The era of the scarily expensive handbag is over, this summer is all about the new comedy It bag. It started with Moschino's McDonalds chip-carton bag and Anya Hindmarch crisp-packet clutch. It rose to fame when Solange swung it at Jay Z's head in the most-watched elevator CCTV footage of all time. Fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley shows a selection for your summer's wardrobe Continue reading...
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Giorgio Armani's couture show is red carpet window shopping for stars
Designer still seems like an outsider in 'haute fashion' Paris even after 40 years but his creations have Hollywood appeal
Giorgio Armani, who turns 80 on Friday, recently celebrated his 40th anniversary in fashion. His brand is a blue chip name all over the world; his legacy still relevant, a recurring reference at the recent Milan menswear shows. His name sells lipsticks, hotel rooms, table settings. And yet when Paris haute couture rolls around a roster where his name has been on the biannual schedule for a decade he still feels like the outsider.
This is not a criticism of Armani. If anything, it is a reflection on haute couture. Haute couture, the bespoke arm of fashion, is a world steeped in whimsy and a courtly attention to historical accuracy seldom seen outside of period dramas and that, with the greatest respect, is not Armani's thing.
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Gaultier and Elie Saab channel spirit of Disney characters at Paris fashion week
Peaked shoulders and witchy sleeves suggest Gaultier was inspired by Maleficent, while Elie Saab takes note of Frozen
It is arguably not haute couture's finest hour when the muses of the day, in what is supposedly the most refined and sophisticated branch of fashion, are two children's movie heroines: Maleficent at Jean Paul Gaultier, and Frozen's Elsa at Elie Saab.
At Gaultier, it was all about the hot-older-vampires. Older models wore their own silver hair long; younger ones had glittering granite-toned hair extensions. There were hoods and veils, peaked shoulders and plunging necklines, high foreheads and witchy sleeves, and pale skin against a palette of black and red. There were leather gloves, dominatrix high heels, and Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst closed the show in a black bridal dress.
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How to dress: the new It bags
'The new era of It bag is decidedly postmodern. It is small, and references something casual and anti-chic a carton of McDonald's chips, a box of Swan matches'
So you know how the Irish elk became extinct because it had giant antlers that, through evolution, became bigger and bigger until they were so enormous that while they looked fabulous the poor creatures couldn't walk through a forest without getting stuck and couldn't consume enough calcium to keep those awesome antlers healthy?
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The strangest, saddest and funniest moments from the World Cup 2014
Relive the real highlights of the World Cup with our gongs for the fans, the fashion, the memes and much more
Winner: Colombian Nazi Weed Pope
To all those hurling abuse at me for scoring an own goal, please re-direct your anger to @12MarceloV. Thank you
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Bucket hats: what's the appeal?
How Rihanna, rappers and the catwalk fell for its unpretentious, tomboy charm
Reasons to love fashion, number 567: women setting the agenda is the norm, not a stunt pulled by men in order to grab headlines. The bucket hat may have been staging a respectable comeback in menswear circles for two years, but it was Rihanna who had the power to make it a bona fide headline trend once more. RiRi's Sunday-night instagrams, showing her in a bucket hat and red lipstick with one arm draped around German striker Mario Götze, were the style moment of the final.
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How to wear fruit fashion video
Pineapples, watermelons and apples: this summer is all about fruit fashion. That is, clothes with pictures of fruit on. But how can such items look sophisticated? Fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley shows a selection of fruity tops, skirts and dresses for your summer wardrobe Continue reading...
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How to dress: fruit
'It's hard to shake off the sense that fruity fashion is a bit, well, novelty'
The pineapple is the cupcake of the Eat Clean era. If a fruit can have a fashion moment, the pineapple is having one now. Those deco-fabulous spikes are everywhere, from thank-you cards to napkins and on clothes.
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Prince George in dungarees: why his retro style rules
The royal toddler's traditional style has brought a sweet, more old-fashioned aesthetic back to childrenswear. But why has the look proved such a hit?
Once upon a time, the whim of the royal family had the power to dictate the religion of commoners on pain of death. Thankfully, the modern royal family wields its influence in more benign ways: a swell in the popularity of baby names, the popularity of a certain LK Bennett wedge and now, a trend for dungarees.
Prince George has established himself as a thoroughly modern public figure by his impressive grasp of the need for clear, consistent visual messaging. Polo shirts and Peter Pan collars, traditional cardigans, romper suits and dungarees, frill-edged socks and leather T-bar shoes: one may be only one, but one is never off-brand. Never a plain T-shirt where you could rock a collared shirt. No to comic slogans or cartoon dinosaurs, yes to a smocked sailing-boat motif. Like the royal family's other shrewd style icon his great-grandmother, the Queen George knows that a recognisable silhouette and colour palette are key to a potent image. Where the Queen wears solid blocks of iced-gem pastels and tops a neat, boxy silhouette with a hat, her great-grandson sticks to the neutral, tasteful tones you might find in a seaside boutique hotel off-white, cream and grey accented with navy and brick red and never misses an opportunity to wear the short dungarees or romper suits that best flatter his perfectly butterball physique.
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How to wear 50s jeans video
This summer's hot pair of jeans combines two trends: 'boyfriend' jeans and 'mom' jeans. Put the two together and you have 50s jeans: womanly at the waist, but rugged and cowgirl-ish round the legs. Jess Cartner-Morley finds a selection for your wardrobe Continue reading...
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How to dress: the 50s jean
'It's the kind of jean Marilyn Monroe wore, with a white shirt and a megawatt smile, in the 1950s: womanly at the waist, but rugged and cowgirl-ish round the legs'
I'm not even going to try to argue that skinny jeans are over. That would be pointless, because you'd only have to look around you, or quite possibly just down at your own legs, to know I was talking rubbish. Skinny jeans have put down roots that go deeper than fashion; something about the narrow neatness of the silhouette has become a shorthand squiggle for modern life. But the skinny stopped being at the cutting edge of fashion a long time ago, and now and again a new jean shape breaks out of hipsterville and tempts us to try it.
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How to dress: denim jackets
Denim is back as a thing. Think of it as a remix of a classic
Everyone has a denim jacket, don't they? By everyone I mean everyone Rihanna and Jeremy Clarkson. Amal Alamuddin and Zac Efron. Daniel Craig, Miranda Kerr and Justin Bieber. It's hardly hot fashion news. But, sometimes, these wallflowers the pieces you think of as clothes rather than fashion become the hot thing for insiders. It's just another loop-the-loop of fashion's rollercoaster. Scream if you want to go faster.
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How to dress: autumn grey
'You could pretty much opt out of fashion entirely in 2014, and just wear grey, paint your house grey and buy grey stuff'
Consider this your final warning: it is very nearly time for us to tackle Autumn Trends. Of course, you may be well ahead of me, having snapped up early arrivals back in July and now you're reading this and you're like, keep up woman. In which case: go you. But I'm all for keeping that late-summer spirit alive just a tiny bit longer, and nothing puts an instant downer on your post-holiday high like coat shopping.
But high-summer clothes start to look a bit drippy once other people have their sharpened-pencil new-term outfits on, so you need to find a holding pattern to see you through the transitional weeks. You don't need a trend here; all you need is the right background music to keep things humming along until the plot picks up. And this year, that background music is grey.
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Five key fashion accessories for autumn, from chokers to blankets
It's too early to buy a winter coat, but it's never too early to be fashionable. Here are the five style additions that can jumpstart your autumn
The cockatiel is the haircut of autumn 2014
The cockatiel is the haircut of autumn 2014
The 1990s revival is a funny thing. I really don't recall feeling we were living through a golden age of fashion at the time, and yet that decade has dominated streetwear for the past five years: crop tops, overalls, beanies, mirrored sunglasses, skorts. Even scrunchies. And now, that memorable signifier of 90s nightclub glamour, the choker. The choker has always and will always stand for sex and infamy from Manet's 1863 nude painting of Olympia with her delicate black ribbon choker, to Paris and Nicky Hilton in their VIP room pomp at the turn of the 21st century so the look was always going to work for Rihanna, Rita Ora and Miley Cyrus, all early adopters of the look this time around.
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