What does ‘the natural look’ mean in the Kardashian age?

December 7, 2015, 8:57 am

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Now that models and celebrities like to refer to bouncy waves and full makeup as ‘natural’, where does that leave the rest of us?

Awesome news just in for the busy festive season. The “natural look” is in. Result! Run a brush through your hair and dab a bit of concealer on any obvious pimples, and off we go.

Oh ... wait. The “natural look”, according to Kim Kardashian, for casual days when she’s doing her own makeup, involves “old school, heavy foundation” and “a matte bronzer ... I always contour my nose, and I love to contour my cheeks.” That messy bob Gigi Hadid had for the American Music Awards? Turns out it was a wig, which her hairstylist casually noted took two hours to put in place, after which there was some additional styling to be done. (He recommended an $18 volumising power that “makes you look like you just casually pushed your hair back”.)

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Cable ties, Zippos and pom poms: what a fashion person wants for Christmas

December 10, 2015, 5:02 am

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Fashion people don’t always want expensive stuff. Here is a slew of on-trend, festive presents, all for under £40

Well, I’m sure she’d love a Chanel 2.55 handbag. But unless you are (a) a billionaire or (b) being blackmailed, handbags costing two grand probably aren’t particularly useful gift suggestions. You could buy her a £95 keyring by a fancy designer brand, as suggested by every gift guide ever. But, then again, you might as well get two £50 notes and rip them into tiny pieces, for all the value that represents.

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Dior & the rise of the in-house design team

December 10, 2015, 6:52 am

≫ Next: What I wore this week: fancy ankle boots (well, it is almost Christmas)

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Since Raf Simons left Dior two months ago, speculation has been rife as to which big name would replace him. But the fashion house has reportedly announced that its new collections will be overseen by Simon’s design team

Raf Simons left Dior in October. High time, surely, for a bells-and-whistles unveiling of a new star designer, ready to put his or her stamp on 2016’s collections. Conventional industry wisdom goes that to stage a show without a designer figurehead is a waste of considerable expense; on the other hand, a house of the status of Dior could never suffer the ignominy of not giving up their prime spot at Paris fashion week.

But according to WWD, Dior has handed responsibility for the next two collections – haute couture, to be shown in January, and ready-to-wear, which presents at Paris Fashion Week in early March – to the design team who worked under Simons.

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What I wore this week: fancy ankle boots (well, it is almost Christmas)

December 11, 2015, 5:00 am

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People who don’t get dressing up for Christmas basically don’t get Christmas

The two greatest Christmas style icons of modern times are obviously Will Ferrell as Buddy in Elf and Mariah Carey in the 1994 video for All I Want For Christmas Is You. On that much, I am sure, all agree. And what key festive accessory unites these two looks? Well, actually, almost everything, from the silly hats to the cotton-wool colours and contrast tights. But, most importantly, it’s the fancy ankle boots. Mariah’s are high-heeled and furry-trimmed; Buddy’s are black and have a kind of sleigh-bell thing going on at the toe. Both are ridiculous and yet slightly glamorous, in that fairy-lit way that works only at Christmas.

Caveat: I am assuming you are a Christmas Person. If you are not, I have nothing further to say to you this week. Walk away calmly. Don’t worry about the mince pie. You can leave the mince pie where it is. I’ll take care of that, thank you.

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Kate Moss is the naughty fairy at the top of our Christmas Tree

December 14, 2015, 8:06 am

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The fag-smoking, sequin-wearing supermodel is showing no signs of growing up – thank God. As the on-set shots from Ab Fab: The Movie prove, she’s pure panto

‘All children, except one, grow up,” JM Barrie wrote in the first line of Peter Pan in 1904; a century later, Kate Moss came along and proved him wrong. And that is why we love Mossy so much, because like Peter, she never grows up, so she never gets boring. For everyone else even the most glorious youth must either crash and burn, or come to a slow halt in middle-aged respectability. Only Moss keeps on keeping on. She is our very own naughty fairy.

Which is why the photos of Moss in a green sequin dress on the set of the Absolutely Fabulous film sum up everything we want to be, do and wear this Christmas. To recap: Moss is appearing in the forthcoming Ab Fab movie, and has been papped on set, on the banks of the Thames. To the ranks of Botticelli’s Venus and Ursula Andress in Dr No, we can now add a modern wet-look goddess. Moss walks out of the river, smoking, soaked to the skin, in a floorlength green sequin gown, Thames water dripping off those cheekbones. A month after the first photos of Absolutely FabuMoss appeared, she was back on set last week wearing the same green dress, this time teamed with a Burberry leopard-print coat and a scruffy pair of Adidas trainers. Queen.

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Justin Bieber, Joan Didion and the unicorn emoji: the style stars of 2015

December 15, 2015, 10:45 pm

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Who set the fashion agenda in 2015? It’s not who you think. Our fashion team pick the wardrobes we loved to look at this year (and there’s barely a red-carpet gown in sight)

Having style is about using how you look to say something about yourself. Being a style leader, however – that’s more than that. When the way you look not only says something about you, but also engages with or captures something about the world around you: boom. You’re in.

Our style stars of 2015 make for an eclectic list. They range from a coolly highbrow writer (Joan Didion) to a hot-tempered pop puppy (Justin Bieber.) They represent television, music, politics, cooking – and, of course, what’s on our phones. What they don’t represent, this year, is any easily digestible gloss or glamour.

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Peekaboo: how underwear-as-outerwear went haute

December 17, 2015, 11:04 pm

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Flashing your bra sounds like a wardrobe malfunction. Except now, fashion has embraced the bralet, slip and camisole. From Céline to Givenchy, how to do inside-out dressing

The Spanx backlash has begun. Functional underwear hidden under a little black dress is over: in 2016, underwear will be pale, loose, silky – and on show.

Underwear as outerwear is back, but this time without the sleaze. The first image released from the new Givenchy advertising campaign shows eight models in what are, in fashion speak, lace-edged, spaghetti-strapped, lingerie-inspired outfits. Nighties, in other words. Imagine the dreamy sisters from the Virgin Suicides, if they had been street-cast from an Alexander Wang store and shot in a New York loft, and you’ve got the look.

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What I wore this week: non-Christmassy Christmas wear

December 18, 2015, 5:00 am

≫ Next: What should you wear when you Netflix and chill?

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There are times when you don’t want to look festive; you just want to look nice. Is that allowed?

You know how it is when kids eat too much sugary rubbish and stay up too late, then get overtired and a bit manic and demanding? I say kids, because most of the year, it’s a pre-school thing. But in December, it applies to most of the population: we all get a bit hysterical.

You can see this in what we wear. The rest of the year, you might wear smart trousers and blouses to work, and jeans and chambray shirts at the weekend, and add a comfy high heel and nice jacket when you go to the cinema. So far, so sensible. But then suddenly, because it’s December, the volume gets turned up to max. So, you’re going for drinks at a mate’s, but now it’s rebranded as Christmas cocktails, and you’re meant to be in off-the-shoulder black taffeta and a statement shoe. Or you have a fun lunch planned, but instead of just wearing a nice jumper, you have to wear one with Ho Ho Ho on it in sequins. Even the outfit you might wear to hang out at home, or to go for a walk to celebrate the fact that it’s not raining – which wouldn’t normally be a look at all, just warm clothes – is expected to be double-ply cream cashmere with a pompom trim.

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What should you wear when you Netflix and chill?

December 21, 2015, 8:13 am

≫ Next: 'Basic': the biggest insult of 2015

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If the peak of modern romance is a date night watching TV, then our sofa look suddenly matters. This is dormcore …

I have a question about Netflix and chill. I love asking awkward questions about Netflix and chill, and watching all you millenial young’uns squirm and go pink as you try and explain how box sets and sexy time have been combined in the frankly baffling world of modern dating. It’s like the birds-and-the-bees conversation, but with the kids having to explain to the grown-ups How It Works.

The bit I don’t get is: now that watching TV is a hot lifestyle move, what do you wear? What’s the Netflix and chill dress code? Clothes are how I make sense of the world. They give me, like Cher Horowitz in Clueless, a sense of control in a world full of chaos. If I can figure out what to wear for any given occasion, I feel like I have got a handle on it. All of us do this, to an extent: it’s why we stress so much about what to wear to job interviews, or first dates. The right outfit is as much about getting your own head in the zone as it is about what anyone else makes of it.

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'Basic': the biggest insult of 2015

December 22, 2015, 11:15 pm

≫ Next: What we're wearing on Christmas day

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Kate Moss made it the diss of the year but being basic has a long history, reaching back through Lil Wayne to Sylvia Plath

On the evening of Sunday 7 June, an easyJet flight from Bodrum, Turkey landing at Luton airport was met by police who escorted passenger Kate Moss from the plane for disruptive behaviour. The internet discussed little else for days, for this was a story with many talking points.

Kate Moss flies easyJet, for a start. Kate Moss carries vodka in her handbag (allegedly). And controversy: was Moss throwing her weight around on the flight, demanding attention from the crew because of her celebrity? Or did easyJet throw the rulebook at Moss because she was a woman in the public eye who had had a few drinks?

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What we're wearing on Christmas day

December 23, 2015, 10:05 pm

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It’s the one day of the year when it’s OK to dress like a great glittery joke. Here, the Guardian fashion desk reveal their festive outfits

I have quite strong opinions about how Christmas Day should look, funnily enough. I’ll be honest: there is almost no greater strain on my commitment to being a fun and easy-going parent than when it comes to a choice between decorating the tree myself so that the spacing of the fairy lights is aesthetically pleasing and letting my daughter go wild with enthusiastically home-glittered pine cones. (*Deep breaths*) Also, I am very much of the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it school of thought when it comes to all things festive. I have written before about the black velvet party dress being the north star to my nativity scene, and I therefore present to you this year’s version. It’s from Topshop, and I bought it back in November, it’s adorable, and it’s as close to Valentino as you are gonna get for £85. I first wore it to a Bonfire night party, I wore it to a Chanel dinner – but I knew from the moment I saw it that I’d be wearing it today. Jess Cartner-Morley

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The style quiz of 2015

December 25, 2015, 2:00 am

≫ Next: How to shop the end-of-2015 sales for your 2016 wardrobe

≪ Previous: What we're wearing on Christmas day

From Rick Owens’s controversial male models to the sequel to normcore and the dress that simply everyone commented on, how much can you recall?

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How to shop the end-of-2015 sales for your 2016 wardrobe

December 25, 2015, 8:30 am

≫ Next: What I wore this week: a January jumper

≪ Previous: The style quiz of 2015

The key to resisting being baited by desperate retailers is to approach stores with a clear wishlist

The traditional mindset of shopping the post-Christmas sales is to hunt for that expensive piece you have been lusting after all season. But the ever-increasing speed of the fashion trend cycle means that buying a trophy piece of 2015 fashion when the year has only days to go is increasingly a false economy – however eye-catching the discount. The new breed of sales shoppers are applying next year’s style rules to last year’s collections.

Many of the trends thaat dominated the spring/summer 2016 catwalk shows – the clothes which will go into stores in February – can be found in the collections now being discounted. The key to resisting being baited by retailers desperate to offload the clothes with the most pressing sell-by dates is to approach the sales with a clear wishlist.

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What I wore this week: a January jumper

January 1, 2016, 5:00 am

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I’m calling this outfit my St Ives Lady Ceramicist look

‘I can’t wait to jump out of bed on this cold January morning and put together a really glamorous back-to-work outfit with which to wow my colleagues.” Said no one, ever. Fashion at this time of the year: meh, right? We don’t even need to make sartorial New Year resolutions: January isn’t the start of the fashion year, the clothes calendar having rebooted back in September.

January style must start with a cosy jumper. That’s non-negotiable for all right-thinking people. But that doesn’t have to mean jeans-and-a-jumper in the dog-walking sense of the outfit. It can look vaguely considered – I’m calling this outfit my St Ives Lady Ceramicist look – but when we get down to the nuts and bolts of both comfort and what you can and can’t deal with waistband-wise at this time of year, it is still a knit and loose trousers.

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Cabin porn: why hideaways are hot right now

January 4, 2016, 6:33 am

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Forget Gucci’s furry loafers or a Prada overcoat. What everyone in fashion wants in 2016 is a log cabin

I’ve got cabin fever. And not only the New Year, need-to-stop-eating-and-start-moving kind. I’ve got cabin fever because that’s where I’d really like to be right now. In a cabin. Wooden, obviously. In a clearing in the middle of a forest, maybe. A lake would be nice, perhaps with a rickety little jetty. Door propped open with a stack of books, sheepskin over a chair on the porch, antlers on the sparsely decorated walls.

Well of course this is what I want. Not because I am remotely adventurous or quirky but because I am hopelessly, helplessly enslaved by fashion, and a log cabin is what everyone wants right now. Cabin Porn, the popular Tumblr documenting wilderness living is now a cult book. The sexiest character in the second series of The Affair on Sky Atlantic was Noah and Alison’s wooden lakeside retreat, all homely quilting on a mezzanine bed, and a jetty to dive from.

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Golden Globes 2016: the start of the red-carpet arms race

January 5, 2016, 11:30 am

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From Alicia Vikander’s sci-fi hipster chic to the power of arthouse ruffles, this weekend’s ceremony kicks off awards season – but who will take home this year’s fashion gongs?

January isn’t always awash with things to feel grateful for, but here’s one: thank your lucky stars, right now, that you are not a Hollywood A-lister. At least the rest of us get to do the month in long polo-neck sweaters and flat ankle boots, but awards season – Hollywood’s most naked season, as well as its most nakedly competitive one – starts hard on the heels of the new year, and there is no dress-down option. This Sunday, the Golden Globes will fire the starting gun on a red-carpet season that will rev up again next week with the Oscar nominations announcement. Here’s our pre-season form guide to the faces and frocks to look out for, in the race to be crowned best dressed.

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How to make an entrance: three things we learned from Celebrity Big Brother

January 6, 2016, 5:14 am

≫ Next: Can Steve Rowe save M&S fashion?

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Studio 54, Tiny Tim and Fagin. That was on the memo, apparently, for the contestants of this year’s Celebrity Big Brother. And, they sort of work

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Can Steve Rowe save M&S fashion?

January 7, 2016, 4:40 am

≫ Next: What I wore this week: an army-green shirt

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When Marks & Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland steps down in April, following a noticeable drop in sales, his successor Steve Rowe will face a formidable challenge. Can M&S’s current executive director of general merchandise turn things round?

Steve Rowe’s fashion credentials are strong. He began his career as a 15-year-old Saturday boy in the men’s knitwear department of M&S in Croydon, and after leaving school worked at Topshop for four years before rejoining the company. This gives him a connection that Marc Bolland, who joined M&S from Morrison and Heineken, did not have.

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What I wore this week: an army-green shirt

January 8, 2016, 5:00 am

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The aim is to nail a look when it’s in the air, but before it’s everywhere. For the army-green shirt, that moment is now

You and I, we don’t do toss-everything-out-and-start-again new season wardrobe overhauls, do we? And not just because we can’t be bothered or don’t have time. We can’t be bothered, because it sounds super dull, and our leisure hours are full to the brim with messing about on the internet, like all normal people. But it’s not only that. We see the endless churn of New Looks and Must Haves for what it is: more airtime filler than real plot development.

What we do (don’t we) is the odd strategic update, where you have to buy one item – or dig it out from the back of the wardrobe – and retire one in exchange. And then try it on with a couple of things. So we’re talking one quickfire shopping trip, which can be incorporated in the aforesaid messing about on the internet, and five minutes of wardrobe overhaul.

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'He had an instinct for elegance': David Bowie's fashion legacy

January 11, 2016, 6:27 am

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David Bowie’s career was about individuality, masculinity – and style. Jess Cartner-Morley on the lasting impact of the star’s many looks

There was something pure about David Bowie. This might seem a strange thing to say about a man with Bowie’s reputation for rock-star excess, but it’s true. Through every costume change, every stage persona, he remained authentically, unadulteratedly himself.

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