As the number of fashion retailers closing down continues to rise, emptying at the highest rate since 1999 according to Bloomberg, optimistic analysts have forecast a post-Covid recovery.
The Economist predicted a “new period of economic dynamism” was on its way, while Prof Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times that “things will get better” and the business mogul Tilman Fertitta told CNBC : “The consumer is coming back … this is going to be the ‘roaring 20s’ – you can just see it.”
To pick your perfect foundation, start by choosing the kind of finish you want
I’ve always seen a parallel between foundations and bras: most people are wearing the wrong one. With foundations, it’s so easily done. There is a glut to choose from. This sounds wonderful, but the reality is that all that choice leads to decision fatigue. So start with the finish. Yes I know that’s controversial because everyone advises you to think first about undertones, but actually what you really need to think about is what kind of foundation you want. Do you want it to be matt? Or dewy? Or full coverage? Or hydrating? This is a great way to immediately narrow down your choices, so that if you want a glowy foundation you’re not faffing around looking for your undertones in the matt category. I’ve chosen all these foundations here because while they offer a variation of finishes and ingredients, they all have great formulations that go on like a dream. They also make your newly Zoom-ready skin look and behave like skin – and not like a mask. Wearing one mask is quite enough.
1. Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow £41, chanel.com 2. Shiseido Synchro Skin Radiant Lifting Foundation £41, spacenk.com 3. Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish Sublime Perfection £61, patmcgrath.com 4. Nars Soft Matte Complete Foundation £28, boots.com 5. Armani Luminous Silk Foundation £30, armani.com 6. Gucci Beauty Fluide de Beauté £46, harrods.com 7. Il Makiage Woke Up Like This £36, ilmakiage.com 8. Guerlain L’Essentiel High Perfection £44, selfridges.com 9. Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Foundation £34, charlottetilbury.com 10. Huda #FauxFilter Luminous Matt Liquid Foundation £34, selfridges.co.uk
The latest social media trend involves no ice buckets, no filters and certainly no sea shanties. Now celebrities and politicians around the world are vying to post the best “vaxxies” – selfies of the moment they receive their Covid-19 vaccination.
While vaxxies send out a strong message that the vaccines are safe, they are also an undeniable photo opportunity. The image of Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis being vaccinated with his shirt off went viral last week. With its unreconstructed masculinity, some compared it to photos of a bare-chested Vladimir Putin bare chested out hunting. Mitsotakis became something of a Twitter heartthrob as a result, with one user writing “Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis doing whatever it takes to sell his people on the #COVID19 vaccine.” Others fretted about the prospect of Boris Johnson, who might have his vaccine live on TV, doing the same.
Lockdown has made exercising the new going out, even if it’s only to your local park. Here’s our pick of sports kit, from high-tech performance gear to at-home workout sweats.
Longing to get your glad rags on – or fully converted to the tracksuit? Fashion insiders reveal their lockdown looks and predict what we’ll be wearing post-pandemic
Picture this: the very first celebratory night out you will have when the vaccine sets us free. Maybe you’re in a fancy restaurant, maybe your local pub. Cosy around a friend’s kitchen table, or on a packed dancefloor. What are you wearing? Are you desperate to wriggle back into a party dress and brave your highest heels? Or have sweatpants spoilt you for anything that doesn’t have an elasticated waistband and a fleece lining?
For a year, most of us have had the same hobbies (Netflix and going to the park) and as a result have worn pretty much the same thing (loungewear and puffer jackets). But post-vaccine, we are set to split into two style tribes. For every 21st-century swell desperate to re-enact the roaring 20s, there is someone who has found solace in the soft textures of lockdown. Culture responds to trauma in a kaleidoscope of ways. After all, in the first half of the decade that followed the first world war and the Spanish flu pandemic, F Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, while TS Eliot wrote The Waste Land.
Outstanding colour correctors that cover skin only where needed, allowing masked areas to stay clean and bare
This past year, concealer has come into its own. Unlike a liquid foundation, it covers skin only where needed, allowing masked areas to stay clean and bare, and giving skin a fighting chance against maskne. And when breakouts do strike, concealer is on hand to camouflage.
I’ve been enjoying Clinique’s new Even Better (£23 for 6ml), as it has the light consistency and moderate coverage sought by someone living mostly in trackies and slippers. The hyaluronic acid keeps under-eyes nice and moist, while caffeine and vitamin C at least appear to awaken them. It’s a great all-rounder in a respectable 30-strong shade range, for any skin type.
IMG Models chief says design student ‘exudes joy’ and will join poet Amanda Gorman at agency
The vice-president Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, has signed with IMG Models – home of Gigi and Bella Hadid – after her appearance at the presidential inauguration.
Emhoff’s two looks – a jewel-encrusted Miu Miu coat and a merlot-coloured Batsheva dress – went viral during the televised ceremony.
As technology makes secondhand clothes more accessible, more shoppers in the UK are going green
With wardrobe hoarders taking on a quarantine clear-out, coupled with a new sense of frugality, a new generation of “slow fashion” apps is allowing people to experiment with clothes swapping and shopping secondhand.
Lauren Bravo, the author of How to Break Up with Fast Fashion, says: “Where a few years ago, buying secondhand could mean hours of trawling, tech is making the whole experience so much more efficient and more accessible.” While charity shops have suffered sales declines of as much as a third, resale sites such as Loopster, Depop and Vinted have boomed in recent months.
From optimism dressing to built in PPE, here’s how designers responded to the current moment in a fully digital season of short films and recorded runway shows
The autumn/winter 2021 menswear shows were audience-free virtual experiences. Milan hosted the first Prada menswear collection from Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons followed by a virtual Q&A with students from around the world. Jonathan Anderson presented a Show in a Book and a Show on a Shirt for Loewe. Hermès employed a multiple camera angle livestream to recreate the real thing, while Virgil Abloh challenged the unconscious biases of dress codes with his collection for Louis Vuitton. Bold colour was everywhere, shorts and technical outdoor gear are on the rise and, while the robe reigns supreme, the tracksuit’s dominance seemed to be coming to an end. In a post-planning world we might not know much else about life this autumn, but here’s what designers think we will be wearing.
Autumn/winter items feature blue spray effect, a reference to police firing blue dye at protesters
The fashion label Vetements has drawn criticism for making reference to the Hong Kong protests in its latest collection.
Items in its autumn/winter collection feature a blue spray effect which, according to Vetements’ chief executive, Guram Gvasalia, is a reference to the anti-government protests in Hong Kong last year, where police fired water cannon containing blue dye at protesters as an identification technique.
Actor sparks debate over racism in fashion and entertainment industry after saying crew didn’t know how to style Black hair
Actor Monique Coleman has ignited a debate over racism in fashion and the entertainment industry after saying her character in the High School Musical television show wore headbands because the crew did not know how to style Black hair.
Taylor McKessie, Coleman’s character in the film franchise, wore headbands with almost every outfit at Coleman’s own suggestion.
Already a fashion sensation, the 22-year-old joins IMG Models, the same agency as Gigi and Bella Hadid
Amanda Gorman, whose performance of her poem The Hill We Climb during Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration drew widespread praise, has signed to IMG Models, the same agency as Gigi and Bella Hadid.
The 22-year-old US national youth poet laureate, has already become a fashion sensation. The red satin Prada headband she wore during the inauguration ceremony led to the item selling out, while her yellow coat (also Prada) caused searches for “yellow coats” to increase 1,328% (according to fashion search engine Lyst) in the wake of her appearance.
Designer’s first Fendi womenswear collection modelled by top names from Demi Moore to Naomi Campbell
One has been a British fashion superstar for 30 years; the other is a British designer who is becoming fashion’s next global power player.
A rare catwalk turn by Kate Moss marked the moment that Kim Jones, lauded with industry awards but a little-known name in the wider world, took his place at fashion’s top table with his first womenswear collection, for Fendi haute couture. Moss was joined by her daughter Lila, 18, the first time the pair have walked a catwalk together. The actor Demi Moore opened the show in off-the-shoulder black satin; Naomi Campbell closed it in a silver cape with cathedral-length train. Such stellar casting, on a show filmed behind closed doors with no live audience, was an unmistakable flexing of strength.
Nail art dates back millennia, taking in complex social codes, cultural appropriation, modern slavery and the sexism of lockdown rules for beauty salons
“How to Take a Nail Selfie!” “Fruity Manicure Inspo!” “Kylie Jenner Slammed by Fans for Nearly Poking Out Stormi’s Eyes With Ridiculous Claw Nails.”
The glut of hyperbolic nail-related headlines online points to our obsession with the endless possibilities open to the plate at the top of our fingers. In the internet age, the manicure, in all its incarnations, is a traffic winner. It peppers a plethora of Pinterest boards; the hashtag #nails has been posted 151m times on Instagram; nail artists are stars in their own right; and countless women will assert that manicures are a form of self-care. Detractors dismiss it all as frivolity.
Chanel and Valentino enrol artists from music and film as couture adapts to Covid by turning digital
The ultimate luxury for 2021? A joyful family party. That is what we want more than anything else this season, according to Chanel’s Virginie Viard.
Since luxury fashion is ultimately about what is aspirational – and with blockbuster catwalk shows being off the cards for the foreseeable – Viard put up a marquee, strung fairy lights between rose arbours, scattered petals on the floor, and staged her spring haute couture collection as a family reunion.
“I knew we couldn’t organise a big show … so I came up with the idea of a small cortège that would come down the stairs of the Grand Palais and pass between arches of flowers. Like a family celebration, or a wedding,” said Viard before the show.
Telfar, created by Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy, earns Design Museum prize, capping off change-making period for US brand
Black-owned fashion label Telfar has won the Fashion Design of 2020 award from London’s Design Museum for its vegan-leather, gender neutral shopping bag, capping off a change-making period for the brand.