Fashion
Not all crap TV is all that crap
Girl is back for half-term so I’ve been able to watch nothing but crap on TV this week. Some of…
James Delingpole discovers the fons et origo of indie music
I really hadn’t meant to write a postscript to last week’s column on my dark Supertramp past. But then along…
A fake fishing village, and the nastiest thing I’ve eaten as a restaurant critic
Selfridges is skilled at making things that are not hideous (women) look hideous (women dressed as Bungle from Rainbow or…
Fashion tips - and replacement hips - from a nonagenarian style icon: Iris reviewed
Iris is a documentary portrait of Iris Apfel, the nonagenarian New York fashion icon. Nope, me neither, but that’s irrelevant,…
Amazing. Thatcherite propaganda at the Young Vic
St James Theatre hosts a new play about Alexander McQueen (real name Lee), whose star flashed briefly across the fashion…
Dear Mary: How to cope with London Library overcrowding
Q. As a writer I find working at home too distracting. I am a longstanding member of the London Library…
Whose hair are you buying?
British people buy £43 million worth of human hair a year. So who’s selling?
Luxury isn’t the opposite of poverty but the opposite of vulgarity - but don’t tell the V&A
Different concepts of luxury may be inferred from a comparison of the wedding feast of Charles Bovary and Emma Rouault…
Better than Robert? Sonia Delaunay at Tate Modern reviewed
In 1978, shortly before she died, the artist Sonia Delaunay was asked in an interview whether she considered herself a…
Will you miss Mad Men? James Delingpole won’t
Mad Men looked great but, as the final season draws to a close, was there really anything to it, wonders James Delingpole
Madly Modern Mary overcomes childhood hardships to become the Queen of Shops
In this autobiography, Mary Portas doesn’t dip into the fabled store of her talents by giving an account of her…
Alexander McQueen may have been a prat but at least he was an interesting one
Alexander McQueen may have been a prat but at least he was an interesting one, says Shura Slater
Why I detest clothes with words on
Clothes with slogans on them are a sure sign of a bore
Edie Campbell’s catwalk notes: the joys of the hunt ball, and mystery of Grozny fashion week
It seems as though I have just been on some grand tour of the absurd. It helps that I work…
The most preposterous restaurant to have opened in London this year
Somerset House, a handsome Georgian palace on the Thames, was once the office of the Inland Revenue, and the courtyard was…
It’s time to shave that beard: the decade of the hipster is over
Take heart: the age of the stupid beard is coming to an end
Dear Mary: Can I run out on an apprenticeship for my dream interview?
Q. I have been trying to get an apprenticeship in fashion for over a year without success. I just had…
Don’t worry Brooks Newmark: paisley was sexy once...
Paisley power Paisley pyjamas were in the news. While associated with the town in Renfrewshire, whose mills produced the patterns from 1805,…
I love that people assume I’m gay
At a birthday dinner over the weekend I was introduced to this delightful party girl of a certain age whose…
Dear Mary: Is it an insult to be given anti-ageing cream?
Q. When someone gives you anti-ageing cream as a present, is that an insult or a compliment? — A.O., Provence…
L.P. Hartley’s guide to coping with a heatwave
Those of us who have been struggling to endure the recent heat should turn to L.P. Hartley’s classic coming-of-age novel The…
What’s wrong with sunglasses
People who wear sunglasses all the time seem to radiate disdain
Would you have been let in to an '80s club?
People will go to extraordinary lengths to get into a nightclub. Nowadays you must wear something tight, and look slinky.…
The week in words: 'Pull & Bear' is all style, no substance
‘This’ll make you laugh,’ said my husband, sounding like George V commenting on an Impressionist painting. ‘Someone in the Telegraph…
The World According to Karl, edited by Jean-Christophe Napias - review
Every fashion era has its monster and in ours it’s Karl Lagerfeld, a man who has so emptied himself on…
