Step into our studio, where you’ll find our favourite books, fashion, design and more. First, the sleekest of menswear looks
These pages and those that follow in this section were shot by the team below, unless otherwise stated.
Photography: Sohrab Golsorkhi-Ainslie / Styling: Caroline Issa / Hair: Yui Ozaki / Make-up: Jinny Kim using Dior Forever Foundation and Dior Capture Le Sérum / Casting: Emma Somper / Photography assistant: Francesco Zinno / Styling assistants: Eve Bailey, Katie Boden and Estefania Salinero / Models: Makur Kulang at Next Management and Leyla Greiss at The Hive Management
All of Makur’s clothes and accessories are by Dior.
Makur wears a jacket, top and trousers by Denzilpatrick and shoes by Emporio Armani. His bag is by Denzilpatrick.
All of Makur’s clothes and accessories are by Emporio Armani.
All of Makur’s clothes and accessories are by Emporio Armani.
Red alert! Alessandro Michele’s Fall 2025 sets off all the right alarms
All of Leyla’s clothes are by Valentino. Her shoes are Valentino Garavani.
A swirl of emotion characterises the canvases in the first international solo exhibition of Arpita Singh
Arpita Singh, My Lollipop City: Gemini Rising (2005).Vadehra Art Gallery © Arpita Singh.
Memories are rarely experienced linearly, as Arpita Singh’s first solo exhibition outside of India makes clear. Remembering, curated by Tamsin Hong and Liz Stumpf and on show at Serpentine’s North Gallery until July 27, features work from Singh’s career stretching over six decades, from sprawling surrealist oil paintings to delicate ink drawings. Rather than offering any clear narrative, vibrant pastel colours and layers of abstract figures invite a reflection of how inner life changes the way that the outer world is perceived.
Born in 1937 in what is now West Bengal, Singh moved to New Delhi aged nine, and much of her work reflects an India rediscovering itself post-independence. In My Lollipop City: Gemini Rising (2005), astrological details – Taurus as a white cow, Gemini as a middle-aged couple – mingle with a skyful of planes, iconic Delhi landmarks, and a suite of men in black jackets and white trousers, creating a topography of the city that is perspectively flattened but vibrantly populated. In other works, similarly mingled references to warfare, the figures of Indian epic, rivers, text and roads create a sense of inhabiting a swirl of time – where the only constant accompaniment is Singh’s perspective. William Lewallen
Reaching back and looking forward, the world’s greatest watchmakers search for steady ground
From left, Cartier Tank à Guichets; Van Cleef & Arpels 18K yellow gold, diamond and sapphire Cadenas watch; Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds with Milanese link bracelet in 18k pink gold; Hermes Arceau Rocabar de Rire.
At this year’s Watches and Wonders in Geneva, the most iconic watch was perhaps the most abstruse. Cartier’s relaunch of their Tank à Guichets, first presented in 1928, is a watch at its most simple: with its face almost totally encased in metal, only two small windows reveal the hour and minute. In effect, it’s a digital watch avant la lettre, an art deco marvel that feels utterly contemporary.
The Tank à Guichets represents the high point of a trend visible throughout the show at Palexpo, where despite the thickly carpeted floors and free-flowing champagne, the watch industry is caught in the grip of anxiety about the global luxury downturn. The price of gold continues to spiral; Asian buyers remain recalcitrant; and merely days after the opening, Trump’s “Liberation Day” placed 31% tariffs on Switzerland.
The result is a return to tradition, conservatism and simplicity, or perhaps more straightforwardly, a return to the core codes of each brand. The deco minimalism of Cartier’s Tank à Guichets was offset by a new tiger and zebra print Panthère de Cartier featuring 145 brilliant-cut diamonds, yet the animal prints hark back to an era of 1980s luxury and feel decidedly, and delightfully, retro. A recurring design preoccupation was the 1930s, the first golden age of the luxury consumer watch, in the aftermath of stock market volatility and social unrest. At Jaeger-LeCoultre, the house brought back their own art deco icon, the Reverso – first launched in 1931 as a watch for polo players that could be flipped so that the face was protected. At Van Cleef & Arpels, the Cadenas bracelet watch, designed in 1935, was front and centre.
Even new launches came with a heavy serving of retrospection. Rolex unveiled an entirely new Oyster watch, the Land-Dweller, a paean to 1970s modernist design. Zenith mounted a small exhibition of the brand’s history to introduce the G.F.J., named after its founder, Georges Favre-Jacot. Piaget offered a vision of the 1960s design that made its name and even Hublot, a relatively young brand, is celebrating 20 years of its Big Bang model. Tag Heuer announced that they would return as official timekeeper of Formula 1 – the brand had been the first to have its logo appear on a car back in 1969. IWC Schaffhausen, meanwhile, celebrated their partnership with the new film F1, in which they play the fictional timekeeper, and launched their first ceramic version of their classic model the Ingenieur.
Amidst this retrospection, there’s still lightness. At Chanel, playful jewellery-led pieces celebrating the world of Coco Chanel were balanced with the futuristic J12 Bleu Caliber 12.1, in blue ceramic in a matte finish with gleaming baguette-cut sapphire indicators. Montblanc’s continued collaboration with Wes Anderson provides a degree of playful irony. Amidst the white booths, they presented a wooden chalet complete with bookcases of Penguin Classics, a thoughtful setting that – like their timepieces – balances old and new, design and function.
At Hermès, each design spoke to the playful inventiveness of a team of designers who are clearly willing to push the boundaries of watchmaking and jewellery with conceptual irreverence and élan. The Time Suspended series of watches freeze the dial when
a button is pressed, instantly liberating the wearer from temporal
constraints. Meanwhile, the Hermès Arceau Rocabar de Rire presents a horse on the dial which sticks out its tongue at the push of a button – a welcome reminder that things don’t have to be that serious. Amidst the heaviness and volatility of our contemporary world, it’s these moments of playful levity that are the most satisfying. Thomas Roueché
Shoes that’ll make you feel like you’re walking on air, no matter what level you’re on
All shoes by Ugo Paulon.
Leyla wears a jacket and trousers by Akyn and earrings by Gucci.Left, Leyla wears a jacket by Akyn and a necklace by Boucheron.
Try some blue sky thinking with all-organic fibres and intriguing bean-shaped buttons
How can one care for the planet while also caring for oneself? That was the question that Amy Powney asked herself upon her decision to step down as creative director of acclaimed brand Mother of Pearl, after nearly two decades with the company. Her new womenswear brand Akyn looks to answer, with clothes that are as elegantly wearable as they are eco-conscious. With no virgin polyester used in any of the brand’s clothing, Akyn aims to have at least 90% of garments made from regenerative and recycled natural fibres. From its women-led creative and business team to its circular production model, the brand is leading by example in an industry prone to complacency. Akyn treads lightly through the grass, leaving little in its wake but hopeful auguries as to the future of fashion. Matteo Pini
See delicate Japanese embroidery through a glass brightly
Around the world on the opposite side to Central London’s bustling streets (where Leyla was photographed here) is the To-ji temple, an 8th century temple in Kyoto, Japan that became the central seminary of Shingon (or Esoteric) Buddhism in the 9th century. At dusk under the main pagoda, Maria Grazia Chiuri unveiled her Dior Fall 2025 collection in her unmistakable lexicon of feminine silhouettes that give ease with elegance. Connecting back to Christian Dior’s own links with Japan - working with Tatsumura fabrics, a family-run textile company established in 1894 and known for its special jacquards using French looms it brought back to Japan in the 1700s, Chiuri brought back two of the jacquards that had been featured in Dior’s 1953 and 1957 shows, hues slightly updated for Chiuri’s mood but made in the exact same way as they had been over 70 years ago. A visit to the textile atelier unearthed a 90 year old craftsman who had been working at his loom for over 75 years, coming full circle from having created the fabrics ordered by M. Dior himself to the new Dior Fall 2025 versions. One of Chiuri’s legacies – seeking out the artisans to celebrate their workmanship, their expertise and their passion for beauty – will itself be remembered in fashion’s history books, and the calming setting for the collection’s debut will surely filter to even the bustling urban streets around the world, where the clothes will take flight. Caroline Issa
All of Leyla’s clothes and accessories are by Dior.
Hat and shirt by Prada.
A summery hat for when it’s bucketing down
A plexiglass box of books presents a vision of 21st-century America
Nayland Blake, Untitled (Men Who Hate Women & the Women Who Love Them, How to Have a Smarter Baby, Understanding Media, Women Who Love Too Much, The Pill Book) 2001. © Nayland Blake, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery
Nayland Blake’s untitled 2001 work is formed of five paperback books contained in plexiglass. The books are Men Who Hate Women & the Women Who Love Them, How to Have a Smarter Baby, Understanding Media, Women Who Love Too Much, and The Pill Book. The first of these, Men Who Hate Women, made it to number one on the New York Times bestseller list’s “advice and miscellaneous” category in 1987, and is credited with spawning a whole therapeutic industry that proposed that women were implicated in their enmeshment in horrible relationships. “Children from high-drama households often grow up with the idea that tension is an integral part of love,” explains the book’s co-author Susan Forward, “Therefore, the girl who grows up in a high-drama family is an ideal partner for the charismatic, explosive misogynist.”
Two of these books belongs to a specific self-help vibe of the latter half of the 20th century – and each are, clearly, well-thumbed – that sought to help primarily women understand why their romantic attachments were disappointing, traumatic, or unfullfilling. How to Have a Smarter Baby told mothers to “talk to baby in captivating ways”; Understanding Media was one of the first books on mass communication to propose that the medium is the message. The Pill Book, which at the end is perhaps the most prominent, is different – no self-help book but rather an ostensibly scientifically-neutral series of profiles of commonly prescribed drugs in the US, a (literal) “consumer reference” book. As a collection, these books, with their off-white spines, form an image of early-millennium America: neurotic, self-obsessed, binaristically gendered and romanced, grappling with a haywire mass media, and hopelessly over-medicated. Christabel Stewart
Louboutin goes red in tooth and claw with an extravagant iridescent heel
Shoe by Christian Louboutin.
Three sacred vessels to catch the light – and to cast bigger shadows
Made in collaboration with glassblowers in Jaba, Palestine, these abstract sculptures by Dima Srouji are part of the artist’s Hollow Forms project, both a reflection on the region’s glassblowing tradition and a means of preserving an endangered practice. Each object is designed using 3D modelling software, before Srouji collaborates with local artisans to create the finished object. Glassblowing has seven centuries of heritage in Palestine, with particular mastery of the lampworking technique, in which a burning torch is used to soften and sculpt the glass. As with Palestine’s other craft industries, the Israeli occupation has curtailed the exports of the region’s glass: Srouji’s vessels, fragile in appearance yet robust in build, speak to the resilience of the country from which they come. Matteo Pini
“Forever shall the small bright orange burn / unplucked against the bough”, wrote Marjorie Meeker. Ours grows on a set of library stairs
Vanity case and make-up by Hermès.
Jewellery by Completedworks atop a script written by Laura Waldren.
Completedworks flip the script with their fantastical fashion week presentations
In their recent AW25 presentation, London-based jewellery brand Completedworks were guided by an unlikely muse: QVC. With a script penned by Papatango Prize-winning playwright Laura Waldren, Goodfellas actress Debi Mazar played an increasingly frazzled teleshopping host, hawking the brand’s pearl necklaces and drop earrings. A sharply written parody of consumerist excess, it also served to embody the theme of the collection, wherein objects – and selves – are never truly “complete”, rather continuously calcified, reimagined and transformed. Continuing the brand’s engagement with interdisciplinary storytelling (last year’s presentation saw Joanna Lumley present a monologue written by author Fatima Farheen Mirza), Completedworks continue to merge fine jewellery with fine arts. Matteo Pini
Do you copy? Seeing double with previews of next season from four standout London-based designers
Left: All of Leyla’s clothes are by Johanna Parv, her shoes are by Moschino and her earrings are by Gucci. Right: Leyla wears a dress and shoes by Lueder and earrings by Gucci.
Left: Leyla wears a jumper and skirt by Pauline Dujancourt and shoes by Loewe. Right: Leyla wears a top and skirt by PARISER, shoes by Ugo Paulon and the stylist’s own tights.
A new exhibition reveals the triumphant but troubled legacy of the US’s first Black librarian
Belle da Costa Greene in the West Room of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library (ca. 1948–50).
Towards the end of Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy, the exhibition delivers a sucker punch. Organised to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Morgan Library in New York, it tells the remarkable story of the institution’s first librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, a woman of colour who spent her whole professional life passing as white.
Belle’s story is that of an individual’s astonishing struggle to overcome almost unimaginable prejudice. Da Costa Greene rose to the heights of New York intellectual society under the support of her patron J.P. Morgan and turned his collection into one of the world’s most significant libraries. An entire section is dedicated to her long-distance affair with the art historian Bernard Berenson, and through her personal effects and the Morgan’s collection, we see the trail she blazed as a connoisseur in the golden age of great American collectors.
But the secret of her racial background haunted her, even as her career – building a unique canon of rare and beautiful books – thrived. The exhibition holds back a cruel twist. Late in life, by then well-established at the Morgan and in New York society, da Costa Greene received the news that her beloved nephew, Bobbie, had died in service during the Second World War. The exhibition uncovers that Bobbie had, in fact, killed himself after his mixed ancestry was discovered by his white fiancée, who wrote to him to break off the engagement. In that letter, she insisted that he have himself sterilised: “Darling, won’t you? … You have no right to have children anyhow.” Bobbie’s friend wrote a note to Belle on the envelope of the letter after Bobbie’s death: “The contents of this envelope brought a noble boy to his death. It is not fair to hand
him suicide: this letter killed him.”
A single chilling letter suddenly reframes a journey of delightful antiquarianism into a ghoulish horror story that brings the racist realities of the mid-century sharply into view. The image of da Costa Greene at her desk concludes the exhibition. It’s an image of a consummate connoisseur, focused and precise in her work, leafing through an antique tome. Yet the weight she carries feels inescapable. Thomas Roueché
A shoe to make light work of the everyday
Santoni began in the 1970s in a garage in Corridonia, Italy, where Andrea Santoni – then-head of production for a shoe company in Marche – brought formal men’s shoe designs to his wife, Rosa, to stitch together on a sewing machine. Times had changed by the late 1990s, when dress codes loosened and streetwear had become mainstream. Now, these two visions come together in the Easy Bounce, a hand-crafted shoe in premium leather that is as luxurious as a formal shoe but as featherlight as a sneaker.
Sheer technical inventiveness defines the Easy Bounce, which uses an ergonomic insole to keep the wearer light on their feet all day long – but which is fashioned from soft reversed suede and premium calfskin. Now, 50 years after that garage first hummed into life, under the vision of Giuseppe Santoni, a staff of around 500 artisans fashions about 2,000 shoes a day. This is the highest artisanship at industrial scale – a form of hybridity that is cheerfully encapsulated by the Easy Bounce, which promises to carry the wearer effortlessly from meeting to after-work drinks. This low-key elegance is deeply Italian – as much as the miraculous story of its origin. Nell Whittaker
We’re giving tens across the board for these satisfyingly cuboid rings
All of Leyla’s jewellery is by Boucheron. Her dress is by Ferragamo.
Books from Palestinian authors come straight to your door via an ambitious new publishing project
Letters From Gaza: A Collection By the People; Unveiling Their Stories and Emotions From the Year That Has Been by Mahmoud Alshaer and Mohammed Al-Zaqzooq (April, 2025)
The literary market is increasingly hard to navigate, yet access to independent, political literature is more important (and under threat) than ever. The Palestine Festival of Literature’s new subscription service, the PalFest Bookshelf, distils the often-overwhelming process of book-buying into a bimonthly delivery. Every other month, members will receive a text by a Palestinian author – usually new publications, excluding “some older works of enduring relevance” – and an additional gift, such as a bookmark, pamphlet, or postcard. For example, the project’s first pick was Mohammed El-Kurd’s Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal, which came with a postcard recreation of Maisara Baroud’s cover art.
Though only in its infancy, the schedule of the Bookshelf has an insistent and enduring quality that offsets the distracting, disposable nature of the “content” market right now. Also included in the subscription are invitations to the book club, virtual and in-person seminars with the authors which cultivate a sense of community amidst the chaos. The promise of good taste and curatorial direction, combined with the convenience of a subscription service, facilitates political engagement and, crucially, supports the discussion of a widely censored reality, as well as the writers and publishers within it. Amelia McGarvey
Silk twill carré by Gucci.
Saddle up, we’re celebrating art and the archive
This summer, Gucci launched the 90x90 project, a collaboration with nine international artists to reinterpret the House’s iconic silk scarf (the project’s name refers to the scarf’s measurements). Each artist selected from one of five historic silk scarf designs from the Gucci archives: flora, fauna, nautical, equestrian, and, of course, the GG monogram. This design is by Yu Cai, a Chinese illustrator and animator based in Italy. Her work is decidedly Web 3.0 – she’s active in the NFT space and works across graphic design and digital innovation, creating art that considers how we inhabit our environments, real or virtual. Turning to silk marries this contemporary approach with an ancient craft, which in turn opens up new avenues for creativity. As Yu Cai says, “Unlike traditional art forms, silk allows for a dynamic interaction between art and fashion” – art that can forge out into the world, ever in motion, not unlike the way that the static and moving image can work on the internet. “The way [a scarf] is worn, draped, or styled adds layers of depth and movement to the design, transforming a static artwork into something ever-changing.” Just as the archive is re-animated by these nine artists and their individual histories, the art itself comes alive in the wearing. Nell Whittaker
They say you should keep your cards close to your chest. Alighieri takes the same approach with their writing materials
Pescura shoe by Scholl.
Read the small print – Scholl is ushering in a new era of everyday elegance
In the early 20th century, when William Scholl, a young farmhand-turned-cobbler’s apprentice patented the Foot-Eazer, his arch-supporting solution for his customers’ foot pain complaints, he could not have predicted the massive podiatric health empire that would bear his name in the ensuing decades. Like the inventors of cola and digestive biscuits before him, Scholl and his business partners realised that what was originally intended for health reasons could be enjoyed by a discerning public. The Pescura sandal, a shoe with a characteristic curved wooden footbed and adjustable strap, became a huge hit in the mid-1960s, famously sported by models like Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. Scholl’s philosophy of “when your feet hurt, you hurt all over” similarly resonated with the burgeoning hippie movement and their holistic approach to health. Scholl leaves a lasting legacy, boasting recent collaborations with Balenciaga, Ganni and GmbH. As it happens, comfort never goes out of style. Matteo Pini
Feast your eyes on these trompe-l’œil bags. Dinner is very much served
All of Leyla’s clothes and accessories are by Moschino. Her bags are by Pochetty.