I try not to bang on about catwalk shows too much in these columns because I feel they are best not taken too literally, but the Miu Miu autumn 2025 collection, shown in Paris earlier this year, was a watershed moment for ladylike. The cloche hats and slip dresses, and bullet bras poking out proud under sheer pastel sweaters, were deliciously retro and bracingly up to date at the same time.
When you talk about modern fashion legacies, that of Jil Sander is a tricky one. Mainly because it's both everything and nothing. A minimalist who helped shape the direction of late-1990s fashion, a period subject to sporadic revival for the past 15 years or so, Sander's resolutely stripped-back perfectionism has proved tricky to emulate without hollow imitation. Plus the woman herself, now 81, is very much alive and kicking,
Burberry's Check - sometimes called the Nova - has become synonymous with that British brand's identity in popular consciousness. It was introduced in the 1920s as a lining to Burberry's already emblematic trench coat, actually just one of a spectrum of tartans and plaids then in use. By the 1960s, customers were coming and specifically asking for coats sporting the beige, black and scarlet crosshatch at Burberry's Haymarket flagship in London.