Why M&S director Kathryn Turner is the ultimate ‘Gay Halloween’ costume idea

Product development boss at Marks & Spencer inspires niche outfits after unexpected success on social media

She is not the most likely viral star. But with 310,000 followers on TikTok and 270,000 on Instagram, Marks & Spencer Food’s director of product development, Kathryn Turner, has suddenly become one of the year’s big hits on social media. Her videos take the viewer with her as she goes in-store to look at new dessert launches, including its banana, caramel and pecan pudding, or taste test its latest products, such as its cherry and chocolate cookies.

Turner is part of Marks & Spencer’s wider social media strategy implemented in 2020 as a way of attracting younger shoppers. Instead of using traditional influencers, M&S now champions 100 of its own employees on TikTok.

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Dripping with style: what fashion insiders wear in the rain – plus we pick the best raincoats and accessories

Top tips on how to stay dry and stylish from those who know how. Plus this autumn’s best rain gear, from practical jackets to puddle-proof boots

Associate fashion editor for the Guardian

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Basketweavers get in a twist over Alexander Skarsgård’s Wicker Husband

Why is he not made of willow? Why is he plaited and not woven? World’s basket makers have plenty of questions

Hollywood heart-throbs are known for their good looks and charisma. But in a classic plot twist, the latest big-screen dreamboat causing viewers to get hot and bothered isn’t even human.

Alexander Skarsgård’s Wicker Husband character in the romcom Wicker has sent the internet into a frenzy.

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DIY socks, messy collars and cummerbunds: nine wardrobe updates from the catwalks

High fashion looks without a big budget? Follow our frugal guide to pinch the biggest autumn/winter ‘26 catwalk trends for free

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Dark mornings, darker evenings and the end of Celebrity Traitors. It’s easy to feel a bit meh at this time of year. However, without sounding too TikTok life coach, just as you are encouraged to winter-proof your morning routine (light a breakfast candle, make your favourite cup of tea) to start your day on a brighter note, the same approach could be applied to your wardrobe. An outfit you look forward to wearing to the office or an accessory update that can make a long-term favourite piece feel new again, can help put some much-needed pep in your step. That’s even when the forecast reads five days of rain in a row.

The autumn/winter 2026 collections shown on the catwalks way back in February (yes time works funny in fashion) have finally hit shop floors, and high-street brands have been quick to pay homage. But there are plenty of styling tips and tricks you can borrow for free. Here are nine to get you started …

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Hot fuzz: what to wear with a fluffy coat

For even more impact, contrast an OTT coat with casual basics or classic tailoring

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Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: to nail this year’s British heritage look, just study Rivals

Thanks to Jilly Cooper, tartan and tweed, waxed jackets and wellies are a style vibe right now

British heritage, in fashion terms, is a country where it is permanently October. A conker-brown and pleasant land, if you will. Brand Britain in the style sense comes into its own in autumn: roaring fires, muddy lanes, damp dogs. Waxed jackets and chunky knits, tartan and tweed, jaunty scarves to banish draughts. Clothes for going on a hearty walk, but with a hip flask in your pocket. Fashion has been mining this seam since long before Brideshead Revisited made battered evening dresses and Oxford bags look romantic, and it keeps returning, because trad British style is satisfyingly utilitarian while also being loaded with enough backstory (class, history, eccentricity) to be intriguing and reinventable.

Also: Rivals. It has taken considerable restraint for me not to mention Rivals in the whole of the first paragraph, because it is now a matter of mere weeks until we get our next Jilly Cooper fix and I, for one, cannot wait. Cannot wait for Cameron stalking the corridors in her foxy power suits, for Taggie in her cute jeans and jumpers, for Valerie in head-to-toe tweed and an aggressive amount of blusher. The success of Rivals has done for old-school British dressing what Emily in Paris did for the beret, only with better jokes and more adultery. Jolly hockey sticks style is the new French girl chic. This fantasy is homegrown, which makes it both more embarrassing and harder to resist. Just as Emily and her friends and frenemies are a camp send-up of fashionable Paris, Rivals is a fond, nostalgic semi-parody of the British wardrobe. The show’s costume designer, Ray Holman, has drawn on original 1980s pieces from Dunhill and Mulberry for inspiration. With Liberty fabrics, nods to polo uniforms and sturdy waxed coats, he has brought the Sloane ranger back into the fashion conversation for the first time in years.

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From five-fingered trainers to the shoeless shoe: what’s with all the freaky footwear?

‘Ugly’ shoes, once the preserve of the catwalk, have gone mainstream. Why are so many people taking a walk on the wild side?

Until recently, a busy commuter train would be packed with people wearing low-key, unobtrusive shoes. An elegant and inoffensive pump, a sporty trainer or a polite and basic ballet flat, they were the type of shoes that said background extra rather than main character energy.

But now change is afoot. Deliberately strange designs are reaching new heights of desirability. Polarising rather than pretty, these shoes tend to be flat, a little bit orthopaedic and, according to the internet, “ugly”.

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Lime bike jousts? Why youth culture is embracing the medieval era

From chainmail-wearing pop stars to high-fashion catwalks, the spirit of the middle ages is erupting into the zeitgeist

Medieval knights used to joust on warhorses with wooden lances, but this week in east London, two men jousted on Lime bikes with PVC pipes. This contemporary spin on a medieval spectacle is just one example of the spirit of the middle ages erupting into the zeitgeist.

As part of Frieze art fair, the artist Corbin Shaw staged a show called Feast of Fools. The “‘anti-Frieze” Frieze show took inspiration from a medieval festival where, as Shaw put it to GQ, “the peasant class could insult the rich”. In the video for Troye Sivan’s latest song, Party, the Australian pop star postures as a medieval knight.

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‘A form of anti-status status’ – how much would you pay for a plain tote bag?

The ubiquitous carrier has been given a four-figure makeover. But why has an everyday bag associated with running errands and US supermarkets become so aspirational?

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If you were in the blessed position of having £500 to spend on a bag, what would you look for? Would it be made of cotton? A nice light shade bound to sully quickly, like “paper white” or ecru? Would you want something that looks a lot like those ubiquitous totes sold by a certain US supermarket chain for a couple of dollars?

No, thought not. But there are plenty of options if you do. Phoebe Philo, former Celine designer and quiet luxury pioneer, offers a white canvas shopper, made entirely from cotton except for the silver brass hardware of its internal zipped pocket, for £450. Luxury Swedish brand Toteme’s “effortless tote bag” is made from organic cotton canvas and is available in dark brown, red or classic ecru. It goes for £510. Tom Ford’s version, at £1,600, differentiates itself a little, with a body made exclusively of cotton canvas but trims and handles from calfskin. Prada’s, which features leather details and metal hardware, could be yours for over £2,000.

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‘I wanted to create the female version of a man’s suit’: how Roland Mouret’s Galaxy dress took over the world

One the most famous dresses of this century, it was worn by royalty and A-list celebrities in the noughties. Its latest fans are Maga women. Here, the designer, and former mentor to Victoria Beckham, reveals the story behind it

The story of one of the most photographed and ripped-off dresses of the last 50 years came together with a simple zip. It was 1998; the designer Roland Mouret had shown his first collection at London fashion week and was looking for a way to produce good clothes at speed. He connected with a small British atelier and it was there that some old-school industry wisdom would alter his course: he learned that a longer seam doesn’t actually cost any more than a shorter one.

Despite his brilliantly instinctive approach to design, it was like cracking a code – and steered him towards the dress that would make his name. “My brain was buzzing!” he says. “I hadn’t thought about it before – if you extend a top by 50cm, it becomes a whole outfit. You just need accessories. Focusing on dresses gives you a signature piece at the right price.”

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Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: don’t want to get your Big Winter Coat out just yet? Try ‘onion dressing’

It’s time to learn the art of layering – and we’re talking a crew neck with a ballet wrap and blazer, not full-on outdoor explorer

Is layering an art? Probably not in the traditional sense. We are not talking the Bayeux tapestry here. No one is going to queue round the block to admire the subtle interplay between your Uniqlo Heattech and your cashmere crewneck. Still, I think it’s nice to romanticise this stuff. The deeply unpoetic truth is that it is going to get cold and wearing one item of clothing at a time simply isn’t going to cut it. So let’s pretend that the sliver of white T-shirt beneath a jumper, the shirt collar poking out above a cardigan, or the ballet wrap over a snug top are not acts of basic thermal self-preservation, but composition. A creative statement about proportion, texture, colour and self-expression. If you have to wear half your wardrobe at once, you may as well make a masterpiece out of it.

The avant-garde layering term to drop in order to sound like a connoisseur this season is onion dressing. Not the most romantic name, but a clear visual for the most refined form of layering, which is fine layers rather than hefty ones. And instead of the top layer covering all beneath it, each piece should be visible. As if we were slicing through the onion and looking at a cross-section if you will excuse me labouring the allium thing. This is layering with finesse rather than brute force. Hems and collars and cuffs give an outfit depth and texture without adding too much bulk. You want to look intriguing and multi-dimensional, not like Joey in Friends wearing all of Chandler’s clothes.

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‘No influencers’: the hotels, restaurants and beauty spots restricting photoshoots

Backlash against content creators includes restricted hours for filming and even outright bans

Stand in any vaguely photogenic spot these days on holiday and the chances are you will come across people posing with raised phones and even ring lights. Some may be influencers with huge audiences on social media, others just overkeen Instagram users. With hotels and beauty spots now so overrun, however, bans on photography are coming into place.

The five-star Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, known for its glamorous clientele, views of the Côte d’Azur and a stunning infinity pool, has brought in rules against photoshoots: no longer allowed without prior permission.

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Fast-fashion giant Shein outperforms several Australian retailers on ethics, report says

Ghanda and Windsor Smith are among lowest-rated in Baptist World Aid ethical fashion report based on metrics such as wages and sustainability

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Online fast-fashion giant Shein is outperforming many Australian high street retailers on ethical standards, according to an industry review.

The 11th Baptist World Aid ethical fashion report, released on Tuesday, assessed the ethical practices of 138 Australian and international companies, representing 543 fashion brands.

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Alexandra Shulman: ‘Which book am I ashamed not to have read? Literally the whole canon of classic English literature’

The former British Vogue editor-in-chief and author on a romantic kiss on a traffic island, her school-run regrets, and a very expensive nude

Born in London, Alexandra Shulman, 68, studied social anthropology at the University of Sussex. She was a secretary at Over 21 magazine and, in the early 80s, became a journalist at Tatler. In 1990, she was made editor of British GQ and, from 1992 to 2017, she was editor‑in‑chief of British Vogue. For her contribution to fashion journalism, she was awarded both an OBE and a CBE. Her books include novels and the bestselling memoir, Clothes … and Other Things That Matter. A collection of essays, Black Coffee and Red Lipstick: Notes on Living, is out now. She is married for the second time, has a son and lives in London.

When were you happiest?
Anytime that I’m lying in the sun next to a swimming pool with a good book.

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How to dress a tech oligarch: The Social Reckoning’s costume designer on Zuckerberg’s style evolution

Susan Lyall worked with actor Jeremy Strong to research the Meta CEO’s favorite Nikes and luxury sweaters

The first Aaron Sorkin Facebook movie, 2010’s The Social Network, helped cement the early aughts image of Mark Zuckerberg rebelling against corporate norms in rumpled hoodies and T-shirts.

The follow-up, The Social Reckoning, is carbon-dated from 2019 to 2021. This is “post-hoodie”, as the movie’s costume designer, Susan Lyall, describes it, “post-thumbing his nose” to formality. It is also peak robot. Zuckerberg’s reserved wardrobe of suits or interchangeable long-sleeved shirts echo his chilling composure throughout, even as fury simmers under the surface.

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Victoria Beckham, ‘duck face’ and onesies: nine things Zoolander predicted about fashion

It’s been 25 years since the release of this film skewering an industry that famously takes itself very seriously. It might have been comedy gold but it was also, in its own way, prophetic

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Critics were divided, the US release date couldn’t have been worse (a few days after 9/11) and the sequel was a flop. Yet few films have predicted fashion’s own present like 2001’s Zoolander. The memeable absurdist comedy about the “three-times male model of the year” was a cinematic Cassandra: correctly predicting themes, styles and sensibilities of the industry that still ring true today.

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The fine art of fashion: what to wear to an exhibition

How better to signal your love of design than with bold colours, sharp shapes and the odd slogan T-shirt?

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20 of the best women’s shoes and boots for autumn, from ballet flats to knee-highs

Whether it’s sleek slip-ons or stompers that mean business, we’ve got the standout pairs for the changing season

• 52 women’s autumn wardrobe updates

You’ve dug out your knitwear, made a list of cosy TV shows to watch and posted a shot of your first pumpkin spice latte. Autumn is officially here!

Now it’s time to start thinking seriously about your footwear. October is nice because it’s usually warm enough to still have a bit of flesh on show, so you can get away with Mary Janes or ballet flats. But it’s also not too hot for boots if you want something with a little more stomp. Here’s a selection of the best footwear to buy now.

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Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: this season’s vibe is lady who lounges - not lunches

Think boucle jackets with low-waisted jeans, silk blouses with masculine trousers, pencil skirts with wellies …

It always makes me feel a tiny bit queasy when looking “ladylike”, as a trend or a vibe or whatever, comes into fashion. How does it make sense to spend our hard-earned paychecks cosplaying as women of lunches and leisure?

You can’t deny these clothes are cute, though. A boucle jacket can make you feel as if the Eiffel Tower might come into view around the next corner, even though you are in the wrong country. A mini-heel lets you imagine you might be having a glass of sancerre with your lunch, when in reality a can of San Pellegrino is as exciting as it is going to get. There is an air of gentle charm, of courtesy, to lady-adjacent style that can take the edge off a tough day.

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‘Children are naturally drawn to beauty’: the head of the ‘fake’ Issey Miyake preschool on their pleated uniforms

Ms Lam Montessori’s head of school reveals teachers wear a different Japanese designer after their chic clothes drew online envy

“Does anyone know what the deal is Ms Lam Montessori … and why all their employees wear Issey Miyake … every day … I’m confused and a bit jealous,” asked one commenter on the Williamsburg subreddit last week, sparking a unexpected viral moment for a chain of Brooklyn Montessori preschools.

The poster was responding to photos on the Montessori’s website of the teachers’ uniforms: raspberry, cobalt and apple green dresses in plissé fabric. They appeared to be from the Pleats Please line by Japanese designer Issey Miyake. It seemed an avant-gard choice for staff posing in front of the abachi and blond wood toys of their preschool classroom.

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