We can all agree that the pigtailed cowgirl or the smudge-faced Joker costume is all a bit overplayed on Halloween. Are they classic? Of course. But creative? No. Each year, planning for Halloween is like preparing for a middle school dance. There’s the overly-enthusiastic people who spend months drafting ideas, buying props, and purchasing outfits until the picture in their head becomes a reality. Then there’s the not-so-thrilled ones, who dread Halloween and leave their look for the last minute. I’m the latter. Still, both groups are guilty of making one simple mistake: reproducing the same characters and costumes, only to find five or six more of the same costume at every Halloween party. While it can seem nearly impossible to think of an original and unique Halloween costume idea, it’s actually very doable. Here’s how to avoid overdone costumes this Halloween. The key is to abstain from “eleventh hour” looks - princesses, Grease-themed outfits, and even the classic Tom Cruise in Risky Business costume. It’s time to retire these iconic characters, even though they often require minimal thought, and consider something unique instead. There’s always the internal dilemma of not wanting your costume to be too obscure, or else no one will know who you are. Nobody wants to receive uncomfortable blank stares and pity nods when asked about their Halloween costume. For example, I was Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for Halloween last year. But because I wasn’t packing a blow-up suit underneath my blue track set, not one person guessed who I was, even though I had a blue nose and chewing gum. Depending on how much you care about people recognising your Halloween costume, there are few things to keep in mind so that you appear original on the spooky holiday. Avoiding unnecessary consumption is beneficial to both your wallet and your costume. If you begin by looking for ideas while shopping, you run the risk of purchasing pieces and props that you’ll never wear again. Steer clear of all Halloween-themed stores until you have an idea, and don’t go looking for inspiration in stores that organise their inventory based on typical Halloween characters. Run through your wardrobe. You don’t have to own eccentric clothing or accessories to use something already in your closet. An old blazer, a button-up shirt, and a pair of suspenders are all perfect for a Peaky Blinders-inspired look. Meanwhile, a flowing white dress and cream-coloured headband is the foundation for Florence Pugh’s finale outfit in Midsommar. If there’s absolutely nothing from your personal collection that could work as a Halloween costume, I suggest digging through your local thrift store to find one-of-a-kind items you wouldn’t find on the rack of every other retailer. Plus, you can always add something extra to a character or costume idea to make it more personalised. If you have a favourite film and found an item that can easily become a costume, try to incorporate elements of the movie or character into your costume so that it connects to the overarching theme without being so basic. For example, take the Barbie movie. Director Greta Gerwig’s live-action film prompted a pink fad for the summer, so it’s likely you’ll be spotting many people dressed as the Mattel doll for Halloween this year. While it’s more than fine to be dressed as everyone’s current obsession, try embodying a different version of Barbie - Weird Barbie, President Barbie, or Mermaid Barbie. This way, you can fuse easily recognisable elements of the iconic doll, like her blonde tresses or cursive “Barbie” branding, while still wearing something other than a white tank top and hot pink mini skirt. It’s okay to think outside of the box and show up in a costume that’s not automatically recognised by Halloween partygoers. It can even be a great conversation starter and you’ll feel more triumphant when someone does recognise your Halloween costume. Remeber, if model and Halloween superstar Heidi Klum can manage to shock each year with an unexpected and original look, then so can you. Read More Halloween decorations 2023: From Ghosts to Jack-O-Lanterns. Here are some idea’s for the spooky season Jellycat’s new Halloween cuddly toys have landed in time for spooky season Heidi Klum hints at her ‘really extra’ 2023 Halloween costume: ‘It’s going to be good’ 11 best kids’ Halloween outfits that will scare and delight 9 best horror stories to read this Halloween and beyond Kourtney Kardashian’s skeletons and other celebrity inspiration for Halloween

Delta Air Lines Inc. is planning more changes to its SkyMiles loyalty program after an overhaul earlier this

While Usher was decked out in red and black polka dots for Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday, it was Erykah Badu who captured attention for her accessory of choice. On 27 September, the “On & On” singer was seated next to Usher and French singer Aya Nakamura at the spring 2024 Marni show in Paris, where Nakamura gave a not-so-subtle reaction to Badu’s oversized, wide rim grey hat with black polka dots. The three celebrities dressed their best for the occasion, as Usher complemented his red and black outfit with matching red sneakers, red gloves, and black sunglasses as well as a silver brooch and necklaces. While Badu’s large hat was the main attraction, the R&B singer also wore a black and yellow patterned suit with a similar checked shirt layered underneath. She completed the look with braids that went all the way down to her feet. As for Nakamura, the French pop singer wore a thigh-high slit dress with various shades of blue, as well as a silver choker and earrings. Prior to the fashion show, Usher performed at La Seine Musicale in France on Monday 25 September. The news comes after it was announced this week that the ”My Boo” singer will be headlining next year’s Apple Music Super Bowl halftime show in Las Vegas. The music megastar, who has won eight Grammys, said he’s looking forward to performing on the NFL’s biggest stage. “It’s an honour of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list,” Usher said in a statement. “I can’t wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they’ve seen from me before.” Usher, 44, is currently performing his “Usher: My Way” residency in Las Vegas, which has drawn sold-out shows and rave reviews. He is expected to wrap up his residency in early December, before making his Super Bowl halftime debut in early 2024. Roc Nation founder Jay-Z called Usher the ultimate “artist and showman” and was the person to call him with the good news, according to an interview with radio DJ Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “When I got this call, he said: ‘It’s time, it’s magic time. You know, it’s time for you to have that moment,’” Usher recalled Jay-Z telling him over the phone. However, the “I Don’t Mind” hitmaker had no idea what Jay-Z was talking about, and the rapper had to clarify that he was calling about the Super Bowl halftime show. In response, Usher told Jay-Z that he was prepared and excited to do something he’s always dreamed about doing. “Ever since his debut at the age of 15, he’s been charting his own unique course,” Jay-Z said of Usher, who released his debut self-titled album in 1994. In total, he’s released eight studio projects filled with hits, including, “U Got It Bad”, “U Remind Me”, “You Make Me Wanna”, “Nice & Slow” and “Love In This Club”. ​​“Beyond his flawless singing and exceptional choreography, Usher bares his soul,” Jay-Z continued. “His remarkable journey has propelled him to one of the grandest stages in the world. I can’t wait to see the magic.” Read More Dior triumphs with Parisian runway melding women's past and future Balmain’s creative director claims more than 50 of his Paris Fashion Week pieces were ‘hijacked’ Usher to headline the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show in Las Vegas Kim Kardashian wears Chanel Barbie necklace in new Super Bowl ad with Usher Angelina Jolie says she’s figuring out her style as she opens up about being ‘hurt’ Sarah Jessica Parker’s custom 2014 Met Gala dress goes up for auction

Angelina Jolie has admitted that she’s still trying to figure out what her style is, as she opened up about wanting to look “soft” after being “hurt” in the past. The actor, 48, spoke candidly about her fashion sense during a recent interview with Vogue to discuss her new brand, Atelier Jolie. She began by describing how she believes people perceive her based on the clothes she wears. “Sometimes the way you dress says: ‘Don’t mess with me - I’ve got my armour on,’” she said. “But I want a woman to feel safe enough that she can be soft.” The Maleficent star revealed that when she was faced with a difficult time in her life, she was ultimately encouraged to choose clothes that made her look “soft”. “After I went through something where I was hurt, I had a therapist ask if I would try wearing a flowing garment,” she said. “Sounds silly, but I assumed that pants and boots projected a ‘tougher’ look, a stronger me. But was I strong enough to be soft?” While Jolie confessed that she didn’t feel too strong at time, she acknowledged that she’s still figuring out what her style is - despite being hurt in the past. “I felt vulnerable. Now I wonder if I don’t know what my style is because I’m still understanding who I am at 48. I guess I’m in transition as a person,” she added. The Salt star seemingly alluded to some of the personal challenges she faced over the years, including her split from ex-husband Brad Pitt in 2016. “I feel a bit down these days. I don’t feel like I’ve been myself for a decade, in a way, which I don’t want to get into,” she said. Jolie added that she’s in a place in her film career where she’s “only taking jobs that didn’t require long shoots” after spending the last seven years doing “a lot of healing”. She also noted that while she’s “still finding [her] footing”, her work with her fashion brand has offered her a new perspective. “I think part of this has also been therapeutic for me - to work in a creative space with people you trust and to rediscover yourself,” the actor explained. “I’m hoping to change many aspects of my life. And this is the forward-facing one.” In May, Jolie took to Instagram to announce the launch of Atelier Jolie, which she described as “a collective where everyone can create”. “Atelier Jolie is a place for creative people to collaborate with a skilled and diverse family of expert tailors, pattern makers and artisans from around the world,” she wrote in the caption. “It stems from my appreciation and deep respect for the many tailors and makers I’ve worked with over the years, a desire to make use of the high-quality vintage material and deadstock fabric already available, and also to be part of a movement to cultivate more self-expression.” During her interview with Vogue, the Mr & Mrs Smith star spoke candidly about her new career in the fashion industry, noting that her brand is “not really about fashion”. “I don’t want to be a big fashion designer,” Jolie said. “I want to build a house for other people to become that.” Read More Angelina Jolie says her children ‘saved’ her as she opens up about ‘healing’ after Brad Pitt divorce Salma Hayek reveals what she loves most about her friendship with Angelina Jolie Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ‘set to try and resolve’ longrunning vineyard dispute Angelina Jolie says her children ‘saved’ her as she opens up about Brad Pitt divorce Salma Hayek reveals what she loves most about her friendship with Angelina Jolie Sarah Jessica Parker’s custom 2014 Met Gala dress goes up for auction

One of the world’s oldest whiskies will be auctioned off after being discovered in a Scottish castle. The whisky was found behind a cellar door at 750-year-old Blair Castle, Perthshire, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Atholl. Around 40 bottles of the rare Scotch whisky, said to be one of the oldest in the world, were discovered in late 2022 when Bertie Troughton, a resident trustee at Blair Castle, happened upon them in the cellar. They are believed to have been distilled in 1833, bottled in 1841, then later rebottled in 1932.

People looking to eat at a high-end restaurant in New York City ultimately learned that the entire thing was an elaborate prank. On Saturday 23 September, Mehran’s Steakhouse finally had a table available in its East Village location after previously having a waitlist with nearly 3,000 names on it. Around 140 diners showed up with no idea that the restaurant wasn’t real. The origins of the prank date back to 2021, when Mehran Jalali and his 16 housemates were having biweekly steak dinners that he would cook in their Upper East Side apartment. As a joke, the roommates made a Google page where they could leave good reviews. Strangers eventually found them and assumed the reviews were real. After more people got accidentally wrapped up in the prank, the roommates created a website for the steakhouse, and by 2022, the wait list had 2,600 names on it. The group then attempted to make their prank real this past weekend, when they rented an event space in the East Village, and obtained a one-day liquor license and food-handling permits before inviting those who’d put their names on the reservation list. Members of the press were able to attend the restaurant, including a New York Times food writer, as well as a reporter from the New York Post. The $144 main entree was called the Bovine Circle of Life, better known as steak and potatoes. The restaurant’s simple salad also came with an elaborate name, Agrarian Synergies. A waiter even walked around with a gallon of milk, claiming it was from a cow from Uganda named Phillip as part of the meal’s concept. Part of the prank also included a selection of framed photographs of Jalali posing with celebrities he had “cooked for” over his years as a chef, including Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Barack Obama and John F Kennedy. “The worst-case scenario for me would’ve been if like, people realise that it was a fake steakhouse not because like, like the pranks and stuff, you know, that the lies were absurd, but because just like the food wasn’t that good, which ended up not happening,” the 21-year-old told Inside Edition. The group also staged a celebrity appearance. “We had some of our friends come and hold posters for Drake so that way people walking by, people walking would think that Drake was actually inside when he really wasn’t,” one of the pranksters, Riley Walz, told the outlet. According to the Daily Mail, the creators said they hoped the night wouldn’t be a “one hit wonder”. “People said they wouldn’t change a single thing about the steak,” the chef added. Since the one-night opening, more people have taken to Google to leave the steakhouse a review. “I got the luxury of being able to attend the one night only pop up and it did not disappoint!” one review began. “The waiter was very attentive and he didn’t bat an eye even when my husband asked him to recook the steak five times! Always smiling. We received complimentary wine because of this event. It was delicious.” The review continued: “The chef told me he personally crushed the grapes with his feet and fermented the juice for 98 years. Wine was amazing but the showstopper was the steak. The aroma in the restaurant alone almost made me pass out. I was getting lightheaded as I did not eat for four days just so that I would be able to eat as much as possible today. The first bite was better than anything on Earth. I levitated ... Turns out Drake was there a bit earlier than me?! He has great taste haha.” The Independent has contacted Jalali for comment. Read More Starbucks faces lawsuit as customers claim refreshers contain no fruit Subway enthusiasts stew over launch of first ever 3-inch sandwich 8 of the best wine regions to travel to around the world Cold-weather recipes to get on your radar now Five easy recipes to cook with your kids Baked beans and pasta become kitchen cupboard staples in British households

Fashion lovers will soon have the chance to own a custom Oscar de la Renta gown worn by Sarah Jessica Parker at the 2014 Met Gala - for the hefty price of $7,500. The black and white floor-length gown is being auctioned on the luxury fashion label’s resale site, Encore, until Friday 29 September. The dress, made custom for the Sex and the City star, features a black velvet bodice with a v-neckline and petal-like pattern at the bottom. The gown’s ivory skirt also includes a trellis embroidery, complete with Oscar de la Renta’s signature at the train. “When Sarah Jessica came to the office for our first design meeting, she had a binder full of references to share with Oscar. It was a truly special collaboration,” said co-creative director Fernando Garcia in a statement. “And for me, who didn’t ever go to design school, it was the biggest fashion lesson I could have gotten - on the floor of Oscar’s office.” The commissioned piece took 224 hours to make. Nine years later, it was returned to the atelier where it was made to be restored to its original condition. Thirty per cent of proceeds from the sale of the dress will benefit the New York Public Library. In 2014, the And Just Like That star recounted the gown’s design process in an interview with Vanity Fair. “I said to Mr de la Renta, please let me use scarlet embroidery thread, and splash your name across the back. It was my idea. He would never in a million years have it done, he’s far too modest,” Parker said at the time. The theme for the 2014 Met Gala was in honour of legendary designer Charles James, called “Charles James: Beyond Fashion”. The dress code called for “White Tie and Decorations” - full evening dress of white bow ties for men and evening gowns for women. Parker, along with actor Bradley Cooper and de la Renta, served as co-chairs for the annual fashion event. Parker’s black and white gown was one of the last designs de la Renta showcased on the red carpet before he passed away in October 2014, five months after the Met Gala. The Hollywood star and fashion icon has been a mainstay on the Met Gala red carpet - which is rolled out every May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City - for many years. Parker recently looked back on some of her many memorable fashion moments, including the time she attended the charity event with late designer Alexander McQueen in 2006. Speaking to Vogue in 2022, Parker explained that she “immediately” wanted to work with McQueen to design their matching tartan ensembles for the Met Gala’s “AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion” theme. However, she felt that she “didn’t really know him well enough to be so presumptuous” to assume he would want to attend with her. “Like everybody else, I was in love with him,” she told Vogue. “I have every pin he dropped from his mouth in my possession still. I have everything he cut off in my possession still. I have things that seem like nothing, from every fitting I ever did with him in my possession.” The groundbreaking designer died in 2010 at the age of 40, and was later commemorated by the Met Gala in 2011 with the theme “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty”. For last year’s Met Gala, Parker paid homage to the first Black female designer in the White House - Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley - in a black and white gown designed by Christopher John Rogers. However, the style icon has maintained that preparing for fashion’s biggest night of the year should be “labour intensive”. “All I ever think about is the theme and influence,” she told Vogue in April 2022. “Whenever I go to the Met, I don’t understand how everyone else doesn’t spend seven to ten months working on it. Like how do you not arrive exhausted by the details of getting it right?” “It would be so easy to find a beautiful dress to wear that night,” Parker added. “Like that would be a great relief and like going on vacation. But that is not the assignment, the assignment is the theme.” Read More Sarah Jessica Parker reveals she adopted Carrie’s kitten from And Just Like That Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker feud: A timeline of the beef between Sex and the City co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker rewears iconic Vivienne Westwood wedding dress in And Just Like That Victoria’s Secret was never feminist – why are they bothering to try now? Kim Kardashian debuts buzz cut and thin eyebrows for new photo shoot Travis Kelce wears ‘1989’ inspired outfit after leaving NFL game with Taylor Swift

Pumpkins and squash are great in tarts, and it’s the mixture of sweet and salty in savoury pumpkin tarts that really gets me,” says food writer Diana Henry. Pumpkin tarts with spinach and gorgonzola Serves: 6 Ingredients: For the pastry: 225g plain flour, plus more to dust 175g butter, chilled and chopped Sea salt flakes For the filling: 450g pumpkin or squash Olive oil 450g spinach, coarse stalks removed 2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk 275ml double cream 50g parmesan cheese, finely grated Freshly grated nutmeg 200g gorgonzola cheese Freshly ground black pepper Method: 1. For the pastry, put the flour, butter and a good pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse-blend the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add just enough very cold water to make the pastry come together. Wrap it in foil or clingfilm and refrigerate for about half an hour. 2. Preheat the oven to 180C fan (375F), Gas 5. 3. Cut the pumpkin or squash from top to bottom into broad slices, remove the inner stringy bits and seeds, then peel. Brush lightly with olive oil and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until just tender. Turn off the oven. Put the spinach into a large saucepan, cover and wilt in the water left clinging to it (about four minutes over a medium heat). Drain well and leave to cool. 4. Make the custard by mixing together the eggs, egg yolk, cream and parmesan. Season well. Roll out the rested pastry on a lightly floured surface and use it to line six individual tart tins. Chill for another 30 minutes (or just stick them in the freezer for about 15 minutes). 5. Preheat the oven again to 180C fan, Gas 5. Prick the bottom of the tarts with a fork, line them with baking parchment and put baking beans or ordinary dried beans on top. Blind bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and cook the pastry cases for another five minutes. 6. Cut the pumpkin into small slices, about 10 centimetres long and one centimetre thick. Squeeze every last bit of water from the spinach and chop it up. Season both of these and add some freshly grated nutmeg to the spinach. Spread the spinach over the bottom of the tart cases, then add the slices of pumpkin and dot with nuggets of gorgonzola. 7. Pour the custard mix over the tarts and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the custard feels only just set when you put your forefinger in the centre of a tart. Leave for 10 minutes to let the custard finish cooking and set a little once you have taken it out of the oven. Beef pie with wild mushrooms and red wine With wild mushrooms and red wine, this beef pie is perfect as the days get shorter and colder. Serves: 6 Ingredients: 1kg braising beef, cut into large chunks 30g dried wild mushrooms Groundnut oil 350g baby onions, or small round shallots, peeled but left whole 50g butter 1 celery stick, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 30g plain flour 300ml red wine Leaves from 3 thyme sprigs 3 bay leaves 300g fresh mushrooms, sliced 3 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley leaves 320g puff pastry for 1 big pie, 600g for 6 small pies 1 egg, lightly beaten Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper Method: 1. Dry the meat well with kitchen paper (if it’s wet it won’t brown properly). Put the dried mushrooms in a heatproof bowl and pour enough boiling water over to just cover. Leave to soak for 30 minutes. 2. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based casserole and brown the beef in batches: it is very important to cook it in batches otherwise the meat will not colour well. Remove each batch as it’s done. Add the baby onions or shallots to the pan and lightly brown them, adding a little more oil if you need it. Reduce the heat, add 20 grams of the butter and all the celery and garlic, and sweat for 10 minutes. Return the meat, with any juices, to the casserole. Season well and, over a low heat, add the flour. Stir everything round until it is well coated. Cut up the mushrooms and add to the pot with their soaking liquid (strain the liquid through muslin, as it can be gritty). Add the red wine, thyme and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat, cover and cook over a very gentle heat for one-and-a-half hours, stirring every so often. Take the lid off for the last 15-20 minutes to reduce the liquid. You need thick juices for a pie, so, if they’re too thin, remove the meat and mushrooms and boil to reduce the sauce. 3. Melt half a tablespoon of oil and the remaining butter in a saute pan and cook the fresh mushrooms briskly over a high heat so that they get well coloured. Season and let the mushrooms cook until they exude their liquid and it evaporates. Stir the parsley and the cooked fresh mushrooms into the meat and check the seasoning. Leave to cool completely. 4. Put the meat in one large or six small pie dishes and roll out the pastry to fit the dish(es). Cut a strip or strips large enough to go around the edge or edges. Brush the edge(s) with water and press the strip on. Dampen this with water and cover the pie or pies with their lids, pressing the pastry down. Trim off the excess, knock up the edges and crimp them, if you like, or just press with a fork. Use the remaining pastry to decorate, making little holes in the top for steam to escape. Brush with the beaten egg and chill for half an hour. Preheat the oven to 190C fan, Gas 6. 5. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes for one large pie, or 25-30 minutes for smaller pies. Serve immediately. Pecan and pear upside-down cake “The cranberries look beautifully jewel-like on this cake, which can be eaten warm as a pudding as well as with tea or coffee,” says Henry. “The fruit combination also works well in a Tarte Tatin. The ginger here is optional, but it mutes the sweetness a little.” Serves: 10 Ingredients: For the fruit and nuts: 75g unsalted butter 115g caster sugar 350g firm pears (about 2) 140g cranberries 75g pecans For the cake: 120g unsalted butter, softened 200g caster sugar 2 large eggs, separated Drop of vanilla extract 210g self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp ground ginger (optional) 175ml full-fat milk Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan (375F), Gas 5. 2. Melt the butter and sugar for the fruit and nuts in a heavy-based ovenproof saute pan, 25cms in diameter, over a low heat. Peel and core the pears and cut them into slices, about 1cm thick, then place them on top of the butter and sugar. Cook these over a gentle heat until just tender, then whack the heat up and cook them until lightly caramelised. Scatter the cranberries and pecans on top and gently mix all the fruit around. Turn the heat off, but don’t let the pan get cold. 3. For the cake, cream the butter and sugar and add the egg yolks and vanilla. Mix in half the flour along with all the baking powder and ginger, if using. Add the milk and then the other half of the flour. Mix until smooth. 4. Whisk the egg whites until they form medium peaks. Add one tablespoon of the beaten whites to the batter to loosen it, then, working quickly, fold in the rest with a large spoon. 5. Spread the batter over the fruit and nuts in the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the sponge comes out clean. 6. Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out, but no longer, or the caramelised fruit will stick to the pan. If this does happen, carefully lever the pears off the pan and lay them on to the cake with their dark, caramelised sides facing upwards. ‘Roast Figs, Sugar Snow’ by Diana Henry (Aster, £22). Read More Is there such a thing as British pizza? Five easy recipes to cook with your kids The dish that defines me: Rosie Grant’s grave recipes Courgette season is nearly over – here’s three ways to make the most of them How to cook to keep your gut healthy Leave Rick Stein alone – it’s totally reasonable to charge £2 for mayo and ketchup

Wings! Fake tans! Low body mass indexes! For millennial women, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was an annual reminder of the myriad ways in which we were failing to adhere to exacting and exhausting beauty standards. When it was cancelled in 2019, few mourned it. But fashion loves a comeback story, and today the company unveiled Victoria’s Secret: The Tour ’23 on Amazon Prime Video, its first televised catwalk event in five years. According to the company, the feature-length film is the “ultimate expression” of their ongoing efforts to rehabilitate a brand that has been mired in scandal. Alongside long-standing criticisms over promoting an unrealistic body image, the company’s former marketing executive Ed Razek was also accused of behaving inappropriately with models in a New York Times report (he described the allegations as “categorically untrue, misconstrued or taken out of context”) and a recent Hulu documentary Angels and Demons explored troubling links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Visually, strategically, everything about it is the incarnation of where the brand is going,” Victoria’s Secret president Greg Unis has said. Instead of the usual structure, which was centred around a straightforward runway show, The Tour ’23 is roughly divided into quarters, each focusing on one of four locations: Lagos, Nigeria; Bogota, Colombia; Tokyo, Japan; London, the UK. In each city, a local designer has dreamed up their own fashion collection to be modelled by the likes of Naomi Campbell, Emily Ratajkowski, Adut Akech, and Gigi Hadid, who does double duty as the show’s narrator. In London, the chosen designer is Michaela Stark, whose corsets aim to celebrate a diverse range of body shapes, rather than constrict them. She agreed to take part in the VS show 2.0, she suggests, so that she could counteract the damaging messages put out by the original runways. “It was a big thing” when she was a teenager, she recalls, “but it was also that culture around it, of not wanting to eat after you saw it”. Her comments inadvertently raise a question that looms over the whole production: can you ever truly detoxify a brand practically built on the insecurities of a generation of women? Founded by Roy Raymond in the late Seventies, who felt awkward buying lingerie for his wife in his local department store, Victoria’s Secret began life as a women’s underwear shop aimed specifically at men. In 1982, Raymond sold the business to Limited Stores founder Les Wexner for $1m; Wexner went on to transform the brand, envisaging it as a more affordable version of the fancy European label La Perla. In 1995, when the company was facing competition from Wonderbra, the first Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show took place at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. It proved successful enough to become an annual event. In 1999, the show was streamed on the internet for the first time, prompting the website to crash as 1.5 million users tried to tune in. Two years later, the VS show celebrated its inaugural TV broadcast, during which the National Organisation for Women (NOW) protested outside a New York branch of the shop. “Some people are terribly blase about this, that this is not a big deal, that we ought to be used to this kind of daily sexuality,” Sonia Ossorio, NOW’s vice president for public information, said at the time. “But I think we need to keep questioning the ever-extending sexualisation of women in mass media.” The following year, NOW branded the event a “softcore porn infomercial”. By then, the blueprint for future VS shows had been set. A lineup of models would don bras encrusted with millions of pounds worth of jewels and embarrassingly themed lingerie (never forget Cara Delevingne’s god-awful outfit circa 2013: a sort of miniature shell suit likely pitched in the boardroom as “sexy football fan”). Somewhere between the models, a famous singer would pop in for a brief performance; if they were a woman, they’d be decked out in a VS creation of their own (Taylor Swift got a particularly raw deal in 2013, too, when she had to wear a Union Jack-inspired number, complete with a tiny red, white and blue top hat). This glittering, over-the-top spectacle, much closer to a beauty pageant than a Fashion Week presentation, spotlighted the world’s most beautiful women – who were not just genetically blessed but worked hard, too, we were told ad nauseam. They had been preparing for the show like endurance athletes, sticking to carefully tailored diets and intense workout schedules. These wing-wearing “Angels” were selling a dream, one that we lesser mortals could supposedly buy into by picking up some synthetic underwear at our nearest Victoria’s Secret branch. But it was their painstaking fitness regimens, not the pants they were wearing, that were the real focus of fascination. In endless interviews, the models were asked to detail exactly how they whittled themselves down to “Victoria’s Secret ready” size – so that we could try and copy them. To combat the criticisms of objectification, the brand relied on its models to pay lip service to just how “empowering” the whole circus was, offering up their take on choice feminism. “There’s something really powerful about a woman who owns her sexuality and is in charge” – model Karlie Kloss was peddling this line to the media as late as 2018. “A show like this celebrates that and allows all of us to be the best versions of ourselves. Whether it’s wearing heels, make-up or a beautiful piece of lingerie – if you are in control and empowered by yourself, it’s sexy.” Naturally, it was very convenient that this “best version of ourselves” aligned with the oppressively narrow conventional standard of sexiness Victoria’s Secret was selling. By the late 2010s, though, as the fashion industry began to (slowly) address its diversity problem, Victoria’s Secret started to seem more and more like an anachronism. As other brands took small steps to spotlight plus-size models on their catwalks and in their advertising campaigns, the VS show remained the preserve of the extremely thin. They had been preparing for the show like endurance athletes, sticking to carefully tailored diets and intense workout schedules Placing white models in culturally insensitive outfits (see: Kloss walking down the runway wearing a Native American-inspired headdress) only added to the glaring PR problem, which was later exacerbated when the brand’s marketing boss Ed Razek made controversial comments about transgender people and plus-size models to Vogue in 2018. “It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in your show?” he said, apparently recalling questions from critics. “No. No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy.” Elsewhere, he claimed “no one had any interest” in seeing bigger bodies on the VS catwalk. Razek later apologised, admitting that his “remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive”. His comments about plus-size bodies went unaddressed. In 2019, against a backdrop of plummeting TV ratings and declining sales, the brand confirmed that the VS show had been cancelled; instead, they said, the company would focus on “evolving” their marketing. The news came just a few months after the revelation that Jeffrey Epstein had provided financial advice to Victoria’s Secret founder Wexner – and had exploited his personal connection to the brand as a means to lure in young women. “Being taken advantage of by someone who was so sick, so cunning, so depraved, is something that I’m embarrassed I was even close to,” Wexner said to investors. “But that is in the past.” He left the company the following year. Since then, Victoria’s Secret has made some high-profile attempts to rectify past missteps. The company brought in a majority female board of directors; they ditched the “Angels” concept in favour of the new “VS Collective” whose ranks include actor Priyanka Chopra, US football star Megan Rapinoe, and plus-size model Paloma Elsesser. Last year, an ad campaign featuring a more diverse array of women was accompanied by the slogan “we’ve changed” – supposedly into something “ever-evolving” and “real”. How much has Victoria’s Secret “changed”, really? The latest show features a handful of plus-size models, Elsesser included, but many of the old VS cohort are present and correct, including Candice Swanepoel, Lily Aldridge, and Adriana Lima. The nods to body diversity can’t help but feel a bit cursory when the overriding vision is still one of impossibly thin women parading up and down a runway – albeit a runway that now snakes around a Brutalist building in Barcelona as opposed to a swanky New York City hotel. The outfits too, are more arty, less skimpy this time around and mercifully there hasn’t been the usual media battery of stories on extreme exercise and diet in the run-up – but that doesn’t mean those practices have ended altogether. “We haven’t forgotten our past, but we’re also speaking to the present,” the brand’s chief creative director Raul Martinez said before the film’s launch. In an era when more inclusive, dynamic lingerie labels, like Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty, reign supreme, the VS show can’t help but seem like a relic. And as long as its legacy of impossible body standards lives on for many of us, any attempts to dress the spectacle up as empowering feel very hollow indeed. Read More Naomi Campbell and Gigi Hadid lead first Victoria’s Secret runway show in five years Victoria's Secret overhauls its racy fashion catwalk in its latest moves to be more inclusive Chioma Nnadi at Vogue: All hail the era of the Black female fashion editor Naomi Campbell and Gigi Hadid lead first Victoria’s Secret runway show in five years Kim Kardashian debuts buzz cut and thin eyebrows for new photo shoot Travis Kelce wears ‘1989’ inspired outfit after leaving NFL game with Taylor Swift

On a sunny day off the southern coast of Greece last week, two aging tankers nestled next to

From finely cut bangs to platinum tresses, Kim Kardashian isn’t anything if not daring when it comes to experimenting with her hair. The 42-year-old style muse may have just pulled off her most jaw-dropping transformation yet as she posed for the CR Fashion Book 2023 cover with a buzzed head and thinly arched brows. Creative director Youssef Marquis reimagined Kardashian’s long dark locks more frayed and short-ended. The reality star’s predictable sleek, fine appearance was replaced by a rugged and bare style, juxtaposing the very image Kardashian has created for herself. In the photo shoot, Kardashian can be seen stripped of colour and accessories, with only her barely-there brows and almost gone head of hair giving her a bit of edge. Smears of dirt wrapped the lauded A-lister’s arms, chest, and white tank top. Other images displayed the businesswoman with angeled readers, a thick stroke of black eyeshadow under her waterline, a C-cut of makeup drooping down her cheek to the edge of her mouth, and dangling a cigarette by her teeth as she focused on a camera ahead. Her clothing switched from a fitted tank to an oversized sweater and a thin button-down jumper. In the world of CR, Kardashian is both the spectacle and the seer. A soft shimmery gloss coated her eyelids as the only apparent makeup on her face. The cover said, “Kim Kardashian by Nadia Lee Cohen.” On social media, the new look has proven to be a hit among Kardashian’s fans. “Umm, this is iconic,” one fan wrote in the comments under Kardashian’s Instagram post, while another said: “Sooo cool, I love this look on you.” The Skims founder also reflected on her first encounter with the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Carine Roitfeld. “I had always heard you were the most stylish person on the planet, and I had your books at my house. We met when I was pregnant with North, and you asked to do my first fashion cover,” she remarked. “I was freaking out. Karl [Lagerfeld] shot it, Riccardo [Tisci] art directed it, and you styled it. I was so nervous and so excited all at the same time.” Kardashian allowed her cover feature for CR Fashion Book to play out exactly as the team had envisioned. “I show up on set and the makeup artist only had two products,” the entrepreneur confessed. “And I was low-key freaking out but obviously trusted your plan.” Labelled as “the muse of our generation,” the Skkn creator’s account on parenting, social justice, and internal reflection was analysed in her exclusive sit down with Roitfeld. “If there was a goddess who presided over social media, reality television, fashion, or entrepreneurship, Kim Kardashian could arguably hold any and all of those titles,” her feature read. The fashion fanatic first posed for the cover of CR with their Fall/Winter 2013 Issue 3. Here, her spirit was pictured differently. Kardashian’s fluffy eyebrows remained as they were, and her satiny straight hair stayed. Read More Kim Kardashian wears Chanel Barbie necklace in new Super Bowl ad with Usher Kim Kardashian makes her scripted TV debut in American Horror Story. Here’s how to watch and stream online Kim Kardashian faces backlash for posing in Balenciaga after condemning brand over child scandal Kim Kardashian wears Chanel Barbie necklace in new Super Bowl ad with Usher Caitlyn Jenner claims Kim Kardashian ‘calculated how to be famous’ in early career Kim Kardashian faces backlash for posing in Balenciaga a year after campaign scandal

The Princess of Wales has stepped firmly into autumnal dressing with a forest green power suit for a tour of a heritage textile mill. Kate was visiting Yorkshire-based AW Hainsworth – which has a royal history going back to the 1953, when fabrics made by the mill were on display during the Coronations of Queen Elizabeth II. The 41-year-old wore a Burberry wide-legged trouser suit with gold button detailing and a bright white blouse. She finished the look with a chunky gold chain and matching green velvet block heels. It isn’t the first time Kate has worn the Burberry number – we first saw it in March during a meeting with Norwegian royalty at Windsor Castle. Unsurprisingly, it’s no longer available to buy online. The mum-of-three wore her caramel-highlighted hair loose with bouncy waves, the tone perfectly in keeping with the cooler season, for the tour – during which she was set to learn about the manufacturing process of textiles. Luxury British fashion house Burberry debuted its latest collection last week at London Fashion Week (LFW). It was creative director’s Daniel Lee’s second LFW outing, with celebrities including singer Kylie Minogue, Killing Eve star Jodie Comer and actor Rachel Weisz on the front row. Modern interpretations of the classic trench coat and chic patterned shirts populated the runway, so we could see Kate in more new Burberry designs soon. Kate has a history of wearing chic trouser suits, though. Earlier this month she wore a double-breasted jacket by Holland Cooper during a visit to a Royal Naval Air Station in Somerset, with matching slim-fit trousers that grazed her ankles and chunky gold button detailing. Back in May she went for a colour blocking baby pink Alexander McQueen suit for a visit to the Foundling Museum – matching a pearl belt with court shoes. In Boston, in December 2022, she went for a burgundy suit by Roland Mouret – along with a pussy bow shirt and a Chanel bag that’s been seen on numerous occasions. She proved a sharp white suit can be casual for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, when she chose an Alexander McQueen suit to watch swimming at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre. And during a visit to University Magee campus in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in 2021, Kate went for a slim-fit Emilia Wickstead trouser suit in magenta, over a roll-neck jumper. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live How can I boost my soil when I go peat-free? See Cate Blanchett champion sustainable fashion at glamorous Giorgio Armani show 7 gardening books you shouldn’t be without this autumn