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Miles Aldridge wants to take your picture
When: 12-17 October
Where: 62 South Audley St, London W1
The idea for Miles Aldridge’s portrait series 15 Minutes of Fame began with a Time shoot with Elton John. He photographed the singer, clad in a magenta suit and his signature specs, against a bright orange backdrop on Polaroid film; since then, the British photographer has taken his camera from Art Basel Miami Beach to the Venice Biennale, giving sitters 15 minutes to perform an “iconic version” of themselves. This month, he will set up a studio at the Mount Street Neighbourhood Arts Festival, offering visitors the chance for a one-off sitting. Throughout the week, there will also be a series of accompanying conversations, exploring “the art of rituals” and an art-themed pub quiz at The Audley next door. Sarah Kennelly
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Greeting cards you’ll want to keep forever
When: until 11 October
Where: 4 Princelet Street, Spitalfields, London E1
Price: £15
Click: caart.studio
Greeting cards – while a much-loved British tradition – often end up stashed in a drawer or thrown away. An estimated 195,000 tonnes of greeting card paper is sent to landfill each year. Caart aims to help solve this with a simple idea: personal messages, paired with collectible, editioned art prints. Each signed A5 print – by 28 contemporary artists including Tami Aftab, Ana Margarita Flores and Christian Cassiel – comes with space on the back for a printed or handwritten message and can be purchased with a stainless-steel display stand. “Some messages deserve to be saved, and sending them with art gives someone something they’ll keep and display,” says founder Emilio Stavrou. All participating artists will receive 50 per cent of the net profit from each print sold. To celebrate the launch, multidisciplinary artist Ronan McKenzie will curate an accompanying four-day exhibition of the inaugural works, with sound by HTSI Cult Shop Audio Gold. Sara Semic
EAT
An autumnal Cocina Studio supper club
When: 15 October
Where: Cocina Studio, Unit 4, 45a Tudor Road, London E9
Price: £59
Click: cocina-studio.com
Husband-and-wife duo Brazilian fashion designer Renata Brenha and Argentine chef Hernán De Majo have been hosting stylish supper clubs via their culinary studio Cocina Studio for the past decade, blending seasonal British and European ingredients with the South American flavours of their heritage. For their forthcoming dinner, held at their east London workspace, De Majo will create a four-course plant-based menu to share. Expect cabbage Milanese and yoghurt soft serve with quince coulis and garrapiñadas (candied almonds) paired with a selection of natural wines and a table adorned with Brenha’s upcycled and crocheted textiles. SS
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Danny Sangra’s nod to ’90s slogan tees
Koibird x Danny Sangra “Doomscroller” T-shirt, £120
“Doomscroller”, “Ghoster”, “Influencer”: the internet’s ever-evolving vernacular is the subject of Koibird’s new collaboration with artist and filmmaker Danny Sangra, who has created four limited-edition T-shirts pairing his playful illustrations with Gen-Z slang – and their (urban) dictionary definitions (Askhole: asks for advice, does the opposite). They arrive in the brand’s Marylebone store next week, accompanied by an installation of objects and drawings on cardboard. SK
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Lipsticks in six shades of red – from Victoria Beckham
Price: £71
Click: victoriabeckhambeauty.com
This latest launch from Victoria Beckham Beauty is a riposte to the notion that applying lipstick at the dinner table is bad etiquette. With their polished alabaster keepsake cases, these products are designed to be seen. The line is made up of six different reds – from a warm poppy to the classic “house red”, VB’s go-to. The velvety, demi-matte finish will last you through dessert. Rosanna Dodds
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London’s latest wellness destinations
Classical pilates instructor Sophie-Rose Harper has trained everyone from supermodel Adwoa Aboah to Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece. Having started in a private studio off Golborne Road, she recently opened a second boutique space in Holland Park. The new outpost features six reformer beds, plus a downstairs area for lymphatic drainage, acupuncture, reflexology and deep-tissue massage. Inès Cross
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A new book celebrates the power of getting dressed
Price: £20
Click: in-other-words.co.uk
Mieke Van Poucke has been collecting clothes all her life. It all started with a sheer white dress from Comme des Garçons, which the former PE teacher bought with her son Freek. Since then, she has amassed designs from Simone Rocha to Maison Margiela and Lanvin – mostly a mix of streetwear, or items with an “avant-garde” edge. When she fell ill a few years ago, Freek decided to document his mother getting dressed each day, later inviting photographer Sepideh Farvardin to capture her professionally. The resulting images have been published in a new book, My Collection is Endless, alongside Mieke’s daily musings. “I want to talk about how Rob [her husband] and my children influenced my life,” she writes, “Freek made me realise that I have more creativity than I thought.” IC
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Are you ready to “biostack”?
Where: 1 Cadogan Gardens, London SW3
Click: eyeamworld.com
For those searching for a more holistic experience, Eyeam, the wellness brand founded by mother-daughter duo Margo and Roxy Marrone, has opened its first physical space at 1 Cadogan Gardens specialising in the art of “biostacking”. Book a recovery session (in 60 minutes, you can trial seven different modalities including a zero-gravity flotation chair and vitamin D sunlamp) or 30 minutes on the human regenerator – exclusive to Eyeam – and designed to surround you in a field of cold atmospheric plasma. IC
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Waterworks and Royal Delft turn on the taps
When: 15 October
Click: waterworks.com
This month, American bath and kitchen company Waterworks is relaunching its 1996 Easton collection of brass fittings, now reimagined with modernised taps, exposed shower systems and towel hooks. As part of the series, Waterworks has teamed up with centuries-old Dutch ceramics house Royal Delft on a new range of hand-painted earthenware handles and countertop accessories featuring three exclusive patterns (Rake, Floral and Polychrome Floral) partly inspired by historical Delftware at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. Clara Baldock
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Oscar de la Renta’s autumn dirndls
Price: from £3,830
Click: oscardelarenta.com
Oscar de la Renta has collaborated with Bavarian brand Annina on a collection of colourful dirndls, prime for Oktoberfest celebrations and transitional autumn dressing. Choose from the daytime options, imagined in denim and bright floral prints, or an evening dirndl in rich velour (£4,900). Pair with a matching choker (£440) and embroidered knit (£2,230). IC
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Marie-Amélie Sauvé flicks through nearly three decades in fashion
This October, stylist and HTSI contributor Marie-Amélie Sauvé launches her first book, The World To Come: Visions of an Image Maker (Assouline). Documenting her near-30 years in fashion, it features images from fittings and photoshoots alongside Jamie Hawkesworth, Inez & Vinoodh and Annie Leibovitz. “One of the most memorable moments is when you are up at 4.30am waiting for the light to come,” says Sauvé, reflecting on her career. “When you want to bring an image to life, even if you are sick with a fever or if there is a snowstorm, you will find the strength to achieve it.” IC
SEE
Boodles’ new townhouse blossoms on Old Bond Street
Claire Coles’ custom-made paint and appliqué artworks adorn the interiors of homes, stores (see London’s Maison Diptyque) and now Boodles’ new townhouse. This seven-storey space on Old Bond Street includes archive rooms and a gallery area on whose ceiling Coles has painted a floral mural to celebrate the brand’s Secret Garden collection of platinum and pink diamond pendants and water lily tourmaline rings. The design has also inspired a new collection of wallpapers by Coles, launching at Decorex in October. Ella Mansell
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Angela Hill traces “the arc of adolescence”
Price: £50
Click: ideanow.online
Before co-founding Idea, the Soho cornucopia of rare books and magazines, Angela Hill worked as a fashion photographer capturing teenage girlhood for indie publications. In a new photobook Elizabeth (Idea) – the third in her “single girl” series – Hill documents her creative partnership with model Elizabeth White, whom she first met in 1997 when White was just 16. Through scans of magazine tear sheets, and time-worn negatives Hill reproduces “the arc of adolescence”. Hill says: “I think, in a way, I am photographing myself through these girls.” Jude Jones
SEE
Studio Lenca hangs his hats at Frieze
This October Studio Lenca will showcase several new paintings from his hatted men series in the Deutsche Bank lounges at Frieze and Frieze Masters. The artist, highly rated by Tracey Emin (he was formerly in residence at her studios in Margate), was born in El Salvador, where Indigenous performers don flamboyant hats as part of a folk custom. In the ’80s was forced to flee to the US where he grew up “undocumented” in San Francisco. “Hats take up space, that’s really important to me because so much of my work is about visibility,” he says. New works by the artist will also be featured at the Carl Freedman booth at Frieze. JJ
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How Maison Michel conquered the world of millinery
Price: €65
Click: lespressesdureel.com
Founded in Paris in 1936, Maison Michel went on to become French haute couture’s hatmaker of choice in the 1970s and 1980s under Pierre and Claudine Debard. In 1997 it was incorporated into Chanel’s Métiers d’Art portfolio of artisans, with its fascinator and millinery designs appearing in Matthieu Blazy’s debut Métiers d’art collection last year. Now, its 90-year history is documented in a new book, Headwear – Maison Michel (Éditions 7L): 304 pages of photographs, including shots from the private collections of creative director Priscilla Royer and Karl Lagerfeld. EM
SEE
Yumo Yuan’s enchanting painted silks
When: 14 October-8 November (PV 13 October)
Where: Spazio Leone, 26-28 Shacklewell Ln, London E8
Click: spazioleone.com
London-based Artist Yumo Yuan has spent more than 10 years scouring flea markets for antique cloths and garments, with a particular interest in Chinese folk pieces. He translates their symbols – goldfish, deer, pomegranates – onto contemporary silks by painting the warp threads before the weft is woven through. In his debut exhibition at Spazio Leone in London, the artworks will hang in windows, frames and doorways, and over the gallery’s furniture. Marion Willingham
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Hand-knitted artworks celebrate sheep
The small group of hand-knitters at The King’s Foundation’s Dumfries House spent their summer creating 15 knitted sheep for the 2026 edition of the foundation’s Knitwise project with Connolly. Each animal represents more than 100 hours of work using traditional stitches in British wool, including the clip from King Charles III’s own Dumfries flock. The pieces will be available to buy during the week-long exhibition at Connolly’s Mayfair store, with the proceeds benefiting Cancer Research UK and Ayrshire Cancer Support. MW
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Destination Frieze with Mr & Mrs Smith
Over the past two years, luxury hotel curator Mr & Mrs Smith commissioned 10 photographers – including American portrait photographer Tina Barney, artist Kalpesh Lathigra and photographer Paolo Di Lucente – to shoot popular destinations, from Île de Bendor to Morocco. The resulting images, selected by the National Portrait Gallery’s acting senior curator of photographs Brandei Estes, will be on display at No 9 Cork Street, as part of the brand’s inaugural collaboration with Frieze London. The photographs can be purchased as a limited-edition run of chromogenic prints (from £450 for four 12x16in prints); all profits will be donated to the Human Dignity Trust, providing legal support to LGBT+ communities. EM
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Beauty brand Saie lands at Sephora
When: from 6 October
Click: sephora.co.uk
Laney Crowell’s viral beauty brand Saie launches at Sephora UK this October. Saie is celebrated for its “clean girl” make-up (everything is cruelty and paraben free) and sustainability credentials (it is certified plastic negative), and the products are deliciously fun to play with. Start with the Glowy Super Gel (£27) for a natural highlight and the Dew blush (£23) available in 12 shades from baby pink to terracotta. IC
EAT
Ruinart’s sustainable supper in Somerset
When: 16 October, 20 November and 11 December
Where: Osip, 25 Kingsettle Hill, Hardway, Bruton, Somerset, BA10 0LN
Price: £326 (including service charge)
Click: osiprestaurant.com
Osip is the fitting venue for champagne brand Ruinart’s Savoir (Re)Faire supper series, which explores how winemaking and agriculture are adapting to climate change. Since opening in Somerset in 2019, Merlin Labron-Johnson’s Michelin-starred restaurant has become synonymous with sustainable dining. Over the next three months, Ruinart will bring its new smokey, aromatic Blanc Singulier cuvées to serve alongside the restaurant’s seasonal British produce. Each menu will be informed by the ingredients available at the time. JJ
SEE
Pad London turns 18
Pad London’s list of design and jewellery galleries grows longer in its 18th edition. Alongside contemporary design and high jewellery, find rain-imprinted porcelain at Lloyd Choi Gallery, plant-based tortoise-shell acetate jewellery from Nikos Koulis and 19th-century works by Carlo Bugatti from Yves Salomon Éditions (expect parchment clad surfaces, geometric marquetry and nature-inspired motifs). MW