26 FEBRUARY 2023

Honey,
I shrunk my
New
handbag! season
fashion to
make you
smile

Plus The trends to try now

SIDE-PART SKIRTS / STATEMENT COLLARS / BARELY-THERE SANDALS / TURBO TASSELS
 The Barometer Edited by Priya Elan

Fashion! Beauty! People! Things! Welcome to your weekly guide

to the stuff everyone will be talking about. Do keep up

Just one more thing:

Columbo is back
Well, you can keep your Benoit Blancs
— the original television detective is
back (swishy coat intact). The
combination of Columbo’s forever
fashion trench and the Polaroid-ish
colours of the TV show has resulted
in Peter Falk’s titular hero (below)
taking over the internet: see the
Columbophile blog, dedicated to your
TOD’S

favourite cigar-smoking policeman. He

has also been the inspiration for Natasha
Lyonne’s new self-consciously retro
whodunnit show Poker Face and her
bumbling character, Charlie Cale. Get your
slightly quizzical looks at the ready.

Fashion you can sink your teeth into

Looking for further proof that food is the new fashion? A new collaboration
between the London dining institution St John and refined menswear
brand Drake’s is set to be on every foodie’s wish list this
LOUIS VUITTON

spring. Yes, nose-to-tail eating can now be a wearable

pursuit too (sorry, vegan pals). Dreamt up to
celebrate the good things in life — see very long
lunches, very good wine and the perfect jacket to
do it in — the collaboration spans everything
from jumpers bearing a reimagining of the classic
St John pig logo to Nose to Tail tote bags and,
Getty Images, Alamy

thanks to Drake’s expertise in the field (lol), the

perfectly cut chore coat. Tasty! Jumper, £395,
and tote, £125 (from Thursday), drakes.com

COVER PHOTOGRAPH ED BOURMIER STYLING FLOSSIE SAUNDERS. METAL, STRASS AND LEATHER NECKLACE, £2,960, CHANEL (FROM MID-MARCH). OPERA GLOVE, £65, ELISSA POPPY

EDITOR LAURA ATKINSON DEPUTY EDITOR CHARLOTTE WILLIAMSON ART DIRECTOR ANDREW BARLOW FASHION DIRECTOR KAREN DACRE BEAUTY DIRECTOR SARAH JOSSEL ACTING BEAUTY DIRECTOR PHOEBE MCDOWELL
FEATURES EDITOR PRIYA ELAN ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR SCARLETT RUSSELL JEWELLERY DIRECTOR JESSICA DIAMOND ASSOCIATE FASHION DIRECTOR VERITY PARKER FASHION AND MERCHANDISE EDITOR FLOSSIE SAUNDERS
BOOKINGS DIRECTOR AND CREATIVE PRODUCER LEILA HARTLEY ACTING BOOKINGS DIRECTOR AND CREATIVE PRODUCER JESSICA HARRISON PICTURE EDITOR CATHERINE PYKETT-COMBES ACTING PICTURE EDITOR LORI LEFTEROVA
SENIOR DESIGNER ANDY TAYLOR JUNIOR FASHION EDITOR HELEN ATKIN STAFF WRITER AND EDITORIAL ASSISTANT ROISIN KELLY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ALICE KEMP-HABIB CHIEF SUB-EDITOR SOPHIE FAVELL SENIOR SUB-EDITOR JANE MCDONALD

© Times Media Ltd, 2023. Published and licensed by Times Media Ltd, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF (020 7782 5000). Printed by Prinovis UK Ltd, Liverpool. Not to be sold separately

The Sunday Times Style • 3

 The Barometer

Heating up
▲ BOARD GAMES
Used to semaphore
credibility at photoshoots
and art fairs. The new
Kinfolk magazine, in
other words

▲ MONOPOLY MAN
This season’s unexpected
red carpet pin-up: see
Janelle Monáe. Top hats
at the ready!
▲ “GUCCI SANDWICH”
Slang for a sarnie that is
extremely expensive Everyone’s talking
about … How Long Gone
It’s the bro-cast that started as a joke, found its wings during the
pandemic and is now branching out into TV. At a time when male
friendship is, we’re being told, in crisis, the connection between
the podcast’s two American hosts (BFFs Jason Stewart and Chris
Black, above, from left) is palpable. With 450-plus episodes under
▲ OCTOGENARIAN PIN-UPS their belts, the duo give chatty, whimsical vibes as they riff about
The way Harrison Ford pop culture, fashion, food and anything else they fancy. Their
wears his glasses in guests are stellar too — Bret Easton Ellis, Alexa Chung and the
Shrinking is a bit of us author Sloane Crosley, to name but a few. Sold!

Cooling down
▼ “WORST TRAP”
When a thirst trap on
social media goes wrong

▼ MONO-POD SCREAMING
Can everyone please ▼ DOCUMENTARIES
stop shouting into one The current must-see,
AirPod. Thanks Subject, is about …
documentaries.
Go meta or go home
Meet Gwynnie’s interiors guru
Photographs: Getty Images, Alamy, Apple TV +, Jake Michaels

We’ve recently developed a new interiors design crush: Colin

King (above), the American interiors superstylist and former
Additional words: Katrina Burroughs, Karen Dacre.

personal trainer to Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow and

Stella McCartney, bizarrely. Or not — it was seeing inside the
glamorous homes of his A-list clientele that inspired King’s career
in interior styling. These days he works for Drake and Kirsten
Dunst and has even styled the cover of Architectural Digest for
his old mucker Gwynnie (whom he still texts on her birthday).
▼ THE SKINNY MARGARITA King’s top tips? Ban curtains, preserve empty space, collect rocks
It’s all about the (“any object can be a thing of beauty”) and add 8-10ft branches
“minimalist long margarita” instead of pot plants. “It makes you appreciate the cycle of nature
now. Use Patrón Silver, and the decay of things,” he says. “And I kill plants.” His new book,
soda and lime Arranging Things (Rizzoli £38.95), is out next month.

The Sunday Times Style • 5

 THE TRENDS
Dior spring/
summer 2023

A fresh start
From clashing floral prints to show-stopping wellies,
fashion is blooming gorgeous this spring
Ellen von Unwerth

Words Helen Atkin

Ready to peel off those winter layers yet? A brand-new fashion season brings endless possibilities for your wardrobe.
For the exhibitionists there is plenty to help you stand out from the crowd — think chintzy interiors-inspired
prints and head-turning accessories. But there’s also something for the minimalists, who can revel in a new moment
for tailoring with beautifully cut trousers and jackets in calming shades. Wearable Zen? Count us in.

The Sunday Times Style • 7

 THE TRENDS
1
Petal power 3
Florals for spring are a fashion cliché, and
for good reason. Nothing says “thank
God it’s not snowing’’ quite like a dress
strewn with your favourite blooms. But
this season’s florals have a grown-up new
look. Forget the dainty daisy prints of
childhood smock dresses and focus
instead on punchy clashing prints paired
with sharp tailoring. 4

1
2

LOEWE
5

1 Dress, £195, Sharan Ranshi x

Jigsaw, jigsaw-online.com. 8
2 Mules, £480, wandler.com. 9
3 Bag, price on application,
jilsander.com. 4 Jacket, £475,
rejinapyo.com. 5 Dress,
£820, ladoublej.com.
6 Sunhat, £2.50, tkmaxx.com. 7
7 Sunglasses, £320,
celine.com. 8 Skirt, £895,
christopherkane.com

12
10

11 13
ADAM LIPPES

9 Earrings, £75, katespade.co.uk.

10 Double-layer skirt, £855,
toryburch.com. 11 Shirt, £760,
driesvannoten.com. 12 T-shirt,
15 £350, loewe.com. 13 Daisy
14
necklace, £295, simonerocha.
com. 14 Sandals, £100,
dunelondon.com. 15 Shorts,
£650, pacorabanne.com

8 • The Sunday Times Style

 3
Supersize me
When it comes to bags it’s a game of two halves this season.
Tiny is fun, but if you need a throw-it-all-in clutch or tote
that can handle everything including a laptop, make-up bag
and three outfit changes, then Louis Vuitton’s Coussin XL
(below) has serious big bag energy. The only thing you
might need to worry about fitting in is your
appointment with the chiropractor.

SACAI
STELLA McCARTNEY
BOTTEGA
VENETA

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
2
Meet the
side-part skirt
Do not adjust your copy of Style — a slightly
out-of-kilter, off-centre skirt is the thing to have
this season. A twist on a classic, with versions by
Stella McCartney and Sacai in the mix, it’s
replacing the micromini as the most buzzed-
about skirt shape right now. Wear yours with a
pared-back jacket or a great white shirt. This is a
one-sided argument worth winning.

The non-event sandal

4
(it’s more exciting
than it sounds)
If there is an antidote to all the “jazz hands”
footwear from the catwalks (see Loewe’s
balloon-strewn heels), it’s a gloriously
understated sandal. With two simple straps in
a neutral black, white or tan, minimalist heels
were spotted at Saint Laurent (far right), the
Row and, of course, at Prada (Mrs P herself
is a long-term ambassador of the style).
Find your perfect pair now and you’ll still be
reaching for them in ten years’ time.

From top Black sandals, £500, Amina Muaddi,

and black ankle-strap sandals, £890, Prada,
farfetch.com. White sandals, £650, jimmychoo.com.
Tan sandals, £640, gianvitorossi.com

The Sunday Times Style • 9

 THE TRENDS

5
Back to basics
A must-have nude top (an upgrade on last season’s white vest), a layered
shirt and an oversized jacket – these are your future classics

Collars
and cuffs
A crisp cotton shirt
is crucial to your
new-season wardrobe.
Layer under neutral
knitwear with your
collar and cuffs proudly
on display. See Miu
Miu for a masterclass.

From left Bottega

Veneta, Prada, Miu Miu,
Daniel W Fletcher,
Fendi and No 21

In the nude
The tonal nude
top was the style
hack of choice on
the spring-summer
2023 catwalks.
Pair with
punchy summer
brights for an
arresting look.

From far left

Khaite, Awake
Mode, Ermanno
Scervino, Valentino,
Courrèges and
Fendi

Denim
for days
As seen at Givenchy
and Khaite, the
traditional denim
jacket has had an
XXL boost.
Wear yours with
everything.

From left Burberry,

Givenchy, Miu Miu,
Khaite, Christian
Wijnants and
Gauchere

10 • The Sunday Times Style

 6
1
Clean living
With the perfect cream suit and a
fuss-free dress, the new season’s 6
must-have tailoring is more
refreshing than an ice-cold G&T. 5
Time for an update?

1 Jacket, £2,630, and 2 matching

shorts, £830, anestcollective.com. 7
3 Earrings, £1,500, hermes.com.
4 Dress, £350, ajeworld.com.
5 Shirt, £695, erdem.com. 6 Belt,

FERRAGAMO
£440, Michael Kors Collection,
michaelkors.com. 7 Trousers,
£59, marksandspencer.com.
8 Sandals, £720, Khaite. 9 Sleeveless
jacket, POA, Kassl Editions
11
10

15

13

12
16

17
MICHAEL KORS
COLLECTION

10 Bag, £1,855, ferragamo.com.

11 Jacket, £1,790, burberry.com.
12 Skirt, £325, Raey,
matchesfashion.com.
13 Trench, £4,420, maxmara.com.
14
14 Sandals, £595, tods.com.
15 Strapless dress, £120,
Getty Images

mango.com. 16 Bracelet, £140,

isabelmarant.com. 17 Bag, £1,800,
bottegaveneta.com

The Sunday Times Style • 11

 Kitchen drama

Photograph Rankin

He’s the bad boy of the foodie world, as famous for his attitude as
his Michelin-starred restaurant. As he prepares to open two
hyped hotspots, has the chef wunderkind Tom Sellers mellowed?
Kate Spicer finds out (just don’t mention the orange Rolls-Royce)

14 • The Sunday Times Style

When you come to interview a controversial chef with Below Sellers’s restaurant Story, near Tower Bridge
a lot of enemies and two Michelin stars, the food is not in London, has two Michelin stars. Snail bolognese,
necessarily the primary topic of conversation. So out of a regular addition to the tasting menu at Story
respect for Tom Sellers, I am going to start with what he
will serve at Story Cellar, his new fine wine and rotisserie
grill, which opens in Covent Garden next month.
“Look,” Sellers says, showing me a video on his phone
of a finger and thumb pressing a piece of chicken. “That,”
he says, as we watch fragrant juices ooze, “a salad, fries …
We’ll have Domaine Prieure Roch Nuits-Saints-George
on by the glass.”
Sublime chicken, chips and a red that retails at £225
for 125ml (there’s also a house wine at about £9 a glass).
This is how the new, improved, 35-year-old Tom Sellers
rolls. He opened his first restaurant, Story, in 2013, and
only five months after he got a Michelin star, aged
26. Like Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay
and Tom Aikens, his mentor, Sellers was
young to get those Michelin stripes. He
has cooked for the A-list, hangs out with
them, Rudimental compiled the restau-
rant playlist, and he drives an orange What he found under Keller was another
Rolls-Royce. realm. Keller’s operation is huge. Sellers
We meet at Story, near Tower Bridge, describes his kitchens as “calm, eerie,
where he is sitting with the design team with a methodology of ‘Measure twice, cut
discussing a highly specific shade of pink once — we don’t make mistakes’.”
he’s after for his next opening after Story In New York he cooked three-star cuisine,
Cellar: Dovetale, at the One Mayfair hotel. I wait stole food and lived on cereal and $20 a day. “I’d
— another “f***ing dickhead journalist”, as he described never even eaten a scallop,” he says. “I’d cooked one long,
my breed in his last big newspaper interview in 2017 — long before I ate one.” Later, casually chatting in front of
stroking his dog, Boss . the PR, he mentions he orders Hawaiian pizza sometimes
Sellers has a sort of rock’n’roll wunderkind reputation, to illustrate the irony of these fine-dining guys eating
a lazy response to a few tattoos and regular moody black- worse than dogs at home. The PR is genuinely worried.
and-white pictures. He has never taken drugs and tells me Do not write that, that is not for publication.
drinking isn’t really feasible with chef work. Relationships Why? It just shows how peculiar the successful haute
are equally tricky, given the 18-hour days he’s used to. cuisine chef ’s life is, so myopically focused on culinary
That’s not to say Tom Sellers isn’t a naughty boy, gymnastics for others. “One day I was sent offline,
though. He has upset a lot of people. I don’t go into this meaning I got sent home in the middle of service because
interview thinking Sellers is a rotter, despite the fact that I put something up on the pass that wasn’t exactly right.”
pretty much everyone I call, including those who say they He went back to his flat, on the Upper West Side just
love him, will mention his capacity to piss people off. below Harlem,“and smashed up my bedroom”.
His first serious job was under Tom Aikens. He “In the ten years I worked for other people there was
mentored the 16-year-old after Sellers literally came down little fun.” Life was no larks after he opened his own
from Nottingham in 2003 and knocked on the kitchen place either.
door of Aikens’s eponymous Chelsea restaurant — at that As Richard Turner, the chef turned hospitality entre-
point the hottest table in town. Aikens says Sellers was preneur, says: “I like Tom, he has said some stupid things
“determined … very ambitious … a rough diamond with over the years but, like a lot of big chefs, underneath it all
swagger, a Del Boy, but a talent worth nurturing”. Two he is sensitive and maybe a little insecure.”
years on Aikens got Sellers a chef de partie job at Thomas The immense influence on Sellers of phenomenally
Keller’s three-Michelin-star restaurants Per Se, in driven male role models is writ large on his story. I rang
Manhattan, and the French Laundry, in Napa Valley. He a lot of industry people before I met him, and one
left Per Se in 2009, headhunted by the Danish chef Rene reflected on the “intergenerational trauma” of being a
Redzepi — a man with “the mind of a chef, where one ultra-talented psycho-
true genius”, Sellers says — to work at path passes down his wisdom, and his
Noma, in Copenhagen.
Sellers tells me a story about sitting on
‘One day I was issues, to his protégé. And so it goes on.
Kitchens are full of boys looking for
the kitchen floor drinking tea at Aikens’s sent home in mentors within a professional structure
house the night before he flew to the Per that is all-consuming.
Se job, 18 years ago. “Tommy was giving
the middle of According to Sellers that is the way it
me this Braveheart speech: ‘Work clean, service. I went sort of has to be. “I want to be an advo-
work fast, work tidy, be the first in and the cate for a better quality of life [for chefs],
last out. Don’t f*** it up, Tom.’” back and but we also have a responsibility to be
Aikens ran a small and notoriously
passionate kitchen. “I’ve never seen
smashed up my transparent. The fact is you will not
be successful working eight hours a
anything like his work ethic,” Sellers says. bedroom’ day, five days a week. People are wildly

The Sunday Times Style • 15

 From left Sellers with his English bulldog, Boss; the music stars
Professor Green and Example, Sellers and the model Erin McNaught
at the launch of Restaurant Ours; Sellers in the kitchen at Story

Picture caption
etureius vitas
inihitius Us as
volupta tem volo

disillusioned about what it takes.” We talk He admits he is excited about these

about the use of drink and drugs among
‘This industry two places he is opening. And “petri-
kitchen staff. “I worked out early on you beat the shit fied”. Admitting to fear is a new Tom
can’t drink and do this.” He says that if thing. Before, “I never wanted to appear
someone who worked alongside him out of me for a vulnerable.” He has changed. “I probably
came to work late and hungover, he
thought of them as “amateurs”.
while ... I was didn’t realise it, but I think I was strug-
gling really badly with anxiety, which is
It takes a certain type of guy, and that burnt out, lost something that I didn’t even know what
guy, depending on who you ask, is “a total it was,” he says. “This industry beat the
knobhead”, “proper fancies himself ” and and hurt’ shit out of me for a while. I became
“if he was chocolate he’d eat himself ”. emotionally guarded about pretty much
A female chef remembers Sellers, with a WTF emoji, everything, I guess. A lot of what upset people was me
turning up somewhere with a model girlfriend and a secu- protecting myself. I am sad at the idea I upset people.”
rity detail. There are pictures all over the internet of him It’s a sort of apology. But. “Lots of people upset me lots of
driving his whopping orange Rolls-Royce, sporting an times. I would go home and question what I was doing,
Audemars Piguet timepiece the size of Big Ben. why I was doing it. I’d sit on a park bench and cry. I was
“Perception is a motherf***er,” he says. burnt-out, lost and hurt.”
He has deals with both brands, plus Bang & Olufsen Getting a dog helped: “People never truly understand
and Formula One, among others. Not only does he go out what he did for me. His unconditional love, his loyalty.”
and get the sponsors himself, sans agent, he uses that Boss waddles around the restaurant. I assume he sleeps in
money “to pay for the restaurants. And I don’t get to Sellers’s bed. He gives me a face that says, naturally.
choose the colour of the car, you know.” Around this time his mother had a heart attack and
I respect him. Turner is right, there is insecurity. When there was a bad break-up with a woman. And then the
Sellers relaxes he mocks himself a bit more. He’s inter- weird horror gift of the pandemic arrived. Holed up with
esting to chat to. He says that he did a few dinners for Boss, Sellers spent a lot of time, as many did, saving his
Meta at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and has business. “And then I started to think. Long nights of the
flown to its Menlo Park HQ, where he found Mark Zuck- soul just questioning, like, who am I? Why am I doing
erberg has a whiteboard wall in his office. “I come straight this? What am I trying to achieve? And who had I become
back going, ‘Right, we have got to have that.’ And of course trying to achieve it.” He says he is happy now. It helps that
I never wrote on it after the first week.” in 2021 Michelin awarded him his second star.
He’s fully cognisant that working hard has taken its toll How has he changed? Well, he understands that a little
©Rankin/2023, Getty Images, Jay Brooks

mentally and physically.“People call me a young chef. I feel time off is a non-negotiable contract you make with your
like an old man.” body in exchange for survival. He has yet to take a holiday,
Sellers isn’t a bad boy, or an old man, he’s a little boy, but he does go to the pub for lunch and two pints of
arrested at 15, when he first entered a professional kitchen Guinness on a Sunday. Now he thinks, “Life isn’t about
and fell in love with his all-consuming game. Like those what you achieve, it’s about who you become trying to
Premier League footballers with zero life skills. achieve it.” And for a big-time chef, that’s about as human
“For 20 years all I knew was working 18 hours a day. and humble as it gets. ■
I didn’t really have anything outside the kitchen. You’re
institutionalised. I didn’t build life skills.” Story Cellar, London WC2, opens next month

The Sunday Times Style • 17

 ‘We have even
more sex in the
second season’
When the actress Sarah Shahi landed a part in the guilty-pleasure erotic drama
Sex/Life, she had no idea she’d fall in love with her co-star – and that the show
would go viral. Now they’re back for series two. Laura Pullman meets her
Sarah Shahi strides into the hotel lobby looking like a
Nineties pop star, in a black leather suit, waistcoat, Photograph
push-up bra and crucifix necklace. The actress, who Jeff Vespa
found global fame thanks to Netflix’s hot and heavy
mega-hit Sex/Life, is everything I’d imagined.
Within minutes of meeting, she’s talking about
female desire and sexual double standards. “It’s totally
acceptable for men to get blow jobs,” she says, settling
into an armchair at the Corinthia on a sunny London
afternoon. “We see it happen a lot in film and TV — the
man is getting serviced and the woman is there to
service him. But women’s pleasure is nothing to be
ashamed of.” I try to interrupt but Shahi is fired up: “We
have the same amount of nerve endings, if not more
than men, so we absolutely should be pleasured and
there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Limp script aside, Sex/Life certainly put female sexu-
ality front and centre. When the TV drama came out in
2021, it was widely panned by critics (“storytelling
that’s so bad, it’s funny”, wrote one) but shot to the top
of the streaming giant’s charts, and a second series
lands next month.
The LA-based Shahi, 43, plays Billie Connelly (not to
be confused with the Scottish comedian), a housewife
stuck in suburbia with her two tiny children and also
stuck in a love triangle with her dependable husband
and her bad boy ex, Brad (Adam Demos, an Australian
actor and Shahi’s real-life partner). In series one Billie
can’t stop fantasising about her old life of bonking
around New York with Brad, who has commitment
problems but a colossal penis.
Cue sex scenes in cars, lifts, pools, tattoo parlours,
stairwells and baths; against kitchen islands, walls and
subway tunnels (don’t do as I did and try to watch this
show on a crowded train). “It is a lot and I feel like we
might even have more sex scenes in the second
season,” Shahi says, sipping an americano. “It’s scary,
you’re vulnerable. I just prayed a lot and asked for some
really nice lighting.” (She isn’t religious but “very
spiritual”: “I believe in everything.”)

20 • The Sunday Times Style

 Before Sex/Life, the star, who was born and raised
in Texas to a Spanish-Iranian mother and an Iranian
father, had enjoyed Meghan Markle-level success in
middling American TV shows, such as Person of Interest
(playing a bisexual physician) and The L Word (playing a
gay DJ). When Netflix came knocking, Shahi had just
suffered an acting dry spell, was contemplating
retraining as a midwife, and her marriage to her
husband at the time, Steve Howey, an actor with whom This picture and below
she shares three children, was ending. Shahi with her Sex/Life
Filming Sex/Life while getting divorced was simultane- co-star and real-life
ously “therapeutic” and “catastrophic”. The script felt partner, Adam Demos
“ripped out of the pages of my heart”, she says. As her
character questioned the white picket fence life that she
had created for herself, Shahi was having similar thoughts suffered the most from racism: “She was constantly
in her own life. “You have to question whether or not being taken advantage of and told that she doesn’t know
you are truly happy or if you’re doing this because other what she’s talking about.”
people are saying you should and it looks good on paper,” As an immigrant, Shahi’s mother instilled in her a grati-
she says. “At the end of the day nobody can tell you if tude for education and the freedom to live big, exciting
you’re happy. I was really questioning my own happiness lives. “It was always this sense of, your dreams can come
and wondering, ‘Is this it for me? Is this all there is?’” true over here,” Shahi recalls.“You have everything at your
Today her career is on a high — last year she appeared disposal to apply yourself, so don’t tell me that you can’t.”
alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the superhero Now Shahi’s Hollywood dreams are being realised and
film Black Adam — and she seems giddily happy with she is sanguine about finding international success in her
Demos, 37. She lights up recalling first meeting him on forties: “It’s a really beautiful example to my children that
the Sex/Life set in 2020. “I think it was hard work works.”
February and I was wearing an old, Talk turns back to Sex/Life and the
ratty Christmas sweater.” Later she ‘Those scenes physical work she put in to feel comfort-
adds: “I felt like, oh, this is the person are scary. able stripping off. There was weight
I’ve been searching for my whole life.” and resistance training with a personal
Demos has become a stepfather I just prayed a trainer, plus running and a strict diet of
figure to Shahi’s children, William Wolf,
13, and twins Violet Moon and Knox
lot and asked chicken, fish and mountains of vegeta-
bles (“I’m surprised I didn’t turn green”),
Blue, 7. “The step-parenting dynamic is for some really with one cheat day a week where she ate
a tough one,” she says. “You really have “whatever the f*** I wanted”.
to let things develop organically.” nice lighting’ Intimacy co-ordinators choreo-
Shahi’s own childhood was “not a graphed the sex scenes and a deflated
walk in the park”. Her parents fled Iran to America yoga ball was used as a barrier between Shahi’s body and
before the Iranian Revolution because her father, Abbas Mike Vogel, who plays her husband, for a particularly
Jahansouzshahi, was on a hit list to be executed by the “aggressive” session against the kitchen island. “For lack
new regime. Born shortly after the move, Shahi grew up of a better term, Mike is able to go harder,” she says.
in Euless, an unremarkable Texan city, where she tried to “He’s able to honour that part of his character’s story
hide her Persian heritage. She speaks frankly about how because he’s literally up against a ball. Now it’s not me
her late father was addicted to drugs and alcohol and any longer.”
abusive to her mother, Mahmonir. One night when she Shahi’s mother watched the show — “It is a weird
was five her mother woke her to escape to a women’s thing because, as the whole world knows, I ended up
shelter where, on and off, the pair spent months: with the guy,” she says, referencing Demos. There is a
“Even though it was this place that looks sad and sparkling diamond on Shahi’s left ring finger, along-
drab, the energy around it was one of strength, side a tattooed “A” for Adam, but she won’t confirm
women and hope. That place had such an effect any engagement.
on my subconscious.” Before she dashes off there’s one last thing:
Smiley and full of southern charm, Shahi that much discussed scene in the first
doesn’t go in for self-pity. At school she series where Demos is filmed in the
changed her name from Aahoo Jahansou- shower and viewers glimpse his, er,
zshahi in a bid to stop the racist generous package. Think Mark Wahl-
bullying, including getting called berg’s prosthetic penis in Boogie Nights.
“Achoo”. “The class would spend an Was that all Adam? “What can I say?
entire hour just sneezing and There were no body doubles used,”
Netflix, Getty Images

laughing, but I don’t regret that,” she she says, grinning like the cat that got
says. “It builds character, it gives you the cream. ■
a survival skill, it teaches you how to
operate in other ways.” Besides, it was Series two of Sex/Life is on Netflix
her Persian-speaking mother who from Thursday

The Sunday Times Style • 21

 Playtime! Raise your
mood with these
joy-sparking
accessories
Photographs Ed Bourmier
Styling Flossie Saunders

All bright now

A pop of colour goes a long way.
Moon padded leather bags,
£1,950 each, Prada

22 • The Sunday Times Style

 Club
Tropicana
Time to take your feet
for a joy ride.
Pink patent heels with
inflatable flamingos,
£665, Moschino.
Petal sandals, £1,200,
Loewe (from March)
Live the
high life
Meet the classic loafer
with added va-va-voom.
Diamond Tilda patent
leather platform
loafers, £850, Jimmy
Choo. Moulded latex
opera gloves, £62.50,
Atsuko Kudo
Green light
From pistachio to juicy
apple, this season’s must-
have shade is a grower.
Fringed bag, price on
application, Victoria
Beckham. Voyou bag,
£1,645, Givenchy

The Sunday Times Style • 25

 Tangerine
dreams
Try a zesty shade that is
anything but ordinary.
Platform mary-janes,
£585, and Sansa bag,
£1,200, Sportmax
(from March)

Models: Emma Barley at Storm Model Management and Jolie at Hired Hands Models
Nails: Cherrie Snow using Dior Manicure Collection and Miss Dior Hand Cream.

26 • The Sunday Times Style

The art
of shoes
The simple stiletto
never looked so boring.
Mules with gold heels,
£520, Dries Van
Noten. Elina sandals
with circle heels,
£960, Ferragamo
HOT POTS The ceramicist Martha Freud
loves to fill her east London
family home with her
own work – and any surface
will do (even the stairs!)
Words and photographs Mark C O’Flaherty

For someone who proclaims not to swear much,

the words that artist Martha Freud puts on her
work suggests the pottiest of potty mouths.
Martha, 39, is known for the mottos embedded in
her ceramics, which range from light panels and
plates to scented candles. She workshops the text
by covering the walls of her home studio in east
London with scrawled-on Post-it Notes: “What
doesn’t kill you makes you weird at parties” and
“I’ve got 99 problems but I’m not dealing with
any of them” are among the more family-friendly
slogans in her range. “The rest of the family are
banished from this room,” she says. “A lot of the
pieces haven’t been fired yet, so they are really
delicate. I tend to work at night and listen to
audiobooks while I’m working. I really enjoyed
Lessons in Chemistry and now I’m on the second
of the Sapiens series.”
She lives in what she calls “a wreck of a house”
close to London Fields, with her husband, Adam
Smith, film-maker and creative director of live
shows by the Chemical Brothers, and their two
children, Albert, seven, and Nancy, ten. “We have
been here for eight years and it still needs so much
work,” she says. “We bought it from a couple who
had been here for 60 years, and it was full of char-
acter. ‘Full’ is the operative word. We spent a lot of
time … whitewashing. But it’s perfect. The kids’
school is out the back, so I can hear their names
being called in the playground, and we are on a
square where I know all the neighbours.”
There are plans for a garden studio, but as she
walks me around the house, she points out
numerous other things that have been planned
“for years!”, she says, laughing. “No one can afford
Freud next to a to do anything right now. The current quote to
series of ceramic build the studio outside is £100,000.”
pots that are going Yes, Martha is indeed a Freud of the Freuds.
on display at the The family tree includes the pioneering psycho-
Warren Street analyst Sigmund, the artist Lucian and his daughter
hotel in New York Bella, who is also known for putting slogans on her
work: knits, accessories and ceramics. But Martha

28 • The Sunday Times Style

has no intention of switching mediums. “I couldn’t
think in a fashion way,” she says. “Having young
children for the past ten years was like being in a
kind of long lockdown, and clothes aren’t how
I express myself. I can work with ceramics alone, at
home, and easily.”
The family home is a mix of order and chaos,
featuring rough wood, friends’ artworks and old
stage props. Certain rooms have been allocated
for the children to run riot with crayons, and
there’s a cabinet full of toys collected by them Left The kitchen
alongside older ones belonging to Freud and includes Freud’s
Smith. The couple’s books are ordered by colour favourite “rusty
of spine in the lounge, but Freud says that’s down cow” curio and
to Smith. “He loves order,” she says. “We are a piece of her
opposite. I love a clean surface, but then I like illuminated
nothing better than putting all my work on it.” art on the wall.
There is, indeed, a lot of her work around the Below The sitting
house. “Often I keep the prototype,” she says. room is the most
There are plenty being made and many experi- organised room
ments in the studio. The day before my visit, her in the house.
friend Jo Malone was round for tea, to talk about The steam-bent
fragrances. “It’s so hard to get things right for a Ercol chair is from
candle,” Freud says. “You still need some paraffin in the late 1950s

The Sunday Times Style • 29

 Martha in her studio.
The “Don’t Think” road
sign (just seen, below)
is a stage prop used
by her husband,
Adam, for a Chemical
Brothers tour

30 • The Sunday Times Style

 ‘I love a clean surface,
but then I like nothing
better than putting
all my work on it’
the mix to get a powerful aroma. Jo is a perfectionist
so won’t use anything else. I spent a year and a half
developing my fragrances for the candles and
had to learn so much about chemistry and wicks.
They are expensive, but even the boxes are beau-
tiful objects, and I like the idea of an artwork that
involves you lighting it and then leaving you with a
vessel you can use for anything.”
The bons mots on her candles are particularly
pleasing. Palo santo emanates from black stone-
ware marked with “Hello darkness my old friend”,
while patchouli and plum drift from the earthy
green glaze of a jar that says “For f ***’s sake”. The
version on sale, of course, has no asterisks. Freud
calls it how she wants you to see it. And feel it.
And there are definitely some days when that
candle’s message is going to speak directly to you,
and make you feel good when you pour a glass of
wine and strike a match to light it. ■

marthafreud.com

Top The vintage Danish chairs are from a mid-century furniture sale at
Haggerston School. Paul the lion was an old stage prop. “A couple of years ago
the Design Museum wanted some props from Adam for the EDM exhibition they
were doing, so we had to raid the children’s toy boxes to find them.” Above
Prototype pieces in Freud’s studio. Left In the bedroom mirrors reflect light and
create a sense of space. The bed is from the now-defunct store Lombok

The Sunday Times Style • 31

 Out of sight
Whether it’s caring for haute couture or dealing with the
detritus of divorce, we have become a nation obsessed with
paying to store our stuff, says Olivia Lidbury
The distance between Rob (not his real name) and physical weight above my head,” she says. An
and his extensive collection of magazines and art on-demand storage company whisked everything
books in a lock-up? More than 3,500 miles (Rob is away and she lived without any of her stuff — her
in Kent and the magazines are in his native Toronto). expansive wardrobe included — for more than three
“I consider it a very expensive library,” says the months. “I was allowing myself to be in a space to
photographer of his prized stash. At a cost of about breathe. It’s such a privilege to be able to do that, and
£73 a month over the past 20 years, this isn’t obviously it’s expensive but it was good.”
an understatement. His options are to fly over and Her new relationship status correlates with the
ship it all back or passively line the storage firm’s insight of the SSA UK that separated or divorced
pockets each month. Until he can find a permanent people are twice as likely to consider using storage.
home for it all in the UK, the latter is his only option Duguid says: “Storage is such a deep metaphor for
— shedding it all isn’t. the heaviness of life. But you can’t simply get rid of
Rob is sheepish about his possessions languishing everything, that’s not how life works. I think that
somewhere he can’t enjoy them, and he’s not alone. stuff provides us with a second personality almost,
Self-storage is a booming business: the occupancy so armed with the things that we surround ourselves
rate of the UK supply of 52 million square feet is with, we can become other people.” She was
83.3 per cent — up one percentage point compared surprised to find that she didn’t miss most of her
with 2020 — while the amount of space to rent is stuff and plans to dress from a single rail of clothing
growing between 6 and 10 per cent a from now on.
year according to the Self Storage Of course, at face value, storage
Association UK (SSA UK). The For every offers a functional lifeline for those
industry is turning over £930 riding the wave of an increasingly
million annually. For every person person volatile housing market too. For
worshipping at Marie Kondo’s worshipping at Kate Anderson, founder of the Insta-
decluttering altar, there are others gram preloved account Pine &
not quite ready to let go of granny’s Marie Kondo’s Treasure (@pineandtreasure), a ship-
armoire, and for whom the cost of
discreetly hoarding under someone
decluttering ping container on a farm near Mans-
field, Nottinghamshire, has come to
else’s roof offers a form of solace. altar, there are her family’s rescue in between
A case in point: when Freddie house moves. For a renter like the
Crichton-Stuart opened Wigwam others not quite design writer Eleanor Cording-
Self Storage in the bucolic environs
of Chipping Norton in 2019, units
ready to let go Booth, the small “bonus” unit two
floors below her flat in the Barbican
filled up rapidly. “Admittedly we provides vital overspill space. It is
trade off the three ds — divorce, death and downsize what has enabled her and her partner, Tom, to
— which sounds really gloomy, but actually we’ve continue living and working from their one-
found that it offers a really positive solution to help bedroom home for more than three years.
de-stress people,” he says. “Whatever personal “Our flat has zero storage, so we would have had
trauma has led them to self-storage, our customers to move by now,” she says. “I’m addicted to buying
take comfort in chatting to the staff who work here.” Christmas decorations and it got to the point where
Writer and Style contributor Stacey Duguid gets they no longer fitted in the top of the wardrobe.”
it; in the midst of divorcing and extracting herself Having a “stock room” comes with the added
from the family home, temporarily offloading her novelty of being able to “shop” for pieces without
possessions was an invaluable tool to help her take leaving her block (or spending any more money).
stock. “I could have put everything in the attic of my The Adidas Gazelle trainers she had completely
new home, but it would have felt like an emotional forgotten about were a surprise find, and the ability

32 • The Sunday Times Style

 to swap home accessories like lampshades and
cushions seasonally is fun. It also gives her a pass to
snap up those buy-now-use-later finds for when she
eventually gets a bigger place: “If I see an amazing
piece of vintage art or furniture that I know I won’t
find again, I’ll stash it in the storage unit.”
The nation’s seeming aversion to a one-in, one-out
policy on possessions is fuelling growth according
to Rennie Schafer, CEO of the SSA UK. “Housing is
changing, we’re moving to more open-plan yet
smaller houses, and people don’t have the attic
spaces that they used to,” he says. This supports data
from one of the nation’s biggest storage suppliers,
Big Yellow, which reveals that 12  per cent of its
customers in 2022 took on storage purely to act as
spare space for decluttering their homes.
But how intuitive is the self-storage model? “Out
of sight, out of mind” is a common complaint, some-
thing that the premium storage provider Vault
Couture remedies by creating an online inventory
for its clients. For £97.50 a month it will store 50
items of clothing in a temperature-controlled envi-
ronment at a secret location in central London. At
the click of a button, the gown you suddenly need
will be dispatched to you on the same day, and if you
haven’t worn something for six months you’ll be
asked if you would like to sell it on. “That can pay for
the storage for the next few months,” says Vault
Couture representative Alexander Stuart, “and it
gets people to engage with what they put away. It’s
almost the opposite of self-storage, which does so
well because people forget about what they’re
holding on to. But those pieces end up becoming the
most expensive item you’ve ever bought.” (With
100,000 items in its facilities and royal and celebrity
clients, you can only imagine the dressing-up poten-
tial on its rails.)
The creative consultant and content creator Anna
has just invested in managed storage, assigning
more than 70 designer pieces to the services of Total
Wardrobe Storage, partly for security reasons and
partly, she says, because she’s “feeling the need to
shed belongings, but not necessarily get rid of
everything”. She is now working her way through
the clothes in her walk-in wardrobe. “The way I see it
is, what do I need to see in my everyday life that isn’t
going to stress me out? I used to think it was so great
having all my stuff in one place, but actually I don’t
want it all on display and gathering dust any more.”
Her 30-strong collection of structured blazers,
Toby McFarlan Pond / Trunk Archive

which she wears day-to-day with stirrup leggings,

will stay, but a cross-section of dresses and coats will
be professionally packed away.
“It’s been so cathartic. I’m slowly getting rid of
pieces I realised I was keeping for sentimental value.
If you’re holding on to something because you
might come back to it in ten years, then it’s not
worth storing.” You have been told. ■

The Sunday Times Style • 33

 Mum’s
Over the previous 24 hours I had slept, maybe, for three
and a half. In slivers. As I pushed past a set of giant,
6ft-tall swan pedalos, chained by the mouth in a strip of
brown water, I watched my son, dressed like a woollen
astronaut, dozing in his buggy. Finally. At that exact
moment the writer Stephanie Foo explained into my

the
ears via the This American Life podcast that sometimes,
in the US navy, sailors were getting less than six and a
half hours’ sleep. She said this part extremely gravely.
Apparently reaction times in sleep-deprived people are
200 times worse than those who are well rested.

word
But wait, I thought, the wind whipping tears from my
bloodshot eyes: less than six and a half hours? Were we
really going to dedicate 15 minutes of the podcast to the
dangers of men sleeping for less than six and a half
hours? Because, like so many new parents, feeding
parents and parents of newborns, I hadn’t sniffed six and
a half hours’ continuous sleep since my third trimester.
After she had her son, Since before this baby was even born. I was so tired that
I was experiencing blackouts, palpitations, memory loss,
Nell Frizzell was so muscle spasms, I was forgetting words, not completing
tasks, dropping things and, occasionally, while leaning
shattered she up against a cold, hard wall, feeding my baby in the
middle of the night, I wondered if I even existed at all.
experienced memory Here is the thing about tiredness: it is still a feminist
loss and even blackouts. issue. Despite significant cultural changes over the past
century — middle-class women’s entry into the job
Yes, tiredness is a market, advanced understanding of biology, the 2010
Equality Act — we still have a pinchingly gendered atti-
feminist issue, she argues tude to tiredness in Britain. Stay up all night because
you’re trading with Japan, commentating on Formula
Photograph Al Kinley-Jones One, shooting a film or running an ultramarathon, and

Nell Frizzell, 38, with

her son, who is now five

34 • The Sunday Times Style

you will be lionised. You’ll be called sole charge of a tiny, helpless infant.
heroic, impressive, resilient, a total
I was so tired, I would frequently hallucinate that my
legend. But stay up all night because I would walk into baby had rolled under the bed and
your baby has colic, because your four- turned into dust, walk into walls, forget
month-old no longer sleeps lying down, walls, forget words, throw my phone in the bin, try
because you have to breastfeed every 45
minutes or because you were woken by a
words, throw to drink out of empty glasses and cry in
the street. I once fell so deeply asleep
scream at 2am that shattered any my phone in the on the sofa that I woke up to find my
chance of dropping off again, and you’ll mother had let herself in with a spare
be pitied, ignored or dismissed. You bin and cry in key, made an entire meal and left
won’t necessarily be helped. We do not the street without me waking once (thank God
treat the tiredness usually experienced the house wasn’t on fire).
by men in the same way we treat tired- At this point you might feel tempted
ness usually experienced by women. We might think we to pull out one of the least helpful phrases in the
do, we might want to, but we don’t. In the workplace, in English language: “Sleep when the baby sleeps.” Please
popular culture, in our social lives and even in the home, don’t. Not only does this little maxim basically exclude
the message is clear: female tiredness is par for the people from mainstream work and public services —
course, male tiredness is exceptional. “Sorry, I was going to get the car MoT’d but then my
Sleep is big business now. According to a Statista baby fell asleep at 2.15pm so I had to do the same” —
report published last year, the global sleep economy was but also, because so much of domestic labour still falls
valued at $432 billion in 2019, and is increasing every to women, if you don’t use the time your child is asleep
night. Hundreds of millions of pounds, dollars, euros and to catch up, then pretty soon you would be standing
yen are fired at sleep apps, sleep regimes, intelligent naked and itchy on two square metres of floor,
mattresses, white noise machines, sleep manuals, sleep surrounded on every side by dirty nappies, vomit,
consultants, pillows, pyjamas and podcasts. And yet there empty cupboards and an uncharged phone that’s
are few systems in place to protect new parents (and silently receiving increasingly doom-laden messages
because the majority of childcare and child feeding is from health visitors, midwives and your boss.
done by women, that usually means new mothers) from There are things we could do to mitigate parental
the possible dangers of such extreme tiredness. Wealthy tiredness. Of course there are. Compulsory parental
people might be able to afford childcare, cleaners, meal leave worthy of the name; untethering ourselves from
subscriptions and even night nurses to alleviate the pain that old agrarian model of work that says all activity must
of baby-related sleep deprivation. But the vast majority of take place between 8am and 6pm (farmers, of course, can
us are simply expected, after nights of three hours’ broken make their own schedule — I am not here to pick a fight
sleep, to turn up to work, turn up to appointments, turn with a potato harvest); working from home as standard,
up to birthdays and check-ups and supermarkets. We’re unless an employer can specify in the job description the
expected to remember information and make decisions exceptional circumstances that demand you are physi-
and retain responsibility. We’re allowed to drive, are cally present. Let me go wild here: how about local
charged with domestic labour and expected to cope. authority, DBS-checked night nurses? Or Dutch-style
If you treat having a baby as a “lifestyle choice” — maternity nurses (kraamverzorgster) who come to your
rather than the one truly essential act for sustaining home and help with whatever is needed?
humanity and by extension the economy, politics, Yes, it will cost money, but it is an investment that
healthcare and chip shops — it is then easier to dismiss. will save lives, save jobs and save public services from
When I was unable to remember my child’s date of having to step in later. Postnatal exhaustion is not just a
birth on the phone to NHS 111 because I hadn’t slept for “women’s issue”, a “parental issue” or a “domestic
more than an hour at a time for several days, we didn’t issue”. It is a human issue that affects us all and needs to
treat that as a medical emergency. be solved by us all. On that freezing
When I passed out in the middle of March day, as I walked past a piece of
drying myself after a shower my partner public art that looked like five giant
wasn’t called home from work. When I pencils shoved into a concrete floor, I
wept and stared numbly at the wall and may have been exhausted but I was not
bit the inside of my mouth until it bled alone. At that very minute, millions of
just to stay awake, we didn’t call that a people across the country were
crisis. I’d chosen to have a baby; this was suffering the same effects of the same
my problem. tiredness as me. We were stumbling,
In fact we often treat the conse- numb-brained and heart thumping,
quences of parental sleep deprivation as through a world not designed for us. But
funny. The stories of friends putting it should be. It could be. Perhaps, by the
dirty nappies in the fridge, making a cup time my son is that tired, it will be. ■
of tea with hand soap and breastfeeding
sofa cushions — oh, how we laugh. Even Holding the Baby: Milk, Sweat and Tears
if they are indications that someone from the Frontline of Motherhood by Nell
isn’t fully in control of their own facul- Frizzell is published by Bantam on
ties and therefore maybe shouldn’t be in Thursday at £16.99

The Sunday Times Style • 35

LOSING IT
36 • The Sunday Times Style
 Hair thinning and hair loss among THE BEST NONSURGICAL TREATMENTS
women are on the rise – as is the number Micrografting, £2,850,
at Ouronyx, London
asking for transplants. But there are Brought to the state-of-the-art Ouronyx
other solutions, finds Laura Kennedy clinic (which has a make-up artist so you leave
picture perfect) by Dr Marco Nicoloso,
micrografting involves using the patient’s
“I was convinced that I was beyond help. happened to Nadine Baggott, a beauty skin tissue to stimulate existing follicles and
I wasn’t sure a transplant could work for expert. She first noticed that her fringe and slow down the rate of hair loss. Two thirds of
me,” says Dee, 44, who works in HR. “I’d the sides of her hair “started to break off and patients see significant improvement within
suffered with traction alopecia [which causes become thinner when I was going through six months. ouronyx.com
the hairline to recede as a result of prolonged the menopause.” She was approaching 50 at
strain to the root from styling practices the time. “Stupidly I did nothing about it,” Scalp Micropigmentation,
such as hair extensions] for more than ten she says.” It happened slowly and then, after price on request, at Farjo Hair Institute,
years.” Dee underwent transplant surgery at getting Covid, the breakage and thinning of Manchester and London
the D’Souza Clinic on Harley Street, where her naturally fine hair suddenly got worse. Farjo says this treatment is one of the fastest-
hair was grafted on to the hair-free areas of Thanks to a consultation with a tricholo- growing in popularity: “Using a device similar
the scalp. Six months on, she says that the gist at Philip Kingsley, Baggott discovered to a tattoo needle, we create mini dots on the
procedure has transformed her self-image. that her thinning hair was not something scalp’s surface to mimic shaved hair. A lot of
“When I catch my reflection I still can’t to dismiss: after blood tests, which start at women choose to use this as an adjunct to, or
believe how much progress I’ve seen. I’m £155, she learnt that she had female pattern in place of, a hair transplant. It’s great for those
starting to feel like my old self again.” hair loss caused by underlying hormonal who want to improve the look of density in
Hair transplants are no longer just for and nutritional issues. She was shocked. certain areas, or who favour a crew cut.”
men. According to Dr Bessam Farjo, lead “I thought my plant and fish-based diet was Effects can last four to five years. farjo.com
hair restoration surgeon and founding very healthy. It turned out I was chronically
director of the Farjo Hair Institute in deficient in vitamin B12, had low iron and PRP for Hair Loss, £550 a session (with
Manchester and London, more women are that my hormones were affecting my hair.” four monthly sessions recommended),
getting proactive about hair loss and even Her treatment, which has taken a year and at Dr David Jack Clinic, London
considering surgery. “We’re getting more still continues, includes a nutritional plan Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) uses your own
inquiries from women — roughly an and high-dose supplements such as amino platelets — blood components that contain
increase of 30 per cent year on year,” he says. acids to help generate as much hair as growth factors, natural proteins in our bodies
While hair loss in women is common, possible. “I try to style my hair less often and that promote the growth and maintenance of
the causes are complex and can include avoid bleach and highlights. I just have a cells and tissues — which have been isolated
everything from hormone changes and life- low-level tint to cover greys.” Baggott says then activated by reinjection into the scalp to
style to hereditary factors. With female that results are slow and not necessarily promote hair growth.” drdavidjack.com
pattern hair loss, hair tends to recede from linear when it comes to hair loss. “My fringe
the front of the hairline back towards the did grow back, but I’ve had Covid twice Calecim Advanced Hair System, £315
crown of the head. Farjo says that the first since then and each time the breakage An at-home kit that uses micro needles to
step is to determine whether the issue is returned.” However, her hair responded to stimulate hair growth. Formulated with stem
thinning — hair loss across the whole head, the treatment plan, which she says is proof cells, the Calecim system can reduce hair
making the scalp more visible underneath — that individually tailored medical advice is thinning and encourage growth in six weeks.
or areas of hair loss. If it’s thinning the essential to understanding hair loss. calecimprofessional.com
answer is not surgical treatment. And even Baggott recommends Philip Kingsley’s
in cases where a transplant is the best course online consultation service, which, at £200, THE TOP PRODUCTS TO TRY
of action, hair loss “must be stabilised with makes visiting a specialist “slightly more
medications that are proven to work”, says affordable. Seeing a trichologist or derma- Ranavat Regenerative Veda Bond
the D’Souza Clinic’s medical director, Chris- tologist is a privilege that is inaccessible for Complex Shampoo, £49 This volumising
topher D’Souza, otherwise it will worsen. so many people,” she says. “It doesn’t help shampoo repairs and reinforces compromised
A hair transplant can cost anything from that it can be so difficult to get your GP to strands and soothes the scalp to reduce
£5,000 to £10,000, depending on the do the relevant blood tests, especially for inflammation. ranavat.com
number of grafts needed. D’Souza says his something like hair loss, which is often seen
patients tend to use the four to twelve-hour as trivial. ” Viviscal Hair Growth Supplement for
surgery time to binge a good TV show As for styling thinning hair, Michael Women, £27, and Men, £38 To support
they’ve been keen to see, and while you can Lendon, Aveda’s creative director, advises new growth after temporary hair loss, an
head home right after the procedure, time parting ways with thinning or broken over-the-counter supplement can be helpful
off work — up to two weeks — is important lengths that are no longer serving you. “It’s a to boost iron and zinc levels. viviscal.co.uk
Leo Krumbacher/Blaublut Edition

as you’ll experience swelling, and the trans- way to regain your sense of control when
planted area, which you won’t be able to you’ve noticed a change in your hair, and Act+Acre Cold Processed Stem Cell
touch for several days, will scab over as it trimming just enough to remove broken or Serum, £76 Apple stem cells — which you’ll
begins to heal. snapped ends restores fullness. Hair is pulled find in this cult scalp serum — have been
And if a transplant sounds too dramatic or down by length, so taking away some of that shown to improve hair density, keep the scalp
is simply not needed, blood tests can help weight will also make volumising products balanced and hydrated, and improve overall
to clarify what is going on. This is what work harder.” hair health. actandacre.com ■

The Sunday Times Style • 37

 The beauty spot
From the new cult one-stop shop to a ‘facelift blow-dry’, acting beauty
director Phoebe McDowell has everything you need to know this week

PHOEBE‘S PICK

Le Labo Ambroxyde 17
candle, £63
If you have ever smelt — and
salivated over — hip fragrance
brand Le Labo’s Another 13,
know that the same molecule,
ambroxyde (a synthetic version
of ambergris), is used in this
candle. There’s also musk,
wood and jasmine, but all you
need to know is that it’s
delicious and addictive.

The new body Inside the Sephora superstore

When the beloved French beauty retailer Sephora announced it was returning to
tweakment the UK, launching its first bricks-and-mortar shop in 18 years (there used to be
to know nine, but they closed in 2005), the screams of beauty fans could be heard for miles
— no, really, I know of people who spend more time in the store’s hallowed halls
When Profhilo, the treatment 1
that involves injecting hyaluronic than they do in Central Park when they visit New York. Sound familiar? Then get
2
acid 3mm into faces (ouch), excited, because from March 8, you’ll be able to get your fix at Westfield London in
launched, it was touted as an Shepherds Bush, in a 600 sq m, futuristic space (above) full of expertly curated indie
alternative to Botox. Thanks to and established beauty brands. There will be skincare, haircare, make-up and
the acid’s moisture-binding fragrance, with exclusive brands such as Tarte (the best concealer there is) and
properties, faces became so clean go-to Ilia, plus Sephora’s own range: its Size Up Mascara (1 £13) and Ultra
smooth and plump they almost Glow Serum (2 £20) are TikTok favourites for a reason. You’ll be able to get express
appeared to have been filtered. skin services from Dermalogica, Elemis, Sisley and the like, have a blow-dry, and
And now the same is available for your full face painted, or just lips or eyes as part of its Feature Focus service. Perhaps
thighs, tummies, bottoms and you want to crack contouring or finesse a feline flick? Book a spot on one of its
more: Profhilo Body has recently masterclasses. Clear your calendars and make space in your make-up bags pronto.
launched in the UK. The
treatment aims to stimulate the
production of elastin and collagen A 40-minute facelift? Yes, really
— and is sure to have people The Croydon facelift has had a revamp — and a refined one at that.
demanding to know which body The facelift blow-dry at Neville Hair and Beauty in Knightsbridge is
brush you use and the Pilates like your regular posh wash and dry, but with a bit of smart braiding.
studio you frequent. Available The stylist pulls and plaits hair from around your temples to tighten
nationwide, from £205 a the skin and lift the face, before concealing the braids under the top
session, profhilo.co.uk section of hair. And … snatch. £65, nevillehairandbeauty.net

The Sunday Times Style • 39

 India Knight
A BB cream that works real magic on your skin?
Yes, it does exist

So as you can imagine I am always slapping various

make-up products on to my face and then wearily looking in
the mirror to evaluate the results. The most common thing
that happens is that the product is fine. No more, no less: it’s
OK but I wouldn’t spend my own money on it. Sometimes
the product is a total dud, or at least a total dud on me. Quite
often I think, “I’ve tried 96 of these already and I don’t see
the point of them,” though funnily enough it is often the
case that the 97th iteration is the one that converts me.
What is very, very rare is for me to try on something
absent-mindedly, look in the mirror and do a double-take. In this instance I did a double-
take and then flipped the mirror over to the super-cruel, ultra-magnifying side. Still
amazing! I’d only grabbed a tube of Erborian BB Crème (£20.50) — remember BB
creams? — because it had been sitting in the kitchen for ages and I was trying to tidy up. So
there it was, next to the sink, a tiny, unexciting, innocuous-looking tube, and I thought,
“No time like the present” and put some on. 1) Oh my God. 2) Oh my God. 3) Unbelievably
it took 30 seconds for my skin to look better, as well as fresher and more youthful than
when I go through the whole lengthy serum, primer, foundation, concealer rigmarole. It is
literally magic in a tube. What’s more, being a BB cream, it’s half make-up and half skincare,
and serious Korean-French skincare at that. It’s hardly make-up at all, really, and it’s
certainly not foundation, except for the astonishing fact that it gives you this absolutely
incredible skin. It says “baby skin” on the packaging, which is creepy but not inaccurate.
A few things to know: the finish is matte, but peachy natural matte, not dead-person
matte. I far prefer this to the kind of base that gives you a wet-look face, but if you don’t it’s
not for you (except it is! It’s just so good! Just add highlighter if you want more glow). Also,
my skin is pretty decent on its own and I don’t like a ton of coverage, which aside from
anything else I find very ageing. This cream does also exist in a Super BB version, which is
for people with acne-prone skin or people who want more coverage — since that’s not me
I haven’t tried it, though on the basis of this normal BB I am inclined to recommend it
anyway. If you have redness, try Erborian’s CC creams (£20.50 each) — CC stands for
colour corrector — or the dedicated CC Red Correct (£20.50) as a base layer, which a
friend with rosacea swears by. It’s green, which cancels out the red very effectively.
I’m told Erborian has just reformulated its BB cream. It knows what it’s doing and
I’m sure the cream is now even better, though the brand was improving on perfection.
The cream I am talking about here is the previous version, when there were only four
shades to choose from (they’ve added another now). What I would say is the shades do
seem to morph and adjust to match your skin tone — more weird magic. I am Doré,
It took 30
slightly too light in the tube, perfect on the skin. Other than that, run. It’s one of the best seconds for
products I’ve used. ■ @indiaknight
my skin to
look better,
INDIA LOVES as well as
Victoria Adamson

BUY Extension leads are necessary, annoying and also hideous. Lola’s Leads (from £35;
lolapalooza.co.uk) are fabric ones made in a range of pleasing colours that are so lovely you
don’t mind them being visible — or you can match the colour to your rug or flooring so they
fresher and
more or less disappear. more youthful

The Sunday Times Style • 41

 Dear Dolly
Your love, life and friendship dilemmas answered
by Dolly Alderton

I’m 24 and haven’t been in a relationship before but I feel emotionally ready for one. I’ve
been going on Hinge dates and met some lovely (and some not so lovely) boys, but the ones
I connect with intellectually and emotionally I don’t feel sexually attracted to and vice versa.
It seems I only fancy people who wouldn’t be a good boyfriend for me! I’ve taken a break
from casual sex as I don’t think it’s good for my mental health, but I’m really missing sex and
keep considering sleeping with someone I know only wants sex, even though that’s not
what I want. What do I do? It’s hard being alone and waiting for the “right person”.

Let me tell you a little something about life, second-wavery way. We can choose the
my gal, something I didn’t truly grasp until sexual life we want — it doesn’t have to be
my early thirties. There are certain things disconnected and seedy or committed
that you, as a modern woman, can control. and monogamous.
You can study for qualifications, you can In terms of the practical things you can
practise for job interviews. You can sculpt control for meeting someone, it seems like
your dream butt from TikTok workouts and you’re doing the right things. Date, be on
padded underwear, you can have any — the apps, go out a lot, ask to be set up, be
literally any — eyebrow shape you want. open to meeting friends of friends and
You can vote, you can campaign, you can putting yourself in new situations and social
help change the world if you put your mind groups. But the slightly more existential
to it. But there’s this one thing that relies on a number of thing you can do (I’m sorry for this sentence) is strengthen
mysterious factors beyond simply saying: I want this and your relationship with yourself. Hone a sense of life
I’ve decided I want it now. Something that studying or soft- purpose and career ambitions. Work out a set of principles
ware or practice or money can’t fix. And that’s finding the that really mean something to you and put them into prac-
right partner, falling in love and having a relationship. tice. Try to test out what you like — albums, books, food,
It is the frustration of so many single women I know, sex, films, art, clothes, those are the big ones. Travel if and
from their twenties right up to their sixties. They’ve had when you can. Do therapy if and when you can. Spend
fun being single, they know who they are, they’ve created some time thinking about why you fancy people who
a life and home for themselves that they’re proud of wouldn’t be a good boyfriend for you. Learn how to be a
and comfortable in. And they just want to share it with good friend and a good listener. Challenge yourself and be
someone. They’ve done all the homework, they’ve done all brave. Sign petitions and go to the polling station.
the prep. They don’t need to learn how to be on their own, All these things will help you become a person you’re
they’ve learnt it. They don’t need to read Wild by Cheryl happy to spend the rest of your life with. Then, oddly, that
Strayed, they’ve read it. Now they’re ready for the universe ups your chances of someone else wanting to spend their
to throw them a partner. And the universe ain’t playing ball. life with you too. Because let me tell you something else
I’ll get the important (sex) stuff out the way first. Perhaps I’ve learnt about life, my gal (God, I love writing that).
you really are in a place where you only want to have sex in I have been happy in relationships and I have been happy on
a committed relationship — if that’s the case, that’s great, my own and neither is better than the other. Both experi-
but that also means there is a big possibility you’re going to ences contain moments of pure and uncomplicated joy.
go for long chunks of time without sex. It seems like that’s There are equal amounts of lessons to be learnt and experi-
something you don’t want, so I’d encourage you to interro- ences to be had in each state of being. Yes, being single gets
gate your ideas about what the “right” kind of sex is for you a little more complicated as you get older if you want a
at this stage of life, and whether you’ve internalised any family and if everyone around you is coupled-up. But you’ve
outside judgment about that. It isn’t always the case that got years ahead of you before that becomes a real problem.
sex in relationships is good and sex outside a relationship is To wish this time away feeling like you’re waiting for
Alexandra Cameron

bad. And there are also a lot of different types of sexual someone would be a great waste and I think you’ll regret it.
relationships you can have that aren’t in-love sex or drunk- Don’t think of it as waiting. That’s my main advice. Wait for
with-a-stranger-whose-name-you-don’t-know sex. We are no one. Less waiting, more living. Then undoubtedly there
modern women, as I keep saying in a slightly bangle-wearing will be some loving along the way too. ■

To get your life dilemma answered by Dolly, email or send a voice note to deardolly@sundaytimes.co.uk or DM @theststyle

42 • The Sunday Times Style*