Pencil cases, skirts and hats among items targeted for ‘contradicting Islamic faith and public morals’
Saudi officials have been seizing rainbow-coloured toys and clothing from shops in the capital as part of a crackdown on homosexuality, state media has reported.
The kingdom opened to tourism in 2019 but, like other Gulf countries, it is frequently criticised for its human rights record, including its outlawing of homosexuality, a potential capital offence.
Continue reading...Victoria and Oleksiy Manoylo, who were in Milan when Russia invaded, have poured their trauma into garden
A burnt-out cottage decorated with embroidered cloths and surrounded by swaying barley, designed by a Ukrainian couple unable to return to their war-ravaged village, is set to be one of the unexpected highlights of the RHS’s largest flower show.
Victoria and Oleksiy Manoylo, landscape designers who were at a garden festival in Milan, Italy, when Russian troops invaded their village near Bucha and destroyed their home, have poured their trauma and defiance into the garden, which will feature at the RHS Hampton Court Palace garden festival next month.
Continue reading...PM pledges £80m of government funding to move industry to circular model
There has been little cause for celebration in Downing Street this week. But on Wednesday evening the prime minister, accompanied by his wife, Carrie Johnson, and their children, hosted a champagne reception in honour of sustainable fashion.
Boris Johnson pledged £80m in government funding for a programme of structural change which the British Fashion Council believes can move the UK industry toward a circular model.
Continue reading...Queen, Kate, Camilla, Meghan and younger Cambridges wear harmonious shades of blue
Most of the jubilee audience tuned in not for the trooping the colour, but to watch the royal family observe the proceedings. While the bunting and high-stepping horses trumpeted an official message of unity, the optics of the royal family were closely scrutinised for what they tell us of fraught Windsor family dynamics, of the health of the 96-year-old Queen, and of the messaging “the firm” plans to broadcast during their weekend in the spotlight.
Watching the military flypast from a Buckingham Palace balcony, the Queen wore blue and white, two of the three colours of the union flag. At the Royal Windsor horse show last month, she had dressed for comfort in a woollen shawl in place of a coat, but here she was in her customary crisp, no-nonsense, boxy tailoring.
Continue reading...Terrier’s family contacted Guinness World Records after learning younger dog had received honor
The world’s oldest dog has been crowned – stealing the throne from another dog who was only recently making headlines.
Pebbles, a toy fox terrier, was awarded the Guinness World Record this month. Born on 28 March 2000, Pebbles is 22 years old – making him older than TobyKeith, the 21-year-old chihuahua from Florida who was only recently named the champion.
Continue reading...Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto will display 180 designs, jewellery, accessories and perfumes
The V&A is to host the first ever exhibition in a major UK museum on the work of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, covering the career of the French designer from the opening of her first millinery boutique in Paris in 1910 to the showing of her final collection in 1971.
The London museum’s exhibition, Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto, will display 180 designs as well as jewellery, accessories and perfume, and outfits created for Lauren Bacall and Marlene Dietrich.
Continue reading...Supermodel, 48, says in three-minute appearance that she and Depp had been in romantic relationship between 1994 and 1998
Kate Moss testified by video for just three minutes on Wednesday in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, dispelling a rumor that Depp had pushed her down a flight of steps when he was her boyfriend in the 1990s.
The 48-year-old supermodel, speaking from her English home in Gloucestershire, told the court in Virginia that she and Depp had been in a romantic relationship from 1994 to 1998.
Depp’s attorney Benjamin Chew asked Moss if anything had happened while they were on holiday at the GoldenEye resort in Jamaica.
Unwanted lockdown goldfish pose a triple threat to native species in UK waterways, study reveals
If that lockdown goldfish is starting to lose its lustre, think twice before throwing it in the river or canal – the creatures may look innocent but their voracious appetite, tolerance for cold and have-a-go habits compared with native species can be catastrophic for local wildlife.
New research shows that goldfish consume much more than comparable fish in UK waters, eat more than other invasive fish and are also much more willing to aggressively take on other competing species.
Continue reading...If Roe v Wade is overturned, it will encourage anti-choice groups – particularly in the developing world, activists warn
The probable demise of abortion as a federal right in the US will be a “catastrophe” for women in low and middle-income countries, with an emboldened anti-choice movement likely to raise renewed pressure on hard-won gains, doctors and activists have warned.
The leak this month of the US supreme court’s draft majority opinion, which argued that the 1973 ruling effectively legalising abortion had been “egregiously wrong from the start”, stunned and enraged many in America.
Continue reading...Now online traders are asking for at least twice the original £95 asking price of the special commemorative doll
The Queen and Barbie are both icons, so the combination was sure to be hot property – now a special platinum jubilee doll has sold out and become the subject of fierce bidding on eBay.
John Lewis said its stock of the £95 doll sold out in three seconds, and most eBay sellers are now hoping to sell the sought-after collectible for at least double that.
Continue reading...Renowned primatologist ‘had a laugh’ at the idea she’d be surrounded by models wearing Australian bamboo fabric brand Boody
Underwear-clad models stand in a rainforest, surrounded by ferns. Sunlight shines through the morning mist. “Humans,” intones renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall. “What unusual animals we are.”
As the camera pans over a closeup shot of a male model’s boxer briefs, the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees says, “It’s a big job making our world a better place, but getting started? Well, that’s as easy as changing your underwear.”
Continue reading...Veteran activists say the overthrow of Roe v Wade would equate to murder, and should send warning signals around the world
It was over the Thanksgiving holiday, catching up with old high school friends, that Frances Beal heard that Cordelia had died. Like the now 82-year-old Black feminist and activist, her friend had left home to go to college, but she didn’t make it through her first year because, like anybody who wanted to terminate a pregnancy in America in 1958, she had been forced to undergo a backstreet abortion.
“She was dead because she’d had an illegal abortion. And it had gone bad. And if you take a look at the statistics, the number of woman that died from illegal abortions was tremendous,” Beal, who later joined the movement to legalise abortion, told the Observer.
Continue reading...Fashion company targets social media audience with playful details and slick Coppola video trailer
The jet-set catwalk show is back, with its sunny backdrops and international front row. But the new world order is complicating the seating plan.
At Chanel’s first fashion show outside France since the pandemic, the Monte Carlo beachfront played catwalk to a pageant of supermodels dressed in light-hearted tribute to grand prix glitz. The 67 models wore racing-driver jumpsuits tailored in pastel tweeds and gold lamé, and helmets emblazoned with No 5.
Continue reading...A leaked supreme court draft ruling shows the US is set to end 50 years of a woman’s right to choose. Elsewhere, the battle still rages
In 2022, abortion remains one of the most controversial and bitterly contested ethical and political battlegrounds. It is illegal for women to terminate their pregnancies in any circumstance in 24 countries, with a further 37 restricting access in any case except when the mother’s life is in danger.
As a leaked document signals that the US supreme court is poised to strike down the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade, millions of American women face losing their access to legal abortions, joining millions more living in those countries rejecting a woman’s right to choose.
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That dress deserves another look – Lively really has gone all-in:
Gala co-chairs Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have made their entrance.
Anhydrous products are good for the planet and consumers – but will mainstream brands buy into the concept?
The climate crisis is driving a new trend that will change the look of your bathroom cabinet for ever: waterless skincare.
While wrapping-free, vegan toiletries have long had a place on British high streets, thanks to independent brands such as Lush, the new wave of waterless – or anhydrous – beauty products is driven by a combination of ethical concerns, innovations taken from Korean skincare and new developments in packaging.
Continue reading...Demarchelier photographed Princess Diana, Beyonce and Madonna during long career
Patrick Demarchelier, the fashion photographer who worked with high-profile figures including Diana, Princess of Wales, has died at the age of 78.
His death was announced by his representatives on Instagram on Thursday. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Patrick Demarchelier on 31 March 2022, at the age of 78,” the post read. “He is survived by his wife Mia, his three sons Gustaf, Arthur, Victor and three grandchildren.”
Continue reading...Landmark agreement to protect garment workers from violence follows last year’s murder of Jeyasre Kathiravel, a Dalit woman
H&M has signed a legally binding agreement with one of its largest Indian clothing suppliers that pledges to end sexual violence and harassment against women on the factory floor after the murder of a young garment worker by her supervisor last year.
In January 2021, Jeyasre Kathiravel, a 20-year-old Dalit woman, was found dead on farmland near her family home after finishing a shift at Natchi Apparel, a factory making clothes for H&M in Kaithian Kottai, Tamil Nadu.
Continue reading...Justyna Wydrzyńska, who gave a woman experiencing domestic violence miscarriage-inducing pills, could be jailed for three years
The first person to be charged in Poland for breaking the country’s strict abortion law by providing miscarriage-inducing tablets to a pregnant woman is due to face trial next week.
Justyna Wydrzyńska, from the Polish group Aborcyjny Dream Team (ADT), is charged with illegally aiding an abortion and faces up to three years in prison if she is found guilty.
Continue reading...Bernardine Evaristo, Keir Starmer, Kathy Griffin and others respond to incident
Author Bernardine Evaristo is among the public figures to have condemned Will Smith for hitting Chris Rock at the Oscars, saying the actor “resorted to violence instead of utilising the power of words”.
In what quickly became the bombshell moment of the ceremony, Smith struck Rock in the face after the comic made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
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