The edit: 20 of the best cardigans
Jacquard, £49.99, zara.com
Striped, £39.99, bershka.com
Vintage, £110, rokit.co.uk
Vintage YSL, £39, thrifted.com Photograph: thrifted.com
Paisley, £90, prettygreen.com
Blue, £175, youmustcreate.com
Yellow, £160, almost---home.com
Collegiate, £179, allsaints.com
Cream, £155, waxlondon.com
Zigzag, £272, Howlin (workingclassheroes.co.uk)
Triangle, £145, Peregrine (selfridges.com)
Patch, £365, axelarigato.com
Heather, £395, and-daughter.com
Rosette, £475, storymfg.com
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Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Scottish Sun
7 things that are making you look lower class, including a common beauty trend – but you can fix in seconds
Plus, three easy expert-approved tips to look chic on a budget DRAB TO FAB 7 things that are making you look lower class, including a common beauty trend – but you can fix in seconds Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MANY may wrongly assume you need to fork out a fortune to look chic and elegant. But that's not necessarily the case - and sometimes, you can actually achieve the very opposite, an elegance coach recently warned. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 According to the whizz, even a hefty price tag of the mini dress won't help achieving a chic impression Credit: Tiktok/@ladyblue_official 2 As well as urging to steer clear of tattoos and bling jewellery, the elegance coach advised to give popular designer bags a miss Credit: Tiktok/@ladyblue_official From skimpy dresses and a common beauty trend, there are seven style faux pas that don't do you any favours if you want to appear classy, elegance whizz Lady Blue revealed. According to the style pro, who boasts a whopping 1million followers on her page, rocking a tight mini dress will make you look lower class - and even the price tag won't help achieving a chic impression. ''It can be a very expensive designer dress - but it looks very low class. ''All these ladies in Monaco and Palm Beach wearing short dresses and high heels look like they work there just to be able to afford those bags and dresses,'' she shared her brutal verdict in the now-viral clip. According to the elegance pro, there are also three popular beauty trends you should be avoid unless you want to appear lower class. One of them, Lady Blue warned, was rocking mega long nail extensions with lots of bling. Sure, the intricate design may have set you back loads - but in her eyes, ''it looks so incredibly tacky''. Another trend that's loved by many across the world but will give you a ''cheap'' vibe are huge eyelash extensions, the whizz went on in the video. ''So much money, time and discomfort just to look worse. All these ladies are so much prettier without those lashes.'' Is your body covered in ink? It's bad news, as the TikTok-famous guru also savaged body art. Woman shocks with outfit that shows 'zero class' as she walks down the beach promenade with one butt cheek fully out Lady Blue said: ''It's definitely not cheap to get it done in reputable places and from good artists. ''But it still overall downgrades the look.'' Meanwhile, there are also a few things you may wish to declutter from your wardrobe, including mainstream designer bags and wallets - and big brands like YSL are also a no-go. According to the expert, these ''really show the lack of personal taste and style if you need to rely on logos to look upscale''. How to look chic on a budget Fashion stylist Gemma Rose Breger, and beauty journalist Samantha Silver revealed how you can make your outfits elevated without spending hundreds of pounds. Don't ever spend on designer denim: River Island ''always has such a great selection of fashion-forward jeans that follow the current trends''. The high street retailer offers a great range of sizes to fit UK 6 - UK 18, and three leg lengths - and prices start from an affordable £25. There are no rules for jewels: ''Pick up something at a car boot sale, or charity shop, scroll on Vinted & eBay, snap up something from the clothing section in your local supermarket when doing the food shop or check out high street clothing stores.'' Don't forget the pre-loved sites: With a rising number of second-hand sites, such as Vinted and Depop, there's no excuse for not buying - or selling - pre-loved garments. Gemma, for instance, has managed to get her hands on chic Chanel sunnies for a mere £17. As well as carefully re-thinking your choice of bags, the guru also urged to ditch mega sparkly watches and ''any jewellery that is big and shiny''. Whatever you've spent on these accessories will end up looking like you've ordered it from the China-based marketplace Shein, she warned. Instead, Lady Blue advised to stick to more dainty items that look ''a lot more chic''. Last but certainly not least, you may wish to donate any T-shirts with brand logo on them - as you're essentially just advertising them ''for free''. ''I am all for the things that look chic and elevated but don't cost an obscene amount of money. ''I don't mind paying extra for the quality, the materials, for the pay for the workers. ''I will never overpay for the logos and the illusion of luxury.'' 'HUGE difference between old & new money' Since being uploaded on the platform under the username @ladyblue_official, the video has taken the internet by storm, winning the whizz more than 2million views. As over 108k people gave it a like, a further 651 flooded to comments to share their thoughts. One said: ''Ughh- the nails and the eyelashes!! YES!!'' Someone else chimed in: ''There's a HUGE difference between old and new money. ''I used to work in a luxury jewellers and the one thing I was always told was people with real wealth never feel like they have to be a walking billboard for brands.'' A third shared their brutal opinion on another viral trend, writing: ''Labubu on bags looks cheap too! Very classless.''
Times
3 days ago
- Times
Catherine Zeta-Jones: ‘This is a new chapter'
'T here was never any question that I was going to be in showbusiness,' says Catherine Zeta-Jones, the girl who left Wales aged nine to appear on the West End stage in Annie, who won an Oscar for her appearance as a high-kicking murderess in the film Chicago and a Tony for her turn in A Little Night Music on Broadway. We are talking over Zoom, Zeta-Jones lavishly glamorous in a vintage YSL shirt, a gold and diamond Cartier watch, fat diamond studs in her ears, full make-up and a huge arrangement of orchids as a backdrop. But the razzle-dazzle is all part of the performance — because then she smiles and lifts up her leg to show me her off-duty white fluffy slippers (she has been dancing since she was four and remains impressively limber). 'I am actually in my sweatpants,' she says. 'I've been on set since 6am.' Now 55, Zeta-Jones is enjoying a professional renaissance. 'It's a new chapter. It's what I have been craving. Variety.' Her new projects are certainly varied. She is currently in Bilbao making the Amazon series Kill Jackie, in which she portrays a former cocaine kingpin turned art dealer whose past foes are out to murder her. 'I'm playing a Welsh woman, speaking in my own accent for the first time. It's really empowering, as an actor it frees me up,' she says. I ask if she's had to ramp up the Welsh; she has lived in America for the past three decades and has been married to the American actor Michael Douglas for almost 25 years. Her accent is a peculiar melange — in one sentence she pronounces 'route' three different ways. 'No, it just comes back, all the nuances,' she insists, reeling off some Welsh lingo. She is also in a forthcoming indie film with Natalie Portman called The Gallerist — 'a lovely little jewel of a part,' she says. But the most high-profile of Zeta-Jones's latest projects is Tim Burton's Wednesday, in which she plays Morticia Addams opposite Jenna Ortega as the titular goth anti-heroine, whose deadpan nihilism has become a cultural phenomenon. The first series, which came out in 2022, is the most-viewed English language show on Netflix. Zeta-Jones's appearance in that season was brief but impactful; she perfectly conjured Morticia's smouldering hauteur and otherworldly amorality. 'When Tim called me about the first season, before I even saw a script, I said, 'I'm in.' To play Morticia Addams in Tim Burton's world … It was just magic.' Burton, it seems, was equally spellbound. 'I've been a fan of hers for a long time,' he says over the phone. 'It's the Addams family, so it's usually pretty over the top, but we also wanted to give it an emotional resonance and Catherine's just very good at doing that, delivering something heightened, but also tapping into those real emotions.' There is ample opportunity for this in the second series, in which Morticia's character has been expanded. 'Tim really wanted to incorporate the family into the show,' Zeta-Jones says. So Morticia and Gomez Addams (played by Luis Guzmán) have relocated to Nevermore Academy to help plan a gala and keep an eye on their children; mysteries are multiplying, macabre beasts are being unleashed and Thing's loyalties are being tested — even when acting opposite a disembodied hand, Zeta-Jones's Morticia is compelling. As in the first series, there are plenty of devilish pranks and gory murders, but the most high stakes moments are those in which mother and daughter enter into emotional combat. 'That is the crucial dynamic,' Burton explains. In one scene Morticia and Wednesday have a night-time duel, fencing foils flashing (Zeta-Jones fans will be reminded of the famous fight scene in her breakout role opposite Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro in 1998). 'I got to bend into the comedy and the emotion, the vulnerability,' Zeta-Jones says. 'Morticia is like all of us. We're strong, but we're vulnerable.' And she has nothing but praise for her co-star Ortega. 'When we first met I didn't know who she was. It took me one moment on set to work out who she was going to be. It was very clear that she was a phenomenon. I mean, forget the show, just her as a young woman, as an actress, the way she is. She has a smart head on her shoulders.' Leather Trench coat, £12,332, Gabriela Hearst. Shoes, £635, Aquazurra. White gold and diamond earrings, pendant and ring (left hand), prices on application, and ring (right hand), £8,600, De Beers. White gold and diamond necklace, £144,000, and ring (right hand), £45,500, Boucheron JAMES D KELLY Shirt, £350, Ami Paris. Coat, £1,295, Joseph. Yellow gold and diamond necklace, £25,100, and white gold and diamond ring, £3,840, Messika. Rose gold and diamond bracelet, £54,800, Chaumet. Panthère de Cartier yellow gold and diamond watch, £49,700, and yellow gold ring, £2,410, Cartier JAMES D KELLY Top, £1,215, Etro. Jacket, £2,700, and skirt, £1,590, Stella McCartney. Silver earrings, £139, and cuff, £199, Jewells. Gold and silver ring set, £200, Demarson JAMES D KELLY Ortega's trajectory, a child actress who was launched to stardom, aged 20, via her role in Wednesday, mirrors that of Zeta-Jones. She was 21 when she appeared in the The Darling Buds of May, a bucolic vision of 1950s England, in which she played the ravishing Mariette, captivating the country the moment she appeared on screen — it was one of the most-watched TV shows in the UK at the time. 'I went to sleep on a Sunday night, when I woke up, everybody knew who I was,' she says. • Wednesday series 2 review: Jenna Ortega's a gothic hoot But really, Catherine Zeta-Jones was always a star. She was raised in Mumbles, a seaside town in Swansea. Her mother was a seamstress and her father worked in a sweet factory, which he eventually bought, following a £100,000 win on the bingo, the money also helped to fund dancing lessons for Zeta-Jones. 'It feels like a very precocious thing, and I don't know where it comes from, but I'd say it out loud, 'I want to be on the stage.' I was a bit of a prodigy,' she says. She would come to London, queue for auditions and, if she was rejected, change her leotard, put her hair up in a ponytail and try again. Her hero was Elizabeth Taylor. 'To me she represented Hollywood. And there was also the Welsh connection with Richard Burton, the scandal of their love, the craziness, it was part of my upbringing. Right after I finished Annie at the Victoria Palace, she was in The Little Foxes at the same theatre. So, one matinee, I stood outside the stage door with a bunch of daffodils. I waited and I waited for her to come, and when she arrived I remember saying to her, 'Would you take your sunglasses off, so I can see your violet eyes?' And she said, 'It's way too early in the morning for that.' I didn't care, she took my daffodils and gave me a beautiful hug.' There have been extraordinary strokes of luck in Zeta-Jones's life, and not just the bingo win. When she was 17 she was in the chorus of 42nd Street, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and the second understudy for the lead role of Peggy Sawyer. The night she was called upon to play the part the producer, David Merrick, was in the audience and was so impressed that he gave it to her. The French director Philippe de Broca saw her in 42nd Street and cast her in his film Les 1001 Nuits. It wasn't a particularly successful film, but it was seen by the producers of The Darling Buds of May. 'There is luck, yes,' she says. 'But I always think that you create your luck. If I hadn't been prepared and ready to go, David Merrick wouldn't have promoted me.' Clockwise from top left: as Velma Kelly in Chicago; with David Jason in The Darling Buds of May; with Jenna Ortega, Isaac Ordonez and Luis Guzmán in series two of Wednesday; with Dennis Quaid in the thriller Traffic After The Darling Buds of May, Zeta-Jones became disenchanted with the relentless gorgeous girlfriend roles that she was offered. 'I don't consider myself a great beauty,' she says. 'I always thought of myself as attractive and interesting, but never a great beauty.' She moved to America to reinvent herself and got a part in the CBS mini-series Titanic. Again this wasn't hugely successful, but it was seen by Steven Spielberg, who was producing The Mask of Zorro at the time, and suggested her for the female lead. It was this role that really elevated Zeta-Jones to international stardom, and was also seen by Michael Douglas, whose head was turned by her charisma. Soon after they were both attending the Deauville Film Festival and he arranged to have a drink with her. During their meeting he said to her: 'I am going to be the father of your children.' Zeta-Jones was not initially charmed, but eventually fell for him and they were married in a million-dollar New York wedding in 2000. Their children, Dylan and Carys, were born in 2000 and 2003 respectively; the Douglases retreating from New York to Bermuda to raise their family. 'The city in the summertime is too hot, so Michael took me to the Hamptons and I was like, 'same people in shorts'. The social calendar is exhausting. So Michael took me to Bermuda because his mother was Bermudian and I thought, 'I love this.' It's an hour and a half in a plane. It's a British colony, there were pictures of the Queen when I went to the bank. So we bought a house there and stayed for ten years.' Douglas is himself Hollywood royalty — his father was Kirk Douglas, the actor who played Spartacus and who died in 2020 aged 103. 'He was a flirty little thing,' Zeta-Jones says. 'He was wonderful and he was very fond of me, as I was of him. I miss him. They [Kirk and his wife, Anne] left a philanthropic legacy that was way beyond movies.' Kirk Douglas donated most of his money — which was estimated at over $60 million — to his charitable foundation, and left nothing to Michael. But the Douglases are not doing so badly themselves. They have four homes, two in New York, one in Canada and one in Spain. 'I know it sounds very jet set, and I love to surround myself with beauty but it's not excessive, it's very comfortable,' Zeta-Jones says. Zeta-Jones with Michael Douglas and their daughter, Carys, at the Cannes Film Festival, 2023 DANIELE VENTURELLI/WIREIMAGE As a couple they like to spend time in their home in Spain, away from their public-facing lives. It can be challenging, she admits, when big stars are a couple. 'Two celebrities together make ten. It's just the way it is. There's two versions of the story and there's two make-believes,' she says. 'We don't listen to the crap that is written about us, that's the main thing. And we respect our space, we're independent spirits. We are very similar; we were born on the same day, 25 years apart. We're not afraid to be verbal, to express ourselves. I wear everything on my sleeve and so does he, which is good.' Douglas has recently announced that, now aged 80, he has no real intentions of acting again and that he just likes 'to watch my wife work'. 'Michael has definitely earned the chance to slow down,' Zeta-Jones says. 'But I never say never. He's his father's son and loves to work — let's just say, 'retirement' is a flexible concept.' They both agree, however, that he will be playing a lot of golf. Whereas one of Zeta-Jones's favourite ways to relax is homemaking, specifically organising — and stocking — her numerous wardrobes. 'I go to all the vintage stores in Paris. I buy things that you are probably never going to wear, like a gorgeous cape, just great pieces. I am loving classic Yves Saint Laurent at the moment. I get excited about evening dresses. For me, a pair of jeans is a pair of jeans. Spending £200 on a white T-shirt? Nah. But when it comes to couture, beautiful beading, the artistry … I love the theatre of fashion.' She's got Carys, 22, hooked too. 'She loves my closet. I have probably the biggest Fendi Baguette bag collection, and she's just found more in my mum's house. I've got everything from denim to pearl to sequins. Carla Fendi used to give them to me all the time, right when they were hot potatoes.' Top, £195, Me+Em. Trousers, £410, Max Mara. Yellow gold and diamond Tiffany Knot necklace, £37,200, yellow gold Elsa Peretti Bone cuff, £23,300, yellow gold Tiffany T bracelet, £7,525, and yellow gold Tiffany Knot bracelet, £8,375, Tiffany & Co JAMES D KELLY Shirt, price on application, Michael Kors. Jacket, £3,017, and trousers, £1,165, Givenchy. Bra, £260, Eres. Clash de Cartier yellow gold earrings, £4,400, and matching ring (right hand), £2,410, Trinity white, rose and yellow gold and diamond necklace, £6,950, and matching ring (left hand), £11,200, Cartier JAMES D KELLY Zeta-Jones is an intriguing mix. There is something inherently regal about her, from her self-presentation to her demeanour. She is old Hollywood. But she can also be funny, a bit naughty even — which is when her Welsh accent comes out. When I ask where she and her husband keep their Oscars, she says 'mine is in the country house in New York, Michael's is in the apartment in New York. We keep them apart, just in case, you know, there isn't like hanky-panky going on there.' She also remains driven and ambitious, but her competitive streak is now largely limited to games of Yahtzee with the family. 'I have had such a great and varied career,' she says. 'I've worked with great directors, great actors. Everything now is a bonus.' Wednesday season two, part one is streaming on Netflix now. Part two premieres on September 3 Styling Marian Nachmia. Hair Maranda Widlund. Make-up Brett Freedman. Local production Town Productions. Thanks to the Corinthia London hotel Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix, the best Prime Video TV shows, the best Disney+ shows , the best Apple TV+ shows, the best shows on BBC iPlayer, the best shows on Sky and Now, the best shows on ITVX, the best shows on Channel 4 streaming, the best shows on Paramount+ and our favourite hidden gem TV shows. Don't forget to check our critics' choices to watch and browse our comprehensive TV guide
The Guardian
5 days ago
- The Guardian
The heart triumphs over all things: why ‘anti-capitalist romcom' Materialists isn't just a fantasy
Like all love triangles, Celine Song's new film Materialists places you at a fateful fork in the road, peering at two points in the distance and evaluating the different futures that lie in wait. In Materialists, the first destination looks like this: a glossy Manhattan penthouse; regular dinner dates at five-star restaurants; few if no apparent friends; a lot of money, and being the object of envy of New York's society women. What you lack in warmth you make up for in status. The second, meanwhile, is much less glamorous: a dingy shared apartment in south Brooklyn with two slob flatmates; arguments about money; takeaway meals from food trucks. But perhaps you'd have a lot more fun. It's the question driving many of our romantic stories, the choice animating everything from Jane Austen's novels to the climax of reality television show The Bachelor: love or money? Song's films seem to be more interested in love. Her first feature, the double Oscar nominated Past Lives, was a wistful story about star-crossed love that brought audiences to tears. There is a lot less wist in this follow-up, a satire-tinged drama about the indignities of modern dating in our renewed gilded age. Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, an unapologetic materialist and high-end matchmaker who is instantly charmed by Harry (Pedro Pascal), a banker who is what those in her business call a 'unicorn': rich, tall, handsome, smart. At the same time, she reconnects with ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans), who still looks at her with a puppy-eyed devotion and nurses his inability to provide her the life she wants like a sore wound. Except for John, the film's characters tend to talk to each other with the performative coldness of businesspeople. Potential partners are evaluated for their ability to make one feel 'valuable'. Harry declares an interest in Lucy's 'immaterial assets'. Lucy's clients demand their dates have a minimum salary (the women) or a maximum age (the men). Everybody speaks as if they are angling themselves as contestants on The Apprentice, without any of the messily fun theatrics of reality TV. The marketing of Materialists has placed the film firmly in the elevated world of Harry's penthouse over John's grungy flat. There is the cast, drawn from the most in-demand stars in Hollywood; there is its cult US distributor, A24; there is Song's 'syllabus' for the film, replete with the works of Mike Leigh and Merchant Ivory and Martin Scorsese; the understated, quiet luxury wardrobe; the soundtrack featuring the Velvet Underground and Cat Power. Though when I watched it, I thought not so much of Leigh, but rather the less cool big-budget 2000s romcoms that also set out the same fundamental premise of Materialists: an ambitious young woman tries to make it in the big city, makes mistakes in love and in work, and learns hard lessons about life in the process. Two decades have passed since these films – How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Bridget Jones's Diary, Maid in Manhattan – commanded the box office, and a lot has changed since, not least the collapse of the blockbuster romcom film and the genre's move to low-budget fare on the streamers. It's interesting, still, to see how Materialists has reengaged with the genre's tropes. It struck me, for example, that John – an avatar of unconditional devotion, unfailingly loyal if a void of any edge – is a Duckie from Pretty in Pink kind of figure, the prospective love interest the protagonist considers before choosing someone more alpha and more interesting (in effect, a Harry). Perhaps after the post-#MeToo reckoning and the ongoing crisis in masculinity, our view of the ideal man has softened – though it helps, I imagine, if the man in question looks like Chris Evans. Meanwhile, the film's affect of extremely mannered and self-aware cynicism seems firmly out of our current age rather than the cheery turn-of-the-millennium sugariness of, say, Love Actually. The world has hardened since, our lives are angrier and more isolated. The internet has sharpened individualist hustle culture, and the most powerful man in the world is a status-obsessed dealmaker incapable of seeing anything beyond the lens of his own ego. And so the characters of Materialists scramble to ascend the marketplace, keeping an eye on where they stand in the pecking order. In today's US, the bottom can be a terrifying place. Watching these largely rich, largely lonely people talk about love through the language of the market, I thought: what a sad way to see other people, and what a sad way to be. The film thinks this, too, judging from (spoiler warning!) its sudden about-turn ending, in which love wins over money and the heart triumphs over cold, calculating reason. It is a conventional fairytale romcom ending, but perhaps with everything that's passed since, this retro callback is the point: a bid for a new sincerity after decades of status-conscious cynical individualism. Duckie has finally won over the rich alpha male; the biggest prize today is someone who will love you unconditionally. I didn't find this final triumph in Materialists particularly convincing: its characters were too cold, too unspecific and lacking in vitality to really make me root for their final reconciliation. (I did appreciate, though, the film's contemporary twist on the romcom fantasy: Lucy's realisation that her dream job is ethically murky and of indeterminate value to the world.) But it did make me want to see more romcoms on the big screen, ones with intellectual curiosity and seriousness that command the space that Materialists – against prevailing movie industry trends – has been given. The beauty of love, after all, is that it can break through our solipsism and radically reshape ourselves. It is a hopeful, radical practice that finds in other people not cause for anger, defence, or hatred, but possibility for mutual wisdom and growth. 'The whole movie is about fighting the way that capitalism is trying to colonise our hearts and colonise love,' Song said recently. Maybe finding space for life outside capitalism's relentless onward march is increasingly a fantasy – but what a beautiful, frothy fantasy that can be.
