Madewell's End Of Season Sale Is Here With Up To 60% Off All Sale Styles
Summer is officially here, and to celebrate, Madewell is having a HUGE End-of-Season Sale! We're talking everything from their iconic denim jeans and elevated staples to sundresses and linen shorts at discounted prices. 😍
Yeah, it's *that* good of a sale. Here's how it works: simply enter promo code "summertime" at checkout and the savings will be automatically applied to items in your cart.
We've gone ahead and rounded up some of the best Madewell Deals from the sale — but you'd better shop fast! Low prices mean these items won't last long (and the sale officially ends July 10).
So, without further ado, let's get to it:
A pair of denim shorts for 59% off that are best described as old-school, lived-in style meets modern-day Madewell comfort. So, yep, your search for the perfect pair of denim shorts is officially over.
Promising review: "Wanted one pair of comfy denim shorts in my life and these are it! Perfect balance of that great lived in denim meets tailored fit. I'm 5'4', 130 and landed on size 28 for a more relaxed waistline." —Born to TravelPrice: $34.65 (originally $84; available in sizes 23–33 and one other wash)
A pleated linen mini skirt for 53% off since you can dress this darling number up or down depending on the vibe of the night. I'm thinking strappy heels and a blazer for an after-hours work event, but platform sandals, tube top, and chunky gold earrings for date night... that's just me, though. The possibilities here are endless.
Promising review: "Perfect skirt to dress up or be casual with, easy to walk in and long enough I can bend over without flashing someone" —SummerPrice: $41.65 (originally $88; available in sizes 00–16)
A linen sweater tank for 52% off so you can add some ~texture~ to your summertime 'fits while still staying as cool as a cucumber.
Promising review: "So great to see a lovely weight summer top that is not cropped. Can't seem to escape that trend, so love this break from it. Blue color is very pretty. TTS" —MadewellMomPrice: $41.99 (originally $88; available in sizes XXS–XXL and two colors)
A poplin smocked midi dress with dreamy puff sleeves for 53% off if you want to stroll about the farmers market and pretend you're the main character in a rom-com (and are therefore going to meet a cute stranger at the fruit stand).
Promising review: "New favorite dress. Fits well, lovely pattern, nice quality fabric. I'm 5'5" so perfect length, doesn't go more than above ankle. Got several compliments. Larger neckline than expected, so have to be mindful of showing bra straps." —AllecatylPrice: $69.99 (originally $148; available in sizes XXS–XXL and in two colors)
A handwoven cane tote bag for 46% off because you ~totes~ need a chic leather bag for carrying around the summer essentials, i.e., your water bottle, book, sunscreen, beach towel, and so on. Of course, this is plenty big enough to fit your laptop and work supplies, too!
It features an interior pocket, and a magnetic closure.Promising review: "Absolutely gorgeous cream leather bag. Slightly larger than the handwoven leather tote, but it is a great shape. Will be perfect for summer!" —Cat2619Price: $139.65 (originally $258; available in six colors with personalization available on some styles)
A high-neck tank for 47% off that's made from a soft ribbed fabric, because you can't go wrong adding some versatile, high-quality basics like this to your wardrobe, especially when they're on sale. Best do yourself a favor, and grab this in a few different colors.
Promising review: "Love these tank tops! I get compliments every time I wear them" —NataliePrice: $20.29+ (originally $38; available in sizes XXS–XXL and in six on-sale colors)
A braided belt for 47% off to ~tie~ your outfit together with a final touch of country-chic style.
Promising review: "Love this belt! Been wearing more brown lately and it's a great piece to tie outfits together. The buckle is beautiful and the leather is great quality! Hoping to get it in more colors" —LaniPrice: $41.65 (originally $78; available in sizes XXS–XXL and 2X–3X and two colors)
A pair of utility-inspired straight-leg pants for 38% off in case ya want a somewhat-edgy-somewhat-slouchy alternative to jeans. Reviewers love how comfy they are and find 'em super easy to dress up or down.
Promising review: "Love these pants! They're comfortable. I wish they came in other colors. They're great for casual days, school, spring, summer… refreshing to have a pant that isn't wide leg but not skinnies either." —MamaseacatPrice: $79.79+ (originally $128; available in sizes 23–33 and in three colors)
A pinstripe linen jumpsuit for 46% off to wear on days when you have very little energy but still want to look put-together and make a fashion statement. Just grab a cute pair of wedges or sandals, and voilà, outfit done!
Promising review: "Really sleek jumpsuit. Would love to see in a paisley print." —BlondeaudreyPrice: $90.99 (originally $168; available in sizes 00–16)
A pair of oval sunnies for 40% off because you're gonna look cooler-than-cool anytime you wear these, whether you're out for drinks on a rooftop bar or simply running errands. They're giving **IT Girl** energy.
Promising review: "I love these sunglasses! They're nice quality — sturdy and I like the touch of gold on the side of the lenses. They make any gold pair or earrings pop!" —BrittanyPrice: $64.50 (originally $75)
A chic boatneck tank for 66% off that's got a timeless silhouette and sneaky side slits, just in case you want something basic but not boring.
Promising review: "I super love the fit and it looks so chic!!!!" —IsabellaPrice: $13.99+ (originally $42; available in sizes XXS–XL and in three colors)
An adorable cap-sleeve midi dress for 56% off since the bright teal color and delicate floral pattern radiate cheery summer energy. So, even if it's raining or cloudy out, this will keep your spirits high!
Promising review: "I bought this dress last week for an upcoming graduation and absolutely love it - have already worn it. The fit is great, it's comfortable enough to wear all day without losing shape." —EmiemartPrice: $69.99 (originally $158; available in sizes 00–14)
An off-white cotton baseball cap with an adjustable leather back strap for 48% off sure to become your new signature summer accessory thanks to its classic sporty style and timeless elegance. Leave it to Madewell to elevate even a baseball cap!
Promising review: "Love that this hat is made from organic cotton. It has a nice worn look to it and the off white color goes with everything!" —AudraPrice: $14.65 (originally $28; personalization available)
A cherry brown strappy leather sandal with a gold bangle embellishment for 37% off to dress up your go-to ensemble of jeans and a V-neck. Would they also look stunning paired with a flowy romper or slinky slip dress? Why yes, yes they would.
Promising reviews: "I am in love with these. I actually wore them out of the store and asked the salesgirl to throw away the sandals I was wearing. My new spring and summer staple." —Selah"A classic black strappy sandal with gold hardware. The shoe does have some padding, which is nice, so that it is not so flat. Very cute and elevated." —LindsayPrice: $73.85 (originally $118; available in sizes 5–10 and also in black)
A highly comfortable side-cinched muscle tee for 47% off when you want something just a tiny bit more elevated than your usual tees and tanks.
Promising review: "This tee is such a good elevated basic! I have it in grey and navy and love them both. You can dress it up or down and pair it with just about anything. So comfy and adorable. I am normally a small and sized down to an x-small, so it was more snug, but that's just preference!" —eeecPrice: $27.65 (originally $52; available in sizes XXS–XXL and four colors)
An absolutely adorable plaid seersucker maxi dress with a boatneck, smocked bodice *and* side pockets for 60% off that you should definitely wear to your next outdoor brunch. Raise a mimosa when the food arrives and snap a pic for the 'gram because you be looking CUTE AS ALL HECK.
Promising review: "I love this dress! The smocked bodice is super comfortable, and the high neckline gives it a nice, polished look. I usually wear a medium, but I sized down to a small and it fit perfectly — still relaxed without feeling tight. The plaid pattern in warm mustard and plum tones feels really unique and perfect for the season. Lightweight, breezy, and easy to dress up or down. Highly recommend!" —Ms_lindseyannPrice: $62.99 (originally $158; available in sizes XXS–XL)
A flared wide-leg jean for 59% off because these gems are ~sassy, ashy(-grey)~ with a whole lotta attitude to give off (and good thing too since you're never ever going back to skinny jeans).
Promising review: "I tried these on, on a whim, and wow! Love the fit, so so soft, and a great color! And they were on sale on top of it! Winner all around!" —STACPrice: $55.99 (originally $138; available in sizes 23–33 and in three other washes)
A floral puff-sleeve top for 50% off so you don't show up for the weekly BFF yap sesh without some of your own (fashion) drama. Although you probably have plenty of ~relationship~ and/or ~work~ drama to share anyway...
Pssst! Get the matching skirt here (it's *also* on sale). Promising review: "I love this shirt. The print is gorgeous, and the pintucking detail at the neckline and sleeves makes it feel very special. The cut is not too wide, so it works loose or tucked in." —MEWRPrice: $59.49 (originally $118; available in sizes 00–14)
A pair of pull-on linen shorts for 64% off that'll keep you as ~cool~ as possible this summer. The tie waist and large cargo pockets look super trendy, while the fabric feels ultra-lightweight and breathable.
Promising review: "Absolutely love these shorts. The linen makes them light and breezy for really hot summer days but they pair great with sandals or sneakers." —SabbyPrice: $27.99 (originally $78; available in sizes XX–XXL and six colors)
A crochet-knit vest for 49% off so you can bring the cozy-chic sweater aesthetic into summertime. Layer this lightweight piece over a cami or wear it solo for even more airflow.
Promising review: "I am 5'6' with a large bust. Usually, I shy away from tops like this because the buttons tend to gap on my chest. However, this one did not do that at all! It's very breathable, perfect for summer!" —anniePrice: $27.99 (originally $55; available in sizes XXS–XL and three colors/styles)
A pair of pull-on satin pants for 57% off since they look downright ~bougie~ while feeling like pajamas. Yep, that sounds like a dream come true to me.
Promising review: "These pants are fabulous!!! They are as beautiful in person as they are online. The color and feel…lush!" —StephPrice: $41.99+ (originally $98, available in sizes XS—XXL and four colors)
A ribbed long-sleeve crewneck shirt for 75% off that you'll easily reach for all year long — whether it's on cooler evenings (or days) in spring and summer or as an essential layering piece come fall and winter.
Promising review: "I love this top — the fabric is so soft and stretchy. I can dress it up or down. Great quality." —NicolePrice: $13.99 (originally $55; available in sizes XXS–XXL)
A textured, collared tee for 44% off to take you from back-to-back work meetings straight to happy hour, all without an outfit change. Work smarter, not harder. 😉
Promising review: "I bought this shirt for work and leisure. It's so soft, comfortable, and breathable. I liked it so much I bought a second one in white. I will say it runs a tad big, but I like my tops a bit loose." —MishernandezPrice: $34.65 (originally $62; available in sizes XXS–XXL and in three colors)
A pair of vintage-inspired curvy high-rise jeans for 45% off since they're designed with flexible denim that perfectly (and comfortably!) hugs your shape. If you've been looking for *THE* pair of jeans, these just might be them.
Promising review: "The curvy jeans are my absolute favorite! Fit is perfect and length too. Color makes them a little dressier which is nice!" —CarlyPrice: $69.99 (originally $128; available in sizes 23–30 and 32–33, in petite and tall sizes)
A sleeveless scoop-neck midi dress in a fiery red color for 40% off because it's one of those simple but eye-catching pieces. Oh, and BTW, it's crafted from a subtly textured crepe fabric that basically floats on the skin.
Promising review: "I love this dress more than expected. The color is orange-red, and the fabric is body-skimming and light. I will need to have shoulder straps altered as it hangs too low on my frame, but otherwise, the fit is good. I purchased the flame striped sweater to wear over my shoulders, and it creates a beautiful summer outfit!" —AnnePrice: $76.99 (originally $148; available in sizes XXS–XL)
A sleek zippered leather wallet for 47% off to keep all your credit cards, IDs, and coins organized and securely tucked away. You can pop this in your purse, but it's also stylish enough to carry like a small clutch.
Promising review: "I was looking for a simple, sleek, long black wallet with a slot for coins and REAL LEATHER. This is it, it's perfect." —NasirsmommaPrice: $62.29 (originally $118; available in two colors)
A pinstripe mini shirtdress (with an adorable bubble hem, might I add) for 46% off since it gives off easygoing, relaxed summer vibes with just a hint of ~posh.~ In other words, you can totally get away with wearing this airy number to work *and* the beach.
Promising review: "Just bought this dress and can't wait to wear it! It fits TTS and is so light and airy on, making it very comfortable for the warmer weather. Dress up or down, and such a fun little summer dress! Very stylish and seems to be well made." —LuciePrice: $74.99 (originally $138; available in sizes XS–XL)
Wearing all your new Madewell sale finds like:
Don't forget – the sale ends July 10th!
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Los Angeles Times
8 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘Queer Lens' is the provocative photography show only the Getty would be brave enough to stage
'Queer Lens: A History of Photography' is a sprawling survey of more than 270 works from the last two centuries that looks at the ways cameras transformed the expression of gender and sexuality. Scores of artists as well-known as Berenice Abbott, Anthony Friedkin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray and Edmund Teske hang with more than a dozen unknowns. The Getty Museum's groundbreaking Pride Month show is provocative and important, and the timing packs a wallop. The exhibition has been in the works for years (since 2020), but coincidentally, it opens during a state of national emergency. The ACLU is tracking 597 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures across the U.S., including six in California. (Texas leads the hate-pack, with 88.) Most won't pass. All, however, mean to intimidate just by being introduced. The show conjures an oppressive frame of social reference again and again. Often it is subtle. Take the simple black-and-white photo booth snapshot in which a kissing couple of twentysomething young men was memorialized around 1953 by Canadian-born American artist Joseph John Bertrund Belanger. Their mouths smashed together, one man looks with a heavy-lidded gaze at the other, his eyes shut but his open hand raised, fingers brushing his beloved's throat. Tight framing in the contained privacy of a photo booth underlines an image of passionate intimacy. However, imagine if they were to step outside the curtain and into Vancouver's Playland Amusement Park, where the picture was made, for the very same kiss. They would face possible arrest and imprisonment for 'gross indecency' under the country's antigay criminal code. (That law wasn't lifted until 1969.) Belanger was a World War II veteran who fought with ordinary distinction against a fascist German regime rampaging across Europe — one that launched its reign of terror with the 1933 burning of a homosexual's library on a Berlin public square. In 1944, the fellow pilot with whom Belanger had a private wartime romance was killed in combat. This modest postwar photograph resounds because it pictures the photo booth as a closet. Was that the artist's intention in making it? We don't know, but the result is compelling because it is at once profoundly personal, which is obvious from the deep kiss, while extremely exotic, since queer images like this are rarely seen, never mind celebrated. That bracing fusion recurs in gallery after gallery. The vivifying dichotomy is even announced in advance. Climb the stairs in front of the museum, its risers smartly painted as a cheerful rainbow flag that visually sets the art museum atop a queer pedestal, and you'll encounter the inviting billboard for 'Queer Lens.' Reproduced is a publicity image by Frederick Spalding, a self-taught British portrait photographer. Fanny and Stella, middle-class lovelies in hoop skirts, engage in a warm embrace. The couple, otherwise known as Thomas Ernest Boulton and Frederick William Park, appeared on the London stage — and often out and about in public — in snazzy women's attire. The photograph dates from about 1870. Today, when drag queens and trans people, especially women, are innocent targets of hysterical conservative attacks as some new liberal phenomenon signaling imminent social collapse, a 155-year-old photograph casts a witty and jaundiced eye on the stubbornness of irrational anti-queer hate. Good on the Getty for not mincing visual words. Getty curator Paul Martineau has organized 'Queer Lens' in nine chronological sections. (His catalog, compiled with historian Ryan Linkof, is very good.) Each one is pegged to social conditions around LGBTQ+ life, principally in the United States and Europe. 'The Pansy Craze,' for example, takes note of pre-Prohibition-era underground clubs, often gay, where drag and other performers gained local fame, in addition to bohemian European establishments, some with a vibrant public face. Show business is prominent in Baron Adolph de Meyer's atmospheric portraits of entertainer (and later spy) Josephine Baker and Carl Van Vechten's Bessie Smith, empress of the blues, resplendent behind a huge, feathered fan. Buoyant members of a Harlem social club of drag kings and queens posed for James Van Der Zee, while Brassaï cast his quietly voyeuristic eye on a relaxed and tender lesbian couple enjoying a Paris nightclub. Artist and designer Cecil Beaton performed a coy fashion magazine pose in full drag, his slender form crowned by an enormous picture hat that transforms him into something approaching a human flower, photographed by the duo David James Scott and Edgar Wilkinson. Such portraits create a surprisingly revealing context for Surrealist Man Ray's 'Rrose Sélavy,' the famous photographs of Dada artist Marcel Duchamp in drag, bundled up in a cloche hat and fur-collared coat, eyeliner carefully smudged and lip gloss crisp. Two straight male artists are scrambling establishment gender, but here it's less a singular statement than part of a larger cultural phenomenon. Art and science are analytical tools in some photographs, especially those of nudes. (The show includes considerable nudity, mostly male.) Two images from about 1860 are early textbook cases. In one, photography pioneer Félix Nadar pictured an intersex person from the neck down. Careful cropping maintains privacy for clinical study. In the other, Gaudenzio Marconi helped to launch what would become a standard trope over a century's time for using an artistic pedigree to legitimize homoerotic images. With a flesh-and-blood male model, his picture replicates the famous, much-admired Hellenistic marble sculpture known as the 'Barberini Faun,' a muscled god with splayed legs, dredged up during the Renaissance from a moat below Rome's Castel Sant'Angelo. Strict gender separation common to early 19th century social structures underwent unexpected transformation after the binaries of heterosexual and homosexual were invented in 1869. Karl Maria Kertbeny, an apparently closeted Hungarian journalist, who was living in Berlin, coined the two terms barely a generation after the camera's 1839 invention. The show's first image is even earlier. A small cut paper silhouette from 1810 shows Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant gazing into each other's eyes, their profiles framed in entwined strands of their hair. The artist is unknown. But silhouettes like this are evoked by the phrase 'the art of fixing a shadow,' which is how William Henry Fox Talbot described his earthshaking invention of the negative-positive process that made photographs possible. The lesbian silhouette's inclusion reminds that same-sex love predates cameras and the modern era, while implying that things were about to change. And change they have, for good and ill. These days, the Getty is probably the only major art museum in America that could open an exhibition like 'Queer Lens.' Others wouldn't dare. Some smaller institutions would, like the young Chicago exhibition space Wrightwood 659, where the large international loan exhibition 'The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939' is currently on view. (Curator Jonathan D. Katz, a respected scholar, has said that four out of five of his requests to museums and private collectors for loans to the show were denied, and no American museum would accept the show for a tour, even when offered for free.) Meanwhile across town, the mainstream Art Institute of Chicago is about to unveil 'Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World,' a traveling exhibition virtually identical to the one already seen in Paris and Los Angeles, where it was notably titled 'Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men.' The show explores the late-19th century artist's homosocial themes, distinctive for Impressionism, whose common human subjects were typically women and girls. A spokesperson at the Art Institute of Chicago says the name change, made long before the show's Paris debut, is simply meant to reflect 'Caillebotte's full lived experience and daily life.' Maybe, but all three prior Caillebotte retrospectives at American museums since 1976 have already done that. In the current repressive climate, the explanation is frankly unconvincing. The Getty has the prestige and immense financial resources to ignore thuggish political attacks on queer people — and on the arts — which now gush from various statehouses and, most dangerously, Washington's halls of government. An absurd, now notorious New York Times front-page story in 2016 claiming presidential candidate Donald J. Trump would be 'the most gay-friendly Republican nominee for president ever' has been disproved by what is widely considered to be the most vicious such administration in American history. It surpasses even the 1980s Reagan Administration, recalled in '$3 Bill,' a companion Getty Research Institute show also on view. A furious 1987 Donald Moffett poster, dedicated to Gay Men's Health Crisis Director Diego Lopez, juxtaposes the AIDS-indifferent Hollywood president, smirking vapidly above the phrase, 'He kills me,' next to a screaming orange bullseye. '$3 Bill' is a rather jumbled amalgam of minor artworks, documents (books, fliers, pamphlets, magazines, etc.) and ephemera assembled by GRI curator Pietro Rigolo, meant to compile evidence of contemporary queer lives. Its most affecting moments reference the AIDS epidemic's abject cruelty. Powerful forces of oppression are of course still at play. The day after 'Queer Lens' opened, the Supreme Court ruled that individual states may ban healthcare for minors based on the identity of the patient asking for it: cisgender, yes; transgender, no — parents and doctors be damned. The blatantly bigoted decision will someday be overturned, but not without inflicting enormous pain in the interim. A few features of 'Queer Lens' are surprising. A lone film projection — Andy Warhol's short movie 'Blow Job,' in which an actor's face performs the role of fellatio recipient — seems out of place, when many other queer films could as easily be included. In fact, like Marconi using the classical Barberini faun sculpture as a high-art pretense to legitimize ogling male nudity in a photograph, Warhol used ink and acrylic paint as 'makeup' to legitimize the mass media photographs he appropriated for paintings. Since almost all of Warhol's classic 1960s silkscreen works are best described as photographs in painting drag, including one would have been splendid. Omissions are inevitable. (The show makes no claim to being encyclopedic.) Luis Medina, who chronicled Chicago's queer scene in the 1970s, and Jeff Burton, who photographed the almost surreal margins of the huge 1990s pornography industry in the suburban San Fernando Valley, are especially missed. Through no fault of its own, 'Queer Lens' peters out a bit at the end, when the final section declares 'The Future is Queer' in 18 works from the last decade. (Happily, two-thirds are from Getty's own collection.) The world got along for thousands of years without the enforced binaries of heterosexual and homosexual, and in recent decades the fences erected around that century-old split have been coming down. The simultaneous 21st century digital revolution is dramatically changing the contextual terms of the image game, as surely as the analog camera did after 1839. Given that a digital camera is now in most every pocket, queer photography's bracing fusion of the personal and the exotic is pretty threadbare, since exoticism no longer applies to being queer in American life. It simply is what it is. We can be grateful for the shift. And we can also be grateful pictures will continue to shape and affirm queer existence, as pictures always have the capacity to do.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
An eerie tale about our impending doom, plus the best novels of June
by An Yu Twelve years prior to the beginning of Sunbirth – the third novel by the Beijing-born writer An Yu, after her acclaimed Ghost Music and Braised Pork – the sun had begun to fade away. But Five Poems Lake, the town in which the novel is set, 'had been in decay long before'. The locals have lived through the star's slow evanescence largely as before, albeit under slightly chillier circumstances. Sunbirth follows an unnamed pharmacist as she reckons with this precarious world. She has her regular customers: 'the Su girl', notable for a leg injury she acquired in childhood; the pregnant Miss Pan; and Driver Hua, a delivery man. He's infatuated with Miss Pan, the father of whose unborn child is unknown. After visiting her in hospital, our narrator walks home and finds an intoxicated Driver Hua waiting outside. He exposes himself – and then, out of nowhere, 'a bright light pushed itself out of his open mouth'. He is, it seems, one of the 'Beacons', a group of people 'with beams bursting' from their faces, who roam the streets shining as the real thing gradually dims. In response to this slow, and then very sudden, undoing of the world, the narrator's sister returns to live with her. Their concern isn't with the disappearing sun, nor are they particularly alarmed by the transformed humans, who now wander among the inhabitants of Five Poems Lake in a manner itchily suggestive of the Covid pandemic. Instead, they take the opportunity to dig up their dead father's ashes – and learn that he was interred with a photograph of a Beacon. Yet he died when they were young, long before the creatures were first spotted: the photograph's existence is, therefore, the central mystery of the plot. Think of Sunbirth as a quiet apocalypse novel. The sun disappearing, slice by slice, is an enchanting conceit: the story takes on a sort of innocence, its flatness reminiscent of a child's drawing. This is evident in the tone, too, which is often startlingly naive. Earlier in the story, when Miss Pan jumps from her hospital window, the narrator asks: 'How much had Miss Pan's world failed her, if death was the only way for her to communicate how she really felt?' Yu relies heavily on this sort of rhetorical question. Or else characters shout at each other in sudden outbursts: a conversation is muted until it isn't, 'exploding without any warning' or 'erupting uncontrollably'. The end of the world is clearly en vogue. Sunbirth arrives shortly after another apocalypse novel, Elisa Levi's well-regarded That's All I Know, and the Levi is just one of many. Like That's All I Know, Sunbirth feels a little like a short story, distended – an enigmatic one, attempting mythical proportions. The characters operate as ciphers, and would lend themselves well to something briefer: policemen are moral arbiters; fathers and sisters are uneasy caretakers. We accept these archetypes as representative, but for prophecy to become plot, there needs to be detail, and Sunbirth struggles to give its story much substance. Instead, we circle around the same questions for some 300 pages. Remarkably, the apocalypse becomes tiresome. Towards the end of the novel, the narrator muses that 'we used everything to distract ourselves from what was really happening'. Perhaps this explains the stasis. Yu has structured Sunbirth so that in the chapter immediately after the Beacon photograph is found, its existence is explained in flashback. And so, while the world is ending, for the reader there isn't much of a revelation. It's possible that the most successful apocalypse novel is a self-destructive one: it mimics the lack of forward motion in its world, and therefore stalls, falling in on itself. But while the structure may be logical, it doesn't make for good reading. In the final scene, the Beacons begin climbing on top of each other, creating a single, human-shaped body of light. It's one of Yu's more memorable images, and one that promises action. Instead, the figure slumps and falls into the lake. Perhaps it's a symbol of how we slide into disaster. Perhaps it's just a shrug. SD Sunbirth is published by Harvill and Secker at £18.99. To order your copy for £16.99, call 0330 173 0523 or visit Telegraph Books by Xenobe Purvis One heat-addled summer in an Oxfordshire village at the start of the 18th century, a 10ft silvery creature is caught in the nearby Thames. 'A miracle,' pronounces one villager. 'Unnatural,' says another: 'Fetch the priest!' Only the ferryman demurs. 'Just a sturgeon,' he declares. The fish is sent to the pub, cooked and shared. The villagers, fears assuaged, are jubilant. This minor event appears near the beginning of the young writer Xenobe Purvis's debut novel, The Hounding. Its placing is deliberate: the book is inspired by a real-life incident in 1701, in which a doctor reported treating five girls from an Oxfordshire village who'd been 'seized with frequent barking in the manner of dogs'. For the reader, it's not hard to imagine how such behaviour might be received by villagers for whom an unusually large fish is confused with deep evil. Throw in the threat of ailing crops; a patriarchal community for whom masculinity is tightly bound up in drinking, badger baiting and casual violence; and the reflexive social instinct to objectify unconventional women as something 'other', and you have a story that feels directly sprung from our collective cultural consciousness. Purvis, who was selected to be part of the prestigious London Library Emerging Writers programme, writes in spring-water clear and often disarmingly lovely prose. She presents the village like something out of a picture book: there's the alehouse; the landlady, Temperance Shirly; a vicar who wears a patch to cover a hole in his head, following a shooting accident. Robin Wildgoose, a gentle farmhand, comes 'walking through the crisping cow parsley' like a character from a folk song. Even the Mansfield sisters feel semi-mythical: there are five of them and they live with their near-blind grandfather following the deaths of their parents. They like to keep themselves to themselves, and most of the villagers regard them as merely a little strange. And yet to the drink-sotted ferryman Pete Darling, the girls remind him of his weakness. Pete is a God-fearing loner, who often prefers to sleep outside after a heavy night at the pub, and who is privately terrified at the prospect of his forthcoming marriage to a respectable village girl. He hates the way the Mansfield girls look at him, the sinful way they make him feel, their otherworldly eeriness. Mostly he hates their faces 'like five drifts of snow. Five fallen moons.' It's no discredit to Purvis that her novel prompts thoughts of both The Crucible and The Virgin Suicides. The Hounding is also about the conflation of fear, suspicion and desire in a small, claustrophobic community; it also follows a group of girls who are bound together by inscrutable intimacy and who, as a result, are inscribed in the eyes of others with a mysterious power. But Purvis keeps the historical period vague and only alludes to it fleetingly – there's a reference to a father who fought in the Civil War; another to the dawning age of science. The village is clearly trapped between Puritan superstition, oppressive poverty and encroaching modernity, but that's left to the reader to discern. Mainly Purvis's novel exists suspended in time, a reading experience more akin to a lucid dream. At the same time, the novel proceeds very much as you might expect. One night, young Robin – who, like Pete, privately feels himself to be different to most of the village men – hears barking down a lane where two Mansfield girls were recently walking. Later, Pete says he heard something similar, and starts the rumour connecting the two, which soon spreads 'like mould in the alehouse's dark corners'. Piles of animals are later found mauled to death in the parched fields; the river reduces in the heat to a dirty trickle; both are believed to somehow be the fault of the sisters. Even Thomas Mildmay, a farmhand who has fallen for the eldest Mansfield sister Anne, believes he sees her face briefly change shape. Purvis writes with impressive emotional specificity, widening our understanding of this tiny traditional community through the alternating perspectives of Thomas, Pete, Robin, Temperance and the Mansfields' grandfather, Joseph. The slippery ability of rumour to acquire the solidity of truth may be a familiar theme, but Purvis is very good at showing the way in which a baseless idea can become a lightning rod for more general feelings of collective unease. As each character contributes to the growing conviction that the girls are indeed transforming into dogs, it's not the credibility of their belief that's at stake but the more diffuse insecurities behind why they and others might wish to believe it is true. Eventually the story arrives at an event hinted at in the prologue, though it's also there throughout in the 'stifling air, the rankling heat'. Purvis loves a bit of foreshadowing, yet she also relies heavily on stock tropes – abnormal weather; a stealthy accumulation of incidental violence – to achieve it. More problematically, The Hounding feels bloodless. All the elements are there in their right place, but they lack any kind of weight and the novel confirms expectations instead of unsettling them. Still, Purvis is an exquisitely accomplished wordsmith. I'm greedy to learn what she writes next. CA The Hounding is published by Hutchinson Heinemann at £16.99. To order your copy for £14.99, call 0330 173 5030 or visit Telegraph Books by Hal Ebbott Hal Ebbott's mostly very impressive first novel begins with a kind of two-page overture. At an American university, a 'needful', rather anxious student called Amos spots a boy whose 'brown eyes accept the campus like something owned' and who takes a 'violent bite' out of an apple. The boy introduces himself as Emerson and the two discover they're going to be roommates. From there, we fast forward three decades to the present day, when Amos (now a psychiatrist) is driving his wife Claire and their 16-year-old daughter for a weekend at Emerson's second home in upstate New York. Before setting off, Amos had been to the dentist, where he'd replied to the question of whether he flosses by shaking his head and saying, 'Better you know the real me' – a remark that he then rather anxiously analyses at some length: 'It was an odd joke, he allowed. Was it funny? Yes, sort of, not terribly, but enough. Funny enough for a dentist's office certainly…' By the time they get to the house and meet Emerson (now a lawyer), together with his wife and 16-year-old daughter, we already know the primary source of Amos's continuing anxiety: that unlike both his entitled life-long pal and Claire – to whom Emerson introduced him – he grew up amid poverty and spectacular parental neglect. Over dinner, the big news is that a few hours before, Emerson had run over a woman who'd tried to commit a vengeful suicide by jumping out in front of his car which, being the same model and colour, she'd mistaken for that of her perfidious teacher-boyfriend. 'How are you feeling?' asks Amos solicitously. 'Shaken obviously,' says Emerson. 'I mean just imagine, finding out that you drive the same car as a teacher?' So, is this an example of Emerson being funny? Weirdly charming? Performatively outrageous? Unfeeling to the point of sociopathic? Or is he just trying to hide or deflect his sense of shock? The answer, as it so often is in the pages that follow, is all of the above. That's because, if Among Friends were to have a motto, it would be something Emerson says earlier at dinner: 'Paradoxes all round.' As it soon turns out, Amos's remorseless scrutinising of every remark and deed is shared by both the other characters and Ebbott himself. All have the habit of 'parsing' (a word that recurs throughout the novel) whatever anybody says or does to tease out the many possible meanings. But all, too, generally reach the same conclusion: that, however contradictory, those meanings co-exist. This reluctance to let anything go unexamined might sound either endlessly fascinating or slightly wearying. True to form, though, it paradoxically proves to be both. Taken as a whole, the book perhaps overdoes everybody's scrupulous anatomising. Yet each individual example is so unfailingly sharp that you can understand Ebbott's unwillingness to drop any of them. Meanwhile, the same paradoxical approach applies to the wider themes of long-term friendship and long-term marriage, where the ability of the people involved to flit regularly between resentment, admiration, love, hatred, exasperation, tenderness and cynicism will, I fear, be familiar to most readers. But if this is making you think Ebbott forsakes narrative momentum in favour of chin-stroking meditation, that would be badly misleading. Instead, this apparent dichotomy is yet another question not of either/or, but of both/and. During the weekend, Emerson commits an act of violence that, although it comes only halfway through the book, I'd better not spoil – but which darkens the action considerably. Suddenly there's something much bigger to parse than merely an off-colour joke or some small incident from the past. And, as the properly page-turning repercussions continue, it's not just the action that darkens, but the whole social setting. Up until then the agreeable middle-class life the two families enjoy had seemed, at worst, a bit complacent. Now it's revealed to be far more ruthless than that, with any unwelcome truths seen as a threat to be resisted whatever the damage caused. There's also the striking notion that these people are haunted by the future at least as much as by the past – which in this case means they're constantly aware of the dire financial and social consequences of taking a principled stance. Another word that recurs often in the novel is 'flailing', as it becomes increasingly evident that the calm and clear-eyed analysis the characters pride themselves on is essentially delusional, their real emotions far more unruly than they'd ever acknowledge. And it's here that they and their creator diverge, since anything less flailing than Among Friends itself is difficult to imagine. At times, in fact, Ebbott has everything under such total control that there's not much for the reader to do; every nuance so thoroughly elucidated as to make the narrative feel almost predigested. But, at the risk of being patronising, maybe that's the result of being a first novel. Ebbott is obviously a writer of lavish talents in all the old-school virtues of sentence-writing, paragraph-building, dialogue, characterisation, plot and pacing. Now all he needs is to trust the reader a little more. JW Among Friends is published by Picador at £18.99. To order your copy for £16.99, call 0330 173 0523 or visit Telegraph Books by Gurnaik Johal According to Hindu scripture, the Saraswati was one of the great rivers of ancient India. In this ambitious debut, named for that river, by the British Indian writer Gurnaik Johal, a young man of similar heritage from Wolverhampton travels to his ancestral village in the Punjab following his grandmother's death. On his last visit, as a child, the well on her farm had been dry for decades. But now Satnam finds water in it. Could, as the villagers claim, this be the return of the Saraswati? The politicians who get wind of it certainly think so. If Satnam will just sign over the land, they tell him, he could be part of an 'era-defining project' to resurrect the river and 'return our country back to its former greatness'. Satnam, who's unemployed, going through a breakup and looking for a sense of purpose, cannot sign fast enough, and is soon committing acts of thuggery to encourage other landowners to do the same. We're made to wait to find out what happens to him, as the novel then cuts to the Chagos Islands and the story of a pest exterminator; indeed, each of Saraswati's seven long sections concern a different main character. But we continue to hear about the Saraswati, the Narendra Modi-esque prime minister who's elected on the promise of resurrecting it, and the rising tensions between India and Pakistan over the project's contravention of a water treaty. Saraswati is a sobering parable: we corrupt what is miraculous. Yet Johal never loses sight of his characters. In one section, a Canadian eco-saboteur keeps watch for her comrades as they sabotage a lumber mill. She has heard that their next target is where her mother works and phones her, casually suggesting she take some time off. But she can't say what for. It's a brilliantly charged scene. Johal's other characters include an asexual Kenyan academic, a Bollywood stuntman, a 15-year-old Pakistani influencer and a nameless female journalist: all very different, all well realised. Then, there's Sejal, a 16-year-old girl when we first meet her in 1878, 'destined to live the life of her mother, who had lived the life of her mother'. She elopes to the Punjab with a man called Jugaad, but still ends up living the narrow, destitute life she's hoped to escape. It seems an incongruous tale to be telling, until we realise it's the same tale – that our seven present-day characters are all Sejal's descendants. The connection forms a beautiful counterpoint with the Saraswati storyline. There, like the proverbial flap of a butterfly's wings, a small thing escalates into something terrible; here, the reverse happens – that is, from someone seemingly insignificant comes an amazingly various diaspora. But then almost everything in Saraswati works beautifully. Johal has written a major novel, and at his very first attempt. GC Saraswati is published by Serpent's Tail at £16.99. To order your copy, call 0330 173 0523 or visit Telegraph Books by Francesca Maria Benvenuto On Nisida, an island off the coast of Naples and site of a notorious juvenile prison, one inmate called Zeno – a 15-year-old who has been detained for shooting and killing another boy – is given a simple task by his Italian teacher, Ms Martina: write down what you're thinking, and you'll get furlough for Christmas. Zeno duly complies. And so through a run of sprawling entries that make up Francesca Maria Benvenuto's engrossing debut novel, So People Know It's Me, we learn about Zeno's life both before prison and inside it. There's his impoverished upbringing, which forced his mother to resort to sex work; descriptions of friends he's made on the inside, among them a guard called Franco; his girlfriend, Natalina; and the story of his slow capture by a world of criminal drug gangs that has led him to where he is now. Almost instantly, we see that Benvenuto is presenting us with that most tempting of literary archetypes: the loveable rogue, who despite having committed some of the most awful acts imaginable, still wins our sympathy through charm, and – in the case of a young criminal such as Zeno – the glimpses of innocence he occasionally betrays. We see this, and we prepare ourselves not to be taken in by it. Only here, through the unusual twists and turns of Benvenuto's narrative, the trick of the archetype works on us all the though this is, So People Know It's Me has an equally strong sales pitch: Benvenuto is an accomplished criminal lawyer who has defended minors in court. Her book draws from the experiences of her mother who – just like Ms Martina – worked as a teacher on Nisida, home to a very real prison for young people. And yet Benvenuto avoids wielding that authority too heavily. She never bashes over our heads the very legitimate moral problems of housing minors in a prison complex as on Nisida; rather, intimate experience affords her an empathy that feels real without being sentimental. Zeno is under no illusions that what he has done is wrong – but that does not make him less human or beyond hope. With time, his simple writing exercise becomes a project of self-realisation; near the end of the novel, Zeno begins to envision a life for himself beyond prison, perhaps even as a writer. As befits her setting near Naples, Benvenuto's original prose blends Italian with Neapolitan. Inevitably, the translator Elizabeth Harris has replaced this interplay between two languages with just one: but the more diminished English, with Zeno's voice peppered with vague colloquialisms, feels as though it belongs everywhere and nowhere at once ('she don't got no problems'). And where Harris has let the occasional Neapolitan word or phrase stand on its own – strunz, scornacchiato, 'nnammurata – we're only reminded of a layer of meaning that has been lost. This dualism is important, though: in particular, I'm left wondering where Benvenuto might have originally slipped into Neapolitan to distinguish between other dualities, such as between social classes or children and adults. (That isn't to criticise Harris's work, however. Another translator might have cast the Neapolitan in another mutually intelligible dialect – imagine a back and forth between English and Scots – but the specificities of Italy would still be lost.) But perhaps this musing is all too hypothetical, and in any case, the unavoidable compromises of translation aren't enough to detract from Benvenuto's strength as a storyteller. Her messaging is similarly deft: everybody is simultaneously the product of structural problems and also not, as Zeno proves. Good people can arise even from difficult circumstances and vice versa. That's a philosophy that survives change and iteration – and is always worth retelling. DMA So People Know It's Me is published by Pushkin. To order your copy, call 0330 173 0523 or visit Telegraph Books
Time Business News
10 hours ago
- Time Business News
The Cultural Importance of Modesty in Saudi Women's Fashion
Modesty has long held a cherished place in Saudi Arabia's cultural and religious tapestry. For Saudi women, fashion is more than choosing garments; it is a seamless expression of faith, identity, tradition, and elegance. The concept of modesty goes beyond the physical realm of covering the body it represents a way of life that reflects values, self-respect, and artistic styling. At Noetic, a proudly Saudi-born brand, we celebrate this intricate relationship between fashion and modesty. Through our thoughtfully designed collections, we bring a fresh, modern perspective to modestwear, fusing timeless cultural influences with contemporary design. This article explores the roots of modesty in Saudi culture, its broader societal significance, and how brands like Noetic are empowering women with modern interpretations of traditional values. The principle of modesty is deeply rooted in both the historical and religious foundations of Saudi Arabia. Aligned with Islamic values, modest dress represents not only adherence to faith but also a commitment to humility and dignity. For centuries, garments like the abaya, hijab, and thobe have symbolized Saudi Arabia's cultural and religious identity. The abaya, known globally, is respected for its significance as a cover for modesty and elegance. Historically, these garments were crafted in solid black, but modern interpretations feature soft fabrics, intricate embroidery, and subtle patterns. Saudi society has long encouraged values of respect and modesty. Women's fashion choices generally reflect societal expectations while balancing personal comfort and aesthetic flair. Though traditional expectations are strong, there is also a growing individualism in how women interpret modesty through clothing. Modesty in Saudi Arabia extends into behavior, interaction, and demeanor. Dressing modestly is part of a broader lifestyle that values humility, self-respect, and cultural pride. Women in Saudi Arabia skillfully balance their expressions of faith with their love for fashion. While honoring expectations around modesty, they enjoy experimenting with tailored cuts, flowing silhouettes, and creative accessories to inject personality into their outfits. Modesty in Saudi society is not rigid. It allows for diverse interpretations based on unique preferences and lifestyles. Today's Saudi woman confidently respects tradition while combining it with individual expression, finding empowerment through personal style. Fashion for Saudi women is more than fabric; it is a powerful celebration of identity. Using garments to express creativity, personality, and values, women transform modestwear into a statement of elegance and self-confidence. Saudi designers and brands have elevated traditional styles by incorporating luxury fabrics, striking patterns, and innovative techniques. Flowing dresses with pastel tones, A-line abayas with subtle embellishments, and lightweight summery fabrics allow for both chic aesthetics and practical comfort. Practicing modesty no longer limits women's fashion choices. Instead, it creates avenues to experiment with layering, accessories, and versatile cuts that are tailored to contemporary trends. This freedom to explore personal style while staying true to values reinforces self-confidence and individuality. At Noetic, we are proud to embody modern modesty, offering women beautifully crafted collections that honor cultural traditions while setting new trends. Noetic's collections reflect an elegant blend of minimalism, comfort, and artistry. We pride ourselves on using premium fabrics and crafting modern silhouettes that accommodate the lifestyle of today's Saudi women. Whether it's a soft linen dress for summer or a hand-embroidered abaya for special occasions, our designs are created with care and purpose. We understand how important variety is for self-expression. From pastel-toned kaftans to vibrantly patterned maxi dresses, each piece captures the artistic blend of tradition and modernity. Noetic evolves with the seasons while staying firmly connected to its cultural roots. Additionally, through our online shop, we make it effortless for women across Saudi Arabia to explore fashion that aligns with their values without compromising their style. Explore Collections at Noetic The definition of modesty is undergoing significant transformation in Saudi Arabia. Influenced by globalization, social media, and the empowerment of women, the country is witnessing a cultural renaissance in fashion. Social media platforms are connecting Saudi women with global fashion ideas, enabling them to explore new styles without losing sight of their cultural heritage. Women are now blending international trends with local notions of modesty, creating a vibrant fusion of tradition and modernity. At Noetic, we stand at the forefront of this evolution. With an acute understanding of modern modesty, we craft collections that empower women to wear pieces that resonate deeply with their cultural identity while enjoying the playfulness of modern global trends. No matter the era, modesty will always remain at the heart of Saudi women's fashion. It's not just a matter of fabric or rules but a meaningful connection to faith, culture, and personal dignity. Modesty transcends fleeting trends, serving as a bridge between generations. It is a legacy of spiritual and cultural pride, carried forward by women using fashion as their voice. Noetic recognizes that modest fashion is deeply emotional and personal. By respecting this sentiment, we're proud to support women in feeling confident, beautiful, and connected to their heritage. Modesty in Saudi Arabia is a celebration of faith, culture, and individuality coming together in perfect harmony. Whether it's the traditional abaya or a contemporary maxi dress, modestwear continues to evolve, empowering women with every stitch. At Noetic , we're passionate about offering you thoughtfully designed collections that reflect your values and style. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
