Spring fashion sorted. Our style director picks the REAL M&S best buys of the season
Marks & Spencer has been on and off the boil for years, yet brilliantly, this spring, it's quietly fabulous, but only if you know exactly what to look for and what to edit out. So, let's start by going beyond the new campaign that's currently splashed across TV and billboards. And the good news is, beyond the trend-driven pieces lies a stealth drop of luxurious-looking elegance you'll actually want to wear – this year, next year, and ideally, for the next decade.
The kind of properly chic everyday clothes that your friends will assume are more expensive than they are, and make you feel polished, stylish and clever for choosing them. This edit leans into natural fibres and design-led silhouettes that channel more Prada and Armani than TikTok trend. And this is the key – while some of the images in the campaign look as if they've come straight from the catwalk, on closer inspection, they're made of mostly plastic-based fibres and feel cheap to the touch, and at GH, we always choose fibres that will not sit in landfill for centuries.
So think a billowing white cotton skirt and a crisp striped cotton matching shirt-and-shorts set worthy of a Tuscan holiday. Leather fisherman's sandals that are quietly the height of cool. Add a forever-modern bomber jacket and bubble-sleeved blouse (yes, both feature polyester, so only buy if you plan to wear them for a while), sculptural gold accessories with a nod to Cartier and Tiffany, and the dream high-waist jean that's classic rather than cool, and you're there. Choose these pieces above the one-hit-wonder trends and you've got clothes that bring elegance, longevity and polish to every day, for years to come. This is the real M&S reboot to shop into.£35.00 at marksandspencer.com£59.00 at marksandspencer.com£29.50 at marksandspencer.com£22.50 at marksandspencer.com£39.50 at marksandspencer.com£49.50 at marksandspencer.com£16.50 at marksandspencer.com£35.00 at marksandspencer.com£45.00 at marksandspencer.com£120.00 at marksandspencer.com£29.50 at marksandspencer.com£19.50 at marksandspencer.com£35.00 at marksandspencer.com
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36 Budget-Saving Products You May Not Have Seen Yet
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A cult-favorite Creamy Coconut fragrance rollerball reviewers compare to the pricey Sol de Janeiro version. 👀☀️ This is from TikTok-famous small business brand Kuumba Made, known for its luxury scents at ridiculously affordable prices, so you know they're on their game — reviewers especially love how ~beachy~ and long-lasting this sweet but elevated fragrance feels and how nicely it plays with other scents! A "spray and go" enzyme-based laundry stain remover that works its magic in one wash to help you instantly get rid of all that discolored dried sweat, oil stains, or deodorant residue on your favorite clothes, so you don't have to spend big money replacing them when the Stain Fairy lays her curse. A magnetic air fryer cheat sheet to help minimize effort and maximize deliciousness so you can get dinner on the table as quickly (and cheaply!!) as possible. The takeout delivery driver will miss you. 👋 Monday Haircare Dry Shampoo with all the oil-absorbing, refreshing power of its competitors, *plus* added keratin for protection against frizz and breakage. The subtle gardenia scent is just extra extra credit after all that. E.l.f. Glow Reviver Melting Lip Balm for all the ultra fans of Summer Fridays, Rhode, and Laneige whose bank accounts are begging them to put a stop to the lippie madness. These new deliciously tinted, moisturizing, buildable glosses are just as buttery and decadent as the balms that inspired them, for a fraction of the price. (Brb, drowning myself in the "Strawberry Shortcake" and "Vanilla Toffee" flavors.) A jewelry-cleaning stick with cleansing solution on a brush designed specifically to get in the nooks and crannies of your jewelry, so you can dig out all the grime that's accumulated over the years on the cheap instead of taking it to the jeweler. Sally Hansen's iconic Insta-Dri nail polish perfect for anyone who wants quick touch-ups on their fingers and toes but has ZERO time to spare. If you're looking for a reliable, long-lasting, fast-drying polish to save not just time, but big bucks at the salon, I cannot recommend these enough! A set of Victoria's Secret–inspired seamless "invisible" underwear so soft and stretchy your butt will want to *sing* when you slide them on. This is a true holy grail underwear that doesn't show, doesn't ride up, and somehow manages to look cute all at the same time. Catrice "Instant Awake" Under Eye Brightener, which will be your holy grail for concealing and brightening dark circles under your eyes when your summer schedule is throwing you for a loop. This lightweight, color-adapting formula is designed for truly ~invisible~ coverage that makes a drastic difference — one that a lot of reviewers compare to the $33 Becca version. 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A set of super affordable hydrocolloid nose pore patches (compare to the $16 Mighty Patch equivalent) that will make you go "boy HOWDY" when you see how much gunk collects on them overnight. Reviewers swear by these for gently lifting out sebum from pores and pimples and minimizing their appearance! A lawn dog spot repair treatment to help your grass look as spiffy and green as it did before Fido decided to mark their territory by peeing in the same parched spots over ... and over ........ and over again. Reviewers notice results within *days* (and your bank account will weep in relief that you didn't hire lawn professionals to do it). E.l.f.'s Holy Hydration! Thirst Burst Drops, another home run from the brand's moisturizing "Holy Hydration" line that reviewers are comparing to the $35 Watermelon Dew Drops from Glow Recipe. 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"And I'm in this giant suit looking ridiculous and running around, and it just felt like a day that never ended." "It really kind of led into this dreary, looming feeling that the episode has. ... Charlie would show up, and then me and Charlie would have scenes together at like 2:00 a.m., after everybody went home, and he was kissing me on the forehead. It's all just very surreal. ... And then one day they're like, 'Oh, hey, Julia Fox is coming today.' ... You see my reaction to Julia Fox being on my couch in the episode, ... it's basically just how I felt." In terms of what drew Elassal to a career in comedy, there wasn't necessarily a specific "breakthrough" moment, but he can identify the time that he understood the feeling of being able to make someone laugh. "I remember a moment watching my older cousin, when I was younger, stand up and do an impression of his dad to all of the aunts and uncles, ... and him making them all laugh so hard," Elassal said. "And I was like, 'Oh, this is the coolest person I've ever seen.'" "I think something from that time might have gotten in my head of like, that's a real, worthwhile thing to do in your life, is to be able to make a group of people that happy." While a Canadian making the move to the U.S. always feels like a big professional step, it was a "culture shock" for Calgary-raised Elassal. "It's insane. It's such a culture shock," Elassal said. "You're going to the airport in America and they have signs up like, hey please don't bring your gun on the plane. And I'm like, are people doing that? Like, accidentally?" "I mean, there's a craziness to America. And it's fun to live there. But whenever I come back to Canada, I still feel at home, even though New York is home right now." As Elassal's career progresses, from stand-up comedy to TV, and even joining projects from other famed comedians, like Pete Holmes' podcast, "You Made It Weird," we certainly can't wait to see what Elassal does next. "It's unbelievable. I'm consistently so happy to get to meet all these people that I was already such a fan of, and it's amazing to get to work with them," he said. "It's such a dream come true. ... I'm really lucky that I get to have my dreams come true."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'Adults' star Malik Elassal: Calgary-raised comedian, actor and writer is Canada's new comedy sensation
For decades, comedy has been considered one of Canada's greatest exports, including notable talents like Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara and the late John Candy. Adding to that legacy is Malik Elassal, who stars in the popular new show Adults (on Disney+ in Canada, Hulu in the U.S.), created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon). Making the move from Alberta to the U.S., incredibly skilled in hysterical stand-up comedy, with moments from his sets going viral, Elassal is set to be another of one Canada's comedy legends. And what makes Adults a great introduction for many is that the show really showcases each cast member's unique comedy strengths. "We all come from these different places, but when we come together there's something between all of us," Elassal told Yahoo Canada. "Amita [Rao] is an improviser. Lucy [Freyer] was an actor in Juilliard. But then when we come together, we sort of have our our own rhythm that's outside of improv training, outside of more standard actors training, or outside of TikTok." In Aults, a group of friends move in together in Samir's (Malik Elassal) childhood home in New York. Samir is trying, at least sometimes, to take on more responsibility in life, Billie (Lucy Freyer) is pursuing a career in journalism, Anton (Owen Thiele) was Samir's college roommate who can be friends with anyone. Issa (Amita Rao) is taking on odd jobs with her infectious personality, and she's dating Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), who she convinces Samir to let move in with the rest of the group. The show in intensely funny in a way that leans into absurdity at times, awkwardness at others, and navigates different elements and styles of comedy effortlessly, largely thanks to this impressive cast. With Elassal already receiving positive feedback from the show, he's really just happy to make people smile and laugh. "It feels like it falls in line with my love language, to give somebody this big thing and for them to enjoy it," he said. As Elassal described, a lot of the brilliant on-screen chemistry we see between this group of friends in Adults was formed by the natural evolution of the group's off-screen dynamic. "[When] we started hanging out and started being on set, you just realize that somebody has been on the same version of the internet as you," Elassal said about his friendship with fellow Canadian Jack Innanen. "We just really became close." With Samir having a particularly close frienship with Billie in the show, Elassal added that even just taking walks with Lucy Freyer and ribbing each other in real life informed what we see on-screen. Additionally, Kronengold and Shaw looked to the actors to inform their scripts. "We started to find out that things from our lives would end up in the script," Elassal said. "So we'd have takes where we got to add things in there, and that was always really fun." A particularly hysterical moment in the show is Episode 6, where Billie is hosting her boyfriend, and her former high school teacher, played by Charlie Cox, for dinner. As Billie tries to get all of her roommates in line with the hopes of a more sophisticated evening, things quickly take an unexpected and hysterical turn when Cox's character shows up high on a "pony dose" of ketamine, and Paul Baker's friend, who happens to be Julia Fox (who's playing herself), comes over for the meal. "We were block shooting the whole series, so every episode was over the span of like four or five days, or so. And usually we have different locations and we were going to different places, but ... for like four or five days in a row we're just in this house, basically," Elassal explained about that epiosde. "And I'm in this giant suit looking ridiculous and running around, and it just felt like a day that never ended." "It really kind of led into this dreary, looming feeling that the episode has. ... Charlie would show up, and then me and Charlie would have scenes together at like 2:00 a.m., after everybody went home, and he was kissing me on the forehead. It's all just very surreal. ... And then one day they're like, 'Oh, hey, Julia Fox is coming today.' ... You see my reaction to Julia Fox being on my couch in the episode, ... it's basically just how I felt." In terms of what drew Elassal to a career in comedy, there wasn't necessarily a specific "breakthrough" moment, but he can identify the time that he understood the feeling of being able to make someone laugh. "I remember a moment watching my older cousin, when I was younger, stand up and do an impression of his dad to all of the aunts and uncles, ... and him making them all laugh so hard," Elassal said. "And I was like, 'Oh, this is the coolest person I've ever seen.'" "I think something from that time might have gotten in my head of like, that's a real, worthwhile thing to do in your life, is to be able to make a group of people that happy." While a Canadian making the move to the U.S. always feels like a big professional step, it was a "culture shock" for Calgary-raised Elassal. "It's insane. It's such a culture shock," Elassal said. "You're going to the airport in America and they have signs up like, hey please don't bring your gun on the plane. And I'm like, are people doing that? Like, accidentally?" "I mean, there's a craziness to America. And it's fun to live there. But whenever I come back to Canada, I still feel at home, even though New York is home right now." As Elassal's career progresses, from stand-up comedy to TV, and even joining projects from other famed comedians, like Pete Holmes' podcast, "You Made It Weird," we certainly can't wait to see what Elassal does next. "It's unbelievable. I'm consistently so happy to get to meet all these people that I was already such a fan of, and it's amazing to get to work with them," he said. "It's such a dream come true. ... I'm really lucky that I get to have my dreams come true."
