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New York Post
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Princess Kate sends clear message to Victoria Beckham with latest outfit
The Princess of Wales has just stepped out in her most eye-catching new outfit in months and it sends a very clear message. Apology time. Just when I was thinking that Kate, the Princess of Wales had become wholly predictable, her work outings routine, her wardrobe, staler than a Sao that's a good year past its expiration date and here she is, delivering quite the plot twist. Kate might be the next Queen of Great Britain and yet today have no choice but to consider a question that no one could ever have predicted or even loosely imagined after taking too many Codral – has she just thrown herself into the messiest celebrity family feud in the world? 7 Britain's Kate, Princess of Wales, tours design spaces at the British Fashion Council in central London, on May 13, 2025. AP The princess has just, reportedly, seemingly picked a side in the Beckham family drama. The action, such as it was, went down like this. There Kate was on Monday, out flying the flag for the British fashion industry with two hands, presenting the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design to Patrick McDowell. During the outing, the princess undertook the royal family's long-perfected act of Looking At Things And Seeming Interested, which was about as scintillating viewing as watching a nice bit of Colefax and Fowler paint dry. Except for what the 43-year-old was wearing. 7 Victoria Beckham was seen in Manhattan on May 11, 2025, in New York City. GC Images Despite the day being one that The Telegraph termed of '22-degree heat', the princess chose a bold olive green suit by Victoria Beckham – right at the very moment when the Spice Girl turned designer and husband David find themselves embroiled in the same sort of tabloid family saga the that Crown Inc is painfully au fait with. A son lacking firm purpose who falls hard for a glamorous American gal, only for the love birds to then spectacularly fall out with his British family? When it comes to the Windsors and the Beckhams, there is a definite degree of döppelganging to their family dramas. Things for David and Victoria burst into public view earlier this month when their eldest son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz appeared to snub his 50th birthday celebrations and since then there have been tit-for-tatting claims about who is to blame. 7 The Princess of Wales was presenting the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. AP Brooklyn and Nicola's 'behaviour has been appalling,' a source has told Page Six and an insider has claimed that David and Victoria 'just can't deal with this nonsense anymore'. Then the other side shot back with a source telling TMZ that David 'verbally berates' his eldest son on the phone and that 'Victoria tries to smooth things over by immediately, sending Nicola a loving text so there is no proof the former soccer pro 'didn't just scream at Brooklyn for an hour.' While no one has teared up while Oprah Winfrey nods along, it seem only a matter of time. So, against his backdrop, was the princess' choice of the $2,750 two-piece an intentional bit of signalling? Asked by The Times if Kate's decision to wear Victoria Beckham was about 'sartorial solidarity', 'an in-the-know mole' said: 'Oh, it's totally deliberate. She knows what she wears gets major pick-up.' 7 The Princess of Wales, with Caroline Rush, outgoing CEO of the British Fashion Council, and her replacement, Laura Weir, visits the British Fashion Council at 180 Studios in central London. via REUTERS Ready for the plot to thicken? Monday's suit is believed to be only the second that Kate has worn a piece of clothing from the Victoria Beckham brand, though she also owns a pair of sunglasses and a bag from the label. Yet of all the British labels that the Princess of Wales could have chosen to boost at the farshhhony awards, unlike other homegrown favourites such as Emilia Wickstead and Catherine Walker, it was Victoria's label she chose to champion. More interestingly, the striking ensemble was a marked departure from what has become the norm for Kate of recycling pieces from her wardrobe. Last week was a major one for the Palace with the royal family leading the UK in marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day. In the space of days she attended a military process, appeared on the Palace balcony, watched the VE Day concert and joined a commemorative service at Westminster Abbey. 7 Beckham is seen during the Women's wear Fall/Winter 2025/2026 as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 7, 2025, in Paris, France. GC Images On each of these occasions, again and again, she only re-wore dresses, coats, shoes, bags and jewellery that were already in rotation in her wardrobe. And yet here we are, days later, and we have Kate busting out a new and eye-catching – and more importantly news-making – outfit. Interestingly, the last year has seen the ties between the House of Beckham and Crown Inc only get tighter with King Charles naming David as an Ambassador for The King's Foundation and with the self-made couple attending their first Buckingham Palace state dinner in December last year. David has made no secret of his wholehearted backing of the King & Co, saying in January: 'Whenever the Prince of Wales sends me a message and says I need you to do this or be there, it's always a yes…I've always been a huge royalist, I was brought up in a family and household that adored and loved everything with the royal family.' 7 David Beckham and Victoria Beckham arrives to attend the Royal Wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 in London, England. Getty Images That feeling, with Kate in her smart bit of Victoria Beckham tailoring, looks to be mutual. Whatever might have demotivated the princess to wear Monday's suit, what is undeniable is the massive shot in the arm and boost for Victoria Beckham brand it all is. While you wouldn't think a four figure olive suit would fly off the shelves, the suit sold out in a day. 7 There Kate was on Monday, out flying the flag for the British fashion industry with two hands, presenting the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design to Patrick McDowell. AP The full economic effect of Kate's style seal of approval is enormous. When the mother-of-three wore a pair of shoes from British brand Camilla Elphick to the 2024 Wimbledon final it created $7.4 million in exposure for the company, according to The Times. Previously, it was found that sales of copycats and dupes of things worn by the princess boosted the British fashion industry by $20.5 billion between 2010 and 2021. After all of this, what can I say but who knew? Who knew that Kate still had it in her to really surprise us? The late Queen said, 'I have to be seen to be believed'. Sometimes, the same goes for the Princess of Wales.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
How to create a country garden in the city, according to garden designer BUTTER WAKEFIELD
Butter Wakefield, 63, was always destined to be a garden designer. She grew up on a small arable farm outside Baltimore in the US, with ponies and horses. Her grandparents had a beautiful garden near Philadelphia, while her mother was a president of the local Garden Club of America. After working at Christie's in New York, then emigrating to London in 1988 to work as an assistant at the interiors company Colefax and Fowler, she realised being in the garden made her happiest. Wakefield took some short courses at The English Gardening School followed by a year-long diploma in plants and plantsmanship, before taking on her first garden design commission for a friend. In 1992, she moved to her Victorian villa in West London's Stamford Brook. The style of this garden echoes her professional work, spanning smart townhouse gardens in London and Bath, including schemes for interior designers Rita Konig and Matilda Goad, as well as larger country projects. The meadow of her own garden, a succession of spring flowers (including narcissi, cowslips and Geranium phaeum), has been such a hit, it's a frequent request from clients. Most of her gardens also include some forms of topiary. 'I have to have a clipped shape,' says Wakefield. 'What I like is chaos and lots of rich, multi-layered planting, but it only works if there is a strong framework of shrubs and clipped shapes to bring order to the abundant tangle. The topiary disappears into the background in summer, but in winter it holds the garden together.' That love of form is also plays out in structured evergreens and trees in pots; her back door is framed by standards of Myrtus communis pruned into neat balls and multistem Osmanthus x burkwoodii. In the centre, a steel water bowl, filled with a few oxygenating plants and gently trickling water, reflects the surrounding flowers but also provides a place for birds and insects to drink. Bringing in nature is central to Wakefield's ethos, and the garden is planted to offer early nectar with spring bulbs and climbing shrubs, including an ornamental quince, Chaenomeles speciosa 'Nivalis', which is trailed along the wall and flowers from late January. Feeders hang from trees, and one shady corner is left untouched, with leaf litter and decaying logs to provide insect habitats. One of Wakefield's favourite ideas was to enclose a utility area where she works – a small space with a potting bench, compost bin and shed – behind trellis panels covered with Trachelospermum jasminoides. In front of this, another layer is added with a small bench topped with an antique laundry basket, which is filled with tulips and various annuals each year. 'I come out and cut flowers for the house and for projects,' she says. 'I would be lost without it.' This is an edited extract from Wonderlands by Clare Coulson, Quadrille, £40. To order for £34 with free delivery until 25 May, go to or call 020 3176 2937 GET THE LOOK Inspired by Butter's garden? Here's everything you need to transform your own space Orange Tree Gold Metal Watering Can £18.50 Shop VegTrug Nesting Metal Plant Stands, Set of 3 £149.99 Shop Trug £24 Shop Gardening gloves £15.99 Shop Garden bucket bag £45 Shop Small Hand Trowel £26 Shop £15 Shop Habitat Checked Ceramic Footed Planter £8 Shop Niwaki Canvas Gardening Kneeler Pad, Natural £28 Shop Bind Scissors Cast Iron Black Large £10 Shop
Telegraph
02-03-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Ten clever and charming ideas for small homes
Classic English style is comfortable, timeless and informal. But it can also be seen as rather grand – most appropriate for rambling rectories and manor houses. But thinking back over the hundreds of interiors visited and described in a 40-year career as an interiors writer, I realised that the more modest ones, belonging to people without big budgets, held the most appeal. We can all create glorious interiors without the luxury of grand proportions. As the following examples demonstrate, limited floor space doesn't have to limit ambition. Custom-made kitchen This farm worker's cottage in Somerset posed some challenges for its owner, Ali Kelsey, not least the awkward shape of the kitchen. A local joiner made the kitchen cupboards, painted in Farrow & Ball's Pigeon, to fit the space. The joiner also glued the floorboards, painted in Farrow & Ball's Blue Gray, over the old concrete flooring. The blinds are in Mortefontaine fabric by Pierre Frey. The perfect breakfast nook In the same cottage, Kelsey knocked down the wall between the kitchen and breakfast room, and enlarged the previously small window so that the space is now flooded with light. Built-in bench seating maximises the number of people the table can accommodate. The bench cushions and the blinds are in Bowood by Colefax and Fowler, made from a pair of curtains Kelsey bought on eBay. Making an extension work When decorator Caroline Holdaway and photographer Fatimah Namdar first saw this 300-year-old Cotswold cottage, they spotted the 1990s extension at the back and thought, 'No'. 'But we didn't find anything else, so we came to view again,' says Holdaway, 'and as soon as I stepped through the door into the front room, I changed my mind.' Holdaway laid new flooring throughout in reclaimed pitch pine rescued from an old factory, which she found at a reclamation yard. These boards create a flow between rooms – here, the front room and the dining room in the extension beyond – that helps to unify the old with the new. Colour-drenching a bedroom In the home of decorator Russell Loughlan, a small Georgian house in Deal, Kent, the main bedroom feels bigger than its square footage thanks to its ceiling, which rises into the pitch of the roof. The room is painted in three different shades of saturated summer-sky blue: walls in Oval Room Blue, the panelled ceiling in Light Blue and the woodwork, fireplace and shutters in Sloe Blue, all by Farrow & Ball. The starting point for the scheme was the BasShu quilt from Will and Yates. Small space, big personality This flat in Brighton was in 'a horrific state' when its owner, Simon Martin, bought it, with 'Artex on the ceilings and no fireplace'. He found a chimney-piece on eBay from a house nearby, replastered the walls and ceiling, and painted the room in a rich imperial yellow, a strong colour that works as a background for his collections (Martin is the director of the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester). The armchair and footstool are covered in Zig Zag by Enid Marx. The artworks, which are united by their black frames, include an engraving (in the centre) by Richard Bawden and two linocuts by Christopher Brown. Flower power Decorator Carlos Garcia designed the interior of this flat in south London for a client who wanted colour and pattern and for it to feel like an interior that had evolved over time. The kitchen is lined with William Morris Blackthorn Autumn wallpaper, but there's a lot going on behind the eye candy. Hung inside the door of the boiler cupboard door is a neat little spice rack. Gingham curtains take up less space than cabinet doors, and hide the dishwasher and washing machine. Elevated under-stairs storage In the hallway off the kitchen above, Garcia opened up the space under the stairs, which lead to the flat above, to make a shelf with curtained shelving beneath, which acts as a larder cupboard. It is papered in Citron Squiggle wallpaper by Colefax and Fowler, to complement the walls, painted in Olympian Green by Edward Bulmer. Bijou bathroom The bathroom in the same flat shows that even a small space can be successfully filled with colour and pattern. Carlos Garcia found the reclaimed floor tiles at English Salvage, the period-style basin at Burlington Bathrooms, and the bath at Victorian Plumbing. The walls are papered in Sadras Verd de Pomme by Nicole Fabre Design; its colour is echoed in the tongue-and-groove panelling that wraps around the walls and the bath, while the tiles add a further splash of complementary colour. Coastal colours This coastal cottage overlooking the Solent is decorated in a suitably beachy palette: the walls and curtains in this dining area have been sun-bleached to the softest shades of pink and blue. Fitted bench seating around the table maximises seating capacity, and helps to zone the dining area, which is part of the living room. Shipshape In the same cottage, the neat little kitchen has an Everhot stove – essential for drying out the owners' sailing gear. A palette of blues again nods to its coastal location, and the under-counter curtain adjacent to the dishwasher allows for every inch of storage to be accessible, yet concealed. Perfect English Small and Beautiful by Ros Byam Shaw, published by Ryland Peters & Small (£40); photographs by Antony Crolla © Ryland Peters & Small
