British Vogue

As a life-long vintage fashion lover, I can honestly say that nothing compares to the thrill of the chase of my first adventures in charity shopping. As a teenager, I spent many a lunch break – and, frankly, all of my pocket money – trawling the racks of The Salvation Army across the street from my secondary school in London’s Victoria. Back then, the odds of unearthing some extraordinary treasure were just exponentially higher. The first, a canary-yellow zippered poloneck by John Galliano, was a welcome reprieve from my grey school uniform, one I’d wear on own-clothes day with army surplus combat pants and shell-toe Adidas. The second, a classic 1940s-style Crombie-esque coat, not unlike the one Madonna wore for her famed Amy Arbus street-style portrait in 1983, proved more…

PAOLO ROVERSI For April’s cover story, on page 120, Leicestershire local Bella Ramsey decamped to Paris to be photographed by Paolo Roversi, whose images were first published in this magazine nearly 40 years ago, in April 1986. Inspired by the intersection of mens and womenswear, “Paolo and I wanted the shoot to feel timeless,” says IB Kamara, who styled the images. “The blue wig was hairstylist Eugene’s [Souleiman] idea – we wanted to explore the idea of creating different versions of the same character. And this character above all celebrated eccentricity.” PENELOPE TREE Today, shopping for secondhand clothes is ubiquitous. But back in the ’60s it was a burgeoning movement inspired by the freewheeling style of Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. Model Penelope Tree saw it unfold firsthand in London.…

A legendary hideout for royals, rock stars and supermodels, in February the recently restored Jermyn Street members club Tramp welcomed the next generation of luminaries into its sumptuous new space. The occasion? British Vogue and GQ’s Fashion & Film Party, held in partnership with Tiffany & Co. The event capped off this year’s Bafta night, with Vogue’s Chioma Nnadi and GQ’s Adam Baidawi joined by the evening’s best actress and actor winners, Mikey Madison and Adrien Brody, with cinema’s favourite Brit boy, Harris Dickinson, and Cynthia Erivo, icon of stage and screen, rounding out on cohosting duties. Elsewhere, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Poppy Delevingne and Colman Domingo turned heads as they twinkled through the crowd in a sparkling selection of Tiffany & Co jewellery, while Leo Woodall showed his partner, Meghann Fahy,…

As the only child of an American mother and British father, I grew up in New York but spent every June and July in London with my parents, who led a hectic social life and largely left me to my own devices. I had one friend from home, Susie Cooke, who was in a similar situation, so we hung out together, mostly unsupervised. Since life at our respective New England boarding schools was heavily rule-bound, we looked forward to London all year. Then, in 1963, The Beatles burst onto the airwaves. The way I saw the world changed completely. During three successive London summers, Susie and I witnessed Vidal Sassoon haircuts, Mary Quant make-up, wildly abbreviated skirts and cool trouser suits gradually becoming de rigueur for most women under 40.…

Regret, I am well aware, is a pointless emotion. And yet, I can’t quite let go of missing out on a job lot of vintage brooches at an auction at TW Gaze in Norfolk last year. There were 80 to 100 sparkly confections, in numerous shapes, sizes, styles… All going for a song. It’s one thing to miss out because I just didn’t put in a high enough bid, but instead I missed out because I dithered. “Do I really need more brooches?” I asked myself. Yes, should have been the answer. (A mantra I learnt years ago from shoe designer Christian Louboutin: “If everything in life was about practicalities, life would be hell.”) Brooches are rarely about practicality, rather they wield sartorial clout, elevating the pedestrian to sublime. And…

You’d think that becoming the country’s breakout new rapper at the tender age of 20 would instil in you either a near-intolerable degree of cocksure braggadocio or a flighty anxiety – or both. Yet none of these is the case for Nemiah Emmanuel Simms – better known to the world as Nemzzz – who, when I find him on a Camden street corner posing for Vogue dressed in head-to-toe Burberry, emanates an easy, quiet confidence. “To be honest, I’m still getting used to all of this,” Nemzzz concedes, smiling, as he gestures at the set. This whole fashion shebang, he professes, is pretty new to him – though recent tracks such as “L’s”, a love letter of sorts to Louis Vuitton, the Goyard bag by his side and his recent…