Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 902 i Grazia

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE that Grazia celebrates its 20th birthday this month. Launched at the peak of the noughties, the magazine was designed to appeal to the type of woman who was as passionate about politics, celebrity culture and news as she was shoes and skincare. Bizarrely, at the time that mix was considered controversial, but I believe it’s still what makes Grazia so special. Our team of brilliant journalists are as invested in bringing you an exclusive interview with the widow of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny (page 66) as they are a hot take on the Drake vs Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl half-time performance (page 62). They are also obsessed with fashion, still the number one reason you tell us you come to Grazia. The Big Fashion Issue is…

1. Up MO Season two of this unexpectedly divine comedy, written by and starring comedian Mohammed Amer, is now on Netflix – and it’s every bit as heavenly as the first. 2. Up CHARLOTTE NICDAO Poppy Li (played by Nicdao) is a character of multifaceted oddness and purest comedic genius and we are so glad she and Mythic Quest have returned to us again on Apple. 3. Up BIG BOYS At the time of writing, the final series of this Channel 4 comedy hadn’t quite debuted, but we’re preparing to sob our hearts out throughout, as we did its predecessors. 4. New in DAISY THE AI GRANNY Designed to thwart wannabe telephone scammers by wasting their time with enquiries about whether they want a cup of tea and the quality…

TAKING TO THE stage in Canada for the 2025 Invictus Games welcome reception, the Duchess of Sussex seemed uncharacteristically nervous. ‘So… I was not planning on speaking tonight,’ she laughed. Smiling at her husband waiting behind her, Meghan gave an impromptu speech ‘to introduce someone who means a lot to me, and I know means quite a lot to all of you’. She drew on a highly relatable anecdote from their home life (‘Papa, why are you on your phone?’ complained young Archie as Harry juggled making breakfast with taking Invictus calls) to illustrate just how much the event means to him. ‘You are his family, just as we are his family,’ she told the listening athletes and their families. Unarguably, the international adaptive sports competition for wounded, injured and…

FROM THE LATEST street-style photos hot off the pavements of New York, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s 2005, not 2025, with bootcut jeans and fur back on the front row. So ubiquitous were the examples of real, faux and shearling, in fact, that fur was the unofficial dress code of a cold, snowy fashion week. Of course, the ‘trend’ has trickled down from the A-list, who have stealthily reintroduced fur over the past few years – delving into vintage stores and designer archives. For New Year’s on the slopes of Aspen, Kendall Jenner wore little else, with a suitcase that reportedly included a fur-trimmed jacket and matching pencil skirt (Gucci circa 1996), as well as a fox-fur vintage Balenciaga coat. Hailey Bieber, meanwhile, dabbled in faux, with an oversized…

‘IT’S A LOVE affair I’m getting to have with Italy right now,’ laughs Ashley Park. The actor, otherwise known as Mindy of Emily In Paris phenomenon, has doubled down on all things Italian: not only did she spend most of season four shooting in Rome, she’s collaborated with Weekend Max Mara – the quintessential Italian brand – on a brand new capsule collection titled ‘A Weekend With Ashley Park’. ‘1,000%, it’s la dolce vita lifestyle,’ she says, fresh off a flight from NYC. ‘With a little bit of the French Mediterranean in there. It’s fun and flirtatious, with a bit of regal elegance.’ Emily In Paris, the Netflix hit which made Park and her fellow castmates – Lily Collins, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu and Lucien Laviscount – household names back in 2020,…

WE DIDN’T KNOW it at the time – we were too busy watching the hypnotic columns of steam rise from our hair as we pulverised it with GHDs – but 2005 was high tide in The Worst Era To Be A Woman Since The Second World War. Maybe even, despite all the bombs, during the Second World War. After all, at least in 1943 our biggest female pop star was Dame Vera Lynn, who always got to wear a nice frock, was universally respected and juggled fame with a pleasant life with her husband and kids in Finchley. In 2005, by way of contrast, our Most Famous Songstress was Britney Spears, who was just two years away from being strapped to a gurney and wheeled into a mental health facility,…

THE ONE THAT LAUNCHED A PRINCESS The frenzy around who’d be designing Kate Middleton’s 2011 wedding dress reached fever pitch in the run-up to the most anticipated royal wedding in decades. But it was only when Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton stepped out of the car that the world learned she was behind the lace gown that spawned a legion of imitations. THE ONE THAT MADE SJP INTO THE OG Forget Claudia Winkleman in The Traitors. First seen on Dior’s A/W ’00 runway, the iconic newspaper-print slip later became known as the ‘Carrie’ dress, after Sarah Jessica Parker wore it in season three of Sex And The City in a look that still resonates today. (One later sold on 1st Dibs for £200,000, FYI.) THE ONE THAT SHOWED KILLERS CAN BE…

THEY SAY I’M old-fashioned and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast,’ quoth Dr Seuss. We can relate. Nothing can stop the passage of time but it’s always been Grazia’s remit to make its readers look and feel their best, whatever year they’re living through. It’s why the magazine has been serving looks to British readers for… 20 years? No. Can’t be. In the, um, two decades since I allegedly wrote my first column for Grazia, in February 2005, so much has changed in fashion, yet so much paradoxically remains the same. How we consume fashion is the big change: 20 years ago, there was no Instagram (it launched in 2010), no TikTok (2016), no influencers, no #SponCon and no blurring of the boundaries between…

WHEN DESIGNER BELLA Freud launched Fashion Neurosis last autumn, where she asks interviewees to lie down while she delves into their psyches via questions about style, it was immediately a must-listen. Not only does the guestlist include the kind of best-in-class creatives who usually decline interviews (Zadie Smith, Kate Moss, Kim Gordon and Karl Ove Knausgaard have all appeared), but their fashion histories and habits quickly reveal more profound insights: how do they feel about their bodies? Who do they want to impress? How do they tune in to who they really are? The episode with Bella’s longtime friend Trinny Woodall, founder and CEO of the make-up and skincare brand Trinny London, was one of her best, exploring how masculine and feminine dressing affect power dynamics for women. But as…

PAINTBOX BRIGHTS Breathe new life into rooms by adding bright graphic posters and sculptural silhouettes in primary shades of pillar-box red and cobalt blue. Sorry beige, you’re not welcome here. FUSION POINT Take inspiration from across the globe, combining textures, vintage finds and standout pieces that will give your house plenty of personality. EASY BREEZY The new season calls for an interiors spring clean, if you like. Switch out dark, cosy colours in favour of fresh pastel shades and breezy linens that’ll instantly brighten up the bedroom. BRING THE OUTDOORS IN While we patiently wait for the return of al fresco evenings, why not bring the garden indoors? Fill your home with natural materials and plenty of potted plants that will bring a breath of fresh air to stuffy spaces.…

As London Fashion Week becomes the talk of the city, those looking to the British Fashion Council (BFC) to honour its commitment to sustainability will relish the news that London will follow Copenhagen’s lead with a set of minimum requisites for Newgen brands wanting to show in the capital. Sadly, the requirements don’t extend to all brands on the schedule. However, it is a step forward and one that incoming BFC CEO Laura Weir will no doubt fully back. It’s not always easy for small, upcoming brands to bring such values into their work. The cost of sourcing, sampling and measuring a company’s environmental footprint is no mean feat, even for bigger brands with teams devoted to such efforts. The new framework sets a common language that includes sharing a…

1 Don’t post for the sake of it. Post with intention and value. Thoughtful storytelling builds connections and sets you apart, so make sure every photo has a clear purpose. 2 Be consistent. A consistent style makes your profile memorable and visually appealing. Simplify your pictures to avoid distractions. Clean, cohesive content performs best in fast-scrolling feeds and helps strengthen brand identity, as followers recognise a certain type of photo as ‘your thing’. 3 Dare to experiment. Being consistent doesn’t mean you can’t play around with angles, perspectives and techniques. This catches people’s attention and keeps your feed dynamic. An annual refresh of the type of pictures you take will work well.…

Luis Rubiales, former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), is standing trial accused of sexual assault and coercion after he grabbed footballer Jenni Hermoso by the head and kissed her at the Women’s World Cup in 2023. Taking the stand this month, Hermoso says the kiss after Spain’s win was not consensual and ‘stained’ her victory. Calling out inappropriate behaviour against someone in a position of power is hard, but it’s so important for the world to see women being listened to and believed when they do. Hermoso’s bravery has struck a chord with women and sparked a debate about misogyny that extends far beyond football. For that, we thank her.…

YOU MAY REMEMBER the era of power dresses, à la The Apprentice, and similarly when the pendulum swung to power suits. In 2025, however, a new garment is vying for promotion to the ‘executive’ side of your wardrobe: corpcore trousers – those with vital stats that elevate them above your average pair. With baggy jeans and cargo pants having dominated the algorithm for years, A-listers have now turned to tailored, high-waisted and wide-legged trousers. Kendall Jenner packed several black pairs for a recent stay in Paris, styling hers with a brown leather blazer, ankle boots and a suede bag. Hailey Bieber similarly relies on black trousers to chic-ify her bomber jackets, but also swears by ecrucoloured slacks by The Row, which she likes to team with a trench coat. Shoppers…

ON 16 FEBRUARY last year, Yulia Navalnaya was in Munich, at a security conference with world leaders, when she read on X that her husband had been killed. She didn’t believe it at first, then saw it reported widely, by various sources. Her husband, Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who she married aged 24 and shared two children with, had died in a penal colony in the Arctic Circle, where he had been imprisoned by the Kremlin for trying to overthrow the Russian regime. At the conference, Navalnaya stood in shock, phone in hand, trying to process the news. Kamala Harris, then the vice-president of the United States, hugged Navalnaya and offered her words of comfort. She was warm and supportive, everyone was, Navalnaya explains, but, ‘I’m not sure…

2005: SKINNY BROWS In the early noughties, brow butchery ensued as we took our cues from the pencil-thin arches of Kate Moss and Gwen Stefani. Regrowth was slow. Cue Cara… 2011: CARA DELEVINGNE CATERPILLARS Scouted by Burberry in 2011, Cara became the poster child for big, bold brows. UK brow product sales increased by a staggering £17.8m between 2011 and 2016 as the masses made a play for pencils, gels and stencils (yes, really). 2016: SOAP BROWS Using a bar of soap and a spoolie brush to fluff up brows was a pro trick that blew up on social media. In 2016 Game Of Thrones make-up artist Kim Cattin was able to launch a multimillion pound beauty brand (Soap Brows, now West Barn Co) from her kitchen, based solely on…

DRESS REHEARSAL Take inspo from Simone Rocha -who sent full-blown tulle tutus down the runway – and live out your Save The Last Dance dreams with natty bolero cardies, a little Lycra and a pair of satin ballet flats. On point! CRINKLE CUT If you manage to get out of the door pressed and perfectly polished, hats off to you. For the rest of us, great news – looking slightly dishevelled is one of 2025’s more achievable trends. CITY BOHO Woven leather at Bottega Veneta… extra-long fringing at SS Daley… boho is still staking its claim on spring wardrobes. Switch out swishy maxis for suede, sunset shades and artisanal beaded jewels for a 2025 take on the trend. No holiday required. AHOY, SAILOR Christian Dior and Ralph Lauren are your…

FLORALS MIGHT BE the ultimate perennial print, but they’ve also suffered reputational damage in recent seasons too. ‘Florals for spring? Ground-breaking,’ Miranda Priestly once said, one of the most quoted lines of dialogue from The Devil Wears Prada, while the once ubiquitous floral-dress-and-white-trainers outfit formula was recently relegated to the ‘basic’ bin by Gen Z. Then there’s florals’ trad-wife connotations… The catwalks, however, tell a different story, rebranding the floral with a ditsy spin that was front and centre of so many spring/summer collections that even the most botanically-opposed fashion editors were forced to sit up and pay attention. At Loewe, Jonathan Anderson’s floral made its not-so-subtle mark across a series of hoop-skirted frocks that were brought down to earth by humble footwear like hi-tops, loafers and brogues. (The overall…

I MET UP WITH a friend recently who I hadn’t seen in ages; she was now four months pregnant and I could not stop staring. Not at her gorgeous baby bump, not at her glowing skin, not even her new Celine bag (pregnancy presents should be mandatory) – but her hair. Easily quadruple the amount of my measly strands, I watched her flip it side to side, mesmerised by the sheer magnitude of it. Thickness is my number one hair goal – surpassing shine, length, the lot. In 2021 I lost a substantial amount of hair – a combination, I believe, of long Covid and new medication. It was the thinnest it’s ever been and I wanted a solution, fast. I booked in with pro stylist Vicky Demetriou at Larry…

Procrastination is a sneaky thing. It disguises itself as harmless – just five more minutes’ scrolling, one more episode… But before you know it, the afternoon has slipped away and that thing you needed to do is still sitting there, untouched, growing heavier with every hour. It’s a cycle and I know we’ve all been there. We put things off because they feel overwhelming and the longer we avoid them, the bigger and scarier they seem. But here’s what I’ve learned. Getting started is never as hard as we think. The real challenge isn’t the task itself, it’s the mental weight of avoiding it. And the easiest way to break through? Tiny commitments. Instead of telling yourself you need to finish a report, write a whole article or send that…

TWENTY YEARS OF Grazia: as good a time as any to contemplate the latest 20 years of my life, how I got to here from there, what I’ve learned – and what I’d tell 20-years-younger me. For example… You do not need to wash your hair every day. It’s a fearful waste of time. Of course you’ll never regret not having kids! If in doubt, eat an egg. Or have a bath. Or a nap: you’re probably just hungry, cold, tired, possibly all three. You do not owe difficult people friendship. It’s not payback to the universe because you feel like you’re happier or more together, or less messed up than they are. Nor is it some sort of check and balance against you becoming an a***hole because you only entertain…

A FLURRY OF SOUPED up, multi-faceted trench coats have just hit our favourite stores, with John Lewis heralding its new cape trench coat (£149) as the brand’s sleeper hit of the season. Not only are searches for cape coats up 256% since the beginning of the year, trench coat sales have increased by 30% versus last year. ‘The cape trench is a modern twist on a timeless classic. Capes are really on trend for S/S ’25 and we’ve updated our classic trench by adding a removable cape for a versatile style statement,’ says John Lewis’s fashion director Rachel Morgans. ‘Now is the ideal moment to invest because it allows for layering while still feeling lighter and fresher than heavy winter coats.’ The devil is in the detail: in this case,…

IT’S 2005 AND the red light on your BlackBerry is flashing. You dig around among the stray business cards and half-used tubes of MAC Lipglass in the Marc Jacobs bag you picked up on a recent weekend trip to New York. Instead, you pull out a well-thumbed issue of Grazia… It’s 20 years this month since Grazia launched, designed as a magazine that understood that the modern woman could be as passionate about shoes and skincare as she was about politics and culture. A lot has changed since then – for us and for you. Over the next 16 pages, we ask some of the UK’s most celebrated writers to reflect on what the last two decades have taught us. Enjoy the trip.…

Mind The Pay Gap In 2014, Grazia began petitioning for legislation to enforce pay transparency. In 2015, then PM David Cameron announced the Government would make large companies publish their gender pay gap annually. Grazia was credited in the House of Lords six times when legislation was passed. No more ‘rough sex’ defence Following the murder of Grace Millane, Grazia launched a campaign to end the so-called ’Fifty Shades’ defence with campaign group We Can’t Consent To This and MP Harriet Harman in 2019. After two years of campaigning, the law changed so that no attacker could claim a victim consented to violence. We put childcare on the political map Along with our parenting platform The Juggle and Pregnant Then Screwed, Grazia petitioned for childcare reform in 2021. Two years…

Georgia Aspinall on the moments that shaped modern relationships Swiping replaced winking Tinder revolutionised dating on its 2012 launch, processing 350m swipes a day within a year. After Hinge and Bumble also launched, internet dating went from an embarrassing secret to the only way to meet someone. And now you can get an app for any preference. While dating was certainly made more efficient with apps, researchers have found that their frequent use is linked to poor self-esteem, loneliness and higher rates of depression and anxiety. Who could have predicted that swiping right or left on people based on a few pictures would decimate any semblance of romance in our lives? ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ was a cultural reset For decades, romcoms enjoyed a strong-hold on our movie-viewing…

THE FIVE-DAY OFFICE MARATHON In the noughties and 2010s, when ‘the pandemic’ still sounded like a sci-fi thriller Sandra Bullock would star in, we’d get properly dressed in the mornings (no pyjama bottoms at kitchen table meetings) and be in the fluorescent glare of the office lights by 9am, five days a week. Then Covid upended our lives, forcing us to reassess our work/life balance. ‘How did we have the stamina to do five days?’ we regularly muse to each other now on the one day a month we’re all in the office at the same time. THE DEATH OF THE DESK PHONE Ah yes, the relic that used to sit next to our computers, among a tower of books, notepads, two Tupperwares, a packet of cigs, a stray shoe,…

IN CHECK GINGHAM, MADRAS OR TARTAN -HIGH-OCTANE CHECKS PACK A PUNCH LONG AND LOOSE WHEN IT COMES TO TROUSERS, GO WIDE BEAT THE BLUES AN HAUTE DENIM JACKET MAKES FOR A GREAT SPRING STAPLE THE NEW KNITS HERO A CHARMING RETRO FEEL…

ON ONLY THE second day of London Fashion Week it soon became clear: Steven Stokey-Daley’s womenswear debut is the moment of the event. And not just because Harry Styles is sat front row (as are Emma Corrin and Anna Wintour), but because the room is filled with a sense of excitement for Britishness in fashion that hasn’t been felt since Christopher Bailey left Burberry Prorsum back in 2018. ‘Right after the show, I had this snap realisation about exactly who we are as a brand and where we’re going,’ Stokey-Daley tells me over Zoom from his east London studio. It was a sentiment echoed by the audience too, who witnessed his evolution from a breakout menswear designer to British design mainstay – and one who would be topping our mental…

PAIRING PINKS Eyes, cheeks, lips, nails – you can’t nod to the noughties without pink. ‘Apply a soft wash of frosted pink from Dior’s Diorshow 5 Couleurs Glowmania limited-edition in 812 Pinkmania, £61,’ says pro make-up artist Gina Kane, who built intensity by layering multiple shades. Add a cotton candy mani for good measure. LOUD MOUTH Lip liner is a noughties necessity. ‘It enhances and contours, while adding a holographic gloss in the centre provides extra dimension,’ says Kane. Feeling fancy? Layer a metallic eyeshadow over lipstick for a foil effect. A GLOW ABOVE You needn’t go all-out in every area. ‘Pair a power lip with fresh, glowing skin and a subtle lilac-toned highlighter for a fresh take on frosted cheekbones,’ says Kane, who layered Dior Forever Hydra Nude Foundation,…

HIGHLY RECOGNISABLE – THANKS to a shock of orange hair against porcelain skin – Grace Coddington has been central to the fashion industry since the 1960s, first as a model, then as an editor. The first person to put a model wearing no make-up on the cover of Vogue in the late ’70s, she’s had Jerry Hall pose in a red swimsuit atop a Soviet monument in the USSR, recreated Alice In Wonderland miniature sets with Annie Leibovitz and worked with everyone from Helmut Newton to Guy Bourdin; in short, she’s produced some of fashion’s most memorable imagery – all for one of the most famous fashion magazines in the world, American Vogue. Where Anna Wintour semaphores power, order and money, Coddington represents creativity, spirit and personality – The New…

I have just started Monzo’s 1p savings challenge. Each day, from the beginning of January, an amount, increasing by 1p, is moved from my current account balance into a savings pot. So 1p on the first day, through to £3.65 at the end of the year. Somehow, by the magic of little and often, I’ll start 2026 with nearly £700. The last thing you are probably thinking, now that January has finally ended, is about next winter, but now is by far the best time to save for Christmas because you won’t even notice it. As other new year’s resolutions have probably fallen by the wayside, start a new one this month, to move a few pounds here and there into an account you will not look at until next…

The last great book I read… All The Colours Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker. The last song I listened to… I’m currently listening to our 11-year-old whistle Silent Night. The last box set I binged… The Day Of The Jackal. The last beauty product I finished… My Loewe Esencia perfume. The last item I added to my wardrobe… was an oversized woman’s grey sweatshirt that my wife was trying to send to a charity shop. The last meal I cooked… Puttanesca. It’s usually puttanesca. The last message I sent… The answers to these questions to my PR team. The last holiday I went on… Six Senses in Turkey. The last fashion mistake I made… I wear shorts to school drop-off a lot and it seems to disturb some people. Maybe because…