Find out what’s hot (and cool) in our weekly barometer of trends from fashion to pop culture.
Orange really is the new black
This season’s hot shade? It’s a good thing. Visualize Morph and the “You’ve been Tangoed” commercials that caused chaos in school playgrounds circa 1992 and you’ll be on your way. As time goes on, bright orange is everywhere right now, with coats, shirts and even full suits in the shade.
And the scariest insight? A fashion pack worn from head to toe. Me+Em has the best-selling suit in the shade, while M&S has also gone a long way in the colour. Strange things? We think so.
Going up
- Opponents face each other
Eighties make-up is back – see Saint Laurent and Gucci – in time for the return of her favorite Jilly Cooper show. - XXL pepper grinders
Available at top London restaurants Martino’s, Osteria Vibrato and La Petite Maison. It makes us feel that way Borrowers - Book groups
April is a big month for new books that you’ll want to discuss over a bottle of wine - Spring Kilts
The good news, Claudia, is not just for winter
Going down
- Single metals
In fittings it’s all about mixed metal right now – check out these lamps from Good Bones x Plank Hardware - Umbrellas
Make yourself like Dot Cotton and grab grandma’s rain bonnet (thanks, Haider Ackermann at Tom Ford) - Labubus
The new bane of parents everywhere: NeeDohs. And no, we don’t know where you can buy it - No-show socks
It is designed to stay hidden. Knowing that they exist is wrong
Look north! It’s Manchester’s moment
Constant rain in Manchester? And it’s very bright for the northern city in 2026 – and the launch of an album by Brits and Harry Style was just the beginning. Last week it welcomed Mobos for the first time, the famous Nobu place is buildingthe tallest building outside of London where, Sankeys, the nightclub of the Nineties and Noughties, reopened after nine years, and the exhibition of Ai Weiwei. Button Up! opens in July at Aviva Studios. The food scene is also great, with chef Tom Barnes’s Skof named the second best restaurant in the country by SquareMeal.
Meanwhile, downtown bistro Higher Ground has announced a line-up of guest chefs, with more to come, including Sticks’n’Sushi and Eggslut. It makes sense that the unique symbol of the city is bees. Buzzin’!
Read more about Manchester
Culture figures
What is Testament, an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s book coming to Disney+ on April 8, what is it made of?
The elevation of the outer wall is nailed
Gone are the days when wallpaper meant ordering something at great expense from de Gournay. Now you can buy beautiful paper panels from outside the peg. For affordable frescoes, see Graham & Brown (from £48 for a sq m), Rockett St George (from £545 for a panel) and Dunelm (£50 for 2.5m sq). Iona Graham at Graham & Brown says: “Photography is making a comeback as people look for ways to bring more personality and emotion into their homes.”
“Murals feel immersive and can transform a room, creating an important space and adding excitement or escape to a space. Because your home is personal, you should be too.” So if you’re sick of seeing the same living rooms all over Instagram, here’s how to set yours apart. Who knew an old art form could look so new?
Women behave badly
Everywhere you look in popular culture right now, women are throwing off the shackles of “virtue” and embracing their dirty times. Yes, whether it’s setting boundaries or turning your life into a revenge drama – Hello, Lily Allen – Out is the Virgin Mary and in is Queen Macbeth. Imperfect womenElisabeth Moss and Kerry Washington (now on Apple TV), it’s about lies, tragedy, destructive friendships and women with dark secrets.
Meanwhile, to Margo has Money Problems (out April 15, Apple TV), Elle Fanning’s stressed-out student mom bonds with her baby on OnlyFans, and Vladimir on Netflix Rachel Weisz cries over her young co-worker. In the world of fiction, morally complex female protagonists drive many black comedies: Rosie Storey’s. Dandelion is dead (now) sees a bereaved woman taking in her brother’s careless, Sam Beckbessinger’s. Femme Feral (out April 9) explores female rage through a perimenopausal CEO-turned-werewolf, by Imani Thompson. Honey (out May 7) features a PhD student’s quest to take down the bad guys, and Cassandra Neyenesch’s. Less is Bad (from June 4) a pregnant woman starts dating her boyfriend.
We are still pure girls and women, self-absorbed and independent, but all these characters show that being good did not bring the promised rewards, so why not be bad? As the Marquise de Merteuil – arguably the OG antiheroine – says to Dangerous Connectionswhich opened at the National Theater this month: “And finally I dissolved everything with one simple principle: win or die.”
Additional voices: Karen Dacre, Madeleine Feeny
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