Grazia Issue 809

‘THROW ON’, ‘SLIP INTO’ – the language we use for dressing in the heat implies that it’s a breeze. And yet most of the women I know, myself included, have always found summer the trickiest season style-wise. Add to that this year’s sudden staycations and sweaty WFH conditions and the picture becomes even more complicated. Hence, this our first bumper Big Summer Fashion Issue. On page 70, our fashion team have tracked down perfect wardrobe additions, whatever the weather – which you can shop direct from the page with your phone. (See page 6 for instructions.) Elsewhere, we’ve asked pros at summer dressing for their invaluable advice. My big takeaway? Think ‘onion’ layers. And finally, if you are managing to have a break, you’ll need a book. On page 107…

‘THROW ON’, ‘SLIP INTO’ – the language we use for dressing in the heat implies that it’s a breeze. And yet most of the women I know, myself included, have always found summer the trickiest season style-wise. Add to that this year’s sudden staycations and sweaty WFH conditions and the picture becomes even more complicated. Hence, this our first bumper Big Summer Fashion Issue. On page 70, our fashion team have tracked down perfect wardrobe additions, whatever the weather – which you can shop direct from the page with your phone. (See page 6 for instructions.) Elsewhere, we’ve asked pros at summer dressing for their invaluable advice. My big takeaway? Think ‘onion’ layers. And finally, if you are managing to have a break, you’ll need a book. On page 107…

“In a week of ‘you couldn’t make this up!’ news, Paralympian Olivia Breen was left ‘speechless’ after an official said her sprint briefs were ‘too short and inappropriate’, while Norway’s women’s beach handball team were fined £1,295 for refusing to wear skimpy bikini briefs. The contradictions in these criticisms is farcical; either we’re revealing too much or we’re expected to bare all. The only thing this lays bare is double standards. And it’s not only in sport – our sartorial choices are unequally scrutinised everywhere from politics to boardrooms. How about we stop judging women’s outfits and start prioritising comfort, safety and our needs instead?”…

WILL 2021 BE THE summer of Main Character Energy? The generation TikTok concept that encourages the youth du jour to be the headline act in the festival listings of their own lives (the Beyoncé of their circumstances; the leading lady of their every brunch, beach trip, supermarket foray, hen do, even if they aren’t the hen, especially if they aren’t the hen). Maybe. Main Character Energy has been doing the internet rounds for a year – encouraging all who scroll upon it to romanticise even their most anodyne everyday act to a point of pivotal-scene-in-a-movie-script significance, principally through the medium of sparkle-effect selfies, in which the camera is trained on them and only them, everyone else is but an insubstantial smudge on the screen – but is peaking right now as…

“In a week of ‘you couldn’t make this up!’ news, Paralympian Olivia Breen was left ‘speechless’ after an official said her sprint briefs were ‘too short and inappropriate’, while Norway’s women’s beach handball team were fined £1,295 for refusing to wear skimpy bikini briefs. The contradictions in these criticisms is farcical; either we’re revealing too much or we’re expected to bare all. The only thing this lays bare is double standards. And it’s not only in sport – our sartorial choices are unequally scrutinised everywhere from politics to boardrooms. How about we stop judging women’s outfits and start prioritising comfort, safety and our needs instead?”…

WILL 2021 BE THE summer of Main Character Energy? The generation TikTok concept that encourages the youth du jour to be the headline act in the festival listings of their own lives (the Beyoncé of their circumstances; the leading lady of their every brunch, beach trip, supermarket foray, hen do, even if they aren’t the hen, especially if they aren’t the hen). Maybe. Main Character Energy has been doing the internet rounds for a year – encouraging all who scroll upon it to romanticise even their most anodyne everyday act to a point of pivotal-scene-in-a-movie-script significance, principally through the medium of sparkle-effect selfies, in which the camera is trained on them and only them, everyone else is but an insubstantial smudge on the screen – but is peaking right now…