List of All Articles with Tag 'f'

People can’t decide whether Balenciaga’s new $925 bath towel skirt is an example of clever marketing or just a ploy to wipe wallets. The unparalleled high fashion house, piloted by long-time creative director Demna Gvasalia, regularly releases peculiar designs, made to look beaten down and wrecked, with purposeful outlandish price tags – see its $1,850 fully destroyed sneakers or $1,800 trash bag tote. But this particular pick from the brand’s Spring 2024 collection sparked widespread debate online as soon it became available for pre-order on 14 November. A $927 terry-cloth towel, fashioned to be a wrap skirt, comes after the Georgian designer faced backlash for a controversial 2022 holiday ad featuring children holding teddy bears in leather bondage. Following the extensive criticism, Demna said he planned on tapping into his “roots in fashion as well as to the roots of Balenciaga, which is making quality clothes – not making image or buzz”. He told Vogue his plan in February a few weeks ahead of his fall 2023 debut. But while the designer intended to find motivation from Balenciaga founder Cristóbal moving forward, this quirky bathroom garment prompted further conversation about the brand’s continued desire to offer “absurd” luxury items. One riled up fashion enthusiast took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to make a larger generalisation. “This is absurd, These brands will sell anything and everything at such ridiculously high prices,” they wrote. “Balenciaga is so unserious,” another critic commented, while someone else said: “I’ll say it again... Balenciaga is conducting an experiment. It’s a behavioral science study. You can’t convince me otherwise.” Amid the flock of immediate criticism, brand supporters pointed out the platform and intended buyers Balenciaga targets. “In economics we’d say they are discovering the true demand curve. They are checking their customer base to see how elastic they are. If it’s a fairly inelastic demand curve of which it’s very likely to be. They won’t lose anything by being selling s*** like this, in actual fact…” one person wrote. “I need customers like theirs,” another fan proclaimed. One candid reviewer wrote: “What kind of madness is this? At least I’m not their target market.” Other X users added remarks about how they could make their own towel skirt with their fluffy fabric at home. “I already got a towel skirt, it cost $10 and it’s from Walmart,” one individual commented. Playing off the high-end fashion brand’s current visibility, Ikea, the Swedish homewares and furniture brand, dropped a similar advertisement, highlighting its $10 VINARN bath towel. In promotional photos, a model could be seen with the towel wrapped around his waist, layered over a pair of construction pants. On top, the man donned a common Balenciaga identifier with a black hoodie and wrap-around moto sunglasses. Read More Women’s scarves and crocheted ties - what is Robert Peston wearing now? McDonald’s and Crocs collaborate on new Grimace shoes Jacob Elordi reveals why he always carries a purse Women’s scarves and crocheted ties - what is Robert Peston wearing now? McDonald’s and Crocs collaborate on new Grimace shoes Jacob Elordi reveals why he always carries a purse

“Buy now, pay later” payment plans are a popular financing option, especially around the holiday season

An auction of rare Gucci handbags disappointed at Christie’s, a sign that robust demand for high-end purses is

When Andy Williams sang that it’s the most wonderful time of the year, I assume he was talking about Christmas sandwich season. As the days grow shorter and the jumpers thicker, the meal deal gets a festive upgrade. Pushed to the back of the shelves are the limp ploughman’s and soggy falafel wraps, replaced instead with turkey and the trimmings, pigs in blankets and stuffing, and some enviable veggie alternatives. If you’re looking to bring a little festive cheer to the sad desk lunch, there’s no easier way to do it. But a spectre haunts the chiller cabinet, floating among the Innocent smoothies and that mystifying single boiled egg in a plastic pot. This Ghost of Christmas (Sandwich) Present is red and wobbly, smearing itself across every vaguely Christmassy sandwich it finds. I’m talking, of course, about cranberry sauce, a condiment used to signpost festive offerings, regardless of whether it tastes nice. No one is safe. Not Boots sandwiches. Not Greggs pasties. Not posh Pret toasties. While I’ve spent my adult life loosening myself from the meal deal’s claw-like grip, I’m willing to make an exception for the Christmas offerings. But a peruse of the supermarkets this year showed that every option comes smothered with cranberry, from turkey to falafel (yes, even at Christmas, some shops can’t think of a more imaginative veggie option than falafel). It’s not looking better at the fancier establishments, either. On paper, Costa’s vegan “turkey and trimmings” sandwich sounds like my dream lunch. You’ve got fake turkey, stuffing, fried onions, mayo… great! But then a slick of cranberry sauce. Criminal. In theory, you’d think the infallible formula of “bread + Christmas dinner + more bread” would be impossible to ruin. But cranberry sauce gives it a damn good try. Including just one thick, sweet layer of the stuff overpowers the already strong flavours that should shine on their own. Call me old fashioned, but rarely do I tuck into a nice, savoury sarnie, enjoying the different tastes and textures, and think, you know what would make this better? Jam. To be clear, I’m not wholly anti-cranberry. There are places it’s appropriate: with vodka or, at a push, on top of some brie. I’m not even anti-cranberry sauce when it comes to Christmas dinner, in a splodge on the side of my plate for the items that suit it. But when it’s smeared over a sandwich, nothing else stands a chance. I can see why sandwich makers turn to cranberry sauce so regularly. Whether it’s turkey or a veggie alternative, a festive sandwich can be a pretty dry affair. But surely there must be a better moist-maker. Gravy? Mayonnaise? Gravy-mayonnaise? (Sounds heinous; actually pretty good). Hell, I’m even pro-butter in this situation, although I can accept that that’s not very Christmassy. Big Cranberry’s dominance is mostly frustrating because the options get better and more varied every year (especially for non-meat eaters), but the red stuff just seems to be inescapable. This year, I’ll be begging Santa that we’re released from its grasp. Read More Beauty advent calendars 2021: Our guide to this year’s top treats 13 best tech gifts to spoil a gadget geek this Christmas 10 best luxury Christmas crackers for dressing up your dining table

Used-car shoppers won’t have it easy this year or next

Key sectors of Russia’s economy are adapting and in some cases completely rebounding from unprecedented international sanctions imposed

The dilemma over what to have for breakfast has been solved - with a Full English waffle. Known as the ‘British Breakfast Waffle Trio’, the traditionally-sweet favourite has been infused with flavours of the classic Full English, with a range of batters including black pudding and bacon, tomato and mushroom, and Cumberland sausage with orange zest. Topping options include an English tea whip, orange marmalade drizzle, baked bean-infused whipped cream, black coffee syrup, and crispy hash crumble. The waffle was created by the hotel brand Hampton by Hilton, after research of 2,000 adults found three in 10 claim to be more experimental with their morning meals, with 59 per cent open to trying unusual food combos. Pauline Wilson, vice president, focused service operations, EMEA, Hilton, said: “With more than half of Brits being more experimental with their morning meals at hotels we’re excited to offer our guests the British Breakfast Waffle Trio - a loving tribute to the iconic traditional fry-up.” The study found Londoners take the title for being the most daring (53 per cent) at breakfast time, while the Welsh (77 per cent) and those in the East of England (77 per cent) admit to lacking in the creative department for the first meal of the day. It also emerged 61 per cent will usually eat the same thing every day at home, but 51 per cent claim to be more experimental when they are away. A fifth of those polled will eat a traditional fry up at least once a week, with 52 per cent opting for savoury over sweet, but 37 per cent enjoy the two flavours equally. The research, carried out via OnePoll, also revealed cooking websites are the most popular resource for ‘foodspiration’ (22 per cent), with the same percentage turning to family and friends for ideas. It emerged a fifth enjoy watching TV programmes to inspire their cooking choices - more than those who use social media platforms (nine per cent) such as Instagram (13 per cent), YouTube (13 per cent) and TikTok (eight per cent). The British Breakfast Waffle Trio is available on December 1 when staying at select Hampton by Hilton hotels, including London City, Bath City, York Piccadilly and Edinburgh West End. Pauline Wilson added: “We hope this innovative waffle flavour combination satisfies the nation’s craving to try something new for their morning meal.” Here are some of the most unusual combos adults are most likely to try: 1. French toast and maple syrup 2. English Breakfast Waffles 3. Honey and peanut butter on toast 4. Avocado and honey on toast 5. Honey and cheese toast 6. Salt and porridge 7. Marmite and peanut butter on toast 8. Baked beans on croissants 9. Peanut butter and bacon 10. Fruit and scrambled eggs Read More The eight vegetables you might not know you can eat raw for health boost What does Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt cook at home? Why I’m giving up sobriety when everyone else is giving up drinking The eight vegetables you might not know you can eat raw for health boost What does Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt cook at home? Why I’m giving up sobriety when everyone else is giving up drinking

Nigerian inflation quickened to a new 18-year high in October as higher input costs and a weaker naira

A woman who felt she was being “suffocated” by her cystic fibrosis – and was told she had been just two weeks away from dying – has climbed Snowdon and run a half marathon after receiving two lungs from a transplant donor. Georgie Cooper, 26, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) – a genetic condition which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system – when she was two. The complaints and compliance officer, who lives in Essex, took medication and used nebulisers – machines which allow you to breathe in medicine – every day. She managed to maintain a “steady” lung function between 70 and 80 per cent until her health started deteriorating in her late teenage years. Cooper said 2018 was “the worst year” because she could not breathe properly and spent four months in and out of hospital as her lung function had dropped to 30 per cent and then to just 9 per cent. She was prescribed Orkambi, followed by Symkevi, to manage the condition. She was told she needed oxygen therapy 24 hours a day, which meant she had “tubes hanging out (her) nose”, and had to use a wheelchair. “It felt like constant suffocation, like I was being suffocated every minute, every second of every day.” Just two weeks before Christmas 2018, when she was 20, Cooper was told she had “a maximum of two years to live” and should consider a double lung transplant. While she waited for a donor, Cooper was prescribed Kaftrio to treat her CF, which she believes kept her alive. Her mother, Lesley, who she described as her “rock”, became her full-time carer and, after three false alarms, Cooper finally received the call that “we’ve got a set of lungs for you”. The surgery in June 2021, at Harefield Hospital in London, was successful – and came just in time. Cooper was told after the operation that her lungs had looked like “pulled pork” due to the CF damage, and she would have only lived for around two more weeks without the transplant. Before her surgery, Cooper had experienced three false alarms about suitable donors, and had started to believe that “to die would be peace”. During this time, she planned her funeral and created a “dream” bucket list – including going abroad again – to look forward to should she survive. She said she tried to stay positive as she knew she only had “a short time left on this Earth”, but found it extremely difficult knowing she was dying. “I had actually written my goodbye letters to my mum, dad, brother, my nan and pa, in case it didn’t work out, or in case I died before my transplant,” she said. She is incredibly grateful that the fourth call from the transplant service was a success. She describes her donor, who cannot be identified, as her “hero”. In August 2022, and after recovering, Cooper climbed Snowdon – now also known as Yr Wyddf and the highest mountain in Wales. She also completed the Bath Half Marathon in October 2023. “Snowdon, at that point, was my greatest achievement,” she said. “I felt like that’s the closest I’m going to get to my donor for now, which was really emotional. Someone else has selflessly given something of theirs to save another life – it’s incredible. She is the greatest hero that I never knew.” Cooper was born with no health complications, but soon developed a persistent cough, which raised alarm bells for her parents. After being referred to the Royal Brompton Hospital when she was two years old, she received her CF diagnosis and started taking medication and using nebulisers and having physiotherapy. While this was “normal” for Cooper, during secondary school she said she was “outed” as having CF during science lessons and her classmates and teachers discussed symptoms and life expectancy. According to the charity Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the median age of death of someone with CF in 2022 was 33. While Cooper was aware of the statistics, she said her peers at school would regularly say: “Oh you’re going to die soon, you haven’t got long left, have you?” Cooper says she cannot believe what she has overcome and achieved since the surgery, having also secured her first job as well as her running and mountain-climbing exploits. She now plans to climb Ben Nevis in Scotland – the highest mountain in the UK. While she still has to take immunosuppressants and struggles with survivor’s guilt, Georgie says she feels she has been “reborn” and now “lives for two people every day”. She was told her donor’s favourite quote was “your mountain is waiting”, which inspired her Snowdon adventure, and she wants to encourage others to “live every day like it’s your last”. She said: “Life is full of tablets, but I’m not having any physio, no nebulisers, and it’s like being reborn – it’s a life I’ve not known and I’m making up for lost time. I owe my life to my donor. She is my hero, she’s the greatest hero I never knew. It’s a gift of life, and that’s the best gift I’ll ever be given.” For more information and support, visit Cystic Fibrosis Trust’s website at: cysticfibrosis.org.uk. For more lung transplant information, visit: cysticfibrosis.org.uk/what-is-cystic-fibrosis/cystic-fibrosis-care/transplant-information-and-resources.

Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel haute couture is going up for auction.

China has said officials can use nice hotels for events, reversing part of an austerity order that President

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he is fuelled by a personal anger and drive to help Lewis Hamilton win the record eighth world championship he was denied in Abu Dhabi. In an interview with the PA news agency ahead of this weekend’s blockbuster Las Vegas Grand Prix, team principal Wolff also revealed his own succession plan at Mercedes – in which he plans to skip as many as 10 races each season – and claimed Hamilton, 38, could compete in Formula One for at least another five years. Wolff has arrived in Sin City for the inaugural night race on the Las Vegas strip following Mercedes’ abysmal performance last time out in Brazil – one he described as the worst of his career. I have a personal anger, and drive to make him (Hamilton) win the eighth title because he should have had it Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff Hamilton finished 63 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen, and gloomily predicted he will not be a championship contender for the next two years. Next month will mark two years since the seven-time world champion last won a race, and that ill-fated evening in Abu Dhabi where race referee Michael Masi’s failure to imply the correct rules left him at the mercy of Verstappen. The Dutchman took the championship in the desert before quickly racking up another two titles in his all-conquering Red Bull. “We are living in a hamster wheel where time passes so quickly that it doesn’t feel like it has been two years,” said Wolff. “You can see how quickly the pecking order changes. We won eight constructors’ championships in a row, and it has been two years since Red Bull have been taking the trophy home. But we have to look forward, learn from the past, and the push now is to make Lewis win quickly again. “I have a personal anger, and drive to make him win the eighth title because he should have had it. “As a team principal, it is important to be fair and open with both drivers. But there is a big part of us that will always want to be a part of that story in undoing and overcoming 2021.” Hamilton will start a new two-year deal with the Silver Arrows next season, worth an estimated £100million. He will be nearly 41 at the conclusion of the contract, but Wolff does not believe it will be his last with Mercedes. “We are living from contract-to-contract, and it is important that we are doing what we think is right and what we feel is right, and at the moment I personally feel he can go longer,” added the Austrian. And could he carry on for another five years? “He is 39 in January, and Fernando (Alonso – 42) is still going strong,” replied Wolff. “As long as you look after yourself, you do the best preparation, physically and mentally, and develop different areas to when you are 25, then yes. “We just need to give him a car that is quick enough. And, as a driver, I have no doubt about him. You have seen in the last races that his performance, speed and race craft are all there. But, if he doesn’t have the car underneath him, he cannot win.” Wolff oversaw Mercedes’ crushing dominance which led to Hamilton winning six of his record-equalling seven world crowns. But Wolff’s future as team principal is in the spotlight following Mercedes’ dramatic demise. And although he admitted he intends to stay on as team principal, the 51-year-old, who also holds a one-third shareholding in Mercedes, is plotting his succession plan. “The clear aim is to build a structure for the future and that is my sheer responsibility for the team,” said Wolff, who was absent from the races in Japan and Qatar earlier this season following knee surgery. “A stone could fall on my head and how does it look afterwards? That is why I would like to see myself in a few years maybe not going to 24 races, and just to 15. “But that is many years away. I see myself in this role for a long time. I cannot imagine doing something else. “I really struggled in 2020 to make a decision on whether I wanted to stay active in the sport or to be a shareholder and go back to my finance world. I was tired, mentally and physically, but then I came to the realisation that I wanted to continue. “I feel I am contributing to the team in the crossover world of finance and motor racing, and I have a passion for both, and that is why I continue to do it.” Over at Red Bull, Verstappen has won 17 of the 20 rounds so far – which included a record 10-in-a-row streak – in the most dominant season the sport has ever witnessed. Wolff caused controversy when he poured scorn on Verstappen’s achievements, calling them “irrelevant” and “only for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway”. “It was not an intelligent thing to say,” said Wolff. “There were all these numbers about how many races we had won, and we used to joke that who cares about the numbers? It only goes on Wikipedia, and nobody reads that anyway. It was a joke, but it is much easier to joke about your own records than somebody else’s. “His records are unbelievable and what he has been able to achieve clearly ranks him amongst the greatest drivers in the sport at that young age. I have clarified that with him.” Read More On this day in 2010: Sebastian Vettel becomes youngest ever F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton ‘counting down days’ to end of season after another poor race Max Verstappen thwarts Lando Norris’ bid for first F1 win with sprint victory On this day in 2015: Susie Wolff ends her bid to get on an F1 starting grid Lando Norris ‘gutted’ to miss out on Brazilian GP pole after McLaren blunder Carlos Sainz leads Ferrari one-two in Brazilian Grand Prix practice