Category: 5. Entertainment

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“We are like kids at Christmas today. We have been holding these news in for months now and we are so excited to share it with you,” said Schiaparelli CEO Delphine Bellini at a press conference taking place at the house’s historic HQ at 21 Place Vendôme in Paris this morning. The conference was called on the occasion of ‘Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art’ — a new retrospective set to open at the V&A South Kensington, in March 2026. It will be the first exhibition ever staged in the UK that is devoted to the surrealist house.

“One of the intentions of this exhibition is to highlight the relationship between the house of Schiapparelli and London – Elsa Schiaparelli was highly involved in the location,” continued Bellini. “We have been at Harrods since January 2023 but we recently moved to another space, within the prestigious store – one that really speaks to Daniel Roseberry’s vision. So this really is the time for us to take over the city of London.”

Founded in 1927 by Elsa Schiaparelli, the brand became synonymous with innovation and famous for its metaphysical and artistic themes. Schiaparelli, who had no formal couture training and constructed clothes by draping the fabric directly onto the body, was one of the first designers to introduce the concept of the wrap dress, as well as zippers. She is, perhaps, most famous for her involvement with the surrealist and Dada movements, and collaborations with artists Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Jean-Michel Frank and Giacometti, among others.

The couture house shut after struggling financially following WWII, before being revived in 2007, when it was bought by Tod’s chair Diego Della Valle. However, the first modern couture collection, comprising 18 outfits designed by Cristian Lacroix, was not presented until June 2013. That was a one-off, with Marco Zanini taking over the following season, only to be replaced by Bertrand Guyon in 2015. Zanini and Guyon’s collections received positive reviews, however real commercial success came only after current creative director Daniel Roseberry took to the helm in 2019.

Two hundred objects spanning the house’s history will make up the exhibition. These will include the famous Skeleton and Tears dresses that already belong to the V&A, along with a hat shaped to look like an upside-down shoe, all conceived in collaboration with Dalí. Artworks by Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Man Ray will also be on display.

“The response from collectors and other museums has been unprecedented. We have been able to secure some of the best loans in terms of fine arts that we have ever had in a fashion exhibition before,” noted V&A head of exhibitions Daniel Slater. “That speaks to the level of respect the house of Schiaparelli has within the art community and Elsa Schiaparelli’s impact on the arts.”

One could argue there has never been a more relevant time for a Schiaparelli retrospective. Roseberry dedicated the Winter 2025/2026 couture collection he presented on Monday, “to [the] period when life and art were on the precipice: to the sunset of elegance and to the end of the world as we knew it”, hence drawing parallels between pre-WWII Paris and the state of our world today. Worth a visit this spring — hopefully nothing changes too much until then.

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PARIS (AP) — Models and celebrities showed off looks that included bioluminescent algae and a live crow at Paris couture week as renowned designers presented their Fall-Winter 2025/26 haute couture collections.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) could be used by Liverpool City Council as part of its strategy to tackle homelessness.

Facing “unprecedented demand” on housing services, the local authority said it was reviewing its approach to reducing rough sleeping and homelessness in the city.

The council said it was looking to use a range of temporary accommodation services, including the use of HMOs, studio flats and other properties.

A report prepared for the council’s cabinet said increased levels of rough sleeping were partly due to more no-fault evictions and rising rents.

The average number of people living on Liverpool’s streets between April and September 2024 was 30, an increase on the 22 typically recorded during the same period in 2023, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

New figures released by the city council have revealed how, in one month this year, 166 people were seen by the Liverpool Assertive Outreach and Response Service to be “engaging in a street lifestyle”.

Additionally, there were 1,635 households living in temporary accommodation as of 1 June.

The report said: “There has been unprecedented demand on the council’s housing solutions service in recent years and an increase in homeless presentations, with the service receiving an increase in requests for help and assistance from those at risk of homelessness.

“This is due, in part, to an increase in no-fault evictions, family and friends no longer being able to accommodate and affordability concerns as rents increase.”

It said the city council would not hold any leases, tenancies or licences of the properties.

Instead, the local authority would “procure a service providing a minimum number of properties” from a property provider.

The property provider would deliver all property and tenancy-related functions, “with the opportunity to bring more properties on board as required”.

He has dominated the past decade of UK music with his ability to craft earworm melodies that can become mass sing-alongs but Ed Sheeran has been swapping the recording booth for the artist’s studio.

The singer, who grew up in a household with two parents who worked in art, is teaming up with Damien Hirst’s company Heni to sell prints of his Jackson Pollock-esque paintings in order to raise money for his foundation.

The prints, which are being sold for just over £900 each, are large canvases he created during downtime after touring and in between recording sessions.

Sheeran said: “I started painting at the end of my Divide Tour in 2019 and it’s something that I’ve used as a creative outlet ever since. When I was growing up, both of my parents worked in art, so I’ve naturally always been interested in it, and I always enjoyed studying art at school.”

Created using household paint, the colourful canvases – dubbed the Cosmic Carpark Paintings – will be displayed in an exhibition at the Heni Gallery in central London from 11 July to 1 August.

“I was back and forth on tour last year, and I used a lot of my downtime in the UK to paint. I’d run to a disused car park in Soho each morning, paint, then run home and I’d do that daily until I headed back out on tour again,” added Sheeran.

While he is keen not to be compared to other artists, the work is said to be “inspired by celestial patterns, and in keeping with his well-documented, expressionist splash painting style”.

The Ed Sheeran Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting music education in state schools and grassroots organisations across the UK, will receive 50% from the print sales.

The singer led a call for Keir Starmer to commit £250m of funding for music education, which was backed by Elton John, Coldplay, Harry Styles, Stormzy and Central Cee.

In an open letter to the prime minister, signed by more than 500 music figures, Sheeran wrote: “As an industry, we bring in £7.6bn to the UK economy, yet the next generation is not there to take the reins. Last year was the first in over 20 years without a UK global Top 10 single or album in the charts.”

He called on the government to set up a taskforce to work together to ensure music education remained high on the agenda.

The letter said: “The time to act is now. State schools, which educate 93% of the country’s children, have seen a 21% decrease in music provision.

“We collectively ask for a £250m UK music education package this spring to repair decades of dismantling music. Music in and out of school should be for all, not a few.”

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Sheeran has donated artwork – including a £40,000 painting – to raise money for charity. In 2021, he conducted a raffle to fundraise for the charity, Cancer Campaign in Suffolk. The singer charged £20 a ticket and the initiative brought in more than £50,000.

The singer created the covers for several of his albums and EPs, including the artwork for his 2021 single Afterglow. He used Hirst’s spinning wheel to create the artwork for his album Divide.

When Sheeran appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2017, he discussed his love of art and the influence of his father, who worked as a curator. “He has always said that art is meant for enjoyment,” he said. “You don’t acquire art as an investment.”

Sheeran has an art collection that includes work by Harland Miller, known for placing provocative slogans on Penguin books. “I have pretty much the most provocative word prominently displayed in my home,” he added. “My dad said as long as you enjoy art, you never lose.”

The National Portrait Gallery has a portrait of Sheeran painted by Colin Davidson in its collection.

The singer has eight No 1 albums to his name, and has been the most played artist on British airwaves and in public spaces seven times.

His next album, Play, is scheduled for release this September.

A rare flower has been rediscovered for the first time in seven years thriving in a nature reserve – thanks to perfect weather conditions and the control of dense vegetation.

The Tubular Water Dropwort, a member of the carrot family of plants, had been threatened with near extinction.

About 130 of the plants were found by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust team at Rye Meads Nature Reserve near Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

Ian Carle, nature reserves manager at the trust, described it as “an incredible find, given its rarity.”

According to the trust, the rare flower was discovered amongst the dense vegetation of the wetland meadow which was cut back last year.

Tubular Water Dropwort can be identified by distinctive rounded, white and pink heads.

There has not been a reported sighting of the plant at the nature reserve since 2018.

Mr Carle continued: “When these plants are in flower, they are easier to identify and to count, which is why we look for them at this time of year.

“Cutting the meadow last year has opened up the vegetation benefiting species such as the Water Dropwort.”

Ellie Lawrie

Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd/Ed Sheeran

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BBC

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A nature writer who has transformed a former cricket field into a wildlife meadow has said anyone can get involved in increasing biodiversity, even if they have a box window.

James Canton says it has taken him 15 years to transform two acres of land at Little Maplestead, on the Essex-Suffolk border, from concrete and overgrown grass to a fully functioning ecosystem.

In that time, the 58-year-old has created a “paradise” home to nightingales, butterflies and bumble bees, as well as an abundance of thriving wildflowers.

Mr Canton said: “There was nothing living there, it’s very difficult for any biodiverse life living on just a bit of grass.”

When he first started, the author enlisted the help of an expert to help him and said: “It was a gradual process.

“You’re creating little pockets where wildlife can come back.”

Mr Canton grew up in north London but moved to rural Essex. He now works as a lecturer for the University of Essex and has written six books.

While growing up in London he said he was always playing football in the park and wanted to be outside in nature.

Mr Canton said rewilding usually required at least 100 acres of land which was not accessible to everyone.

But he said young people had become conscious about the environment and could do their bit by creating a small pocket of wildlife in their homes through renaturing.

The writer said renaturing is as simple as filling an old cardboard box with soil and planting some native flowers where bees and pollinators will come and feed.

He described the process of renaturing as “small scale nature restoration”.

“It’s good for you and good for nature,” he said.

“I think as humans we are happier when we are outside.”

He said renaturing was different to rewilding because that was “taking large areas of the globe and not having human intervention”.

In his twenties, Mr Canton travelled the world and saw how indigenous and Eastern cultures lived alongside nature.

“We [the West] tend to have more of a colonial mindset with nature and what we can take,” he said.

“We need to be part of nature but for indigenous people that is their standard.”

However, he said renaturing was starting to become a recognised term as people in urban areas looked for ways to reconnect with wildlife.

BBC