CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

Summer might be over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t travel anymore. Quite the opposite. Autumn brings city breaks, business trips, long weekends and those last-minute escapes that suddenly seem considerably more appealing once the summer crowds have disappeared.

There is, however, one small problem: luggage.

In this age of increasingly strict and stress-inducing baggage allowances, packing has become something of a tactical exercise. How much can you squeeze in? Will the case actually close? And why, despite your best efforts, does everything somehow emerge looking as though it has spent the journey being sat on?

Émigré may have found a rather more considered solution.

The brand’s new Garment Organiser takes the familiar packing cube and gives it a serious upgrade. Rather than filling your suitcase with a collection of separate cubes for different items, the concept is refreshingly simple: one streamlined organiser designed to compress, organise and protect your clothes throughout the journey.

The clever bit is the removable compression plate, which doubles as a folding board to help keep shirts flat and structured. There are also separate compartments for clean and worn clothing, meaning that even after several days on the road, your suitcase doesn’t have to descend into the usual holiday laundry chaos.

Available in Black and Olive, the Garment Organiser comes in two sizes. The S is designed for trips of up to four days, while the L provides more room for journeys of up to seven. So whether you’re heading off for a quick European city break or packing for a week of business travel, there’s an option designed around the length of the trip.

And this is where Émigré’s approach makes particular sense. This isn’t simply about squeezing more into your luggage. It’s about making the whole process more straightforward. Your clothes stay organised, your shirts have a fighting chance of arriving crease-free and the contents of your case remain considerably easier to navigate.

For the carry-on traveller, that could be particularly useful. One considered garment organiser replacing the usual stack of individual packing cubes means less faffing, less wasted space and one less thing to worry about when you’re standing at the airport wondering whether your carefully packed cabin bag is about to become an expensive checked suitcase.

It’s a small piece of travel kit, but one that understands something important about modern travel: good design isn’t necessarily about adding more. Sometimes it’s about taking away the unnecessary.

The Émigré Garment Organiser does precisely that. Compression, organisation and considered design in one rather smart piece of kit.

Because summer may be packing its bags, but thankfully, we’re not quite finished with ours.

Forget fixing everything. The Cornish Seaweed Bath Co. is taking a more resilient approach to skincare, inspired by one of the toughest plants on the British coast.

The beauty industry has become remarkably good at fixing things.

We exfoliate, resurface, correct, treat and layer on products designed to tackle almost every perceived imperfection. But perhaps the next step isn’t doing more to our skin. Perhaps it’s helping it cope better in the first place.

Enter Resilient Beauty.

The idea is relatively simple: support the skin barrier, maintain moisture and help skin deal with the everyday stresses it encounters. Less aggressive intervention, more considered maintenance.

And nature has already been doing it rather well.

Meet the seaweed

Growing on Cornwall’s rugged Atlantic coastline is Fucus Serratus, a brown seaweed that spends part of every day exposed to conditions that would leave most of us reaching for a moisturiser.

As the tide retreats, the seaweed is exposed to sunlight, salt, wind, temperature fluctuations and dehydration. Rather than simply enduring these conditions, it has evolved to adapt to them, developing naturally occurring compounds that help it retain water and maintain its cellular structure.

It’s this resilience that caught the attention of The Cornish Seaweed Bath Co.

The brand uses hand-harvested Cornish seaweed across its skincare and haircare range, focusing not simply on the fact that it is a natural ingredient, but on the properties that allow it to thrive in a particularly unforgiving environment.

Even harvesting follows the same philosophy. Seaweed is hand-cut above the holdfast, allowing the plant to regenerate rather than being ripped from the rock.

It’s a small detail, but one that neatly reflects the broader thinking behind the brand.

Skin that can look after itself

The idea behind Resilient Beauty is particularly appealing in an age of increasingly complicated skincare routines.

Rather than constantly trying to correct what is supposedly wrong with our skin, the focus is on creating the conditions for it to remain healthy, hydrated and balanced.

That doesn’t mean abandoning the bathroom cabinet altogether. It means choosing products that support rather than overwhelm.

The Cornish Seaweed Bath Co.’s range is built around that philosophy, combining seaweed with botanical ingredients in formulas designed for everyday use.

Renewal Facial Cleanser

A good skincare routine starts with getting the basics right.

The Renewal Facial Cleanser is a gentle, non-drying wash inspired by the brand’s original Seaweed Soap. It combines hand-harvested organic seaweed with frankincense and rose, providing a straightforward first step without the stripped-back feeling that can follow an overly aggressive cleanser.

It is sulphate-, paraben- and mineral-oil-free, making it an easy addition to a daily routine.

Renewal Bio-Active Moisturiser

The Renewal Bio-Active Moisturiser puts organic Fucus Serratus at the centre of the formula, combined with pomegranate, jojoba, sea buckthorn and sunflower oils.

The intention is to hydrate while supporting the skin barrier, with the formula developed over two years and produced in small batches.

Used morning or night, it is the sort of dependable moisturiser that fits neatly into a routine without demanding another twelve steps around it.

And sometimes that is precisely the point.

Revitalise Eye Gel

The eyes tend to give the game away first.

Late nights, long days and too much time staring at a screen can all make the area particularly prone to looking tired, which is where the Revitalise Eye Gel comes in.

The lightweight formula combines Fucus Serratus with botanical ingredients including Buddleia, Skullcap, Chrysanthemum, Aloe Vera and Cypress, with the emphasis on hydration and a cooling, soothing application.

The gel texture is deliberately light, making it easy to use around the delicate eye area without leaving a heavy residue.

Resilience over repair

The most interesting thing about The Cornish Seaweed Bath Co. isn’t necessarily any individual ingredient.

It’s the philosophy.

At a time when skincare can sometimes feel like an arms race of acids, actives and increasingly complicated routines, the idea of building resilience feels refreshingly straightforward.

Look after the barrier. Keep skin hydrated. Don’t overcomplicate things.

And perhaps take a little inspiration from the humble seaweed clinging to the Cornish coastline — repeatedly exposed to the elements, repeatedly submerged by the tide, and still managing to come back stronger.

Now that’s what you call a skincare routine.

There was a time when the commute was simple. Home to office. Office to home. Same train, same traffic, same coffee, five days a week.

Those days, rather thankfully, are largely behind us.

As we head into autumn and return to work, school and new routines, the daily commute has become something altogether more fluid. Hybrid working is now firmly established across the UK, with 28% of working adults in Great Britain working in a hybrid model, according to the Office for National Statistics. The result is a working day that no longer necessarily has a beginning and an end defined by the office door.

Instead, the modern commute is a series of interconnected moments.

It might start with the school run before heading into the office, followed by a coffee meeting between appointments. Perhaps there’s a lunchtime gym session, an afternoon working from a café and, come 6pm, a game of padel with friends. The boundaries between work, wellbeing, socialising and everyday life have become considerably more blurred.

And we’re dressing accordingly.

The modern man needs his wardrobe — and increasingly his footwear — to keep up with a day that refuses to stay in one place. A pair of shoes that works for the train but looks equally at home in the office. Comfortable enough for a lunchtime workout, smart enough for a coffee meeting and sufficiently versatile to make the transition from desk to dinner without requiring a change of footwear.

It’s a very different proposition from the traditional nine-to-five uniform.

Among younger generations in particular, daily routines are becoming increasingly intentional, with flexibility, wellbeing and productivity all playing a greater role in how we structure our time. The question is no longer simply, “What am I doing at work?” but “What does the rest of my day look like?”

This is where HEYDUDE’s approach to footwear fits neatly into The New Commute.

Designed for people who are constantly on the move, HEYDUDE creates lightweight, versatile footwear intended to work across the different chapters of the day. From the journey into the office to working remotely from a café, and from an afternoon appointment to meeting friends after work, the emphasis is on keeping pace with modern routines rather than being designed around a single destination.

Because perhaps the biggest change to the commute isn’t how we get to work. It’s what happens once we’re there — and everywhere we go afterwards.

The office is now just one stop among many.

The coffee shop is a meeting room. The gym is a lunchtime appointment. The park can be an office. The padel court is the after-work social. And the journey between them all has become part of the day rather than simply the bit we endure to get from A to B.

The new commute isn’t really a commute at all.

It’s everything in between.

For almost two decades, Albam has quietly helped shape the language of contemporary menswear. Founded on the idea that clothes should be functional, considered and built to be worn rather than simply admired, the brand has become an important reference point for a generation of men’s clothing that values longevity over novelty.

That heritage continues with this Autumn, a collection rooted in the familiar vocabulary that Albam has refined over the years: relaxed proportions, practical silhouettes and fabrics selected as much for how they age and feel as for how they look.

For the new season, British photographer John Spinks travelled from London to the Região do Norte in Portugal, documenting the journey on 35mm film. Moving through the region’s roads, landscapes and architecture, he eventually arrived at the factories that have been producing Albam clothing for close to two decades. His photographs turn attention towards the people and processes behind the finished garments, capturing the quiet craftsmanship that has remained central to the brand since its beginnings.

The story then moves back to Britain, to St Leonards-on-Sea, where furniture designer and woodworker John Alfredo Harris wears the Autumn collection between his workshop and home. It is an appropriate setting for clothes designed around making, doing and everyday life: garments that move naturally between work and leisure without demanding either.

Together, the two chapters connect the beginning and end of the process — from the factories and people responsible for making the clothes to those who give them a life beyond the label.

The Autumn 26 collection distils many of the qualities that have made Albam such an enduring presence in contemporary menswear. Loose Oxford shirts, brushed flannels, knitwear and fleece sit alongside a Forge jacket and trouser set constructed in washed cotton twill. The silhouettes are familiar without feeling dated, the fits deliberately relaxed and the materials chosen for their tactility, durability and ability to develop with wear.

There is nothing particularly loud about Albam, and that has always been part of its appeal. Its influence lies in the way it has helped establish a more thoughtful approach to modern menswear — one where utility can be refined, quality can be understated and good design does not need to announce itself.

AW26 continues that conversation. Clothes made with purpose, photographed with honesty and ultimately designed for the most important part of their story: being worn.

The return to the office brings with it all the usual wardrobe considerations: polished shoes, pressed shirts, a decent haircut and, of course, the morning application of fragrance. But while most of us understand the basics of office dress codes, the rules surrounding scent are rather less clearly defined.

How much fragrance is too much? Where should you apply it? And is there such a thing as a fragrance that is better suited to the workplace?

With shared workspaces, meeting rooms and increasingly busy offices bringing us back into close proximity with colleagues, fragrance etiquette is worth considering. After all, perfume is personal, but its impact isn’t necessarily confined to the person wearing it.

The golden rule is perhaps best summed up by Christopher Dunn, Brand Manager at British fine fragrance house Czech & Speake: “A fragrance buyer once said to me that they work on the basis that one should wear enough fragrance for the person you are talking with to notice, not the entire office or department, and I think that is very good advice.”

It is a particularly useful distinction. Fragrance should be discovered rather than announced. If colleagues can smell you from several desks away, you’ve probably crossed the line from subtle signature to olfactory occupation.

Application plays its part, too. Pulse points such as the wrists and neck remain traditional choices, while a light application to the chest can allow the fragrance to develop more discreetly throughout the day. The key is restraint. Unlike a night out, where a more pronounced fragrance can have its place, the office is a shared environment, and not everyone will necessarily appreciate the same scent.

That makes the character of the fragrance important. Fresh citrus, aromatic, woody and clean compositions can often feel particularly appropriate for professional settings, offering a sense of polish without dominating the room. Heavier oud, intense amber, rich gourmand or heavily projecting compositions aren’t necessarily off limits, but they demand a lighter hand.

There is also something to be said for understanding the environment. An expansive private office gives you rather more freedom than a tightly packed open-plan workspace, while air-conditioned meeting rooms and confined spaces can make an otherwise moderate fragrance seem considerably more powerful.

For Dunn, the simplest test is also perhaps the most effective: “If you notice a fragrance before you see the person wearing it, then they are probably wearing too much or the fragrance is too strong.”

Czech & Speake provides an interesting case study in how fragrance can become part of a personal signature without necessarily being overwhelming. The British fragrance house has built a reputation around distinctive, sophisticated blends, with its iconic No.88 becoming particularly associated with the late Ozzy Osbourne, who reportedly wore the fragrance for more than three decades.

Beyond personal fragrance, the house has also extended some of its signature scents into home fragrance and, more recently, hand and body washes, demonstrating how a particular scent profile can become part of a wider sensory identity.

Ultimately, good office fragrance etiquette isn’t about following a rigid rulebook. It is about awareness. Fragrance should complement your presence rather than precede it, and the best scent for the workplace is arguably the one that makes someone sitting next to you think, “That smells good,” rather than wondering who has emptied half a bottle of aftershave into the lift.

The office may have changed considerably in recent years, but one rule remains timeless: leave enough of a scent to be remembered, without leaving the entire department needing to remember it.