The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Our menswear expert reveals the knits, from responsible cashmere to cool-guy cuts, that are worth your money. Plus, how to wear and care for them • How to look after your knitwear: expert tips Knitwear is a lifelong investment.

Choose well, and you’ll be wearing it for years . But how do you make sure you’re buying something that’s built for longevity and won’t fall apart after just a few wears?

As a menswear writer and stylist with years of experience, I’m clued up on the brands that know what they’re doing when it comes to knitwear (from high-street hitters and independents to family-run Scottish mills and luxury labels) – and I’m well versed in how to make it look good, too. Continue reading...

The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Charity shops won’t take them. Councils incinerate them.

Retailers dump them on the global south. We’re running out of ideas on how to deal with our used clothes – and the rag mountain just keeps growing In February, a threadbare polycotton bedsheet landed on the desk of Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury’s.

A “protest by post”, it had been sent by the Sheffield-based designer, maker and eco activist Wendy Ward. “I purchased this from Sainsbury’s at least 10 years ago,” she wrote in the accompanying letter.

The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

A petition to ban the brand has passed 270,000 names but French shoppers have not been immune to its inexorable rise A couple of hours before Shein opened a pop‑up shop in Dijon this summer, the words “Shein kills” and “exploitation, forced labour, slavery, pollution” were found graffitied in French on the outside wall. Yet the fierce backlash to its series of temporary outlets in France in recent years, including in Toulouse, Montpellier and Marseille, has not deterred the Chinese-founded fast fashion brand from choosing the country for its first permanent physical stores.

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The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

From fashion shows to secondhand socials, charity shops are now hubs of innovation when it comes to fashion waste – and even celebrities are jumping onboard This was not your usual fashion show. First, I’ve rarely seen a more exuberant bunch of models – all unpaid volunteers living their best lives.

Second, everything was secondhand, from a charity shop called Second Life in East Sussex. And third, half of it was sold that day, even the damaged pieces.

Second Life’s annual fashion show, held over the summer, is just one of the creative ways the shop keeps its harder-to-sell clothing out of incinerators , landfill and developing countries’ illegal dumps . This “buy direct from the catwalk” concept is something charities are increasingly adopting.

The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Advertising watchdog says all three firms misled shoppers by using term ‘sustainable’ in paid-for Google adverts Ads for Nike, Superdry and Lacoste have been banned in the UK for misleading consumers about the environmental sustainability credentials of their products. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said paid-for Google ads run by all three retailers used terms such as “sustainable”, “sustainable materials” or “sustainable style” without providing evidence proving the green claims.

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The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

There’s no pressure, no expectations … and if you want to try something a little out-there, well, go nuts It is strange that we talk about date-night dressing so much when we all know that the most fun nights to outfit-plan are really nights out with friends. Well, not actually strange at all, just the patriarchy doing what it does, I guess, and making it feel as if the world as seen from a male point of view – in this case, the view of a frock from the other side of a restaurant table on date night – is automatically the point of view that matters.

In a fashion context, it just makes no sense. I mean, I accept that I’m generalising wildly here, and I don’t for a moment claim to speak for everyone.

But my own experience, which I would wager is a fairly common one, is that it is an evening out with friends when I’m going to get maximum appreciation for the fashion content of my outfit.

The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Rain might be a given, but soggy ensembles don’t have to be. Our fashion expert shares her top tips for staying puddle-proof and polished • The best women’s waterproof jackets for every type of adventure, tested Rain in the UK isn’t so much a weather event as it is a national characteristic, from misty drizzle that clings to your hair and glasses to the sudden downpour that soaks you to the bone.

The British weather may never lose its talent for inconvenient timing, but that doesn’t have to rob you of your style. The key to a good wet-weather wardrobe?

Incorporating a few pragmatic purchases into your everyday wear (along with prepping what you have already) so that when the heavens inevitably open, at least you’re well armed. Continue reading...

The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

There are a totally different set of rules for jackets, but a coat should be well below your knees I shouldn’t tell you this, because I’m effectively doing myself out of a job, but there’s really only one thing you need to know about fashion this season. I mean, there are a thousand and one ways to tie a scarf or curate your necklaces or layer your knitwear – and I fully intend to bend your ear about all of them over the coming months – but at a pinch you could follow this single dictum, ignore absolutely all of the rest of it and be good to go.

Your coat needs to be long. That’s it, that’s the big news.

If your coat reaches almost to your ankles, you will look as if you know your stuff style-wise. Like your hairstyle or the width of your jeans, the length of your coat is one of those details that is a fashion tell.

The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Straight-cut denims are fast becoming the timeless antidote to fashion’s relentless trend cycle When it comes to fashion power struggles, there is no greater battle than the one between baggy and skinny jeans. But now a new style is emerging, or is it an old one?

Goldilocks jeans – ie straight cut – have made a comeback. Think Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor, rather than Jeremy Clarkson’s bootcut Top Gear era or an indie band’s painted-on pip-squeezers.

Continue reading...

The Guardian — Fashion • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

Our styling editor shares her favourite looks for getting dressed up to the nines • The best flat shoes for party season It’s party season, a time of year that either fills you with sartorial dread or has you screaming with excitement as you get to wear yet another embellished dress to the pub on Friday night (‘tis the season after all). I spend most of the year wearing navy trousers and oversized shirts, but there’s something about a party dress that speaks to my inner J-Lo.

Give me applique flowers, cowl necks, asymmetric hemlines and lace edging, perhaps with an oversized blazer or knee-high boots. The options are endless and, in my opinion, during the silly season, the usual rules don’t apply.

Here are the best party dress picks for December and beyond. Continue reading...

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