I’ve never understood how today’s multi-tasking mums manage to juggle children and household responsibilities with jobs, social networking, pets and Zumba classes. In the past we would have been dressed in a pinny, baking fairy cakes with the children, or (in a freshly laundered pinny) welcoming home our bread-winning husband, ... Read More...

Judging by the queues at the Saatchi Gallery, and the liberal sprinkling of orange dots already placed on exhibits, crafty customers were out in force on the first day of the Collect craft fair (which runs until Monday). Billed as the ‘international art fair for contemporary objects’, the applied art on ... Read More...

Susan's off sunning herself in exotic climes, so continuing the boozy theme of recent days, here's a Retroprogressive classic from the archives... A few years ago I read an article about a ‘wine bible’ costing a whopping £640,000. The sixty four million dollar question is how the publishers, Kraken Opus, arrived ... Read More...

Following yesterday’s drinks at the Mall Tavern, some Dabblers may be experiencing side effects such as double vision, dizziness, nausea, lightheadedness, loss of balance, bladder urgency and abnormal sweating. You will be pleased to hear that RetroProgressive has found a cure for these uncomfortable ailments, thanks to a February 1936 copy ... Read More...

This week, at the Milan Furniture Fair, the pieces on show will become the talk of the world. However, few people can afford the luxury of having their home interior designed as and when the whim takes them. Most people need a very good reason to buy new furniture. Usually, ... Read More...

Some people pose naturally. Others go out of their way to pose for certain reasons – to make money, for fame, for art, to be noticed for a cause. On the Continent, the poseurs’ evening stroll along the main street, or promenade, is something of a national sport. Then there ... Read More...

Perhaps I should be more patriotic, but much as I love the V&A, the latest exhibition is a bit of a bulldog’s dinner. British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age has a fundamental problem with time span and size – there’s simply too much to fit in. Still, this ... Read More...

On your day to day travels about town, have you ever had an epiphanic moment – an instant when you've seen something as you’ve never seen it before? Bryan Appleyard writes about this in his book, The Brain is Wider than the Sky. He talks of the concept of ‘vuja ... Read More...

Are you inspired by the city-slickness of the cast of Mad Men? The press has long been telling us that sharply cut suits, club ties and brogues are making a comeback – and retailers have strongly bought into this trend. But men’s streetwear at London Fashion Week (surely an indication ... Read More...

Brad Pitt’s Legends of the Fall look was a big turn off, for even his most loyal fans. A decade or two later, and there’s now a website dedicated to the growing of beards. And another, with 10 reasons why every man (who can) should grow a giant beard. Beards have ... Read More...