#8
bye teen vogue + new mittens
Hello reader, and welcome to your weekly dose of fashion and beauty. And happy Friday, as always! I’m heading off to Vienna with one of my bestest of friends for the weekend, and of course, I’ve come armed with a 23kg suitcase brimmed with an abundance of coat options. I could write endlessly about my love for coats of all shapes and forms. I love my navy duffle coat for its ability to add class; my camel trench for its light and cool feel; my colourful fur coats for a dose of fun; my cropped bomber jackets that look great with long skirts; and of course, the office-to-drinks blazer.
I believe that a coat can truly complete an outfit, not by only providing insulation (even if this is little to none), but by making one look and feel simply incredible. I feel excellent in all my jackets because they are complimentary to my style and taste; as should yours. There are many coats I find distasteful - to be specific, fake leather jackets that smell faintly of rotting fish, quilted country jackets, anything corduroy, the North Face 1996 Nuptse puffer, and anything that sits just above the knee. Eek.
Point aside, I have stuffed my suitcase with as many options as possible because it’s better to have more options than none. The double-edged sword to this, however, is having too many options and growing overwhelmed with a need to wear every single item. I like to prove to my travelling partners that I can indeed wear 6 different coats in the space of 2 days, combined with multiple shoe options. I don’t mind wearing the same jeans, as long as my upper and feet are sporting an altered look each time. I do fear how I will ever move to a city on the other side of the world without having every single thing in my wardrobe with me. How does one learn detachment from inanimate things that bring one so much joy?
Anyway, given I have had to squeeze five days of work into four, my reading has taken the form of tube-reading. It’s actually one of my favourite forms of reading because it passes the time swiftly, I look mysterious to commuters, and I find I can get in the zone quicker (once I shove my AirPods in and turn my meditation music up to the max). But a big downgrade is that, well, I’m on the tube. I’m always slightly on edge in fear of missing my stop, there is no comforting beverage on hand, a slightly uncomfortable seat, oh, and dirty air. Nevertheless, most of my reading takes place like this because I find I have little to no downtime during the week.
If you watch my TikToks (which I recommend doing right now or 7 years bad luck), I run a ‘What You Should Read this Week’ series where I spotlight my favourite articles from the week. I usually have a print edition on hand - last weeks’ was The Stylist (they give out free editions outside most tube stations every Thursday morning!), Grazia features pretty regularly (given I get free copies), and of course, Sunday Times Style. But when I’m not reading a physical copy, I religiously browse Instagram for news stories, because magazines are very much on top of their socials, and are constantly churning out news stories for me to scrutinise.
The best combination is finding a juicy, lengthy article to read on the tube with enough substance to get my brain churning, interest piqued and thoughts flowing. Below is my favourite read from last week, which, spoiler alert, is in light of a big magazine shift that has got many, many people talking.
Do keep up…
Article spotlight!
Can I write a newsletter without mentioning Vogue? I fear not, especially because it forever remains the very top of Google SEO rankings. Chloe Malle’s presence is definitely being felt - if not from the very rogue US Vogue cover of Timothée Chalamet (which is rumoured to be created by AI) - but most dominantly, from the closure of Teen Vogue last week. It was announced that the popular magazine, whose print edition closed in 2017, would be folded into Vogue.com after 22 years of running. 70% of the staff were laid off, including the editor-in-chief, Versha Sharma, and the decision has been seen not just as a business failure, but as a cultural failure.
An article in The Free Press by Kat Rosenfield titled The Death of Teen Vogue was Inevitable picked at my initial thoughts, arguing that this closure reflects a broader shift in media and youth-culture dynamics. At its core, Teen Vogue was described as the “radical little sister” to Vogue, combining fashion and celebrity coverage with progressive politics and youth-oriented identity issues. It was a space where many teens could read and contribute to the growing political climate in a way that was unique to them. Readers could share what they thought about the biggest topics and how it was impacting them, not merely what the next trending accessory was.
Rosenfield writes that this shift suggests identity-politics and youth-culture coverage as a defining niche is fading. Increasingly, more youngsters are scrolling through TikTok to digest ideas than reading long-form articles during their downtime. As a result, Teen Vogue’s closure effectively nudges its remaining devoted readers toward TikTok for similar conversations around mental health, polyamory, queerness, trans identities, and more - further amplifying the influence of online creators. But can TikTok truly be considered a safe and thoughtful space for cultural engagement?
Teen Vogue, as I know it, has always heralded its progressive, Gen-Z political content, and closing its doors will barricade any further dialogue that combines activism/identity and lifestyle/fashion, unless another magazine wants to attempt to save it. I was never a religious reader of the magazine in my teenage years, but many posts on X from journalists lamented the loss of such “award-winning journalism.” One wrote: “Teen Vogue was one of the first places to commission my writing…they took my ideas seriously, even though I was still in high school at the time.” And another: “Teen Vogue took young people seriously…it’s impossible to overstate how important, how rare, and how profoundly needed that is.”
What I enjoyed about this piece most was its ending:
“What we may understand now is that the army of youth activists the magazine claimed to be leading was not just greatly exaggerated; it’s that, outside the fantasies of a bunch of increasingly middle-aged people, it never existed at all.”
I guess it leaves the question of where youth media will now read thoughtful, ‘woke’ pieces aimed at their generation. Food for thought, as always.
Celebrity Favourite!
Every celebrity seems to be wearing black at the minute. Are we all mourning summer still? I certainly still am, because my outfits seem to be getting darker by the day. I did try to add a pop of colour in the week – my favourite red A.P.C jumper – when inside, I knew a black jumper would’ve looked better. If anything, introducing colour made me feel worse about my outfit.
But which celebrity wore black the best? There’s so many to choose from…Aimee Lou Wood in Chloé at the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards, to Cythnia Evrio in a custom-made dress by Givenchy by Sarah Burton. My favourite, however, was Raye, whose corset-shape dress in an Instagram dump was given the ultimate crown. It’s simple but oh-so chic, and I love the open sleeves with the addition of trendy mules. We really mustn’t forget the delicacy of a simple black dress amongst all the glitter, sequins and bold colours that people feel they need to wear to stand out. Let the hair and makeup do the talking, as my mother always says.
Eye Candy!
Sometimes, when I’m feeling adventurous mid-week in the office, I will use my lunch break to go on an expedition to Zara. I say expedition, because I feel as if I’m about to embark on a marathon the way I treat that precious hour. It takes exactly 20 minutes to get to Zara one way, which leaves me with around 12 minutes for a semi-relaxed mooch around the 3-floor store, with time to grab a matcha from Blank Street (hot with normal milk, always), to make it back to my office on time. It’s an incredibly thrilling experience, and it only ever happens perhaps once a month, but when it does, I savour every second of it.
I am not a regular Zara shopper because I find it very overwhelming. Their website is enough to send me down a deep, dark shopping tunnel for hours because there’s SO MUCH STOCK. What I love about mooching in store is hand-selecting bits that I know will work in my wardrobe. It’s one of my favourite tasks, zoning in on an item that would slot perfectly into my wardrobe.
Hence, when I saw these mittens, I floated towards them. I don’t own a pair of mittens, but they seem incredibly practical: no faffing with taking them on and off because my hands are useful at all time! I absolutely love the rose applique - I feel they really elevate a simple knitted mitten and they certainly don’t look under £20. And they’re not just incredibly pretty: my hands always get so cold, and I’m certain these would give them the love and attention they need.
I love having a backstory for every item I find. This time, I came across this jumper without any calculations. I regularly browse the River Island new-in section because the readers of the magazines I write for absolutely love their elevated-yet-still-affordable vibe. The brand has marketed itself as what I call low-luxe: low price for seemingly luxe-looking pieces. Anyway, I was compiling a last-minute imagery page on tweed jackets, and this jumper popped up in between searches and I audibly gasped.
I’ve never been a lover of tweed, but this piece was embezzled with sparkles to cover the texture, and that brooch? Yes please! It looks oversized and comfy yet statement enough to escape the ‘lazy wear’ bracket. I immediately sent a picture of it to my mother, of we agreed to share it for the foreseeable. Like they say, like mother, like daughter.
I am afraid I am experiencing the winter uglies. Big time. I am struggling to adjust to the bleak, cold days where my skin feels insanely dry and I look like a ghost. To give myself a bit of a boost, I applied the Saie Glowy Super Gel to my face before my makeup, and then three days later two humongous spots arrived on my face which told me to stop using it. And now I’m even more winter ugly than before.
Hence, the need for a new illuminator-booster. Rare Beauty has just been coined as 2025’s most popular celebrity brand of the year, beating the likes of REFY, Rhode, and even Kylie Cosmetics. I’ve heard good things about their Positive Light Liquid Luminiser, so I may have to try because the uglies are chasing me faster than I can run (I can run quite fast).
Another piece I have turned into candy: this very very very festive top. I’m on the hunt for a work Christmas party outfit, and this H&M number will look lush with a skirt I have in mind. It’s always tricky, I find, with H&M because although it looks very luxe online, oftentimes, the item turns up thin, crimpled and lifeless. So, I’m intrigued how this one comes. Let the festive wear hunt begin! (Cry).
As we all know, I’m a sucker for a lipstick of any shape and form. I never use lip tints, but I do find that I apply my lip routine a million times a day: lipliner, lipstick and then a lovely, non-sticky gloss on top (one of my favourites is the e.l.f. glow reviver lip balm in the shade yummy gummy for everyday). So, I thought, perhaps a lip tint is what I need to avoid the excessive applications. This Beauty Pie ‘Unlipstick’ is all over my Instagram, so it might be time to succumb to my FOMO.
Weekly Obsession!
Although it is winter, flowers still bring me the utmost joy. I went to a Curlsmith event the other evening and they had a flower station where you could create your own bouquet. Oh, how I love being a girl. It filled me with such delight, and I picked out some beautiful posies.
Also, there’s something so delicate about carrying flowers on the tube. I protected them with all my might as I scented the tube in an aroma of sweet freshness. Yet, the tube was so packed that I grew rather stressed at having no spare hands and everyone ogling at them that the journey grew rather unpleasant. All worth it, however, for the beautiful flowers I got to smell throughout the week.
Until next time fashionistas,
HVD x