Remember when glossy magazines were considered as impactful as the bubbles in a champagne flute, and fashion was all sex and frocks and frills? Not any more.
The industry once famed for tooth-and-claw survivalism and weapons-grade bitching is being rehabilitated, and the biggest trend this season is — being nice.
“Over a steaming cup of mint tea, we teased through how one can shine light in a world filled with seemingly daily darkness,” writes the Duchess of Sussex with simpering charm of the themes that steered her guest editorship of the September issue of British Vogue. Was she agonising over hemlines? Or wondering whether cerulean blue has finally had its day? No. She just wanted an opportunity “to pivot from a perspective of frustration to one of optimism”.