High heels cripple your feet, give you bunions and do terrible things to your back - and what's worse, they are getting ever higher. So why on earth do so many women inflict such pain upon themselves, asks Hadley Freeman Personally, it's always the veins that get me: those poor, popping veins strain...

She can ease your fashion pain Why on earth are big shoulders back in fashion? They were bad enough the first time around. Sally Miner, by email Ms Miner, I hear your exasperation and I feel your pain. Many theories have already been propounded on the re-emergence of big shoulders in fashion, and th...

Milan fashion week kicked off yesterday with an event that seemed apt for the times: a tantrum caused by dropping sales. Roberto Cavalli, possibly Italy's most flamboyant fashion designer, which really is saying something, cancelled the show for his secondary line, Just Cavalli, and summoned the int...

Tucked away in New York's meatpacking district, there is a small corner that - for this week at least - is England. In the New York outpost of the British members club Soho House, Mulberry's creative director, Emma Hill, was yesterday putting the final touches to her second collection for the brand....

Is it true that all beauty products are just E45 or Vaseline, and differ solely in the amount of water added and the colour of the pots? Stephen Romilly, south London Why, hello there, daddy-o! I bet when the winter nights start drawing in, you love nothing more than curling up in your armchair and ...

Although Michelle Obama has admitted - shockingly, considering the context - that she is less interested in clothes than politics and children in her upcoming interview in Vogue, after less than a month in the White House she is already proving to wield greater influence over the fashion world than ...

The past week has not been a good one for British dignity. On Monday the media could hardly believe that American actors - real-life, properly successful and really, really famous American actors - deigned to come to this humble country's Bafta awards do. Brad and Angelina! Walking among us, looking...

Is it at all possible to stay stylish in the snow? I saw some ladies looking absolutely dreadful last week, like walking sleeping bags. Marcus Port, by email For those of us who were too busy and important (ie, office lackeys who live in fear of The Man and therefore stayed at our desks) to take adv...

I've been hearing so much fuss about American Apparel in the press but it just looks like a load of brightly coloured stretchy tops and leggings from the photos I've seen. Am I missing the point? Martha Jones, by email You're only missing the point, Martha, by failing to comprehend that that is the ...

Exciting times for those of us who came of age in the 90s: so many seminal figures are either returning to the spotlight (New Kids on the Block, Take That) or have proven to have improbable staying power (Andie MacDowell, Oasis). But sometimes, seeing a figure from days of yore makes you realise how...