This week’s edit sweeps the capital from east to west, beginning in fitness in Shoreditch, ending at Olympia, home to one of the season’s most exciting new restaurant openings.
In between, culture is having a moment: its time to book in for the National Portrait Gallery major summer exhibition, Marilyn Monroe’s centenary in style. For those dining in rather than out, this week’s arrival of the new Scallop Boards make the case for indoor dining, and the new beach bag essential to complement your effortless suntanned glow. This is what we’re loving in this week’s Citizen Femme hotlist.
EAT HERE Wolves of Tokyo
West London’s Olympia has had a major glow up. No longer just an exhibition centre (although that’s still there too, and has had an equally impressive facelift), the entire area has been entirely transformed under a £1.3 billion redevelopment and is now home to a 3,800-capacity live music venue, new hotels, and a collection of “only-at-Olympia” bars and restaurants. One of these, Wolves of Tokyo, opened in June, has a kitchen led by former Hakkasan Group Itamae Chef, Roshan Raj Pandey, and a 200-person capacity roof terrace. Inspired by Japanese noir cinema the menu heroes contemporary Japanese dishes, grounded in seasonality. Think sashimi, maki, nigiri, and kushiyaki; signature dishes include black cod with a plum miso and an A5 Kagoshima Wagyu. The perfect date-night spot pre-gig. Katie Silcox
GET TONED HERE JETSET Pilates
Reformer devotees, take note: JETSET Pilates, the Miami-born studio beloved of Candice Swanepoel and Sophie Turner, with more than 385 outposts open or in development worldwide, makes its UK debut in Shoreditch, the first of several planned for the capital. The signature 50-minute class unfolds on custom-built reformers to impeccably curated playlists, pairing slow, sculptural control with quicker, pulse-raising sequencing, and with numbers capped at 18, expect the sort of hands-on precision that has made the method a stateside obsession. For founder Tamara Galinsky, who first discovered modern Pilates while living in London, let’s call this opening a full-circle moment.
VISIT THIS EXHIBITION Marilyn at 100: The National Portrait Gallery
A century after her birth, the world’s most photographed woman gets the retrospective she deserves. The National Portrait Gallery’s major new exhibition traces Marilyn Monroe from her earliest days as Norma Jeane to the poignant final frames captured just weeks before her death, with works by Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton and Marlene Dumas hanging alongside the books, scripts and clothes she left behind. What emerges is less myth than woman: a star with remarkable creative agency over her own image, decades before we had a word for personal branding. Catch the companion film season, Marilyn Monroe: Self Made Star, at BFI Southbank while it runs, then book your gallery slot before everyone else does. (Watch the preview here.)
SERVE YOUR CENTREPIECE WITH THIS The Scallop Boards by Addison Ross
Tablescapers, your summer centrepiece has arrived. Launching this week, Addison Ross’s new Scallop Boards bring a wave of colour, character and effortless luxury to the home. sculptural resin pieces with a prettily fluted edge, available in Pink, White, Blue and a rich Chocolate. Pile one high with charcuterie at your next al fresco gathering, or let it stand alone as a decorative object in its own right: either way, these are boards designed to be left out, not tucked away.
ADD TO YOUR SUMMER MAKE UP BAG Code8's AM/PM Tinted Lip Balm
Consider your beach bag complete. Code8’s AM/PM Tinted Lip Balm is the rare everyday essential that earns its place in your summer beach bag. The silky formula glides on with a subtle wash of colour, just enough to refine and enhance, never to overpower, while Cotton Seed Oil gets to work, nourishing and hydrating from first swipe to last light. The result is lips left soft, comfortable and lit with a healthy-looking sheen: effortless enough for barefaced summer mornings, straight through into sunset drinks.
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Lead image: Wolves of Tokyo
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