Standing at the school gates, looking more put together than I have all summer (ironically), dropping my first-born off in her bowler hat and oversized backpack – it was about as back-to-school as it gets. Plus all the feels.
Has anyone else’s child started big school this week? I didn’t see the lump in my throat coming, and, as suspected, the tears at drop-off were mine, not hers. New faces, new little girls, new parents (all hoping there is no Oreogate scandal with this group).
That push and pull, craving the structure a new term brings, then being blindsided by how much you feel about it, is exactly what my new weekly column is for. Mothers, Undone sits alongside our usual round-up of things to do with the kids, but this one’s for everything underneath: the logistics and the feelings in equal measure. I had my quiet moment over tea this morning, watching the three of them play happily together for once, and noticed, properly, for the first time, the mug I drank from that’s said it all along: the days are slow, the years are fast. There’s never been a truer week to actually read it.
And as a routine develops, we have a very exciting September ahead. Our new panel series launches next week in partnership with The Twenty-Two Members Club, kicks off next week and readers are welcome to book in (click here for complimentary tickets). September is conversations around season styling, destination dressing and the places everyone is escaping to next, with fashion director Federica Labanca, our own Fashion Features Director Ella Alexander, and celebrity stylist Holly White.
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We’re also making the case for cruising again, this time through a wellness lens, along with a guide to shoulder-season packing and a new-mum edit with Eshita Kabra-Davies of By Rotation, Federica Labanca reports from fashion weeks worldwide, and Ella Alexander rounds up everything worth knowing about London Fashion Week. We look at September’s top tables to book, breakout star of The Gentleman Ruby Sear tells us her 5 styles she never travels without, we explore women-only group travel (one of the most fun and adventurous ways to see the world and make connections)… There’s more too: The CF Hotlist from Chloe Street, the Sustainable Edit with Kelly Eastwood, a new solo-travel column from Stephanie Yeboah, and wellness insight from Adrienne Adhami, plus our search for London’s best negroni, the definitive white shirt, and a solo escape to Mauritius.
Sign up to the newsletter to stay across all of it — it’s shaping up to be a strong month, in what’s looking like an even stronger year.
Sheena
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