An icon of innovation, the Mountain Jacket is an undeniable slice of The North Face History. This year, the Mountain Jacket is back in blue and reunited with durable GORE-TEX fabrics for a denim look steeped in history and ready for anything the city or sloops can throw at you.

Designed in the early 1990’s as part of the Expedition System­ – the most technically advanced integrated clothing system of its time, built for unforgiving conditions and designed to enable exploration from the Himalayas to Antarctica. The new iteration line brings back the original design intent of the icon.

A city-ready capsule, the Denim Pack inspires you to weather the storm brought to life through the creative lens of photographer Dominic Zimmermann. Collaborating with The North Face’s Explorer Team snowboarder David Djite – the two have captured a bold yet ethereal catalogue of imagery that illustrates how Denim Pack doesn’t just protect but inspires explorers everywhere to revel in their journey.

This is captured in the London exhibition hosted in the heart of the city at White Rabbit Studios, celebrating the creativity of Dominic and filmmaker Fabian Fuchs for an evening of top local talent, DJ sets and an immersive experience.

Born in the extreme and back for a new chapter, Denim products includes the GORE-TEX Mountain Jacket and Pants, and the Glenclyffe Low shoe.

The collaboration brings together two brands synonymous with British style and craft in a 10-piece capsule collection, uniting Mulberry’s iconic Antony bag and commitment to UK manufacturing, with Paul Smith’s love of stripes and colour. The collaboration reflects the brands’ shared appreciation of heritage style and history of championing the British creative community.

Previewed at Paul Smith’s AW23 men’s show in Paris earlier this year, the collection takes Mulberry’s timeless Antony style as its starting point and, alongside three sizes of the classic design, includes two brand new silhouettes created for the collaboration: the Antony Clip, a mini crossbody bag, and the Antony Tote. First introduced as a men’s everyday bag, with its signature Postman’s Lock hardware and elegantly practical silhouette, the Antony, has become one of Mulberry’s most iconic styles – worn by both men and women, making it the natural choice for the unisex collection, and embodying Paul Smith’s design ethos.

The new Mulberry x Paul Smith collection tells two distinct stories, each championing Paul Smith’s historic and iconic use of stripes while remaining true to Mulberry’s heritage DNA. The first is a classic black heavy grain leather, which features striped webbing straps and a pop colour lining. The second is a smooth calf’s leather with a bold colour-blocking theme, which incorporates Paul Smith’s recently introduced Shadow Stripe motif, created here by embossing leather using a new technique. Elegant and dynamic, the collection represents the very best that contemporary British creativity, traditional craftsmanship, and modern luxury has to offer.

With British craft and heritage at the core of the collaboration, and reflective of both brands’ commitment to sustainability – embodied in Mulberry’s Made to Last ethos and Paul Smith’s ‘Path to Sustainability’ manifesto – each piece in the collection has been produced in the UK at Mulberry’s carbon-neutral Somerset factories, where over half of the brand’s collections are still made. The collaboration is crafted from carbon neutral leather, a commitment across all Mulberry bags since 2022, achieved through offsetting with the World Land Trust and is sourced from tanneries certified to the highest Gold standard by the Leather Working Group for their environmental performance.

Sir Paul says of the collaboration:

“Paul Smith and Mulberry were founded within a year of each other in the 1970s, so you could say our brands grew up and came of age together. I think that’s at least partly why we share such a similar approach to creativity and craft – that and our Britishness. Working together to ensure the collection was created in the UK was something we knew we wanted to do from the beginning, and the results speak for themselves.”

ishga is derived from the Gaelic word for water. To be more specific, in this context,  the pure, clean waters of the Hebridean Islands off the north west coast of Scotland which is home to ishga, and where they sustainably hand harvest the four types of seaweed that are at the heart of their organic skincare range.

Hebridean seaweed contains potent natural antioxidants with properties which transform and protect skin. ishga has developed a process to extract its natural goodness, harnessing an abundance of vitamins and bioactive minerals to create a remarkable range of high performing products that deliver efficacy for all skin types. 

Indulge in the restoring powers of the ocean and allow the marine skincare to connect your mind, body and soul back to nature.

The ocean is at the heart of ishga, and their unique seaweed extract is at the core of their award-winning organic skincare range. Since day one back in 2013, the brand has  been sustainably harvesting the wonder ingredient on the shores of their home of the Isle of Lewis. They allow nature to replenish her stocks by rotating the harvesting locations and most importantly only taking what they need.

They owe the powerful hydrating, firming, healing, and skin protecting formulas to Fucus Serratus Seaweed, Pelvetia Canaliculata Seaweed, Ascophyllum Nodosum Seaweed and Fucus Vesiculosis Seaweed; each containing its own unique skin enhancing properties.

When the seaweed extract is combined with high-performing active skincare ingredients, it becomes a transformative must-have ingredient for your skincare regime.

One of the key products within the range which is particularly great for Men is ishga’s Balancing Marine Face Cream. It’s designed to balance and hydrate the skin, regulating excess sebum production it also hydrates, refreshes heals and smooths.

Certified organic and vegan-friendly, Balancing Marine Face Cream features ishga’s potent seaweed extract and Hebridean spring water, which together includes 86 different vitamins and minerals.

Balancing Marine Face Cream’s organic ingredients include Shea Butter, Apricot Kernel Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil, Vitamin E, Cucumber Extract and Aloe Vera concentrate. These ingredients combine with Hebridean Seaweed and Hebridean natural spring water to soften, repair and moisturise leaving a protective barrier that helps rejuvenate and protect the skin from environmental damage. Ideal for all skin types.

Shea butter and extract of macadamia contain essential fatty acids Omega 6 and 7, which absorb excess sebum while nourishing thirsty skin. Vitamin E plumps, heals and smooths, and fresh citrus peel combats oil and detoxifies the skin.

Sensual, aromatic oils of bergamot, sandalwood and patchouli add a refreshing scent, to lift your spirits and soothe your senses.

For students starting university later this month, university is a diverse place with people from different backgrounds – making it a great opportunity to make new friends or even meet the love of your life!

With nearly a third of students finding love whilst at uni, The Knowledge Academy surveyed 3500 participants in the 30 top universities in the UK, revealing the best universities for falling in love and finding a life-long partner! The Knowledge Academy can reveal that the best university for students falling in love is the University of York, with over 63.3% of students admitting that they have met their romantic partner whilst studying there! According to the survey, 85.51% of relationships at University of York are short term (less than a year) , meaning that students here may focus more on the present rather than a long-term commitment. 

Ranking second is the University of Manchester, where 61.7% of participants revealed they were in a romantic relationship whilst studying at university. Not only is this university popular for falling in love, but it was also found that around one in five (21%) of participants also ended up marrying their university partner.

University of Bristol ranks as the third best university to fall in love, with 57.4% of participants disclosing that they have been lucky in love at this university. Known for its quirky, creative and vibrant background through street art and music, participants reported that they had been engaged in both long and short-term relationships throughout their university life.

The likelihood of marrying a romantic partner from university is overall much lower statistically, with an average of only 12.17% revealing they married their university love.

Falling first place, Queen’s University Belfast has been found to be the best university for finding the right person to marry, with 21.5% of participants marrying their university love, the highest out of all 30 universities analysed.

Following closely behind, the University of Oxford ranks in second place with 21.1% of participants revealing that they married their university love. In third place is the University of Manchester with 20.87%. It is also the only university ranked both in the top three for finding a romantic partner and a marital partner, so it truly is the best for long-lasting love. Maybe it should claim the title of the new city of Love ?!?!.

The top 10 UK universities for falling in love

Images

RUT MIIT

Vasily Koloda

Tasilia Stupak

Adam Winger