FROW NEWS #128: Odd Muse Moves Beyond the Viral Dress, Africa Fashion Week Opens the Runway, and Byredo Draws Your Future 👗🌍🔮
New openings, smarter shopping and several genuinely good reasons to leave the house. Consider this your excuse to get dressed, go out and have something to say about it.
Odd Muse is building a wardrobe beyond the occasion dress, Africa Fashion Week London is opening the runway to shoppers, and Byredo wants to draw your future self. Elsewhere, Karen Millen is back on the high street, Tyla’s first full Kate Spade campaign has arrived, and FARM Rio has taken surfwear to the Amazon. There are also answers for adult breakouts, quiet lashes and flat hair, plus several good reasons to pick up a book or write one. Keep scrolling.
Karen Millen Is Back on the British High Street 🛍️👗
Seven years after its UK shops disappeared, Karen Millen has returned to bricks and mortar. Its first new concession opened at Fosse Park in Leicester today, with Union Square in Aberdeen and Liverpool ONE following on Monday (17th August). Shoppers can try the Forever Collection in sizes 6-18, a fairly important detail when the brand’s calling card is fitted tailoring and occasionwear that rarely rewards guesswork.
The return means checking the weight of the fabric, finding out whether the waist sits where your waist actually is and establishing whether a pencil dress will cooperate once you sit down. Online shopping has many talents, but fitting-room diplomacy has never been one of them. For anyone who still wants to touch, try and think before buying, this is a high-street comeback worth having.
Odd Muse Is Ready to Dress More Than the Occasion 👗🍂
We know Odd Muse for polish, cinched waists, sculpted silhouettes and the sort of dresses that make a dinner reservation feel necessary. Now, the brand is widening the wardrobe. Its 31-piece A/W 2026 collection, A Chic Way of Life, launches on Wednesday, 19th August at 9am, bringing checked tailoring, denim, faux suede and tweed into the Odd Muse world.
Prices start at £80 for a cotton-mix tweed top, with a denim jumpsuit at £165, an oversized checked blazer at £225 and the suede jacket at £595. If that jacket has already caught your eye, it arrives early at Odd Muse’s new store on New Bond Street on Saturday, 15th August. The signature polish is still there, but it no longer needs an invitation. Odd Muse has somewhere to go on a Tuesday.
Tyla Is Playing Hide and Seek With Joy for Kate Spade New York 👜✨
Our eyes were peeled, and right on cue, Tyla’s full Kate Spade New York debut has arrived. The Autumn 2026 campaign turns New York City into a joyful game of hide and seek, with Tyla joined by Julia Mervis, Payton Purther, Sally Carden, Ana Sofia and the women of 4inthe5, alongside a wider cast of creators searching for the small moments of joy hiding in plain sight. At the centre of the chase is the £149 Duo Mini shoulder bag, because a citywide search is easier when your hands are free.
The pairing still makes sense. Kate Spade brings the bright New York optimism, while Tyla gives it enough heat to stop the whole thing becoming unbearably sweet. It is playful, colourful and designed for the scroll, but there is enough happening in the background to make you look twice.
Africa Fashion Week London Celebrates 16 Years and Opens the Runway to Shoppers 🌍🛍️
Africa Fashion Week London marks its 16th anniversary from 17th to 23rd August under the theme Design Beyond Borders. Sixteen years, more than 3,000 designers and creatives, and a runway that has kept African fashion visible in London long before the wider industry learned to treat it as more than a seasonal talking point. That deserves more than a passing mention.
The celebrations lead into a full public programme at 8 Northumberland Avenue on Saturday, 22nd August. Shopping and exhibitions begin at noon, followed by New Talent at 2pm, Next Gen at 4pm and a VIP show featuring DJ Cuppy and Seyi Shay at 7pm. Sunday, 23rd August brings the first Shop the Runway showroom, open from 1pm to 7pm, where visitors can see the collections and buy directly from the designers.
Tickets start at £33. No frantic screenshots, no mysterious stockist search and no discovering six months later that the dress never made it into production. Pick your shows, plan your outfit and find the full programme here.
FARM Rio and Rip Curl Took Their New Surf Collection to the Amazon 🌊🌿
FARM Rio and Rip Curl are back for round two, combining the Australian surf brand’s technical know-how with FARM Rio’s joyful Brazilian prints. The collection spans performance surfwear, swimwear, beach-ready clothing and accessories, with bold botanicals, cobalt blue and unapologetic colour clashes. This is surfwear with no interest in blending into the sand.
Shot at the Pororoca, where the Atlantic meets the Amazon river system, the campaign follows surfers Sophia Medina and Duda Cesar alongside local talent from Northern Brazil. FARM Rio’s UK edit is priced between £124.99 and £154.99, with further pieces available through Rip Curl. Check out the collection here.
Kylie Jenner Finds a Quieter Moment With ALO 🎀🧘
One week after Bella Hadid fronted ALO’s latest chapter, Kylie Jenner steps into the spotlight for a campaign celebrating the quieter routines that keep her grounded. Shot in Los Angeles by Mert & Marcus, it introduces ALO’s new Pink Marshmallow colour drop, with Kylie wearing the Alosoft Intuition Bra and High-Waist Intuition Capri. The timing feels fitting, arriving just after her 29th birthday and an all-pink Princess Kitty celebration. Clearly, pink is having a very good week. Happy birthday, Kylie. 🎂
Serena Bute Is Betting on Clothes That Ignore the Trend Cycle 🧥✨
Serena Bute’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection is not chasing the piece you will be tired of by October. Jersey, knitwear, premium denim, silk separates, satin tailoring and wool-cashmere suiting come together in a wardrobe designed to move from the morning meeting to dinner and back out again next season. Quiet clothes, yes. Forgettable ones, no.
Cotton T-shirts begin at £60, with a checked Johnny shirt at £150, silk shirts reaching £325 and jeans at £350, so we are firmly in luxury territory. But these are clothes asking how often you will wear them, not how quickly you can post them. If cost-per-wear mathematics is how you justify good tailoring, Serena Bute has already opened the calculator. See the collection here.
Byredo Wants to Draw Your Future Self at Selfridges 🔮🎨
Byredo is bringing its new Future Memories Eau de Parfum to the Selfridges Mary Site on Oxford Street from 17th to 26th August. Priced at £155 for 50ml and £225 for 100ml, the fragrance combines blackcurrant, iris and orange blossom with vanilla and musks. Visitors can sample the scent, step into a dedicated photo moment and receive an exclusive gift with purchase.
Illustrator Lena Yokoyama will create Future Self Portraits from 10am on 18th August and again from 20th to 23rd August. Fragrance and a glimpse of future you make a rather good reason to head to Oxford Street.
Still Getting Breakouts as an Adult? Weleda Has Made a £12.95 Serum for That 🫧🌿
Breakouts can appear at any age, and Weleda’s new Clear & Pure Serum Booster Drops have been created with that wider reality in mind. Launching on 17th August for £12.95, the serum is designed for oily, combination and blemish-prone skin from age 12 upwards.
The fragrance-free, non-comedogenic formula combines zinc PCA, grain-derived azelaic acid, lactic and citric acids, and organic alpine willowherb. Weleda says users saw clearer-looking skin within seven days when the serum was applied undiluted twice daily, while 90% agreed it did not dry their skin. It is a focused formula at a sensible price, made for the skin concern rather than one narrow idea of who experiences it.
Jones Road Keeps Things Soft and Defined With Its New Mascara 👀🖤
Not every lash day needs to look as if it involved a wind machine. Jones Road’s new Minimalist Defining Mascara (£26) is designed for clean separation, natural fullness and length without theatrical volume. Available in Pitch Black and Rich Brown, it has a flexible wand that reaches smaller and sparser lashes, while the conditioning formula promises no clumping, smudging, flaking or fallout.
Bobbi Brown describes it as the answer for days when you want naturally beautiful lashes rather than bold drama. Start at the roots with a slight wiggle, then use the tip of the wand to reach the inner corners and lower lashes. Sometimes the brief is simply more lash, still you.
Sam McKnight Wants Your Volume to Survive Past Lunchtime 💇✨
Sam McKnight created the Cool Girl Body Plumping & Volumising Cream for hair that looks full after styling but loses its lift as the day goes on. Worked through towel-dried hair before air-drying or blow-drying, the formula is designed to strengthen each strand so it can hold its shape for longer, while protecting against heat, humidity and frizz.
At £29, it is a new option for anyone who wants their body and bounce to stay for the full day, not just the getting-ready part, while hair still feels soft and full of movement. It is available exclusively through Hair by Sam McKnight and M&S.
What Would You Say to Your Younger Self? Letters Live Wants to Read It 💌✍️
Letters Live has spent more than a decade turning private correspondence into live theatre, with surprise performers reading real letters aloud. Its new Dear Me competition, created with The Times and Montblanc, asks entrants to write no more than 500 words to a past, present or future version of themselves. The deadline is 14th October, and one winner chosen from the shortlist will have their letter read on stage.
Last year, Benedict Cumberbatch read the winning letter, Dear London. This year’s performer will remain part of the surprise, as is tradition at Letters Live. Send your entry to dearme@letterslive.com or post it to Dear Me, PO Box 81673, London W14 4JS. Hearing a famous voice read it would be lovely, of course, but deciding which version of you needs the letter may be the part that stays with you.
Got a Funny Book in You? Helen Lederer Wants to Help You Write It ✍️🎤
Comedy Women in Print has launched Writing Funny, a seven-part podcast hosted by founder Helen Lederer and novelist Chris Manby. The series moves from the writer’s journey and finding community to process, comedy in dark times, the path from unpublished to published and the CWIP awards themselves.
Contributors include Alison Espach, author of The Wedding People, Holly Gramazio, author of The Husbands, Julia Raeside and unpublished-category winner Natalie Willbe. CWIP was founded in 2019 to challenge the lack of recognition for witty women writers, and the organisation says 77 books by previously unpublished entrants have since reached publication. Listening will not write chapter one for you, sadly. It may make the blank page feel a little less lonely.
Edinburgh’s Book Festival Is a Very Good Excuse for a Weekend Away 📚🏰
The Edinburgh International Book Festival opens on Saturday, 15th August and runs until Sunday, 30th August at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. This year’s theme, Changing Your Mind, unfolds across roughly 600 events with writers and thinkers from 41 countries, including Sanna Marin and Claudia Rankine, alongside Gordon Brown, Jimmy Wales, Cory Doctorow and Michael Pollan.
The site is free to enter, with ticketed talks, workshops and performances running around the bookshops and cafés. With the festival on until the end of the month, there is still time to turn it into a weekend away. Book the two events you would be genuinely annoyed to miss, then leave room for coffee, wandering and at least one overheard argument about a novel you have not read.
Whatever the weekend brings, make room for the things you genuinely love, whether that is a new wardrobe find, a very good book or an afternoon spent somewhere unexpected. See you next week.
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