As a yoga instructor, neuro-somatic coach and the lead contrast therapy teacher at Arc, I've watched hundreds of people step into the sauna chasing the same thing: to feel less stressed, more clear-headed, more like themselves.

Most of them walk out feeling better. Almost none of them walk out having got the full benefit because three quiet mistakes are undoing the work before it's had a chance to land.

If you've ever left a sauna feeling foggy instead of clear, or crashed hard by 4 pm after a session that was supposed to energise you, this is probably why.

3 Mistakes I See Every Sauna Client Making That Undermines Their Results

1. You're hydrating at the wrong time and with the wrong temperature

Most people think hydration means reaching for an electrolyte drink once they're already sweating, or gulping cold water afterwards to cool down. Both instincts feel logical in the moment. Both are working against you.

Here's what's actually happening: the moment you sit down in the heat, you start losing sodium, potassium and magnesium through sweat, fast. If you wait until you're already in the sauna to replace them, you're permanently playing catch-up; your body can't absorb and rebalance minerals as quickly as it's shedding them. That's the foggy, flat, slightly nauseous feeling people mistake for "detoxing." It's not detoxing. It's depletion.

Electrolytes work when they're already in your system before you start sweating, ideally about 30 minutes before you walk in. That way, your sodium and mineral levels are topped up and stable before the loss even begins, instead of trying to refill a tank that's already draining.

The cold water habit compounds the problem. During my advanced yoga training in India, we practised five hours a day in extreme heat and were never allowed to drink cold water, only warm, even mid-practice. It felt wrong at the time, and I remember being so annoyed and not enjoying drinking water. It isn't. Cold water has to be brought up to core body temperature before your body can actually absorb and use it, which slows everything down. Warm water skips that step and hydrates you significantly faster, which is exactly what you need when you're already losing fluid quickly.

You don't need an expensive electrolyte blend to fix this. A pinch of pink Himalayan salt and a squeeze of lime in warm water gives you the same sodium and mineral base, without the artificial flavouring most powders rely on.

2. You're rushing the transition, in and out of the cold

This is the one almost nobody thinks to control, and it's arguably the most important, because it's the difference between a session that regulates your nervous system and one that just shocks it.

Going from sauna heat straight into a cold plunge, with no pause, tells your body it's under threat rather than in a safe, deliberate practice. Your nervous system can't tell the difference between "chosen discomfort" and "danger" unless you give it a signal, and that signal is your breath.

Try this. Before you get in, take three slow breaths: inhale for a count of two, exhale for four to six. The extended exhale activates your vagus nerve and shifts you out of fight-or-flight before the cold even hits, so your body meets the plunge from a place of safety instead of alarm. Skip this, and the plunge becomes pure stress, which is why some people come out of cold water feeling worse, not better.

The exit matters just as much as the entry. Most people jump out of the cold plunge straight into the sauna again, or start moving and shaking it off immediately and end up dizzy, depleted, unwell. But there needs to be a pause here. Step out, sit, close your eyes, and don't move. You feel more when you move less. Stay with the sensation instead of shaking it off. If it feels uncertain, bring your palms to your heart space and find your heartbeat; it's an anchor back into the present moment, whatever you're feeling. That stillness is where the regulation actually completes. Skip it, and you've done half a practice.

3. You're setting yourself up for the crash

If you've ever felt incredible right after a sauna and then hit a wall a few hours later, this is almost always why, and it has nothing to do with the sauna "not working."

When your body feels depleted after heat and cold exposure, it asks for fast energy, which is why people instinctively reach for something sweet or carb-heavy. It works immediately and fails you a few hours later, because sugar spikes and drops fast, taking your energy down with it. What your body actually needs to sustain the clarity you just worked for is protein and fat, with carbohydrates in a smaller, supporting role.

The meal that follows a sauna or contrast session matters as much as the session itself. If you have time to sit down properly afterwards, go for something built around eggs, say, eggs with avocado and greens, or an omelette with smoked salmon paired with a slower-releasing carbohydrate like sourdough or sweet potato. That combination gives you sustained energy instead of a spike and a crash.

If you're squeezing a session into a workday and don't have time for a full meal, my two go-tos are a protein yoghurt or a banana with a handful of nuts. Neither will weigh you down, and both hold you steady until you can eat properly.

One more thing, if you take nothing else

The sauna is also a social space, and that's part of its value, but I'd gently challenge what people bring into it.

So often, connection in the sauna means talking about work, replaying the outside world inside the heat. Real connection doesn't need words. It can be a smile, a shared silence, simply being present with someone. Some of the most powerful moments I've witnessed in 500+ sessions have had nothing said at all.

If you want to experience this properly guided - the timing, the breath, the stillness - come find me. I run retreats built around exactly this, and you can see where and when on my Instagram.

Shop MC UK's go-to sauna essentials here:

The Beauty Digest is my Beauty Director’s edit of what’s actually worth your attention. Each week, I’ll be sharing the new launches I’m using and loving, the viral treatments I’m putting to the test (and what I really think of the results), plus my take on the industry conversations everyone’s talking about.

The New Launches I'm Loving

The Treatment Trial: Matrix RF Microneedling

I popped by The Aesthetics Doctor clinic last week to see Dr Ahmed El Muntasar for a taste of the new Matrix Radio Frequency (RF) Microneedling treatment. The device uses tiny needles to penetrate the skin at varying depths, delivering RF energy to create controlled micro-injuries that stimulate the skin’s natural production of collagen and elastin.

Where Matrix differs from other RF microneedling devices is its Depth Intelligence technology and real-time impedance monitoring. In other words, it continually assesses how the skin tissue is responding and adjusts energy delivery accordingly, allowing practitioners to treat at different depths and energy levels in a more controlled, individualised way. This can also make for a more comfortable treatment—although, yes, I definitely opted for numbing cream beforehand.

Downtime was minimal. After 30 minutes in the clinic, I headed straight back to the office, albeit a little pink in the cheeks. I did experience a breakout across my cheeks over the following few days (although that could just as easily have been hormonal), but since it cleared, my skin hasn’t looked this smooth and clear in years. And because the collagen-remodelling benefits develop over time, I’m excited to see what happens after round two.

Beauty Buzz: The Great Advent Calendar Race

It feels slightly bizarre to be writing about advent calendars in mid-August, but then the beauty industry has never been one to let reason stand in the way of a good launch. Every year, the advent calendar race seems to start earlier, with increasingly extravagant editions landing while most of us are still applying post-holiday fake tan.

At first, I rolled my eyes. Come on. It's 38 degrees outside. There's not even a whisper of winter in the air. Let us be present and enjoy the summer! But then... I started investigating. And I folded. Because when someone offers you more than £1,000 worth of luxury beauty for £200, suddenly Christmas in August starts to feel remarkably reasonable.

My only remaining qualm with beauty advent calendars is the pretence that anyone is actually using them as advent calendars. I just refuse to believe anyone a) can wait until December and b) has the self-control to just open one a day. Personally, I'd have window 25 open within the hour.

A few years ago, you might have dropped an objectively "eye-watering" amount on a, say, a handbag because you saw it on the Olsens, got caught in the cross-hairs of a persuasive shopping assistant or hoped it would last a lifetime. Nowadays, however, customers are looking for something that you might expect to be listed on a dating profile: emotional connection.

The Business of Fashion's recent report, The State of Fashion: Face to Face With Luxury Clients, which was produced in collaboration with consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, found the following: "Emotional connection is the number one driver of luxury brand desirability in both the US and China — above craftsmanship, heritage and logo recognition." A customer still expects quality but wants more besides.

"Things like beautiful imagery, exceptional product, operational slickness, high-touch customer service are par for the course—on top of that consumers now need to feel like they are buying into something," says luxury brand advisor Alexandra Carello. "The brand has to work hard to create something that people want to be a part of. This is not about pushing out information and product anymore this is about pulling people in and enveloping them in your world," she says.

The BoF report uses the case study of Chanel, interviewing the brand's president of fashion, Bruno Pavlovsky, about how it's managing to grow in a difficult luxury climate (2025's operating profit was $4,712 million, an increase of 5% compared to 2024). Pavloksky cites Matthieu Blazy, the new artistic director, and his vision—of a future that's rooted in a storied past—as the reason why customer interest has been reinforced. "Chanel, the brand, never stopped generating interest. Matthieu’s arrival has reinforced that interest. He has perfectly integrated the heritage of Mademoiselle Chanel, of Karl. But his work also makes space for more freedom, more audacity in an intelligent way."

Celine is another brand that has recently undergone a changing of the guard, with a new custodian in the form of creative director Michael Rider. Having previously worked at the maison under, arguably, its most venerated creative director, Phoebe Philo, Rider's design language is steeped in the lore of what the internet refers to as "old Celine" Similarly to Blazy, however, he's using that history and knowledge to move forwards, taking the brand into exciting territory that has got fans re-excited by a new Celine.

This new territory is where the luxury shopping experience goes beyond the transactional. How brands in more contemporary price brackets have managed this is by treating the product as just the starting point. "I've always believed the best brands create relationships, not just sales," says the co-founder and creative director of Daisy London, Ruth Bewsey. "That's what inspired the Daisy Summer Club, a series of pop-up experiences with aligning brands, at places our community already loves to spend time. Rather than simply selling jewellery, it's about creating moments to meet people, have conversations and hear their stories." The goal is to be part of someone's life instead of passing through one of its phases.

"It's never just about selling a necklace, it's about creating something that becomes part of someone's story," says the founder of jewellery brand By Alona, Alona Shelemy, who regularly talks to her long-standing customers via Instagram DM. "One of my favourite things is when customers come back years later asking us to refresh or re-plate a well-loved piece."

Traditional loyalty schemes that usually reward customer spend are similarly being rethought. "Rather than asking customers to earn access over time, we welcome them into our world from the very beginning," says Jennifer Chamandi, founder of her eponymous shoe brand, who opened a salon-style meeting space, The Apartment, in October 2024. "We involve them in the brand's journey through intimate events, workshops and masterclasses, creating meaningful experiences beyond the product itself. Over time, many of our most loyal clients naturally evolve into brand ambassadors with whom we build even deeper relationships."

Before you envelope your customer, however, it helps to know who they are. At Freja, a handbag label based in New York, its customer can be summed up in seven words: "women in the pursuit of something meaningful." Thoughtfulness is how the brand's founder, Jenny Lai, weaves her own worldview into Freja; "it’s how my parents showed love to me growing up. Not with praise or gifts, but attention. Noticing things and helping in a quiet way," says Lai, whose bags, "quietly make your life a little bit easier without you needing to ask. Key leashes, intuitive pockets, flap shoulder straps, and long strap drops. It all calls back to my foundational definition of care and love."

This kind of ethos can't just be at the foundation of a brand; it has to be woven throughout. "For us, culture isn’t something we consciously place into a collection. It’s already there. It lives in our instincts, our eye and the way we approach design. Every silhouette, fabric and detail carries that perspective," says the co-founder of Noon by Noor, Shaikha Noor.

Above all, it's about humanising the customer; taking an interest that goes deeper than niceties. "Seeing people in the clothes, how they style them, learning about their lives—that's why we do this," says the founder of denim brand DALA, Rosie Ingleby. "Denim has such a history and a function—I love to find out what people do and then imagine how their jeans will look in 10 years—the fade will be so specific to their life and becomes very personal."

Do we switch to fully electric or not? That is the question my husband and I have been asking ourselves for the past six months. As I write this, I am sitting on an aeroplane on my way to Puglia in southern Italy, where I spend every summer holiday with my family. To date, we have always preferred to fly, especially with a young child. However, with the ever-rising cost of travel — not to mention expensive car hire fees — we have started to consider upgrading our family car to a fully electric vehicle and driving to Italy each summer instead. Now that my daughter is seven years old, we finally feel bold enough to attempt the journey, which totals approximately 24 hours of driving. The plan would be to break it up with a couple of overnight stops along the way, giving us time not only to recharge the car but also to discover some of the many beautiful places in Europe and Italy that we have yet to explore.

Enter the Volvo ES90, the Swedish manufacturer's latest all-electric saloon, which I was invited to test drive for a weekend in North Yorkshire while staying at Saltmoore Hotel in Whitby.

I'll admit, I had never driven — or charged — an electric car before getting behind the wheel of the ES90. I was slightly sceptical, not only about its quoted range of up to 435 miles but also about whether stopping to charge it would become an inconvenience on long journeys. That said, any seven-hour drive, electric or otherwise, usually requires at least one comfort break, so perhaps charging wouldn't be as disruptive as I'd imagined.

One of our biggest priorities when choosing a new family car is space. If we really are going to drive across Europe every summer, generous leg room and a sizeable boot are essential — the Russo-Bah family certainly don't travel light.

Although our trip to Yorkshire was only for two nights, the drive took place during one of the hottest weekends of the year, with temperatures reaching almost 40°C. The ES90's spacious cabin, luxurious leather seats and panoramic glass roof, which can instantly shade itself at the touch of a button, were all very welcome features.

While I had naturally been looking at SUVs like the Volvo EX60, the Volvo ES90 offers something that few cars in its class can match: exceptional space for both front and rear passengers. Rear leg room is particularly impressive and quickly became one of the car's biggest selling points for me. Another unexpected highlight was the fully reclining front seats. After five hours on the road, being able to properly stretch out whilst my husband took over at the wheel, was such a treat and would be a real win when taking turns driving all the way to Italy.

The Bowers & Wilkins sound system is another standout feature, transforming long motorway miles into a fun family experience singing along to our favourite songs, while the large central touchscreen controls virtually every function in the car. I had read one review describing the interior as too minimalist, but for me, that simplicity is exactly what makes it so appealing. The clean, uncluttered design immediately stood out and feels both modern and timeless.

In terms of the driving experience itself, I genuinely didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by how intuitive everything felt. On the motorway, its adaptive cruise control and driver assistance systems monitored the traffic ahead, maintaining a safe distance by gently slowing the car when needed and making long stretches of driving noticeably more relaxing. Rather than taking over, the technology makes the car adapt to what is on the road in front and helps you understand when you’re distracted, or tired, prompting you to have a rest.

Of course, one of the biggest questions surrounding any electric car is charging. While it did require a little more planning than simply pulling into a petrol station, I quickly realised that charging slots naturally fitted into the breaks we would have been taking anyway and are actually far more present that I realised. 20 minutes later, after a quick lunch stop to eat and stretch our legs and we were ready to continue the journey. It certainly challenged many of the assumptions I had about owning an electric vehicle.

The ES90 is longer than many of the SUVs I had been considering, and that extra length would undoubtedly take a little getting used to when manoeuvring or parking. However, the payoff is the generous interior space, exceptional comfort and smooth driving experience that few rivals can offer.

By the time I returned the car to Volvo, it had firmly established itself as one of the front-runners on our shortlist. More importantly, it answered the question I had been asking myself before the weekend began: could I realistically drive an electric car all the way to Italy every summer? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. The Volvo ES90 didn't just convince me that driving across Europe in an electric vehicle is possible — it made me wonder why we hadn't considered making the switch sooner.

Click here to find out more about the Volvo ES90 Electric

The dream man? Well, he's tall, dark, handsome, and...wicker. In case you hadn't heard, having a boyfriend is kind of embarrassing now; they ruin your birthday, and can behave appallingly. No wonder, more women today are "chronically single" and would rather date a basket than a man.

​Ok, obviously not really. But the new trailer for Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson's comedy Wicker suggests that, at this point, we're not too far off from pining after men made of rattan.

​In case you haven't seen it, the trailer teases a film in which Olivia Coleman, playing a grimy fisherwoman, asks Peter Dinklage, playing the local basket weaver, to fashion her a husband of wicker. He weaves up a storm and produces a woven creation that looks an awful lot like Alexander Skarsgård in sexy basket form, complete with entwined plaited wooden abs and a thick head of raffia hair.

He and a rather giddy Coleman quickly tie the knot and proceed to have a lot of raunchy sex. (Don't think too much about the splinters.) In between all of the sex, he is sweet, stoic, and utterly besotted, saying things like, "You are the reason I live and breathe." The local women watch on in part-horror, part-awe, part-envy — "I heard that he's as strong as a tree and just as hard!" — while their male partners scoff and guffaw, complaining that "men are not like that!"

The girls that get it, get it. "TikTok fyp (for you page) is full of women thirsting over wicker baskets ??" someone wrote on X. "I didn't have me thirsting over a hot fictional man made of wicker on my bingo card, but here we are!" another TikTok video was captioned. Even IKEA has gotten in on the action, while Etsy has seen searches for 'personalised/custom wicker baskets' skyrocketing by +2,664% in July. "Pop culture has a way of giving us unexpected new design cues, and the buzz around this fall’s most talked-about movie trailer has already given ‘husband material’ a whole new meaning," says Etsy’s Trend Expert Dayna Isom Johnson.

And this sexy basket isn't the only homemade man getting women worked up. Last year's Frankenstein saw Jacob Elordi playing Frankenstein's creature. Instead of wicker, he was fashioned of a sickly blue patchwork of off cuts from decaying corpses, but, nonetheless, people were into it. “Somebody sedate me," one TikTok video caption read. "It's not a hear me out, it's a hold me back," another fan wrote. Wicked Part II also saw Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba transforming her boyfriend into a man of straw. He wasn't an immediate hit—and initially drew comparisons to Ryan Reynolds—but a subsection of the internet still found themselves drawn to him. "I personally think that Jonathan’s Fiyero looks WAY HOTTER as his Scarecrow form than he did as a human!" one wrote on Reddit. Another added a gif that simply said: "Would."

Why Are Women Getting Horny For The Homemade Man?

It's no secret that heterosexual women are becoming disillusioned. The disappointing reality is that being in a relationship with a (human) man comes with a host of practical and emotional drawbacks.

Romance aside, coupling up with a man often means taking on extra labour, both domestically and emotionally. Working women take home an average of £631 less than their male counterparts each month. Meanwhile, the division of domestic labour remains heavily imbalanced, with women undertaking an average of 26 hours of unpaid work per week compared to 16 hours for men. Add to this the fact that women tend to be saddled with the bulk of the mental load in their heterosexual relationships, tasked with remembering dates, chores and just about everything else. How many women do you know who remember to call their male partner's mum on her birthday, because he's never had to?

All of this can lead to resentment, and even to women falling out of love with their partners. During a long relationship, women reportedly fall out of love at a rate of 55.2%, while only 9.2% of men experience the same decline in affection, according to a 2024 study. “Women more often express frustration about communication and the division of labour,” the study leader said at the time. “And men more often are concerned about a sexual relationship and wanting less frustration from their partner.”

As dating men becomes more disheartening and, at times, disempowering, many progressive women are starting to feel not only pessimistic, but self-conscious about admitting to their romantic preference for men. It's a phenomenon known as "heteropessimism", coined by Asa Seresin in a New Inquiry piece.

Heteropessimism describes a "vocal rejection of heterosexual culture and the heterosexual experience by people who find themselves in heterosexual relationships or desiring people of the opposite sex and gender," says Dr. Luke Brunning, a philosopher specialising in intimacy, love, and relationships and Associate Professor in Applied Ethics at the IDEA ethics centre in the University of Leeds. "They might express frustration, embarrassment, or regret that they are straight in an attempt to distance themselves from these structures and experiences and the expectations [that come with them]."

The fact of the matter is, patriarchal rhetoric and patterns are hard-wired into our culture. It's impossible to find men who have managed to avoid soaking it up just a little. Even men who take pride in being feminists, men who actively try to extricate themselves from the deep-seated patriarchal model, often find that the biases, habits, and thought processes are too deeply encoded to shift. The problem with so many straight men in the dating world is that, whether they like it or not, they grew up in a world that upheld patriarchal values: a world that taught them time and time again that being in a heterosexual relationship was inherently imbalanced.

"I think the problem is that there can very often be a big disconnect between the changes in superficial things like attitude and belief versus the actual changes in behaviour and sentiment and feeling," Brunning says. "It's easy for people to think about how they're showing up in relationships, to think about things like equal distribution of housework or the way that they treat each other. But actually, evidence shows that even those couples that are self-avowed feminists, that are striving for equal distribution, it's not equal. If you're in a relationship with somebody who's avowedly feminist, but also you sense they're subtly not pulling their weight, then that little bit of dissonance can creep in."

The Ultimate Fantasy

In the real world, a straight woman's best hope is a man who is doing his best to unlearn his encoded patterns; to show up and work on it. But in the fantasy world? What better than a man who was never exposed to them in the first place? A man who was literally made from scratch and plopped onto the world with zero assumptions about his supposed superiority and no expectations about what he should contribute to a relationship?

"It's the ultimate fantasy, isn't it?" says Brunning. "To have the features that you want without the social imprinting. To have a romantic sexual experience that meets your needs, satisfies you, but isn't accompanied by the baggage that often goes with it. It's playing with these ideas of desocialised masculinity."

These stories also provide a "safe space" for exploring the seemingly incongruent tension between the attraction to men and how it butts up against our dissatisfaction with modern masculinity. "There are aspects of masculinity that people find very desirable—that they want incorporated into their sexual lives—but they may not want incorporated into other aspects of their lives. [These stories] provide a space to portray those tensions. To find them funny and amusing, stimulating, make them safe, exaggerate them," explains Brunning.

​The sexy basket, the decaying corpse creature—they are refreshingly untouched by the world's toxic patriarchal modelling. Plus, they're hot! And what could be more attractive than that?

When was the last time you felt pure, unadulterated joy? If you're anything like us, the chances are you might not even be able to remember. But hear this: experts reckon it might just be the longevity metric we're missing.

"Joy shouldn't be seen as a luxury; it's an important part of staying well," shares longevity expert, GP and founder of HUM2N, Dr Mohammed Enayat. "As a doctor, I see first-hand how emotional wellbeing influences physical health. People who feel connected, purposeful and able to enjoy life often cope better with stress, recover more quickly from illness and are more likely to look after their health in the long term."

The science stacks up here, too. Research reveals that, far from being an arbitrary concept, joy has a specific and measurable impact on wellbeing and resilience (check out this study, from the International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Wellbeing). And the benefits aren't purely emotional, either. Further studies (such as this one, from the European Heart Journal) show that, in fact, cultivating joy promotes enhanced physical health, specifically for the heart and circulatory system.

With this in mind, we've spoken with top longevity and psychology experts to find out why joy matters, and how to increase what's termed our joyspan. Keep scrolling for more, but while you're here, do check out our expert-led wellbeing guides to how to find joy, how to harness self-worth through manifestation and the longevity trends worth skipping, plus read all about how one Health Writer got on when she incorporated Blue Zone habits for a month to boost healthspan and longevity, here.

Joyspan Is The Wellness Buzzword To Pay Attention To This Year, According To Experts

What is joyspan?

So, what exactly is joyspan - and why is it important? You're probably used to hearing terms such as lifespan and healthspan - put simply, joyspan is just an extension of these principles, applied to how much joy you feel, and how long for.

"Joyspan is the idea of measuring how much of our lives we spend experiencing genuine joy, purpose and fulfilment, rather than simply how long we live," shares Dr Enayat. "We often talk about lifespan and, more recently, healthspan, the number of years we stay healthy, but joyspan reminds us that living well is about more than avoiding illness."

Sounds pretty good, right? And the experts believe that the term could be just as pivotal for our overall health and wellbeing as both health and lifespan. Originally coined by gerontologist Dr Kerry Burnight in her book Joyspan: A Short Guide To Enjoying Your Long Life, the term encompasses more than simply living longer - it's about quality of life and longevity of enjoyment.

But why does it matter so much? Psychotherapist at Coyne Medical, the aptly-named Dr Joy Conlon, explains. "Modern life has become incredibly efficient at helping us to survive and live longer, but not always at helping us feel alive inside," she tells MC UK. "Most people spend decades moving from one deadline to another: working to buy a house, dating to find a partner, parenting, paying endless bills and managing responsibilities. We are (necessarily) future-focused and multitasking.

"Our nervous system has adapted so well to this consistent focus on coping and surviving that it has gradually stopped noticing what feels good. We have deprioritised the things that bring us joy - and from a psychological perspective, this matters enormously. Our brains naturally pay more attention to problems than pleasures, in a concept known as negativity bias. This means that without consciously prioritising joyful experiences, many people can slowly drift into a life that feels productive, but emotionally flat."

What are the benefits of cultivating joyspan?

As touched on above, joyspan is crucial for both emotional and physical wellbeing. " Joy is not a luxury item; it's part of our psychological wellbeing," shares Dr Conlon. "People who experience more positive emotions tend to report lower stress, greater resilience, reduced anxiety, stronger relationships, better emotional regulation, improved creativity and higher life satisfaction.

"Positive emotions also help people recover more quickly after setbacks. Importantly, though, joy does not remove stress; it helps us bounce back from it."

Physiologically speaking, the benefits are also significant. "Physically, lower stress levels can help reduce blood pressure, improve immune function and support heart health," notes Dr Enayat. "People who feel happier are also more likely to stay active, eat well and stick to healthy routines, creating a positive cycle that benefits overall health."

Do some people naturally cultivate joyspan?

We know that in certain cultures, people tend to live longer, healthier lives - so, is there a link between these so-called 'Blue Zone' inhabitants and how much joy they're experiencing?

In a word: yes. "Some cultures appear to cultivate joy more naturally than others, not because life is easier, but because daily routines encourage connection and balance," shares Dr Conlon. "Researchers often point to the Blue Zones (regions where people live longer and healthier lives): Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia (Italy) and Ikaria (Greece) share several characteristics: strong family relationships, close communities, regular movement, shared meals, time outdoors, a slower pace of life and a clear sense of purpose, all of which help cultivate joy.

"Interestingly, none of these places focus on chasing happiness. Instead, they create lifestyles where joy naturally emerges. Countries such as Denmark and Finland also consistently rank highly in wellbeing research, partly because they place value on work-life balance, outdoor activities and spending time together."

How can we improve our joyspan?

While we can't offer you a Mediterranean postcode (trust us, we're working on it!), there are a number of expert-backed ways we can all boost our joyspan each and every day.

"Joy is not something we are simply born with or without," notes Dr Conlon. "Like any healthy habit, it can be nurtured and strengthened over time. Small, intentional changes to our daily lives can make a surprisingly big difference to how much joy we experience."

If you're ready to start seeking more joy, keep scrolling.

1. Make time and space for joy

We know what you're thinking: another thing to try and fit in. But hear us out: this doesn't (and really shouldn't) become yet another stick to beat ourselves with - we're talking just a few minutes, every day if possible.

"One of the simplest ways to increase your joyspan is to schedule joy into your diary," suggests Dr Conlon. "We carefully plan meetings, doctors’ appointments and gym sessions, yet many of us assume that joy will simply happen if we have time left over. More often than not, it does not. If spending time with friends, reading a good book, walking in nature or doing something creative makes you feel good, treat it as something worth protecting in your diary rather than something you will get around to one day."

2. Slow downand enjoy the small moments

Again, we get that this is so much easier said than done - so start small.

"Notice the small moments," says Dr Conlon. "Our brains are naturally wired to pay more attention to problems than pleasures, which means many joyful experiences pass us by unnoticed. Slowing down long enough to savour your morning coffee, appreciate the warmth of the sun, laugh during a conversation or notice the smell of freshly cut grass can have a powerful effect over time.

"Joy is rarely found in one big moment; it is usually built from hundreds of small ones."

3. Notice what drains you

Cultivating joy isn't just about allowing the good stuff in - it's also about learning to let go of what isn't serving you and your happiness.

"It's worth paying attention to what drains your energy," shares Dr Enayat. "Constantly checking emails, endlessly scrolling social media or always putting yourself last can slowly chip away at your wellbeing. Often, it's the small daily habits rather than the big life changes that have the greatest impact."

4. Connection is key

Book in that girls' night, pronto.

"Strong relationships are probably the biggest factor in creating more joy," shares Dr Enayat. "Spending time with people we care about has a huge impact on our wellbeing."

5. Rediscover play

Last but not least, try reconnecting with your inner child for a quick and instant joy boost.

"Finally, give yourself permission to play," suggests Dr Conlon. "Do things just for the sake of it. As children, we laugh, explore and play without feeling guilty, but as adults, many of us become so focused on being productive that we forget play has a purpose. Whether it is dancing in the kitchen, trying a new hobby, being creative or simply laughing until your sides hurt, playfulness is not a luxury or a sign of immaturity. It is one of the healthiest ways we can reconnect with ourselves and with the joy that already exists in everyday life."

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It may be 38 degrees outside, but in the beauty world, Christmas has officially arrived. Yes, like it or loathe it, beauty advent calendar season is already upon us, with some of the biggest names and retailers revealing their 2026 offerings months ahead of the festivities.

And, as ever, there’s a lot to sift through. This year’s calendars span everything from bumper edits packed with full-sized products to more specialist perfume, K-beauty and wellness offerings, with some claiming values of well over £1,000. So, which are actually worth knowing about? Below, we’re keeping track of the best beauty advent calendars of 2026 as they’re announced, including what’s inside, how much they cost and when you can get your hands on them.

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There is a tendency in summer to opt for the easiest outfit—brought on by chasing kids around, not quite fancying a faff in the heat, or simply being more focused on getting out and about than on what you're actually wearing. Denim shorts and a trusty tee, or a simple sundress and sandals, easily become a kind of uniform. But there is a bolder, far more fun pairing currently doing the rounds, and some of the best-dressed women on the internet are already big fans. Enter: the sarong and shirt.

Simple in its elements, yes—all you really need is a sarong (or pareo, or extra-large scarf of sorts) and any shirt of your choosing—to create an off-duty look that's both laid-back and loud. Accessories, shoes and bags can then come as you wish. Think a simple flip flop, sun hat and raffia bag for everyday wear. A strappy sandal, shell jewellery and clutch for alfresco dinners. Add a bikini and it will take you to the beach.

Though while the sarong dates back centuries in South and SouthEast Asia, it's popularity surged here in the UK in the 90s, with even David Beckham stepping out in a silk Jean Paul Gaultier style in 1998. A look that seemed to be on the Dries Van Noten Spring/Summer 26 menswear moodboard, as an impressive number of the silk wraparound skirts walked down the runway. A style that's equally trending, FYI.

So, yes, it's another 90s trend back yet again in the spotlight, but with the weather in the UK set to stay warm, it's no longer a look reserved solely for holiday. So go bold with your colour choices and play around with prints. Below, a handful of sarong and shirt options by way of inspiration.

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Summer can frazzle the most cool-headed among us—and not just because of sultry temperatures. Whether you're holding down the fort at the office while everyone's on annual leave (no handover notes included!) or managing school holidays, it can feel like the busiest, most breaking-point, time of year. None of these circumstances are conducive to making wardrobe decisions, which feel low-priority to say the least. Having said that, a put-together outfit might just make you forget the morning's drop-off and train delays with no WiFi, especially when they've been sourced from our favourite stylish mums and generally busy women on Instagram.

4 Stylish Throw-On Outfits for Busy Mums

A Printed Midi Dress

Practical doesn't need to be boring, as a simple printed midi dress can do so much heavy-lifting with the addition of choice accessories. . The below-the-knee length is perfect for constant bending over, picking up little ones or sitting down on the grass in the park and you can never go wrong with a pair of leather ballet flats—comfortable and polished in equal measure. Julia Kalmanovich's sleeveless checked shift feels like the perfect starting point for experimentation.

Bermuda Shorts

Bermudas combine the practicality of shorts with the sophistication of a trouser which can save you time getting changed in between the day if you have to go from the playground straight to a meeting. You can go for casual polish like Monikh Dale—the stylist swears by the comfortable long-sleeved tees from Leset—or tuck in a tuxedo-style white shirt if you're short for time at the end of the day and looking for a quick evening outfit.

Crisp White Trousers

White trousers might feel like something of a danger zone if you have children (or like sitting on park benches), but, similarly to a crisp white shirt, they can edge any outfit towards "put-together". Diana-May accessorised hers with a wide-brimmed straw hat, a striped mesh tote and supportive rubber flip-flops, which feels like the blueprint for how to style out a heatwave.

An Airy Co-Ord

It's a no-brainer why you should have a summer co-ord on standby; it's perfect for those days when you want to look "dressed" but can't quite summon the brain power if you're sleep-deprived. Hannah Allen's DÔEN set couldn't be a better example; just add your favourite flats, statement sunnies and you're good to go.

Sale season separates people into three camps. There are the ones who will spend hours scrolling, searching for the perfect piece to add to their wardrobe. Then there are those with wishlists at the ready, poised to check out in record time should the discount prove impressive enough. And then there's the crowd who haven't yet been won over by any serious sale, finding only dregs in strange shades and sizes. To you, I say no more—I'm determined to change your mind by revealing the gems hiding in the Reformation summer sale.

The key is not to be pulled in too far and buy things you won't actually wear. Instead, keep your current wardrobe in mind and start with the questions: what's missing? What have I been searching for the longest? And what do I truly love?

For the latter, I can lend a helping hand, having first-hand insight into what you, our Marie Claire readers, actually invest in from Reformation. The Hunter Stretch Mid Rise Wide Leg Jeans, the Cashmere Boyfriend Sweater and the Layla Knee Length Skirt are just three beloved pieces to have already been discounted—and I'll also be pointing out the sale pieces that more than deserve a place in your wardrobe. Scroll on for 11 key highlights from the Reformation summer sale.

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It was nearly a year ago that I first met Izzy Samuel. By met, I mean that I tuned into her sun-soaked studio from my living room, where I was all set to take on day one of her 25-day Pilates challenge. At the time, I had no idea what to expect. Her workouts had come highly recommended for being challenging, effective and efficient, but, wedded to my studio Reformer membership, my expectations remained relatively low.

It was to my surprise, then, that 25 days later, I’d fallen hard and fast for Pilates by Izzy. My body feeling sore but strong, I was blown away by how much muscle tone I’d built in just three and a half weeks. Aside from a short burst of social connection, I’d missed very little about going to the studio, and had saved myself more than £100 on membership fees and post-class coffees.

It’s why, nearly a year later, I’m still committed to my thrice-weekly YouTube classes with Izzy. From 15-minute express workouts to 55-minute studio-style sessions, there’s a huge catalogue of classes which have fitted seamlessly into my frequently chaotic schedule.

Ahead, everything I’ve discovered in my year of Pilates by Izzy and my all-time favourite classes for you to bookmark. Plus, a renowned Pilates instructor weighs in on what makes Samuel’s workouts so effective, and how to know if home Pilates is right for you.

If you’re looking to expand your Pilates practice, we’ve got guides to the best advanced Pilates moves, the best exercises for your core, and how to master the notoriously challenging Pilates Teaser. Plus, find out how Pilates compares to the trending Lagree method; a strength and postural workout which provides a serious burn.

Pilates by Izzy Blends Pilates with Strength—And I’m Completely Converted

What are Pilates by Izzy workouts?

We all know Pilates is good for us - studies frequently find evidence of its power to strengthen your core, balance, posture and functional mobility. But Izzy’s classes are a departure from the classical sequence, incorporating more contemporary and strength-based flows which you wouldn’t find in a traditional mat class.

“Izzy infuses Pilates with barre, strength, and functional fitness, which adds creativity and variety to her classes,” confirmed Pilates Instructor and Founder of Aether Spaces, Jo-Leigh Morris, when I spoke to her last year.

It’s this which makes her classes so popular, says Pilates Instructor, Eloise Skinner. “As Pilates has risen in popularity, many people have started to look for variations on the classical sequence. Izzy’s blend of strength, form, control and precision meets that need, with formats like her challenges, which inspire people to get involved.”

Samuel has an app, Strong by Izzy, with a library of over 300 workouts which you can access for £29.69 per month. So far though, I’ve managed a full year using her free YouTube classes alone, so I’d recommend starting there before investing.

Who are Pilates by Izzy workouts best for?

There’s no denying that Samuel’s classes are on the advanced side of home Pilates, which means you’ll want to build up some experience before trying them, especially because many of her classes incorporate weights.

“Safe use of weights depends on correct form, which is best to check in a studio environment first before progressing your practice at home,” confirms Skinner. “For those with a bit of experience and who want to get started with more challenging home workouts, I'd still recommend building up the intensity over time, and don't forget that cool-down and recovery routines still matter, even when you're not in the studio.”

As I’ve quickly discovered, Pilates by Izzy is great for anyone short on time or with an inconsistent schedule. “Home classes are more convenient, cheaper, easier to schedule around other commitments, better for those with additional responsibilities like childcare and enable you to work out in whatever you feel comfortable wearing without worrying about what others might think,” says Skinner. “They also allow you to repeat certain sections, personalise your practice and amend things like duration, equipment and intensity level to fit your current situation.”

Five Pilates by Izzy Workouts To Try This Month:

1. 15 minute deep core workout

What? An express class targeting the deep core muscles using the Pilates ball.

How long? 15 minutes.

2. 25 minute upper body Pilates workout

What? A deceptively challenging upper-body-focused workout using light hand weights.

How long? 25 minutes.

3. 30 minute glute workout

What? A glute-focused lower-body burn with plenty of bridging and side-lying.

How long? 30 minutes.

4. 40 minute full body Pilates workout

What? A signature Pilates by Izzy workout - plenty of core, lower and upper body moves to torch your whole body.

How long? 40 minutes.

5. 50 minute full body strength workout

What? A full-body strength workout using light handweights, targeting the glutes, core and upper body.

How long? 50 minutes.

I Gave Up My Studio Pilates Classes for Pilates by Izzy—Now I’m Stronger Than Ever

Months one to six

Having completed the 25-day challenge last September, I toyed with the idea of returning to the studio. But looking at the positive change to my bank balance and my ever-shifting calendar, I came to the conclusion that my new home set-up suited me too well to give up. Plus, I had a whole library of Samuel’s classes to explore (at the time of writing, she has 118 videos on her channel).

At first, I really was obsessed, and would do Izzy’s classes five to six times a week. Some days, it was just a 15-minute express session tagged onto the end of a morning walk or jog, and other days it was a longer 40-minute class that formed the entirety of my exercise for that day.

My favourites, though, were the 25-30 minute classes. Short enough to be manageable whatever your mood or level of motivation, but providing a burn over and above what you’d expect for their length, I found that they’d often provide a gateway into movement. It plays into that whole ‘just do it for five minutes’ theory. I’d start the class feeling sluggish and by the end would be clicking ‘watch next’ raring for more.

In those first few months, the classes would frequently push me to my limit, even as someone who’d been going to studio classes for years. This was particularly the case in the upper body sessions, where the pulses and progressions seemed to verge on endless. Often I’d modify or pause the video to give my muscles a break - something I’d encourage as you build up to Samuel’s intensity.

Months six to twelve

By six months of consistent Pilates by Izzy, I’d noticed huge changes to my strength. I could handle pretty much any progression she threw at me (not without complaint, mind you), and hardly ever needed to pause the video or drop the weights.

I was aware, however, that I’d become a bit reliant on home Pilates classes and had begun to neglect lifting at the gym and, to an extent, cardio. Conscious of the need to lift heavy to protect my bone health and muscle mass, and to keep up the cardio for long-term heart health, I did reduce my Pilates by Izzy sessions to three days a week, with the now spare days dedicated to the gym and a weekly swim.

Since then, I’ve found the combination to be my sweet spot: weekly Pilates, running, swimming and weights serve me really well. I feel strong, fit, energised and, importantly, I’m rarely bored of movement. Involving a social element through the gym and running has also given me back the crucial connective element of exercise which I’d started to miss since leaving the studio, without the same price tag as Reformer classes. Occasionally, I still book a one-off class - if you enjoy it, there’s absolutely no harm - but from a body composition and strength perspective, I’m wholeheartedly convinced that Pilates by Izzy is as good as anything I’ve done in the studio.

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What does it take for a beauty product to survive a marathon, a three-set tennis match or several hours competing beneath stadium lights?

The least interesting thing about the world’s most talented female athletes is what sits inside their make-up bags. Their strength, skill and extraordinary careers are, quite obviously, the story. Still, in the name of rigorous beauty journalism, we do need to know which setting spray they are using.

Because while most of us judge a long-wear product by whether it survives a crowded commute or an overheated office, elite athletes subject theirs to an altogether more convincing stress test. Their skincare, make-up and hair products need to withstand sweat, rain, humidity, sun exposure, international travel and long days of training and competition - without stinging their eyes, clogging their skin or requiring constant touch-ups.

So, I asked world-renowned athletes across a range of sports to share the formulas they genuinely rely on. From mascaras that stay put through perspiration and SPF that will not run into the eyes, to recovery skincare, slicked-back hair essentials and the beauty hacks picked up over years of competing, these are the products that have earned their place in some of sport’s hardest-working kit bags.

Keep reading to find out which athlete-approved beauty tricks are worth borrowing, whether you are heading towards a finish line or simply trying to make your make-up last through a hot day.

Ahead, the world's elite female athletes' tried-and-tested beauty products...

Morgan Lake - Team GB high jumper

Three-time Olympian Morgan Lake has spent more than a decade competing at the highest level of international athletics. The British high-jump record-holder became the first British woman since 1992 to reach an Olympic high-jump final at Rio 2016, before representing Team GB again at Tokyo and Paris. With outdoor competitions often involving hours of sun exposure, repeated warm-ups and the pressure of staying focused between jumps, Lake relies on lightweight products that protect her skin without feeling heavy or restrictive.

Makeup: Lake’s competition essentials include Glossier Futuredew for a luminous base, L’Oréal Paris Telescopic Mascara, REFY Brow Sculpt and REFY Cream Blush.

Skincare: “When I’m training or competing outside in the sun for hours, a good SPF is a must,” she says.. After training, she uses Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel, followed by Dr.Jart+ toner and moisturiser.

Hair: Lake’s training staple is Umberto Giannini Slick Back Styling Gel, which she uses for her signature bun or ponytail. Enriched with rosemary and castor oil, it is “the first slick-back gel I’ve found that protects my hair” without leaving it overly stiff. After wearing braids, she removes product build-up with Cécred Clarifying Shampoo & Scalp Scrub, followed by an Aveda conditioner.

Best beauty hack: "Spraying makeup fixing spray on my slick back hair helps it stay in for longer."

Holly Aitchinson - England Rugby Union Player

England fly-half Holly Aitchison is a key playmaker for the Red Roses, known for her composure, precision and versatility across the backline. With long training days, high-intensity matches and unpredictable weather conditions, Aitchison relies on a beauty routine that works as hard as she does.

Makeup: Her full game-day base includes Clarins Double Serum Foundation, Kosas Concealer and Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Bronzing Cream. She layers Rhode Pocket Blush beneath YSL Make Me Blush for extra staying power, while REFY Lip Sculpt in Rosewood and ILIA Lip Sketch Hydrating Crayon in Overglaze add colour. For brows, she uses Maybelline Brow Ultra Slim Defining Pencil followed by L’Oréal Paris Infallible 24H Brow Lamination Gel. Waterproof Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara completes the look, before Urban Decay All Nighter Vitamin C Setting Spray - “This is the key,” she says.

Skincare: Hydration is essential for Aitchison, who always prepares her skin with Neutrogena Hydro Boost moisturiser. After a match, she reaches for The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser to remove “dirt, mud, sweat” and every trace of make-up, before reapplying Hydro Boost. “It is instant,” she says. “I adore it.”

Hair: On match mornings, Aitchison creates a slicked-back bubble ponytail using got2b hairspray and a slick stick. She even coordinates the hair ties with her kit, or, when she is less fond of the colour, with her boots instead.

Best beauty hack: Take it from Aitchison, Fenty Beauty Soft'Lit Naturally Luminous Longwear Foundation "does not move”. As for makeup, she says: :If you want it to stay, the base is as important, so for me as a super dry girlie, I’m layering the moisturiser and the vitamin C in my setting spray is key for me. If I want it to last, I top with a powder, but with a light hand."

Eilish McColgan, Team GB long-distance runner

Four-time Olympian Eilish McColgan is accustomed to training and competing in conditions that place both her body and beauty routine under considerable pressure. From altitude camps in France to long runs in Dubai’s heat, the Commonwealth 10,000m champion needs products that remain effective through hours outdoors without adding unnecessary fuss to an already demanding schedule.

Make-up: On race day, McColgan relies on e.l.f. Power Grip Primer and e.l.f. Brown Laminating Gel, followed by Rimmel London Scandal’Eyes Exaggerate Liquid Eyeliner and Sephora Cream Lip Stain. “None of them seems to budge, no matter how hot or sweaty things get,” she says. She finishes with Carex SPF lip balm, adding that protecting her skin is “just as important as looking after the rest of my body”.

Skincare: Pelotan SPF30 is her outdoor-training non-negotiable. “It has never let me down, even during long runs in extreme heat,” she says, while the brand’s aftersun helps soothe her skin afterwards. For post-race recovery, she uses Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask before bed and Neom Perfect Night’s Sleep Mist to unwind. McColgan, who is a Revive Active ambassador, also incorporates its Joint Complex supplement into her broader recovery routine to support her joints and muscles after the repetitive impact of running.

Hair: Because she trains daily—and sometimes twice a day—Batiste Dry Shampoo helps McColgan avoid washing her hair after every session.

Best beauty hack: "I love wearing Mylee Gel Nail Wraps on race day. I collaborated with them to create my own tartan design - I love having a bit of home with me wherever I am in the world."

Chantelle Cameron - Professional Boxer

Professional boxer Chantelle Cameron is one of Britain’s most accomplished fighters, having made history as the undisputed super-lightweight world champion and successfully defending her titles on the global stage. A demanding training schedule means her beauty routine has to work just as hard as she does. So, what's in her kit?

Makeup: Cameron uses Maybelline Grippy Serum primer beneath Max Factor Facefinity foundation. “It keeps my make-up in place even through long days and plenty of movement,” she says, adding that she prefers a natural finish that “lasts all day without feeling heavy” or clogging her pores.

Skincare: Her biggest non-negotiable is Garnier Ambre Solaire Super UV Over Makeup Mist SPF50+. “Whether I’m training outdoors or travelling for fights, SPF is non-negotiable,” she says. She particularly rates the lightweight texture and the fact it “doesn’t sting my eyes when I sweat”.

Hair: Cameron uses Batiste dry shampoo to refresh her roots between training sessions.

Best beauty hack: "One of the biggest lessons I've learnt is that great skin starts with preparation, not covering things up. If your skin is well hydrated and you've applied your skincare in thin, well-absorbed layers, before using primer, your make-up will hold up much better under heat and sweat than if you pile on extra products."

Lucy Procter, Elite HYROX competitor

Red Bull athlete Lucy Procter recently secured silver alongside Sinéad Bent at the HYROX Elite Doubles World Championships in Stockholm, less than 24 hours after competing in the Elite 15 Singles final. Her competition-day beauty routine is deliberately light, but still leaves room for plenty of sparkle.

Make-up: Procter begins with bareMinerals tinted moisturiser and Clinique powder, avoiding anything heavy that might feel uncomfortable while racing. Her “absolute holy grail” is Benefit BADgal BANG! Waterproof Mascara. “I’ve been using it for years and it does not budge,” she says. Benefit High Beam adds a bright, luminous finish, while a touch of hair glitter helps her “smile and sparkle” on the competition floor.

Skincare: After racing, she reaches for Garnier Micellar Water with Oil to remove make-up and sweat “quickly and easily”. She follows it with Malin + Goetz shower gel and its Peppermint Shampoo to leave her hair and skin feeling fresh.

Hair: got2b Glued Hairspray keeps Procter’s favourite race-day hairstyle firmly in place. She says the hold can last for two or even three consecutive competition days when needed.

Best beauty tip: "Invest in a genuinely waterproof mascara," she says. Procter is frequently asked how hers stays intact throughout competition, and her answer is always Benefit BADgal BANG!: “It absolutely doesn’t move.”

Molly Caudery, Team GB pole vaulter

Team GB pole vaulter and Red Bull athlete Molly Caudery is used to competitions lasting more than four hours. The two-time world indoor champion and British record-holder treats her full competition-day make-up as part of her preparation, subscribing firmly to the idea that when she looks good, she feels good.

Make-up: Caudery’s trusted trio is Armani Luminous Silk Foundation, Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder and Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray. “I can be wearing my make-up for 12-plus hours, sweating all day, and still feel like it looks just as good at the end of the night,” she says. She applies the setting spray both before and after her make-up, and subtly coordinates her eyeshadow and hairbands with her competition kit.

Skincare: SPF50 is her everyday non-negotiable and always sits beneath her make-up. Afterwards, Caudery double-cleanses with CeraVe Foaming Cleanser to remove every trace of make-up, sweat and sunscreen, before applying a Dermalogica moisturiser morning and night.

Hair: Her signature pigtails are quick, secure and have become part of her recognisable competition look. Once home, she immediately washes out the hairspray and styling product with either Olaplex or Kérastase haircare.

Best beauty hack: Caudery layers setting spray between stages of her make-up rather than reserving it for the end. She also recommends blending foundation for far longer than feels necessary: “Even when you think it’s fully blended, keep blending.”

Jazmin Sawyers - Team GB long jumper

Two-time Olympian Jazmin Sawyers is one of Britain’s most accomplished long jumpers. She won European Championship silver in 2016 before claiming her first major senior title at the 2023 European Indoor Championships, where she produced a British-record seven-metre jump to take gold. For an athlete whose competition days involve speed, sweat, and sunshine, getting ready is more than cosmetic. Sawyers calls it “the warm-up for the warm-up”, a carefully timed ritual involving music, make-up and a pre-competition double espresso.

Make-up: “It doesn’t matter how much sand or sweat my face gets covered in, my brows still look good,” she says of REFY Brow Sculpt. On competition days, she wears Pat McGrath Labs Sublime Perfection Foundation, Fenty Skin Hydrating + Strengthening Lip Oil and The Body Shop Sheer Touch Lip and Cheek Tint, often adding colourful mascara or Kaleidos eyeliner to match her kit.

Skincare: Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen is her active-day SPF of choice because of its weightless texture, while Olay Regenerist Whip and Pat McGrath Divine Skin: Rose 001 The Essence prep her complexion. After training, she double-cleanses with CeraVe Hydrating Foaming Oil Cleanser and Hydrating Cleanser, before applying La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume when her skin needs extra support.

Hair: Sawyers uses KeraCare Styling Wax Stick to smooth ponytails, buns and edges. After years of colouring and restyling her curls, she now relies on Fenty Hair The Comeback Kid Bond Builder, which she credits with helping her retain length and achieve healthier curls.

Best beauty hack: "The Pat McGrath Divine Skin Rose 001 Essense is my unexpected champion. With or without makeup, you only need a few drops, so it lasts for an eternity, but it somehow always keeps me on the right side of the glowy vs sweaty line, and even at full exertion my skin looks great when I’m wearing this!"

Sadia Kabeya MBE - England Rugby Union Player

England flanker Sadia Kabeya MBE has established herself as one of the leading players in women’s rugby. Still only in her early twenties, she has already won four Six Nations titles, represented England at two World Cups and played an important role in the Red Roses’ victorious 2025 campaign. On match day, her beauty routine is similarly performance-focused.

Make-up: Kabeya pairs MAC Studio Radiance Moisturizing + Illuminating Silky Primer with ONE/SIZE On ’Til Dawn Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray to create “a base and finish that keep my make-up on through games and training”. She completes her long-wear routine with the Fyne Strokes Brow Pen, which keeps her eyebrows “slick all day”.

Skincare: After training, Kabeya reaches for Clinique All About Clean 2-in-1 Cleansing + Exfoliating Jelly.

Hair: Before a game, Kabeya lays her edges with Kaniz Wonder Edge Citrus, followed by Cantu Shea Butter Wave Whip Curling Mousse. She sets everything beneath a headscarf to achieve a freshly styled finish that lasts.

Best beauty hack: "The best beauty hack I’ve learnt as a girl with curly hair is to wear my satin lined scrum cap by Gilbert, to keep my hair protected, neat and moisturised during a rugby game. Saves me and hassle later!"

The Athlete-Approved Rules of Long-Wear Beauty Products We're Taking Note Of

1. SPF is the most important

It is no surprise that SPF emerged as a non-negotiable for so many of the athletes. When training outdoors for hours, sun protection matters, but so does finding a formula that remains comfortable once heat and sweat enter the equation.

“Daily SPF is non-negotiable, but texture matters,” says MUA Chaliya. “Lightweight mineral or hybrid formulas often sit beautifully under make-up because they absorb excess shine and are less likely to feel heavy in hot weather.”

Dr Memee Ahmad of SkinCouture Clinic also emphasises the importance of choosing the right products. She recommends layering lightweight hydration underneath SPF, explaining that “heat and sweat increase water loss through the day”, and that keeping skin balanced can help sunscreen sit more comfortably and perform better during exercise. Noted.

2. A setting spray is non-negotiable

Setting spray emerged as another competition-day essential, with several athletes relying on it to keep makeup intact through heat, sweat and long hours. “A good setting spray isn’t just for weddings or special occasions,” says Chaliya. “If you’re commuting, travelling or spending time outdoors, it can significantly extend the wear of your makeup.” Rather than simply sealing everything beneath a rigid layer, she explains, it helps “all the layers work together”.

Application still matters, however: Chaliya recommends a hydrated base and thin layers, as “lighter layers almost always outperform heavy coverage” when temperatures rise.

3. Waterproof and tubing formulas last longer

It makes sense that waterproof mascara, eyeliner and strong-hold brow products appeared repeatedly in the athletes’ competition kits. These formulas are designed to cope with the moisture that causes traditional make-up to smudge, flake or run. “Waterproof mascara and eyeliner are always worth choosing, as they’ll withstand heat, humidity and perspiration far better than regular formulas,” adds MUA and Waldor Clinic manager Hedi Rad.

Tubing mascara works slightly differently, but still worth adding to your makeup kit if you're particularly active. “Tubing mascaras wrap each lash in tiny water-resistant polymers rather than relying on waxes alone,” explains MUA artist Chaliya, helping them resist sweat and watery eyes while still removing easily with warm water.

Hands up, who can spell Havaianas without looking? If you’d asked me two years ago, there would have been far fewer a’s and a couple of extra i’s in my answer. But now? When I can’t walk down the high street, through the supermarket or into my nan’s house without seeing the rubber flip flop in every iteration of shade, I could probably spell it backwards.

The brand’s relentless staying power, despite now being 64 years old, is truly something to marvel at. If you can tell me another non-luxury label, aside from Levi’s, that has done the same with just one product, my inbox is open. So, we have to ask: what keeps them on top?

Just last week, at Copenhagen Fashion Week, the brand debuted a brand-new design, and a rather daring one at that: the Havaianas kitten heel. Picture an enclosed big toe but open other toes, and a kitten heel in a swathe of shades—white, lime green and black—spotted on key influencers across the event and on the Studio Constance runway. And with thousands of likes and comments across Instagram, they’ve clearly hit the mark.

Though not everyone's a fan. With such a divisive shape, the debate about whether they're actually wearable (or beautiful) is raging. And there’s one key catch: they aren’t actually available to buy yet. Sorry.

If you’re now thinking, but Havaianas only just collabed with Isabel Marant on a capsule summer collection? You’d be quite right. The coveted collection launched towards the end of May, spanning four flip flop designs that swiftly sold out and commanded many a fashion fan’s conversation in the process. And just before that, a Zara collab, with three slightly platform flip flops taking centre stage.

Then there was the House of Havaianas Hackney takeover on the 11th of July, bringing their Rio de Janeiro flair to East London with DJs, cocktails and, of course, flip flops. And, on top of that, there’s been no shortage of celebrity sightings in the favourite flip flops: Dua Lipa, Jennifer Aniston, Olivia Rodrigo and many more. Whether they’re paid placements or paying customers of the brand, we’ll probably never know, although I imagine it to be a mix of the two.

And, take a breath, that was in just one summer—and the season’s not yet over. The Havaianas marketing team are clearly working double time. Though this multifaceted marketing approach is far from new for the brand.

In 1999, the Brazilian sandal brand featured in Jean Paul Gaultier’s runway show, launching it into the fashion space. Then came collaborations with streetwear label A Bathing Ape, Farm Rio, Manolo Blahnik via Naomi Campbell, Gigi Hadid Saint Laurent and even computer game Minecraft and many more, aligning the label with often even bigger brands.

You see, Havaianas have a knack for always staying relevant, tapping into culturally relevant names and labels to reach new customer segments without ever straying too far from the original design. The core collection shifts only slightly to adapt to modern trends—just take a look at the square-toe design—all the while keeping the price of a pair of flip flops competitive enough to rival any high street store. Though my mum regularly likes to let me know she used to snap them up for less than £3.

So, there you have it: a great product and a forward-thinking marketing machine have gone a long way towards keeping Havaianas at the head of the flip flop game. Here’s to seeing whether the new kitten heel design, possibly the most daring yet, stands them in even better stead.

And if you already knew “Havaianas” means “Hawaiians” in Portuguese, chosen by the brand to evoke the feeling of an endless summer on the islands, hats off—you’re a true Havaianas mega-fan.

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I first met Bryony Deery a few months ago, at a lululemon event where she hosted a mat-based classical Pilates workout for 450 attendees. She was clear with her instructions, concise in her encouragement, and effortlessly charming in the way she guided the room while I was fighting for my life. It was one of the spiciest workouts I'd done in a while, and I'm a Health Editor who works out for a living.

A classical Pilates instructor who's built her empire around the premise of helping women feel strong, Deery is so much more than "just" a Pilates instructor. She's the founder of Pilates By Bryony, a Dior Beauty Global Wellness Expert, and author of the revered Notes To Self Substack, as well as the co-founder of Cloudcha Matcha.

At the end of last year, she gave birth to her first child, an experience that, when we chat, she shares she felt well prepared thanks to her Pilates background. But nothing, she openly admits, could have prepared her for the physical and emotional transformation of becoming a mother.

Deery is candid and open, sharing her lived experience and how her own birth experience unfolded in ways she couldn't have prepared for. Like so many women before her, she had to navigate the messy, often confusing terrain of postpartum recovery—where joy sits alongside grief, exhaustion and uncertainty, and where healing is front and centre of mind, but far from linear.

Now, seven months postpartum, Deery is purposely forging her own path—prioritising softness, self-compassion, and coming back to herself, while enjoying all of the joys that new motherhood brings over the outdated notion of "bouncing back."

Below, she shares her birth story, the lessons she's learnt in the last year, and why redefining what strength really means after birth is so critical.

My Honest Birth Preparation and Postpartum Recovery

I've spent my career teaching movement and structure through Pilates, and in some ways, that expertise shaped how I approached preparing my body for birth.

I felt so lucky approaching the birth of our daughter, because there aren't many things that ask you to tune into your body quite like preparing for labour.

Pilates had already given me that. More than anything, it gives you a mind and body connection that lets you really know when you can challenge yourself and when your body needs to rest, which becomes invaluable in pregnancy when everything is changing week to week.

Physically, it prepared me in all the ways that are key for birth: the mobility to stay open and comfortable as my body changed, the strength to carry the bump as well as possible, the core and pelvic floor awareness you rely on so heavily during labour, and the controlled breathing that honestly was one of the biggest things during labour. The method I teach is classical and low-impact; I could keep going for as long as it felt right, adapting as I went rather than stopping and starting.

But the benefits aren't only physical. Pilates was the only time when I found my calm, centred myself, got into the zone and really learned to believe in the power of the female body.

So much of pregnancy is spent preparing for the baby, and we forget that we're the ones who have to go through the birth and recover afterwards. For me, Pilates was how I prepared myself and the more you invest in yourself during pregnancy, the more prepared you feel when your baby arrives, and you're more depleted than you've ever been.

If I could recommend one thing to other expectant mums, it would be to find a practice that strengthens your body and quietens your mind in equal measure. Preparing yourself is preparing for your baby too.

Preparing both body and mind

My birth preparation was a mix of physical and mental.

Physically, I kept my body moving in a way that felt supportive rather than strenuous. I carried on with my Pilates, adapting as I went. I filmed our prenatal workouts in real time while I was pregnant, so the sessions on the app are the exact ones I was doing myself right through those months. I also added lots of walking, good rest and really nourishing food, because I wanted to go into birth feeling strong and looked after rather than depleted. In the final weeks I also used an EPI-NO, a device that helps you gently prepare and train the pelvic floor and perineum for birth. It also really helped me to visualise the birth itself and practise my breathwork.

Mentally was just as important to me, if not more. I spent a lot of time getting into the right headspace and protecting my mindset, and I chose not to fill my head with other people's birth stories. The biggest thing I did was listen to positive affirmations, over and over, until believing in my body felt completely natural. By the time I went into labour, I had my headphones in and those affirmations playing, and they genuinely carried me through.

I can't recommend preparing your mind as seriously as you prepare your body enough. Find the affirmations, the breathing and the calm that work for you, and practise them long before the day so they're already in your system when you need them. The physical preparation matters enormously, but feeling calm and truly believing in yourself is what you'll lean on a lot too, alongside small, practical things like the EPI-NO that genuinely make a difference.

A calm mind and body will carry you through the unexpected

The birth itself I felt so ready for, but what I hadn't expected or prepared for came 24 hours after having Elle. I had a large blood clot, and having it removed was worse than labour. It was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. No amount of understanding the female body, workouts, or visualisation can prepare you for a pain like that.

My doctor removed it by hand as I didn't want to go through an operation. I had gas and air and put my headphones in, listened to Louise Hay affirmations and reminded myself that my body knew what it was doing and that I could trust my amazing doctor, Claire Mellon.

It taught me that you can prepare so thoroughly and still be handed something you never saw coming, and that your calm mind and your body will carry you further than you ever think they can.

Gently rebuilding

In those first few weeks postpartum, I really had to listen to my new body rather than stick to my usual routine. Movement is such a huge part of who I am, so of course I craved it, but I also knew this was a time to rebuild gently rather than pick up where I'd left off. I started modifying and slowly building my core back up; at first it was just breathwork and small activations, as the body needs time to reconnect and get strong again.

Within a couple of weeks, I was moving in a really gentle, considered way. I would always recommend that people typically wait between 6 and 8 weeks depending on their delivery, but I was lucky - I've been teaching for so long and had a very easy delivery, so I was able to very slowly start to introduce movement early on.

It felt so good not because I was “getting back” to anything, but because movement has always been how I feel like myself. It's become much more of a mental thing for me, and I am hearing that it's the same for so many of our members.

Preparation for the baby as well as recovery of the mother

One thing nobody told me about postpartum recovery is how depleted you feel, and how much of it isn't purely physical. You expect to be tired, but no one really prepares you for the way your hormones are completely all over the place at the same time as you're caring for this tiny human who needs you constantly.

Even in the wellness world, we talk so much about preparing for the baby and so little about the recovery of the mother. I wish someone had told me that looking after yourself in those early weeks isn't selfish; it's essential, and that giving yourself even thirty minutes in the day to move, breathe or just something for me still is part of the recovery, not a luxury on top of it.

Your body has done the most extraordinary thing. It deserves to be looked after just as carefully as your baby is. The hormonal side of pregnancy and postpartum really surprised me; it's really important to ask for help from family, doctors and friends when you feel you need it or something is off.

Rest and stillness

Rest and stillness played a much bigger role in my recovery than I expected, and it was probably the hardest lesson for me. My whole life is built around movement, structure and showing up every day, so learning to be still and let my body simply recover didn't come naturally at all.

But rest is where so much of the healing actually happens, and in those early weeks it truly was the work, resisting the urge to prove I was fine, and instead allowing myself to slow down. I came to see stillness not as doing nothing, but as another form of looking after myself, just as important as any workout. Choosing to rest was its own kind of discipline.

Understanding movement in a new light

Motherhood has completely changed the way I teach and think about Pilates and movement for other women, and I think for the better.

Before, I taught pre- and postnatal movement from everything I'd studied and knew was right, but now I teach it from having actually lived it. I understand the exhaustion, the small windows of time a new mum really has, and why the reconnection has to come before anything else.

I'm gentler with it now in terms of how much pressure we put on ourselves as women and our limited time, and I give women so much more permission to go slowly and to meet their bodies where they are, rather than rushing towards where they think they should be.

Having Elle made it so real for me in a way no training ever could, and I think the women I work with can feel that difference. It's no longer theory to me; it's something I've been through myself.

My top piece of advice?

If I could go back and give myself one piece of advice before giving birth, it'd be to trust my body and let go of trying to control every part of it. I'm someone who likes to prepare and plan, and birth is the one thing that asks you to surrender to it completely. I'd tell myself that all the preparation was done, that my body already knew what to do, and that I could simply trust it and let it lead.

I'd also remind myself to be just as gentle with the recovery afterwards as I was diligent with the preparation before because that part matters just as much. I would also tell myself to soak up every little self-care moment for myself as much as possible.

"Bouncing back"

I've never really loved the idea of “getting your body back,” because it suggests the body you had before was the one you were meant to keep, and that pregnancy is something to undo. I think of it far more as rebuilding — gently, and in the right order, into a body that's actually stronger and more capable than before. Having my daughter deepened that completely. I understood it as a teacher, but living it made it real: feeling how much the body has to reconnect and rebuild from the inside out, and how well it does when you give it time and consistency rather than pressure. You're not going backwards. You're building something new, and that feels like a far kinder and more powerful way to look at your body after birth. Equally, I do really understand it because we want to feel good and ourselves again. I reframed it to wanting to be the strongest I have ever felt and gave myself that goal.

I feel quite conflicted about the phrase “bounce back." On one hand, I completely understand the message that you don't bounce back, because you're a new person now and it's not realistic to expect your body to simply return to how it was. But at the same time, I don't think a woman should feel guilty for wanting to feel strong or like herself again, because having physical goals that make you feel confident is more than okay too.

There's no single right way to do this. Whatever feels right for you is the answer, and everything else is just noise you can quieten. My whole approach has always been about strength and confidence built gently and consistently over time, never quick fixes or pressure, and that's even more true after birth.

Give yourself grace, move in a way that makes you feel good, and do it entirely in your own time. There's enough pressure on women already, especially now, without us adding to it ourselves.

Botox has been a regular part of my beauty routine for the best part of a decade now. A few units for my genetically prominent frown muscles, a couple to freeze my forehead (I like the poker-faced look) and, not forgetting, a generous helping in my masseters to help with teeth grinding. But over the years, it feels as though the effects have started wearing off faster. Whereas I once waited the best part of a year to notice significant movement returning, I’m now scrabbling to book my next appointment after just a few months. Could I be becoming increasingly tolerant to Botox? And, if so, could it eventually stop working altogether?

I’m not the only one noticing this. Reddit is awash with users claiming the effects of Botox—or, more accurately, botulinum toxin—now last just two months, while others report that it has stopped working altogether after years of successful treatment. So, what’s going on? Has the formula itself changed? Are practitioners injecting less liberally than they did a decade ago? Have our expectations simply surpassed Botox’s performance parameters? Or could some of us actually be developing resistance to it? I called upon the experts to explain.

Is Botox resistance actually a thing?

First things first: yes, technically, it is possible to become resistant to botulinum toxin—but actual resistance is far less common than the conversations online might have you believe.

“True resistance to botulinum toxin is a recognised phenomenon, but it is much rarer than social media might suggest,” says Dr Ahmed El Muntasar, NHS GP, aesthetic doctor and founder of The Aesthetics Doctor. In some cases, he explains, the immune system can develop neutralising antibodies against botulinum toxin, which can reduce—or even prevent—its effects.

Dr Vishnu Nathan, aesthetics doctor at the Taktouk Clinic, agrees, describing true toxin resistance as “relatively uncommon in aesthetic medicine”. Instead, he says, what is sometimes labelled resistance may actually be “pseudo-resistance”, caused by factors such as underdosing, suboptimal placement, compensatory muscle recruitment or unrealistic expectations.

That means if your usual Botox suddenly doesn’t seem to be doing quite as much as it once did, antibody resistance probably shouldn’t be your first assumption. As Dr Ahmed explains, differences in dose, injection technique and placement, particularly strong muscles and even the toxin formulation being used can all influence the result.

There is also an important distinction between Botox genuinely no longer working and simply not lasting as long as you remember it lasting. “In my experience, complete loss of response is uncommon,” says Dr Ahmed. “What I see much more frequently is patients feeling that their treatment isn’t lasting as long as it used to.”

The key is what you mean by not working. If you see little or no reduction in movement after treatment, that is very different from getting a good initial result and noticing movement creeping back in a few months later. Botox isn’t designed to permanently switch off a muscle; its effects gradually wear off as communication between the nerve and muscle recovers. Movement returning after a few months is therefore normal and doesn’t, in itself, mean you’ve developed resistance.

Does the way Botox is injected affect how long it lasts?

Yes, according to both doctors, this can matter enormously. Botox is the product going into the syringe, but dose, placement and treatment frequency all contribute to the final result.

“The dose, the muscles selected, the exact placement and the patient’s individual anatomy can all influence both the quality and longevity of the result,” says Dr Ahmed. Someone with particularly strong facial muscles, for example, may require a different dose from someone with relatively little movement.

Dr Nathan agrees that technique plays a major role, pointing to injection depth, muscle selection, product handling and treatment intervals alongside dose and placement.

More toxin isn’t necessarily better, either. Both doctors caution against repeatedly topping up at very short intervals. Dr Nathan says frequent top-ups and unnecessarily aggressive dosing may increase immunogenic risk, while Dr Ahmed says unnecessary exposure to higher cumulative doses and very frequent treatments is generally something practitioners try to avoid.

Dr Nathan also raises a potential issue within unregulated practice: inappropriate treatment intervals and, in some cases, the use of unlicensed or potentially more immunogenic toxins, which he says may theoretically increase the risk of treatment failure over time.

All of which is why your Botox prescription arguably shouldn't remain exactly the same forever. “I don’t believe Botox should be approached as a fixed prescription where exactly the same number of units are injected into exactly the same places indefinitely,” says Dr Ahmed.

Could your face be changing instead?

Resistance isn’t the only reason Botox can seem less effective over time. Our faces aren’t static, and after a decade of treatment, changes in muscle movement, skin quality and facial structure can all alter both how Botox works and, importantly, how we perceive the results.

“Generally, repeatedly treating the same muscle tends to reduce its activity rather than make it stronger,” explains Dr Ahmed. In some people, results can actually last well because that muscle becomes less dominant over time.

What can change, however, is the way the rest of your face moves. Both doctors point out that when movement is reduced in one area, we can begin recruiting surrounding or untreated muscles differently to compensate. “The face is incredibly dynamic,” says Dr Ahmed. What looks like Botox becoming less effective may therefore actually be a change in the balance of movement across your face.

What should you do if your Botox starts wearing off faster?

It's tempting to book an emergency top-up at the first signs of movement (at least, it is for me), but both doctors give essentially the same advice: reassess before injecting more.

“The first thing I would do is re-examine rather than automatically inject more,” says Dr Ahmed. That means looking at how quickly the treatment started working, how good the initial response was, which areas are moving again, the previous dose and how frequently you've been treated.

If you had an excellent initial response that simply wore off earlier than expected, adjusting the dose or placement next time may be enough to make it last sufficiently. If there has been very little response despite appropriate treatment, however, then it may be reasonable to consider other explanations, including reduced responsiveness.

Sometimes changing the treatment strategy or considering a different botulinum toxin formulation may be appropriate. For people who have been having particularly frequent treatments, Dr Ahmed says allowing a longer interval before treating again may also be worth considering.

Dr Nathan similarly advocates for a more flexible approach rather than simply escalating the amount of toxin, assessing everything from muscle activity and facial balance to skin quality and structural ageing to work out what has actually changed.

Ultimately, though, the takeaway isn't that anyone who has been having Botox for years is destined to become immune to it. “Genuine resistance exists, but it is relatively uncommon,” says Dr Ahmed. “If something has changed, the most important thing is to work out why rather than simply chasing the result with more and more toxin.”

This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice - always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before treatment decisions.

Welcome to What Lily Loves, a personal edit of the pieces, places, and ideas currently inspiring me. Think of it as your insider guide to what’s shaping my wardrobe and daily rituals. From standout finds and under-the-radar designers to shopping destinations, cultural hotspots—from restaurants and theatres to podcasts—here are the latest discoveries I’m loving.

The Designer Drop

Prada

Heading back to work after the summer holidays can be a struggle, but I always find that making a few select additions to my work wardrobe puts a spring in my step. It’s rare to be scrolling and stumble upon a handbag that is both beautiful and practical, but just this week, while scrolling through Mytheresa's new in page, I came across the Prada Boogie bag. Its roomy shape is perfect for in-the-office days that require carrying my laptop around central London, along with all my other handbag essentials, while the wider shoulder strap makes it comfortable to carry. Throw in the signature Prada distressed leather finish, and I’m sold.

Spotlight On

Every Day Earrings That Aren't Boring

Over the years, not just through my love of accessorising but also after nearly a decade of styling fashion shoots, I have accumulated quite a collection of jewellery. From earrings to statement necklaces, rings… you name it. If there’s a style or colour you need, I have it. A few weeks ago, I was tidying up my jewellery and I was excited to show my daughter, now seven, my collection and tell her that one day she could share it all with me. But her reaction wasn’t quite what I expected. Instead of jumping with excitement, her words were: “Mamma, why do you need so much jewellery?!” All of this to communicate how vast my jewellery collection is.

I’m quite a magpie and love to pick up unique pieces of jewellery on my travels. Whilst they are usually bold and vibrant, there is another side to my jewellery box: I always have a concise selection of everyday statement earrings. Substantial enough to be seen and to complement an outfit, they are equally styles that are timeless enough to go with a multitude of outfits and can be picked up as I get ready for work without much thought. If you’ve ever felt your everyday outfits were missing something, just add a pair of these.

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New In This Week

Massimo Dutti

Massimo Dutti has long been my go-to for designer-inspired pieces on the High Street without compromising on quality. My particular favourite is the brand's selection of leather bags and shoes. I've found quite a shift in the quality of leather accessories on the High Street over the last couple of years, but Massimo Dutti continues to deliver. If you have The Row or Celine taste but are on a slightly more limited budget, then bookmark the Massimo Dutti New In page, because, in case you missed the latest Lyst Index results, Massimo Dutti came out on top alongside designer brands such as Chanel and Miu Miu.

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On My Radar

The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon

From September 21 September 2026 – 3 January 2027 the V&A and Burberry have announced The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon, a free exhibition celebrating Burberry’s 170th anniversary and the enduring legacy of its iconic trench coat. Drawing from the Burberry Archive and V&A collection, the exhibition follows the evolution of the trench coat from practical military outerwear to being a globally recognised fashion symbol. Divided into ‘Invention’, ‘Craft’ and ‘Creativity’, it explores Thomas Burberry’s 1879 invention of cotton gabardine, the coat’s distinctive functional details and its continued reinvention through 19 catwalk iterations. The display also celebrates the longstanding relationship between Burberry and the V&A, ahead of the 2028 Burberry Gallery launch.

The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon opens Monday, 21 September 2026, Prince Consort Gallery, V&A South Kensington, London

In Case You Missed It...

Chances are, hypochlorous acid wasn’t an ingredient you’d heard of until a few years ago. It was a little-known beauty secret, something only those in the know would seek out in the baby aisles of Boots. But now? It’s everywhere, and it’s gradually made its way out of the changing bags and into handbags. Brands including Tower28, Prequel, Medicube and e.l.f. now have their own versions, and while TikTok is full of videos telling us to spritz it onto everything from post-workout skin to active breakouts, is it actually the miracle product it’s touted to be?

It’s easy to understand the appeal. Hypochlorous acid is said to calm inflammation, reduce bacteria and support everything from acne to eczema and rosacea – all while being kind to sensitive skin, which makes sense when it’s considered safe for newborns. But the ever-growing popularity also raises an important question: if it works by killing bacteria, can it tell the difference between the ‘bad’ bacteria it’s designed to treat and the ‘good’ bacteria that help keep skin healthy? We asked the experts to find out.

What Exactly Is Hypochlorous Acid?

“Hypochlorous acid is something your body makes naturally,” says consultant dermatologist Dr Sidra Khan. “It’s part of how your immune system fights off bacteria and infection. In skincare, it’s bottled as a stable liquid that works as a gentle antiseptic, calming inflammation and keeping bacteria in check when you spray or apply it to skin.”

And, long before it became a trending ingredient, it was those antiseptic properties that made hypochlorous acid especially useful in clinical settings. Dr Stefanie Williams, dermatologist and medical director at Eudelo, uses it to disinfect skin before carrying out certain procedures, and sometimes recommends her patients use it for a few days after ablative laser treatments or at-home hair epilation to help prevent infection. It’s also used in wound care, and because it’s generally less irritating (and less likely to sting) than alcohol-based disinfectants, it’s well tolerated by most people.

Of course, its ability to reduce bacteria while calming inflammation helps explain the growing appeal for concerns like acne, eczema and rosacea, but Dr Khan says the evidence here is much more limited. Most existing research looks at short bursts of use for a particular problem, rather than indefinite daily use on skin that’s otherwise healthy. That’s why she sees hypochlorous acid as a ‘possible adjunct rather than a replacement’ for established treatments.

Does Your Skin Need Hypochlorous Acid Every Day?

Despite what TikTok might have us all believe, experts agree that the average person doesn’t—and shouldn’t—be using hypochlorous acid in their daily routine. “For most people with healthy skin, there’s no evidence that adding a daily antimicrobial spray is necessary,” says Dr Khan. “The everyday essential positioning is more marketing than medicine.”

Dr Williams concurs, adding that she will always advise against using topical hypochlorous acid as part of a daily skincare routine. “My reasoning is simply because it’s an ingredient that has broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties, and overuse may disrupt physiological microbial communities on skin,” she says.

But what exactly does that mean? In short, using hypochlorous acid too often could disturb the balance of microorganisms that naturally live on, and help protect, skin. Together, they make up the skin’s microbiome, which supports everything from the skin barrier to its ability to defend itself against potential irritants and harmful bacteria. So, as Dr Williams says, why risk disturbing it unless clinically necessary?

Ultimately, the main concern is that hypochlorous acid may not be able to tell the difference between bacteria that we want to remove and those that support skin. “It doesn’t know the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’,” says Dr Khan. “It just kills whatever it comes into contact with. Wipe out too much of the good stuff too often and, in theory, you leave room for less friendly bacteria to move in and weaken the skin’s natural defences.”

However, the in theory is important, simply because there isn’t enough evidence to prove that using it every day will damage your skin’s microbiome. Dr Williams says that while low-strength formulas do appear to reduce harmful bacteria without having a significant effect on the good bacteria in the short term, nobody really knows what could happen after months of continuous use.

Should You Stop Using Hypochlorous Acid Altogether?

Not necessarily: it can be an effective, well-tolerated ingredient when it’s used for a specific reason. The main issue is the idea that everybody needs to use it every day. And as Dr Khan concludes: “The science is solid for specific situations, but the marketing has run well ahead of it, and it hasn’t earned its new status as a daily must-have for everybody.”

So, for now, think of hypochlorous acid as a useful targeted treatment to be used occasionally, instead of an everyday skincare miracle that social media has made it out to be.

When I mention Miquita Oliver, many of you will think of Channel 4's Popworld and the wildly successful Miss Me? podcast, co-hosted with best friend Lily Allen.

The radio host grew up in the spotlight, with a media-facing mother and a childhood that unfolded against the backdrop of London's creative scene.

But her life looks a little different these days. After 25 years on TV and the radio, she now lives in Hackney, walking distance from her cousin Sulaiman (who's also the co-founder of Ropes, her latest venture). Her morning routine is simple, but effective—she chants for ten minutes, listens to Louise Hay's Trust the Universe, and then skips for 20 to 30 minutes outside before her dog walker arrives. While she isn't training with him at the moment, she smiles when she mentions her tennis coach, Faris, who kept her sane during the overwhelming, exciting period that followed the launch of Miss Me? (the show became one of the BBC's most listened-to podcasts within months of launching).

A practising Buddhist, she admits that she now prioritises calm and wellbeing in all areas of her life—when I ask her what she had for lunch, she raves about her current hyperfixation, a huge tuna salad with chickpeas, haricot beans, radish, spring onion, lemon, oil, salt, and leaves from a specific deli near her house that grows its own bags of greens.

The catalyst which inspired this lifestyle shift is surprisingly heartwarming—she loves skipping, and has done since lockdown, when she discovered her love of the sport. A passion that's inspired her to spend the last five years quietly building a new, world-first venture, referring to it as her "calling in life."

Her company, Ropes, has designed the world's first retractable skipping rope—a venture born out of the frustration she felt after years of personal practice. She wanted to make the sport easier, more accessible, more appealing; because skipping, for Oliver, offers a rare pocket of daily stillness in an otherwise unpredictable, always-moving life, and she wants to offer others the same joy.

Ropes is much more than just a business venture, though—Oliver quite literally lights up when we discuss it (at length—she really loves skipping). She's keen to encourage as many people into movement as possible—kids, adults, and anyone who's never found a sport they truly loved. That's why she's also made Ropes part business, part community project, personally taking the sport into schools and communities who might never otherwise have access to the equipment.

Below, she talks us through Her Life In Movement and the version of her day nobody sees on screen—the routines, the joys, the hard-won lessons, and the rope that changed everything.

Starting out

I started ropes because skipping changed my life. I've always skipped, but I started skipping in lockdown, and it was just this road opener. I was suddenly like, hmm, my body's changing. I feel fantastic. And this is fun.

There's something about jumping up and down. It's something about the reward of jumping over a rope again and again, and then finding your rhythm. That's why our slogan is 'find your rhythm.'

Inspiring others

My stepdad Garfield is a 65-year-old Rasta. He was adamant he couldn't skip—he kept saying he couldn't get it over his dreads. But I kept encouraging him, and he became one of my first skipping converts during lockdown. He was quite overweight at the time, and was really nervous to start.

That was six years ago, and my Dad is now extremely slim and has been since he started skipping. He skips four times a week and swims as well and still loves it. It wasn't just skipping—it was the gateway for him into changing the way he looked after himself.

Having the idea for Ropes

I had the idea while I was walking my dog. I suddenly worked out a way to engineer the skipping rope—a way to build something better. And when those two things came together, I suddenly realised I was really onto something.

Sully and I say a lot—it's not a toy, it's not a sweet. It's a thing that we know is brilliant for people, because it's changed my life, and it's changed my Dad's, too.

Inspiring communities

When we were at a school in Stratford last year, there were about 30 kids who were asylum seekers being housed in a hotel near their school. There are like 20 of them in one room.

When they came to school, and we were doing a Ropes day, there was this one boy who was like: 'I've been cooped up in this space, so it feels really unnatural for me to just jump.'

We were like, 'You've got to do it, you can do it, just jump.' And after about ten minutes he did it, and then after about half an hour, you couldn't stop him. So often it reminds me that this is about more than skipping. It's about who we are, and connecting to the parts of ourselves that are connected to courage and bravery and freedom and joy. That's why when we go to schools, we always say to the kids: dream bigger, jump higher.

My mum showed me that community saved my life and raised me. I don't know what we would have done as a single-parent household without community. So Ropes is very much built from that.

On learning to fail

You trip a lot when you skip, but after a while, the trips don't feel like trips anymore. They feel part of the process, rather than a mistake you have to come back from. And that is a life metaphor. I find a lot of life metaphors within sport—that's why I play so much of it.

Let go and surrender, because that's half of it. The other half is crossing that line with yourself.

On building a body for life

I like being lean, but more importantly, I like to feel strong. I think that's kind of what we all want. I know that these six years of skipping and training will directly affect my health—my body, and my mind—for the next 10 to 20 years.

On skipping as "active meditation"

The idea of jumping up and down has a tendency to scare people. It requires courage and a sense of freedom, but as we all know, all the best things are on the other side of those feelings.

Once you have found your rhythm, which is the thing we encourage most at Ropes, there is a sense of calm that meets a sense of play, and it is truly joyous. That is what active meditation can feel like.

On giving kids access to sport

One of the most important things for Ropes is to debunk the myths around who should play what sport. I wanted to play tennis, badminton, and squash, but I didn’t have access to those things, whether it was the equipment or a court. I now play all of those sports, and skipping was my gateway into an active life as an adult.

I want to show young people, as early as possible in their lives, that taking just a moment for themselves to jump up and down over a piece of rope can exponentially change their lives because it changed mine. We also use skipping to encourage kids to ‘dream bigger, jump higher’ because of who they are and where they come from rather than in spite of it.

On movement helping you feel like you can do anything

Just as it does with kids, the movement of skipping every day reminds me to dream bigger, jump higher, and live with courage. It reminds me how important play is, and when all of these things are remembered, I live differently.

On trying skipping for the first time

To bounce—it's the first thing we teach in Ropes classes. You don’t need the rope; you begin by simply finding that restful place between the bounce and the jump. Once that rhythm is found, pick up your rope and play.

The great thing about skipping is that if you trip, you have to pick yourself up and start again. It makes you resilient to “mistakes”. There is no right or wrong way to skip—you must simply find your rhythm.

This is the first of many products to come. Ropes is just the beginning of our Ropes world, a vision we’re continuing to build and bring to life, where the brand represents more than “just skipping” and serves as a platform for culture, connection, music, movement, and everything that brings people together.

On her favourite bit of life advice

Keep your eye on the prize. I've never felt more like it's a calling or a purpose. I thought broadcasting was maybe my calling, and I do love it, and I'm very good at it. But if life is two chapters, this just feels like the next one.

At 5.30 am on most Sunday mornings you’ll find me tucked up in bed, Drowsy eye mask on and Aromatherapy Associates oil on my pillow. I’m something of a stickler for eight hours of sleep, minimum, and certifiably militant about my sleep hygiene (no screens anywhere near the bedroom, ever).

But not this Sunday. This Sunday, the first weekend of December 2025, I’m at the start line of the Valencia Marathon, bib pinned to my top, headphones in, and carbon plate trainers on. Nerves are bubbling in my stomach. My 4 am coffee has done its best. It’s race time.

Glancing around at the other runners in my pen, I come to the slow realisation that I’m surrounded by men. My little brother, who is running the marathon with me, is one of thousands. I, on the other hand, am one of a handful. In our entire start wave, I spot one other woman—who I instinctively smile at, nodding in solidarity.

Post-race stats confirmed what I’d noticed—of 40,000 runners, only 8,700 were women. At 23% of the total number of participants, that’s less than a quarter.

There’s something inherently lonely about standing on the start line of such a monumental event and questioning whether you should even be there because you’re in the minority. Thankfully, this is becoming something of a rarity in the current running climate—a shift that’s been noticeable, anecdotally and statistically, in the past few years. That start line in Valencia was a reminder, in both good and bad ways, of how much things have changed.

At the Boston Marathon this year, for example, my start pen was packed with female runners, and we spent hours before the race discussing our training, favourite kit picks, and the charities we’d fundraised for. Just a week later, the London Marathon broke the world record with the largest number of finishers at a marathon event ever. But the standout stat for me came in how many women finished—a record 24,000, making up 40% of the field. And that momentum is growing, according to an insider I spoke to shortly after the race, with the 2027 TCS London Marathon ballot attracting a world-record 1,338,544 applications. Women aged 20 to 29? They made up the single largest UK applicant group, with over 179,000 applications.

I’m noticing it in real time, too. London is awash with inclusive, all-paces-welcome, female-only run clubs. Tracks are hosting female-specific track nights. And at every other race I’ve laced up for this year, there are more female runners, too. Hackney Half was a sea of star clips and pink carbon-plate trainers; London Landmarks had entire run clubs of women screaming each other’s names; and I saw so many matching outfits at last month’s Saucony 10km that I actually lost count.

Why now? What’s shifted? And how do we maintain this momentum, ensuring that start lines stay a safe space for women for years to come? Below, I ask industry experts for their take.

Run Clubs are Full, Marathons are Selling Out—and Women are Driving the Boom

To give you a little background on why I feel it’s so important that we make running and races a safe space for all genders, let me tell you a story. I struggled with my confidence for the majority of my childhood. I vividly remember lying in bed, aged 10, worrying about my weight and praying that the mandatory PE lessons at my new secondary school would help my self-confidence. Looking back, I wasn’t overweight, but I wasn’t sporty, either, and felt constantly insecure about my frame—that was, until I reached my early 20s and found running.

It was a hard slog, at first. I could barely run for ten minutes without feeling like I was going to pass out. But later that year, after months of training and hard work, I completed my first marathon. I’ll never forget how I felt crossing that finish line. Week by week, mile by mile, I stuck at it and cemented a lifelong habit, proving to myself not only that I’m capable of hard things, but that so many of the fears I’d carried about how I looked or how others might perceive me were unfounded.

Running has changed my life, figuratively and literally—and I’m determined to even the playing field and educate as many women as possible on how empowering, life-changing and transformative sport and finding your power through it can be.

What’s Driving the Surge?

So, what has started shifting the dial in recent years? Is it lobbying? Social media? The rise of inclusive, all-paces-welcome run clubs and fairer representation—has there been a fundamental societal shift in what people view running as? A bit of all of the above, according to Heather McCormick, group communications and public affairs director at London Marathon Events.

“Women now make up 46% of all UK runners, and this growth is being driven by a powerful combination of visibility, community and changing attitudes towards what running represents,” she says. “More women are seeing people like themselves running—friends, colleagues, school mums, women of all ages and abilities—and that makes taking on challenges feel far more achievable than it once did.”

Seeing a more diverse representation of women taking on every distance is a powerful reminder that running isn’t reserved for one body type, background or fitness level. Whatever your height, race, hair colour or pace, there’s a place for you on the start line. As McCormick notes: “Representation matters because it changes what’s possible in people’s minds.”

Or as Grace Cook, writer and founder of the culture-led health and wellness media platform Salty, puts it: “We can’t be what we can’t see, and the uptick in women participating in marathons is directly linked to our peers running marathons. Suddenly, this space that was once so male-heavy feels like it’s within reach.”

If You See It, You Can Be It

Social media has undoubtedly played a part in this—content creators with millions of followers now share daily training updates, race vlogs and tips for getting into running as a beginner. They make training look effortlessly cool and fun, even to the most cardio-averse person. While it’s a nuanced subject—ample research indicates that social media usage treads a fine line between positive inspiration and obsessive social comparison, idealised self-presentation, and feedback loops that quietly reshape personal identity and self-esteem—when it comes to moving more, better representation has positively influenced the number of women willing to give sport a go.

While I didn’t have a TikTok feed full of running creators when I started out, I am grateful for them now—they’re encouraging millions of women worldwide to discover the joys of movement. For Cook, it’s more than mere encouragement, too: it’s a reaffirmation of who the sport belongs to. As she puts it: “The boom in content creators and everyday women documenting their runs or simply posting about going for a run gradually changes a woman’s optics around who the sport is for.”

Seeing more and more women take up running, in their own unique ways, has made the sport feel less intimidating and more fun—it has a less elitist feel to it now. “There’s growing recognition of the fact that there’s no set definition of what a runner looks like,” says Emma Bord, a personal trainer and World Marathon Major runner whose content has a special focus on balancing movement and motherhood (she herself is a mother of three). Whatever your pace, goals, dreams, or ambitions, there’s space for everybody—it’s always the taking part that counts, she insists: “If you run, you are a runner, and that mindset makes the sport feel accessible to so many more women who may once have assumed it was not for them.”

Outdated Norms Are Being Challenged

On a wider cultural scale, shifting economic climates and the cost-of-living crisis may go some way to explaining why we’re seeing such an uptick in twentysomething female marathoners. Our parents could afford houses; we’re being priced out. For those keen and fortunate enough to have children, pregnancies are happening later. We’re reshaping what it means to be a woman in your 20s and 30s—what Cook calls “a reframing of social milestones”, which is an apt nod to how different our lives look from the lives our mothers lived 20 or 30 years ago.

“The parameters for heteronormative success have changed,” she explains. “The old benchmarks—a boyfriend or a husband, marriage, a baby, a house—are not necessarily what women are focusing on, and for many, aren’t within reach. A marathon is a huge feat, and it gives women a chance to feel like they are working towards something that’s within their control, especially in a world of gender pay gaps, economic instability, and heterofatalism [the belief that heterosexual relationships are inherently flawed and destined to fail].”

At the same time, we’re reshaping what it means to be a woman who works out—rewriting the rules of activewear, athleisure and the way we dress for movement. Jenna Litner is a digital personality and cultural commentator who’s amassed a cult-like following on social media for her online style series, Your Workout Outfit Looks Like Sh*t. Her take? We’re reclaiming a space that was male-dominated for years and quietly shifting into more expressive workout looks to rebel against the notion that women work out just to look good.

Wellbeing as Status Symbol

That, and that fact that women today seem to be prioritising being truly well over materialistic items, like cars and houses. “Wellness has become something our generation views as a luxury worth investing in,” she shares. “We subscribe to a health-is-wealth mindset, and it’s encouraging to watch that get prioritised for reasons beyond solely appearance. What you gain from participating in sport—like mental fortitude and discipline —matter so much more than how you look. Women are finally being met with spaces that reflect that.”

You may recall the step aerobics and Buns of Steel craze of the 1990s; the boxercise, spin and fitness DVD era of the noughties; and the max-effort, high-heart-rate HIIT classes and bootcamps that defined the 2010s. For decades, women’s fitness trends were often sold with one goal in mind: to get smaller. But today, more women are rejecting the idea that there’s a one-size-fits-all approach to health, instead making time for the types of movement that genuinely bring them joy while benefiting both body and mind.

As our understanding of wellbeing has evolved, so too has our relationship with exercise. Rather than chasing calorie burn or shrinking their bodies, many women are prioritising movement that helps them feel stronger, more energised and more resilient. Bord agrees: “Now, women are turning to exercise to feel stronger, more confident, and generally happier.”

No Need for Speed—or Dated Barriers to Entry

Breaking down the notion that you have to be “fast” to be a runner has also played a large part in encouraging more into the sport—speaking to friends anecdotally, so many confess that they were afraid to lace up for fear of holding people back or embarrassing themselves because of their pace. Jennifer Mannion has played a big part in debunking this preconception with her women-only running community, Runners and Stunners. She believes the biggest hurdle for many women isn’t fitness—it’s feeling confident enough to show up in the first place. “Sometimes women just need the invitation to come along. The intimidation often comes from wondering, ‘Am I fast enough to be here?’ A lot of women feel they need to reach a certain pace or look a certain way to be considered a runner, which isn’t the case.”

Mannion’s goal with Runners and Stunners is simple—to encourage as many women into movement as possible, and to reframe exercise as something that’s joyful, social, and mood-boosting, not a chore. “I hope the idea that slower runners are somehow less worthy is fading, but there’s still a long way to go. You see some women complete their first marathon in over six hours, and the comments are often not a nice place. The win should always be getting up and doing the thing, not how long it took you, especially for everyday runners. Movement is joy.”

Running as a Social Moment

If you live in London, you’ll know that you can’t leave your house on a Saturday or Sunday morning without bumping into a run crew or two. East London has Your Friendly Runners; South, Grove Lane (New Balance wins hearts every London Marathon by spotlighting the everyday runners from these crews in their marathon campaigns alongside seasoned athletes). Stats predict that there are now 100-plus crews in London alone, with over 2,000 run clubs in the UK. Strava saw a 250% increase in running clubs on its platform in 2025 compared to 2024, alongside an 89% year-on-year increase in women joining running clubs.

Community-focused running, where your workout is less about the sport, more about the time with familiar faces, has transformed the sport’s appeal. For many, running has become about far more than the workout itself—it’s about companionship, togetherness, and spending time with friends while also moving your body and taking some time for yourself. “For many, running is as much about friendship, confidence and community as it is about fitness. Running clubs have become places to socialise, and that sense of belonging has made running feel welcoming in a way it perhaps never has before,” says McCormick.

Covid undoubtedly played a part; a global pandemic is one way to remind yourself that time is precious and your health, your ultimate currency. Pair that with a societal shift in how we spend our free time—more saunas, alcohol-free alternatives and activities that leave us feeling rested, not burnt out—and run clubs and races have cemented themselves as the perfect weekend activity.

As Cook points out, it can be hard to make friends as adults, and working alongside someone doesn’t necessarily mean you are a personality match. “Lots of the friendships we have in life are based on geography—school, university and work. Making new friends at a run club gives us the chance to show up as the most present version of ourselves, and to make friends based on lifestyle, personal interests, and a growth mindset. In cities especially, it can be really hard to pin down plans with friends. When I joined my run club, I loved that I could see 40 people without having to make a plan beyond showing up at 9 am on a Saturday.”

Litner also reflects on how running was marketed in the 1990’s and early noughties: for many, it was the default punishment in team sports growing up. “I rarely saw the version where you run with friends to enjoy each other’s company, to encourage one another, to build mental toughness together, to have a genuine human connection and a newfound relationship. Run clubs flipped that. They’re reminding my generation why in-person community is so rich and fulfilling in a way a screen isn’t. It’s a community disguised as exercise (or vice versa). You show up for the people and the miles tick away.”

Kit Is Playing Its Part, Too

Whether you’re a runner or not, you’re likely to have noticed the cultural shift happening around the sport. From the explosion of independent running brands to the rise of elevated performancewear that blurs the line between activewear and everyday fashion, there’s been an undeniable shift towards sport style and self-expression. But is it encouraging more women into the sport, or is it more a reflection of women who were already running feeling freer to show up as themselves?

Cook credits brands like MileOff with bringing more women into the space. “Typical running gear is very masculine-coded, whereas Alice [Bugeja], the designer of MileOff, launched into the market with pastel-coloured running skirts and frilly socks that were like a breath of fresh air,” she says. “Women love to cosplay for sports as much as we do social occasions, and I think feeling good in any outfit is key to reducing the friction or self-consciousness that might prevent us from starting. Many lifelong runners probably will never be interested in wearing a fashion-forward outfit to run in, but the rise of the run girlie might mean they now feel comfortable wearing a tinted moisturiser or a lipstick or cute hair accessories. The more self-expression there is in sport, the freer women feel, period. There’s no one fixed way to show up any more.”

Litner reckons that for many of us, seeing that you’re free to do incredibly hard things while dressing however you want will feel like an invitation into the sport itself. “Women are increasingly prioritising spaces that feel fun and familiar, while also building real physical and mental strength, and running culture feels like the rare opportunity to do both,” she explains.

She encourages her followers to create their own narratives with both sport and style—but for her, it all comes back to confidence and ensuring she feels her best, and Litner encourages the same for her followers: “Confidence is a very nuanced, complicated word, especially for women. Being a bit audacious, whether that’s with your training, your fashion, your styling, or just leaning into your truest form of self-expression, can be liberating.”

Continuing the Change

While there’s always more to be done—after undertaking exclusive research with Sport England last month, we revealed that 46% of women fear for their safety before working out, often causing them to skip workouts altogether—but McCormick believes we’re on the right track. “One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed recently is how normal and more visible running has become for women. You see women running before work, after work and at weekends, with conversations about training becoming a part of everyday life.”

Both McCormick and Bord mention the TCS Mini Marathon, too. “Observing the next generation’s attitude to running at the mini-marathon at my children’s school this year was inspiring,” Bord says. “It was amazing to hear so many of the little girls say, ‘I want to run a marathon one day.’ Watching them find joy in running instead of seeing it as a chore and their belief that they can do something that felt less accessible when I was younger demonstrated how things have changed.”

Litner’s bottom line? The movement isn’t just creating runners—it’s creating women who believe they belong in these spaces who will then help others do the same.

What Next?

So where do our experts see this movement heading—is this a genuine, lasting shift or does it need continued work to stick?

Cook reckons it’s not just a trend, and the movement will continue to grow, but that there’s work to do to meet the demand and ensure women have a good experience once they’re in the community, in the system, and competing in races. “Communities need to have safeguards in place to protect women from unwanted attention, harassment and anti-social behaviour,” she explains. “This is critical to ensure safety, and run clubs and brand-led clubs should have strict protocols in place so women feel safe and comfortable reporting anything untoward. From an infrastructure point of view, we need things like a bathroom in the starting pens. That so many women are taking up running should be celebrated, but the infrastructure needs to enable us to continue doing so.”

McCormick agrees, adding that the demand is undeniably there. “The near-equal gender split in the 2027 London Marathon ballot, alongside the surge in younger women applying, shows that women want to take part in record numbers. The next challenge is retention,” she says. Her aim is to make sure women continue to feel supported after they’ve signed up, whether that’s through welcoming clubs, safe places to run, or better support during life stages such as pregnancy and menopause.

Bottom line? Creating lasting gender equity and encouraging more women into the sport is a complex puzzle, and one that won’t be solved overnight. It requires continued commitment, investment and a collective shift in how we think about who running is for.

The sport needs to be accessible, welcoming and representative; it needs to celebrate women’s achievements, invest in grassroots communities and ensure women feel safe. Because true progress isn’t just about seeing more women taking part—it’s about making sure they feel they belong there, too. As McCormick puts it, “The goal isn’t simply equal numbers on a start line; it’s creating a sport where every woman feels she belongs, feels represented and feels confident enough to keep coming back.”

Shop Ally's go-to running brands below:

I don't have particularly dry skin, but I do experience patches of flakiness and my skin can easily become dehydrated, so I know how frustrating it can be when foundation clings to those dry areas, making them look even more noticeable.

This is part of the reason why I was excited to try the Do It All Sheer Tint Face Balm. Made with a 92% skincare base, it promises to hydrate, smooth and visibly firm the skin with collagen peptide, hyaluronic acid and vitamin E, while offering sheer, buildable coverage and a natural, skin-like finish. Better still, it claims to boost radiance, leave skin looking plumper and—most importantly—not settle into or exacerbate dry patches.

How We Test

I've been wearing the Do It All Sheer Tint Face Balm every day for the past week, putting it through its paces everywhere from working at home to running errands. Throughout my testing, I've been assessing how easy it is to apply, the finish it leaves behind, how well it evens out redness and dark spots, its ability to blur pores, fine lines and uneven texture, and, crucially, how well it holds up over the course of the day.

I've been a beauty editor for more than 20 years, and in that time I've tested well over 100 tinted moisturisers and skin tints. That means I have a good benchmark for what separates a genuinely great formula from one that's simply making big promises—and whether the IT Cosmetics Do It All Sheer Tint Face Balm is actually worth your money.

First Impressions

Coming in a solid balm format, I expected this tinted moisturiser to feel much richer than it does. Instead, the moment my fingertip touched the pan, it melted into a lightweight, serum-like texture that glided effortlessly over the skin. It feels virtually weightless once applied and blends in with minimal effort.

Given that the formula is made up of 92% skincare—and that 91% of participants in the brand's consumer study said their skin felt more comfortable throughout the day after application—I had high expectations when it came to hydration. Happily, it delivered. My skin felt immediately softer, more comfortable and noticeably better moisturised, without ever feeling greasy or heavy. The formula was developed in collaboration with plastic surgeons and dermatologists, and that thoughtful approach is reflected in both the texture and the ingredient lineup, which inspired confidence before I even put it to the test.

It comes in 15 versatile shades that run from Fairest to Deep, with options for Warm, Neutral, or Cool skin tones. I use shade Fairest Neutral FN110, but each of the 15 can adapt and span a spectrum of skin shades. It offers a radiant finish, and skin that still looks like skin. It’s that little bit of added confidence when bare skin just won’t do.

How to Apply

The Do It All Sheer Tint Face Balm is so easy to apply, and you can do it with either a brush, beauty blender sponge, or just your fingers. All work well, but I found that a foundation brush works best, as it can move the product across the skin without absorbing much of it. It also leaves the most natural finish on the skin.

You really don’t need much to cover your whole face. IT Cosmetics says the coverage is ‘sheer but buildable’, but I don’t think it is buildable. You can’t get more than sheer coverage with this, as it starts to look unnatural and patchy if you apply too much. It’s meant to be a light veil over the skin rather than something that offers serious coverage.

The Verdict

As I've mentioned, if you're looking for full coverage, this isn't the base for you. The Do It All Sheer Tint Face Balm is exactly what it says on the tin: a sheer-coverage complexion product that perfects rather than masks. It subtly evens out skin tone, softens the appearance of redness and pigmentation, and gives the complexion a healthy, blurred finish—but your skin still looks like your skin. If you're after lightweight, glow-enhancing coverage with genuinely impressive skincare benefits, however, I think it's well worth considering.

One thing to note is just how emollient the formula is. It leaves skin feeling deeply nourished and comfortable, which is why I think those with dry or dehydrated skin will get the most out of it. It creates the kind of hydrated, non-cakey base that doesn't cling to flaky patches—a surprisingly difficult quality to find. If you have oily skin, though, you may find it a little too rich for everyday wear.

That said, I have fairly normal skin with the first signs of ageing, and I was still hugely impressed. It stayed looking fresh throughout the day, and my skin felt noticeably softer, plumper and more comfortable from the moment I applied it. In fact, when I removed my makeup that evening, my skin still felt exceptionally soft, suggesting the skincare benefits weren't just superficial. The brand claims the formula provides up to 24 hours of hydration, and based on my experience, that's a claim I can get behind.

I also found that the added hydration helped soften the appearance of the fine lines around my eyes, giving my complexion an overall smoother, fresher look. In the brand's consumer trials, 91% of users said their fine lines appeared minimised and their skin felt firmer after use, and while I can't comment on firmness after just a week of testing, I did notice that my skin looked plumper and my fine lines appeared less noticeable. As for coverage, it took down redness, softened the look of dark spots and made my complexion appear much more even, but it never completely concealed those imperfections—which, for a product like this, is exactly the point.

The 3 main ingredients that provide the IT Cosmetics Do It All Sheer Tint Face Balm’s moisturising and plumping abilities are biosynthetic collagen peptides, hyaluronic acid and vitamin E. Its emollient benefits come from that vitamin E, while hyaluronic acid plumps the skin and minimises the appearance of fine lines. The biosynthetic collagen peptides are basically short chains of amino acids that act as cell signallers to stimulate collagen and elastin production, as well as wound healing.

I just wish this product contained SPF, as that added benefit would have greatly increased its appeal. When this product is designed to be more skincare than makeup and appeal to those with skincare needs, SPF seems like an obvious first step to me.

More to Try

At 35, I'm still not sure whether I want children. Like so many women my age, I hoped a fertility assessment might offer the kind of certainty I couldn't find on my own. Instead, it left me asking a much bigger question than whether I'd ever become a mother.

What It Feels Like Looking for Answers About Your Fertility

I used to think that getting older meant becoming more certain of yourself. At 15, I was steadfast in my decision not to have children. At 25, I wore that certainty almost as a badge of honour. At 35, I find myself utterly bamboozled, plagued by indecision, unable to answer what feels like one of adulthood's most fundamental questions.

I've lived in this state for the best part of five years now, and it seems to me that the harder I search for answers, the more they elude me.

"Whether I want kids is a secret I keep from myself—it is the greatest secret I keep from myself," Sheila Heti writes in Motherhood. A friend sent me the book from Japan after reading an essay I'd written about being 33 and unsure whether I wanted children. She'd taped that sentence to the front cover with a Post-it note.

"Will I ever know?" I'd written back then.

Over two years later, I'm more confused than ever.

It seems I'm not alone. "It's not something that's always at the forefront of my mind," one friend told me when I asked whether she felt similarly. "But it's always there."

Another friend had recently taken an AMH test; a blood test that measures Anti-Müllerian Hormone and is often misleadingly marketed with ominous taglines suggesting it can tell women "how long they've got left". In reality, it offers an indication of ovarian reserve and is mainly used in IVF to estimate how many eggs might be retrieved during treatment. What it can't tell you—and what no current test can—is whether those eggs are viable, or whether you'll ever need them.

Still, she'd found reassurance in her results. "It might give you some clarity," she suggested.

Clarity, rather than an egg count, was what I was searching for.

The World's Most Fertile Couple (Or So I Hoped)

I'd like to tell you that what followed was exhaustive research into the most reputable fertility clinics, spreadsheets comparing success rates and patient reviews.

Instead, the clinic found me. While reporting on the UK's fertility industry , I'd spoken to IVI London about the growing number of misconceptions women have about fertility. Later, they reached out to ask whether I'd be interested in experiencing their most comprehensive fertility assessment. I said yes.

On the surface, I didn't think I had particularly strong feelings about it. I was grateful for a job that occasionally grants me access to experiences I'd never otherwise be able to afford, especially on an editorial salary. The couple's fertility assessment would normally have cost hundreds of pounds, before the additional AMH blood test.

And yet I couldn't bring myself to book it. The clinic emailed every few weeks. I kicked the can down the road. Months passed. A new year arrived. "The Year of the Fire Horse is going to kick you into action," a friend joked when I admitted I'd still not arranged an appointment.

Eventually, I ran out of excuses.

Booking the assessment was easy. Neither my partner nor I needed to prepare in advance, and so all I did was harbour the secret fantasy that we'd be told we were the most fertile couple the clinic had ever seen.

"My God," I imagined the nurses gasping. "You two are so fertile it's a wonder you haven't had an accident yet."

Needless to say, this did not happen.

Good Swimmers, Great Expectations

I walked down Harley Street on an a bright morning towards IVI London's discreet entrance. By the time I arrived, my partner had already completed his part of the assessment. His sperm analysis was over before mine had even begun.

We were shown upstairs, where a nurse checked my BMI and blood pressure before leading us into the consultant's office. Before the examination began, we talked through the mechanics of fertility, and I was surprised by how little I actually knew.

Despite years reporting on women's health, often with a laser focus on the so-called "fertility cliff" and motherhood, so much of fertility remained a mystery. The conversation also seemed almost entirely directed towards my body; the egg rather than the sperm.

When my partner's results came back, I was relieved—and vaguely repulsed—to hear he had "good swimmers". Then I felt something else: pressure. He'd been given the all clear, now it felt as though everything rested with me.

Lying back on the bed, I watched as the ultrasound moved across the walls of my womb before darting from one ovary to the other. Every so often, the consultant would pause to point something out. I tried to hold onto the information, but another thought kept crowding out what the doctor was telling me: What if they find something?

The feeling reminded me of an investigative colonoscopy I'd had the previous year. Rationally, I knew this appointment was meant to reassure rather than alarm. But there's something about seeing the inside of your own body displayed on a screen that makes catastrophe feel inevitable.

The consultant talked us through what she was seeing. I had a small uterus, she explained, though not one that should cause concern. It was slightly triangular rather than T-shaped, but unless I experienced difficulties carrying a pregnancy, there was no reason to intervene. If problems ever did arise, some procedures could reshape it. Knowing there were options felt reassuring.

Then she counted the follicles on my ovaries: six on one, eight on the other. Instinctively, I knew those numbers were lower than I'd hoped.

Perhaps because my partner had already been told he had "good swimmers", I couldn't shake the feeling that he'd somehow passed his test while I hadn't. The consultant tried to assure me this wasn't how fertility worked; she'd be far more concerned by visible cysts or structural abnormalities than the number of follicles she'd counted.

And yet I knew I hadn't heard the last of those follicles.

The Advice I Wasn't Ready to Hear

Once we'd gone through the results in detail, those follicles appeared again. The consultant explained ovarian reserve and how follicles are used to estimate the number of eggs remaining. Every month, a group begins the process of maturing before one is released and the rest disappear.

Because of my follicle count, I was told it would probably take two or three retrieval cycles to freeze enough eggs to give myself the strongest chance of success in the future.

Then came the advice. It wasn't delivered dramatically or with any hint that something was wrong, but it was there: if I thought I might want children, I should freeze my eggs now.

If I thought I wanted more than one child, I definitely should.

Not because I was infertile or because there was cause for alarm. No, the answer was both simpler and somehow crueller: I should freeze my eggs because I am 35.

I hadn't expected to be so floored by that. Of course, I know that I'm 35, but like so many women my age, forced into a state of prolonged adolescence because of myriad reasons outside our control—graduating into a recession, stagnating wages, a housing crisis—I don't feel 35.

But I am. And that reminder stung.

Regardless of my results, regardless of how many follicles had appeared on the scan, regardless of the blood test I was still waiting for, the recommendation would almost certainly have been exactly the same.

Freeze now.

I felt that I was supposed to feel empowered, equipped with new information about my body. But although I understood my physiology better than I had 90 minutes earlier, I felt no closer to understanding myself.

The fear that time was running out had become more acute. The reassurance I'd hoped to find felt more elusive than ever, slippery like the jelly that had been squirted onto my stomach for the scan.

While I waited for my AMH blood test, another couple argued with a nurse in the waiting room about transporting frozen eggs overseas for a surrogate. The woman became increasingly frustrated. Her husband tried to calm her down.

It struck me then that every conversation taking place inside this Harley Street clinic was, in one way or another, about money. The consultation. The medication. The retrievals. The freezing. The storage. The possibility of IVF years from now. Even uncertainty, it seemed, came with a price tag.

I know that AMH tests don't do what they're so often marketed as doing. They can't tell you how long you've "got left", predict whether you'll conceive naturally or tell you if you'll ever become a mother.

I'd written an entire investigation into this myth that women are sold in pursuit of motherhood, and yet I still found myself desperately waiting for that number. I guess I hoped the results would show a surprisingly high egg reserve in defiance of my low follicle count, even though I knew it was the quality, not the quantity, that mattered.

I wanted something that could buy me more time.

The irony wasn't lost on me that I couldn't afford the one thing that, in some ways, could buy me more time—egg freezing—even though that, too, came with no guarantee.

Freezing my eggs would likely cost somewhere between £15,000 and £20,000. Money my partner and I are currently trying to save for a house deposit. Spending it on eggs that may never be used would almost certainly delay buying a home. Delaying buying a home would almost certainly delay having children. Delaying having children would only make those frozen eggs feel more necessary.

It felt like a perfect chicken-and-egg situation. Again, the irony did not escape me.

Without stable housing, I can't imagine bringing a child into the world. But waiting until I have that stability means my fertility continues to decline.

I already knew, walking into that clinic, that the biggest obstacle between me and motherhood wouldn't be biological. I walked out steadfast in the knowledge that it was financial.

The Price of Possibility

It's now been six months since the assessment. Largely, I feel the same as before I went: unsure whether I want children, but increasingly aware that time continues to move whether I've made my mind up or not.

The only real difference is that uncertainty has infiltrated my everyday life. Boozy summer nights, stressful weeks at work and my incessantly poor sleep all make me wonder whether I'm damaging eggs I haven't even decided I want to use.

I knew it was naïve to hope the assessment would give me answers. I knew I was simply trying to absolve myself of making my own decision and defer it for a little longer.

Everyone is asking why fertility rates are in decline, why "women aren't having babies". But not enough people are asking how exactly anyone is supposed to make this decision in a world where the timeline of our biology no longer matches the timeline of our lives.

That's the question that angrily flitted around my head as I left IVI London. And, unlike my follicle count, it's one no fertility test can answer.

Around the world, women’s sport is undergoing a seismic shift, and not just on the field of play. Today’s female athletes are also Harvard graduates, venture capitalists, activists, authors and broadcasters—renowned not only for their performances on the track, court or slopes, but for the multifaceted ways they influence culture across everything from politics and academics to economics and social media.

And that talent and tenacity is more necessary than ever. Because despite enormous strides towards gender parity, economic and social gaps still persist across sport. For instance, while the largest media rights deal in the history of women’s sport was signed by the WNBA this year, the average player still earns 80 times less than those in the men’s game. Turn to the Forbes 2026 list of highest-paid athletes, and you’ll find no female names, but look at the World Athletics report on online abuse at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and you’ll find that 87% of it was directed at female athletes, with Black women disproportionately affected.

What we know, however, is that with the right visibility and support, female athletes can impact society in positive and unprecedented ways. The evidence proves it—80% of female Fortune 500 CEOs played sport in their formative years, while 55% of girls say that watching female athletes makes them feel they can do anything.

Ahead, we spotlight 50 of the women who are shaping the future of women’s sport the world over. From world record holders and Olympic champions to rapidly rising stars, these are the women to know, support and take inspiration from in 2026 and beyond.

50 Influential Female Athletes To Know, Watch and Follow—in 2026 and Beyond

1. Chloe Kelly

Chloe Kelly’s shirt-waving celebration at the Euros 2022 will forever be etched in our minds, but the Arsenal and England attacking midfielder is far more than that moment.

Now regarded as a clutch player—aka one who stays calm under even the highest pressure—for the way she consistently delivers in such moments, she was responsible for the winning penalty at the 2025 Women’s Euros and played a crucial role in Arsenal’s 2025 Champions League victory over Barcelona.

Off the pitch, she uses her voice, not just to inspire young girls to play football, but to highlight the vulnerabilities that can sit just beneath the surface of success. Speaking on Fearn Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, Kelly opened up about the anxiety, panic attacks and hair loss she struggled with during the transfer process from Manchester City to Arsenal last year.

“You look after your legs when you recover from training, but it was my head that was struggling,” she told Cotton. “Taking a step away and into a new environment was what I needed. I’m in a good place now, but I’ll never forget the times I’ve struggled.”

Her unwavering honesty and tireless commitment to advancing the women’s game are what we’ve come to know of Kelly who, as well as being recently signed by adidas, surely has many more trophies left to lift.

2. Eileen Gu

“I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history,” 22-year-old Eileen Gu responded when a journalist at the Milano Cortina Olympics asked whether she saw her two silver medals as a sign of victory or defeat. Her words, as important today as they were back in February, are characteristic of the two-time Olympian’s self-assured honesty, whose influence on the world is difficult to quantify.

Because aside from her spellbinding performances on the slopes, the Chinese American—who switched to representing her mother’s home country in international competitions in 2019—demonstrates that female athletes are multifaceted and nuanced. A 2026 Stanford Graduate who majored in international relations, Gu has balanced elite sport with studying and an international modelling career while, crucially, advocating for the growth of winter sports for women and girls in China.

3. Serena Williams

Does she need an introduction? Twenty-three Grand Slam singles’ titles (of a total 39, including women’s and mixed doubles) and a professional career spanning over 30 years, Williams epitomises the word icon—not in tennis or even women’s sport, but in sport, period.

And though she’s in the midst of a gradual transition out of international tennis, her global presence shows no signs of fading. Entrepreneurial through and through, Williams currently manages two thriving businesses—a venture capitalist firm called Serena Ventures and Nine Two Six, a multimedia production company that focuses on female and diverse stories.

As if that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, she’s also the host of the Stockton Street podcast, a series of intimate conversations about careers, family, entrepreneurship and pop culture, which she hosts with her sister and fellow tennis star, Venus.

4. Venus Williams

Who else could we turn to next? One of the most decorated athletes on the planet and a former Marie Claire UK cover star, Venus Williams could serve at 100 mph by the age of 10. Turning pro at just 14, she’d won her first Wimbledon by the time she was 20. It was the first of 23 Grand Slam titles she’d go on to win.

All this was achieved while silently battling undiagnosed uterine fibroids—a topic Williams has become a vocal spokesperson for in recent years. Foregoing her usually private persona, she’s been forthright and honest in her discussions about the years of playing through acute pain and heavy bleeding, as well as her struggles with medical dismissal and misdiagnosis—becoming a vital advocate for medical research into women’s health conditions.

There’s more, of course. Because through her love of fashion and design—she’s a fashion and business graduate and the founder of interior design firm V Starr, Williams has been dismantling stereotypes surrounding presumed oppositions between sport and the arts. “I don’t believe in putting art, or people, in a category,” she told us last year. “Design and wellness—this is kind of where I belong.”

5. Simone Biles

She’s the most decorated gymnast in history, and that’s just the one of the things to know about Simone Biles.

A prominent advocate for athlete mental health, racial equality and protection from abuse, and a champion for the rights and protection of children in foster care, the now 29-year-old appeared on the senior international stage at just 13, before winning her first global all-around title at the age of 16. Since then, she’s added seven Olympic gold, two silver and two bronze medals to her roster.

But it was her decision to withdraw from events at the Tokyo 2020 Games that sparked a crucial conversation about athlete wellbeing. After struggling with the ‘twisties’—a kind of mental block that throws off gymnasts off-balance in mid-air, and can lead to serious injury—Biles’ decision to take time off from competition became the catalyst for a movement to reframe mental health as an essential training component rather than a sideline issue.

Her bravery doesn’t end there. In 2021, she testified against former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar for sexually abusing her under the guise of medical treatment, helping to bring about structural change within the national gymnastics system.

Whether she’ll return to gymnastics for her home Olympics in 2028 is still unknown. What is certain is that Biles is one of the most influential voices in sport, and an inspiration for women globally.

6. Ellie Kildunne

If you’re looking for inspiration, you’ll find it in spades in Ellie Kildunne. Softly spoken and as down-to-earth as a person could be, she’s an Olympian, a Rugby World Cup champion, Six Nations champion and 2024’s World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year.

She’s also known for her mantra, “lukewarm is no good”, a saying taken from Roald Dahl’s book My Uncle Oswald. When we speak, though, I discover she has another phrase in her armoury. “If you want to play in the jungle, you cannot live in the zoo,” she says with a smile. “For me, I see that as: it’s OK to make mistakes, to challenge yourself and be uncomfortable because there’s a whole jungle out there.”

The newly signed Bristol Bears player certainly doesn’t shy away from discomfort and challenge, on and off the pitch. She’s spoken openly about navigating a late diagnosis for ADHD and her struggles with body dysmorphia—topics she delves into in her recently released autobiography, Game Changer. “I don’t want any young girl thinking that they have to restrict themselves, or be controlling or obsessive, to think of themselves as beautiful,” she told the BBC earlier this year.

Her motivation for the future, then, makes complete sense. “I want to drive the women’s game to places it’s never been before, but also I want to seek happiness in everything that I’m doing.” Words to live by.

7. Keely Hodgkinson

Olympic champion, world indoor champion and British record-holder Keely Hodgkinson is raw, honest and open. The 24-year-old, whose Instagram bio reads “always earned, never given”, is that rare mix of ambition and humility: unafraid to set out her stall of mighty goals, while equally ready to acknowledge the challenges and vulnerabilities that go hand-in-hand with elite sport.

At the UK championships this year, for instance, she made the brave decision to withdraw from the start line of the 400m due to tightness in her hamstring. “I think when you’re an athlete and you suffer bad injuries, you can underestimate a little bit of the trauma it leaves in your head,” she told Olympic Channel TV.

It’s this level of honesty and maturity, coupled with her wealth of achievements and playful online presence, that make her a key figure in the popularisation of women’s sports—and an idol for many young girls in athletics.

This year, she’ll race for gold at the European Athletic Championships. Beyond that, anything is possible, but there’s no doubt that many eyes will be set on her performance at the LA 2028 Summer Olympics.

8. Summer McIntosh

In the pool, Summer McIntosh is a machine. Online, she oozes fun. The 19-year-old, who stormed onto the world stage at just 14 when she placed fourth in the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is part of a new generation of digital-native athletes who straddle the world of elite sport and content creation.

For her fans, Summer’s vlogs provide an insight into the world of one of the greatest swimmers of her generation. From day-in-the-lives to learning to front flip with cliff diver Molly Carlson, her personality is as captivating as her performances in the pool. “What excites me most is paving the way for the next generation of young female swimmers,” she tells Marie Claire UK when we put the question to her. “Inspiring girls to be brave and dream bigger than ever.”

That she does. McIntosh’s career so far is the stuff of dreams. Comprising three Olympic and two Commonwealth golds, alongside eight World Aquatics champion titles, she’s also the first swimmer since Michael Phelps to break three world records in a single meet. And really, this is just the start. Now training under Phelps’ former coach, Bob Bowman, McIntosh has her sights set on Olympic gold at LA 2028. “I’m focused on all the small and big steps it will take to get there,” she says. “I’ve been training with Bob for almost a year now, and I’m excited to continue working with him every day as we prepare for these next Olympic Games. I know he’ll prepare me to perform at my very best.”

9. Faith Kipyegon

Faith Kipyegon is so good that there are scientific studies dedicated to her potential. A paper published in the Royal Society Open Science concluded that she could break the four-minute mile—a feat previously considered impossible for women. She’s yet to do it (last year she came close in a Nike-sponsored race in Paris), but it seems only a matter of time.

It would be the icing on the cake of an already illustrious career. The greatest female middle-distance runner in history, she is a world-record holder in the 1500m and the mile, and the first woman in history to win three consecutive Olympic golds over the 1500m. Add to that an Olympic silver in the 5000m, and you’re starting to paint the picture of this remarkable athlete.

And yet, off track, there’s a bigger story. Because after giving birth to her daughter in 2018, Kipyegon made it her mission to transform maternity care in her rural town of Keringet, Kenya, where expectant mothers walk up to 35km to receive treatment. “I see women go into labour full of hope, carrying life, carrying dreams, and too many times, they come back empty-handed,” she explains over email. “Not because they did anything wrong. But because the care they needed was too far away, too limited, or simply not good enough.”

Kipyegon’s mission is to open a mother-and-baby facility in the town, transforming birth safety for mothers and babies. Named the Dare to Dream Maternity Ward, the project is being funded by Nike and is set to open later this year.

10. Sky Brown

The world first met Sky Brown in 2012 when, at just four years old, a video of her ripping at the skatepark went viral on YouTube. Now 17, she’s gone on to become the darling of British skateboarding—our first world champion in the sport, a two-time Olympic medallist, a two-time X Games gold medallist, and the first female skater to land a frontside 540 (a one-and-a-half aerial rotation): a feat Brown achieved at the age of just 11.

Central to her career is inspiring other girls to take up skateboarding. “I wanted to be in the Olympics to inspire girls to get out there,” she told TNT Sports in a documentary released in 2022. In 2024, she continued that mission with the release of her first children’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Skateboarding.

What’s next for her? After narrowly missing out on Team GB’s Olympic surfing team for Paris 2024, she’s hinted at plans to successfully bag the skate-surf double at LA 2028. Watch this space.

11. Allyson Felix

So you thought that the most decorated track and field athlete in history had retired? Think again. In April this year, 400m legend Allyson Felix announced her plans to target the LA 2028 Olympics during the debut episode of her new podcast, Built To Last.

And who would doubt her? The 11-times Olympic medallist has been challenging the status quo since 2009, when she made the watershed decision to be managed by her brother, Wes—a choice that was met with resistance by the establishment at the time.

Felix has since gone on to become not only one of the greatest athletes of all time, but a thriving entrepreneur and maternal health activist, after her long-time sponsor, Nike, proposed to cut her pay by 70% when she fell pregnant. Following unsuccessful negotiations with the brand, Felix wrote a powerful op-ed for The New York Times that opened a conversation that transcended sport and set a new precedent for maternal rights of athletes.

Things didn’t stop there. After her split from Nike, Felix founded her own footwear brand, Saysh, becoming the first track athlete to compete in her own shoe. “It’s so much deeper than selling shoes,” she told Bloomberg. “It’s about impact. If people feel seen and represented, and we start to shift the culture, that would be success.” Felix remains at the helm of the brand, which has a policy of allowing women to exchange their shoes for a new size if their feet swell in pregnancy. She juggles it with motherhood, campaigning for improvements to maternal healthcare for Black women, podcasting and a return to elite sport.

12. Ilona Maher

Former Marie Claire UK cover star Ilona Maher is the most well-known rugby player on the planet. With over 10 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, she’s nothing short of a sensation—known as much for her work dismantling body image standards as she is for her performances on the pitch. Not that she believes it.

“Ask people who the best rugby player in the world is, and they probably won’t be able to name the woman,” Maher told us last year. “But they can name that funny girl online. It’s a focus on connecting with people.”

Whatever her take on it, her approach works. Her short-term signing for the Bristol Bears from January to March last year catapulted interest in the women’s game, instantly giving the club the biggest reach in the league and forcing entire stadium switches to accommodate the increased demand in match attendees.

If her work championing women’s body acceptance and diversity is perhaps what she’s most known for—her hashtag #beastbeautybrains has become a mantra for women the world over—she’s also a vocal critic of the pay gap between men's and women’s sport. “I would love to get on the field and just play rugby and make a million dollars,” Maher told us. “But that’s not possible right now. I don’t think there’s a single women’s rugby player in the world making over £100,000. How do you expect me to focus on the field when I can’t support myself or live a comfortable life?”

Maher’s pragmatic and tenacious work ethic is just another reason to admire her. She’s business savvy, ambitious both on and off the field, and has done the work to get to a point of confidence—in her body, her talent and her skillset. As well as being an Olympic bronze medallist and one of the best rugby players in the world, she’s a podcaster, a Sports Illustrated cover star and swimwear runway model, and, according to industry bible SportsPro, the third most marketable athlete—behind only Lewis Hamilton and Simone Biles—in the world.

13. Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka is a great tennis player and, we would argue, an even better person.

One of the most prominent social activists in the world of sport, her rise to fame skyrocketed in 2018 when she beat her childhood idol, Serena Williams, in the final of the US Open. From there, Osaka had a gold rush, becoming the first Asian woman to be ranked number one in the world in 2019, when she was just 20 years old, and winning three further Grand Slam titles by 2021.

At the same time, she was emerging as one of sport’s most prominent political figures, through her on- and off-court protests against police brutality as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Her work, which was received well by tennis organisations, the media and the public, set a new example and precedent for athletes’ role in politics.

It was in 2021, after withdrawing from the French Open, that her activism expanded to the realm of mental health. Using her voice to address issues of social anxiety, depression and the lack of athlete welfare protections in sport, she raised global awareness and sparked structural reform, which led to a three-part Netflix documentary and a celebrated essay—It’s OK not to be OK—for TIME magazine.

Then there’s her enviable sense of style, using her profile as an opportunity to spotlight independent designers and showcase her heritage. In a press conference at this year’s Wimbledon, she said, “I would actually prefer to talk about my clothes. In some ways I feel like I’m a lot more equipped to talk about my clothes than to talk about my tennis.”

Whether you follow her for her tennis, style or activism, Naomi Osaka isn’t just one to watch—she’s one you can’t take your eyes off.

14. Alysa Liu

Want to know a thing or two about staying true to yourself? Ask Alysa Liu. The Olympic gold medallist, who temporarily stepped away from figure skating due to burnout after becoming the youngest US national champion of all time, was told repeatedly that she’d have to change her now-trademark striped hair when she returned to the sport.

To which, she said, no. End of. “These days, I say no to more things than I say yes to,” she confirmed in an interview with her sponsor, Nike, earlier this year. “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a hell no.”

That fierce individuality is part of what makes her such a joy to watch. Her performances, which are a heady mix of elegance, fun and flair, led her to become the face of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics back in February, where she won gold in stunning fashion. It’s also what makes her such an inspiration, both within and beyond sport.

“It’s cliche—but you really only live once,” she told Nike. “If something is feeling too hard mentally or physically, take a break and try other things. Step away, reassess and see if it pulls you back in. If it does, great. And if it doesn’t, then maybe you’re being pulled toward something completely new.”

15. Demi Vollering

“It all starts with dreaming,” goes the motto of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes champion, Demi Vollering (who, at the time of writing is going into this year’s race as the favourite, too). She has also won the world’s two other major multistage cycling races: La Vuelta Femenina (twice, in 2024 and 2025) and the Giro d’Italia Women, in June this year. Vollering is only the second woman to have won this trio of races.

The Dutch cyclist, who comes from a family of greenhouse growers, left her job as a florist to go fulltime on the bike in 2019 and has been outspoken about removing taboos around athlete menstrual health, as well as the importance of exercise for mental health in the years since.

She’s also been a pioneer in the growth of women’s cycling, speaking out about the need for new age group categories and better broadcast coverage of events. “I want to do what Serena Williams did for tennis,” Vollering said in an interview with The Guardian. “She’s much more than a tennis player. She transcended the sport and showed young girls that they could dream bigger.”

16. Leah Williamson

Watch any interview with the captain of the Lionesses, Leah Williamson, and you’ll feel the gravity with which she holds her position. She knows the weight of responsibility that comes with the shirt she wears; the number of young girls she inspires every time she steps onto the pitch; and the doors she and her teammates are opening for future generations.

It’s not just the back-to-back Women’s Euro victories she led the team to in 2022 and 2025; it’s the openness with which she talks about her battles with injury, endometriosis, performance anxiety and her devotion to creating more opportunities for the next generation of female and LGBTQ+ footballers.

In 2023, Williamson was awarded an OBE for her services to football; in 2026, this was upgraded to a CBE in acknowledgement of her achievements on behalf of her team at Euro 2025. As for what’s next? All eyes are on the squad qualifying for the Women’s World Cup (which she missed in 2023 due to injury) ahead of the tournament, which takes place in Brazil next June.

17. Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark burst onto the global stage during her collegiate career, where she became the greatest scorer in NCAA Division I history across both men and women—surpassing the record held by Pete Maravich in 1970.

Since then, she’s been shattering WNBA records for her team, Indiana Fever, helping to drive visibility and viewership for the women’s game. In fact, it’s been suggested that in 2024, she was responsible for 26.5% of all WNBA economic activity after factoring in revenue from merchandise, ticket sales, and television.

Off court, she’s the founder of the Caitlin Clark Foundation, a non-profit that expands access to education, nutrition and sports for children across the USA.

18. Shamera Sterling-Humphrey

Shamera Sterling-Humphrey is one of the best defensive netball players in the world. The Adelaide Thunderbirds player is a three-time winner of the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) league, one of the most competitive series in the world.

This year, Sterling-Humphrey has become known as much for her off-court candour as her remarkable interceptions. In 2025, after giving birth to her son, she suffered from postpartum depression. Speaking openly on Sky Sports’ Off the Court podcast in May this year, she shared her journey through depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, which shaped her first few months of motherhood.

She’s since returned to competitive netball, winning her third SSN, but is unafraid to say she’s not yet out the other side. “I’m grateful to say that I’m a bit better now but I’m not where I want to be,” she said on Off the Court. “I’m still trying to find myself. I have my good days and my bad days, but I’m still not the Shamera I used to be.”

19. Jamie Chadwick

Women haven’t always been welcome in motorsports. Challenges from intermittent gendered bans as far back as the early 20th century to a longstanding lack of investment in young female go-kart drivers have ensured female drivers have been kept fighting on the sport’s fringes for years. That was until 2022, when former racing driver Susie Wolff set up the F1 Academy to increase female participation in driving.

A driver like Jamie Chadwick, therefore, has defied all the odds to be in her current position. Introduced to the sport via karting at age 12, Chadwick quickly climbed the ranks to become the youngest driver—and first female—to win a British GT title at just 16. Her career of firsts has continued since: she’s the first woman to win a Formula 3 race and the only woman to have won a race in the European Le Mans series.

Inspiring other women to enter the sport is central to everything Chadwick does, whether that’s speaking on podcasts, serving as a pundit for Sky Sports, or in her role as an F1 Academy advisor for Williams Racing. “People are finally recognising the level of talent that’s always been there,” she tells me. “In motorsport, we’re seeing more pathways, more visibility and more young girls believing they can have a place in the sport. That’s incredibly exciting.”

20. Gabby Thomas

When Gabby Thomas shattered her 200m personal best at the 2021 US Olympic trials, the world sat up and noticed. She crossed the line over half a second faster than she’d ever run before, placing her third on the all-time list behind sprint legends Florence Griffith Joyner and Elaine Thompson-Herah. “Overnight, I went from almost unknown to a favourite,” she revealed to Marie Claire UK earlier this year. “The attention and expectations were a lot to manage, but I couldn’t have been more excited to be on that Olympic team.”

She went on to take home two medals—a silver and a bronze—at the 2022 Olympics, and four years later went one step further when she became the first American woman since Allyson Felix to win three gold medals on the track in a single Olympics at Paris 2026. “She [Felix] was my original inspiration in sport,” Thomas tells me now. “I saw a lot of myself in her, so it felt very full-circle. The other day at a cafe someone actually mistook me for her, which I took as a huge compliment.”

Her performances on the track are just one side of Thomas. The Harvard graduate who majored in neurobiology and global health is focused on closing the racial health disparity gap and, in the run-up to Paris, spent five years working at the Volunteer Healthcare Clinic in Austin, Texas. As she told us back in May: “Giving back to my community helps fill my cup.”

21. Carissa Moore

In Hawaii, 4 January is Carissa Moore Day. The state officially recognised the surfer in 2016 for the leadership, grace and aloha she brings as a competitor and role model for young women. At the time, Moore was a three-time World Surf League (WSL) champion—the youngest ever to take the title at just 19 years old. Since then, she’s gone on to win the first Olympic gold in surfing history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and has added two more WSL championships to her medal roster.

She returned to the Olympic stage at Paris 2024, while pregnant, riding one of the heaviest reefs in the world with her baby on board. And though she’d talked about retirement afterwards, she’s now back to number two in the world, with no sign of slowing down.

Moore is also the founder of Moore Aloha, a charity organisation dedicated to supporting women’s and girls’ mental health. They focus on events which promote mindfulness, physical and emotional wellness and environmental responsibility.

22. Hannah Cockroft

Dubbed Hurricane Hannah by the media following her storming success at the London 2012 Paralympics, Hannah Cockroft is a nine-time Paralympic champion, 19-time World Para Athletics champion and a fervent activist for disability rights and inclusion.

“Growing up, I went to mainstream schools where I was always the only disabled child,” Cockroft told the Sports Gazette in 2021. “PE for me was reading a book in the library or sitting and watching or keeping score of my friends’ games. It was never getting involved.”

At the age of 12, however, after watching a wheelchair basketball demonstration at her school, the world of para-sport opened up. Today, she’s one of the most decorated British athletes in World Para Athletics Championship history, with five Paralympic gold medals and multiple world records to her name. And after becoming a mother for the first time earlier this year, her sights are firmly set on backing a return for the 2028 Olympics in LA.

23. A’ja Wilson

A Met Gala debut, TIME Athlete of the Year, a New York Times bestselling author who just happens to have a signature footwear line with Nike—oh, and the fastest ever player in WNBA history to reach 6,000 points scored: all in a career that is very much far from over for basketball player A’ja Wilson.

Becky Hammon, her coach at Las Vegas Aces, calls it the it factor. This “thing” that the South Carolinian—who is a four-time league MVP and the first player in WNBA history to score over 1,000 points in a single season—has. “I run out of adjectives for her,” Hammon told Vogue back in March.

No wonder she was offered richest contract in WNBA history to ensure Wilson remained with the team back in April, making her the first player in the league to earn seven figures—and, in the process, forever moving the needle on salary expectations for female athletes. It’s something she’s deeply passionate about. “This isn’t just like, ‘Oh, I want the million-dollar contract.’ This is for the generations after me, Wilson told Vogue in the same interview. I don’t have a problem sitting at the table until we get what we want and get what we deserve.”

Wilson also speaks openly and vulnerably about her mental health, as an athlete and as a Black woman. In an essay penned for The Players Tribune in 2021, she described her struggles with anxiety, depression and grief, and her decision to go to therapy. If you read one thing today, let it be that.

24. Fran Hennessy

Whenever I’m doubting myself, I think back to the video of nine-year-old Fran Hennessy, a smile plastered on her face, going for her eighth lap of the athletics track with her Dad, Mick, shouting words of encouragement from behind the camera.

From that little girl to an undefeated 9-0-0 professional boxing record (with two knockouts) 11 years later, Hennessy is now aiming to become the youngest ever undisputed four-belt bantamweight world champion across both men and women. At the time of writing, she has just under a year to make it happen.

Hennessy has spoken openly in the past about her childhood struggles with body image and dyslexia, and using humour as a protective mechanism for these insecurities. In boxing, though, she found home—a place where she could grow in confidence and enter pure flow.

Hennessy’s fight against the current reigning bantamweight world champion, Cherneka Johnson, isn’t yet fixed, but watch this space because it won’t be far away.

25. Zoe Bäckstedt

“Don’t limit your challenges, challenge your limits,” says Zoe Bäckstedt when I ask her for the mantra she lives by. It checks out. The 21-year-old seems to be almost limitless on a bike.

Back in June, just a week after winning a stage of the Tour de Suisse Femmes, she became double national champion in the elite women’s time trial and the road race; victories which see her make her mark on the senior stage after a stunning junior career, which included multiple World Championship titles.

While Bäckstedt is still at the very start of her career, many have tipped her to be the future of British cycling across road and cyclo-cross. As for what motivates her? “Right now, it’s the will to push myself to the limit in all my races and fight for that victory.”

26. Nelly Korda

It’s a big year for Nelly Korda. The 27-year-old world number one is US Open champion and just two points away from being inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame—an honorary club of just 35 women who, between them, make up the greatest golfers of all time. And she’s just one world major away from completing the career Grand Slam. If she does it, she’ll be only the eighth woman in history to have won four major golf tournaments.

Her career, of course, is already peppered with greatness. A gold medal in her Olympic debut in 2020 paved the way for 2024, her most successful season to date, where she clocked five consecutive tournament wins. A number that equalled the record for the longest winning streak in women’s golfing history.

Off the course, she’s thriving, too. Deals with Nike, Goldman Sachs and Delta contributed to her becoming the seventh highest-paid female athlete in the world in 2025, while her appearance in Sports Illustrated’s iconic 2025 swimwear issue, alongside Ilona Maher, Anna Hall, Gabby Thomas and Eileen Gu, has contributed to the celebration of strong, athletic bodies within media.

27. Laviai Nielsen

If Laviai Nielsen could relive any sporting moment from her career thus far, it would be winning an Olympic medal alongside her twin sister, Lina, at Paris 2024. “After everything we’d been through—all the setbacks and disappointments in trying to reach our dreams—winning that medal with my best friend is something I’ll never be able to put into words,” she writes over email.

It seems a long way from the 16-year-old Nielsen who carried Jessica Ennis-Hill’s kit at the London 2012 Olympics. Back then, competing on the senior world stage was just a dream. Twelve years later, it was her reality. That reality, however, didn’t come without setback. In 2021, just two weeks before Nielsen was set to make her Olympic debut, she received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, a lifelong condition that affects the nervous system. Her sister, Lina, also has the condition and the pair have since been dedicated to raising awareness, particularly on social media, where they both share the highs and lows of elite athlete life.

“My sister and I kind of understood that we had a bit of a social responsibility with telling our story,” Nielsen told Olympics Channel TV in 2024. “We want to show people that even though there might be a roadblock, you can still continue. It might be on a different path, but you might still get to the same place.” At time of writing, that place is Glasgow, where the 2026 Commonwealth Games is underway and, where she has her sights set on a medal. With her kind of resilience, who’d doubt her?

28. Funmi Fadoju

Growing up, Funmi Fadoju’s idol was Serena Williams. “It’s not just because she’s the GOAT,” she says, “it’s because she was unapologetically herself. She never asked for permission to take up space, and she showed me that greatness isn’t about fitting into people’s expectations. It’s about having the courage to define your own, which is something I try to do every day.”

That she does. Fadoju is one of netball’s brightest rising stars, playing in defence for London Pulse and England’s Vitality Roses. Named Netball Super League Young Player of the Season in both 2021 and 2022, she’s since become a prominent figure in senior squads, earning over 40 caps for the Roses.

This summer, she’ll be on court at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, an event she hopes will continue to build momentum for netball, and women’s sport more widely. “It’s really amazing to be part of this moment in history,” she says. “In netball, we’re seeing more investment, more visibility and more opportunities than ever. I hope the Games will continue to catapult women’s sport to another level.”

With consistently impressive performances on court already attracting deals with the likes of Nike, there’s little doubt that the future looks rosy for this defensive superstar.

29. Doriane Pin

It’s been 34 years since a female driver entered an F1 race. The question of why is a complicated puzzle, involving investment, visibility, prejudice and stigma. But now, with a fresh wave of female drivers rising through the ranks of the F1 Academy, the idea of female representation in an F1 race feels closer than ever. At the helm of this movement is French 22-year-old Doriane Pin, the Mercedes driver who won 2025’s F1 Academy series.

Having begun her go-karting career when she was nine, Pin’s been making strides towards her dream of driving in an F1 race ever since. 2026 has already been a momentous year in that journey, with Pin becoming the first woman to drive a Mercedes F1 car back in April. Her maiden test, which took place at Silverstone, involved 76 laps of the track in the 2021 title-winning W12.

Watch this space.

30. Ros Canter

Ros Canter’s daughter, Sener, was just 16 weeks old when her mum won her third Badminton—the world’s largest equestrian eventing competition outside of the World Championships—in May 2026. The baby was no stranger to horseback, having literally been there with her when a five-months-pregnant Canter won Burghley at the end of 2025.

These are remarkable achievements, ones which sit alongside gold medals at the Olympics and World Equestrian Games, and which go a long way to dismantling the stigma around maternity in sport.

At Belsay Horse Trials this year, when asked about what had changed since giving birth with regard to keeping up with her own training, Canter joked: “Sener has lost a bit of her routine since Badminton, so I have some time in the middle of the night.” Clearly, nothing will stop her.

31. Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky is the ultimate professional. The nine-time Olympic gold medallist, 23-time World Champion and New York Times bestselling author has been winning global medals since she was 15. Fourteen years later, she’s as focused and humble as she was then, despite holding the record for the most Olympic gold medals in women’s swimming, and the equal highest number across any sport.

“When I was six years old, I never even dreamed of making it to one Olympics,” she told the Hurdle podcast last year. “When I won a gold medal, my family and I had a conversation, and we realised that anything more than that is icing on the cake. None of us ever imagined I would make it that far in the sport.”

That doesn’t mean she’s not ambitious. Despite breaking 17 world records so far, the swimmer is far from finished. “I’m always eager to chase something new. I’m not perfect, and I haven’t achieved every single one of my goals,” she told Hurdle. “I love the chase, I love the journey, I love the process.”

Passing on the learnings from her remarkable sporting career is a huge part of her athletic identity. She’s an advisor to Athleta’s Power of She collective and has worked closely with Billie Jean King’s Women’s Sport Foundation, which funds research and provides financial support to aspiring athletes, while also advocating for female athletes around the world.

32. Menna Fitzpatrick

Have you ever skied in low cloud with a blizzard swirling around you? That’s how Menna Fitzpatrick describes her experience as a visually-impaired skier. Britain’s most decorated winter Paralympian was born with congenital retinal folds, meaning that she has no vision in her left eye and very limited sight in her right eye.

Not that it’s never stopped her. At the age of five, she was skiing on family holidays; her dad guiding her down the mountain. Today, she has six Paralympic medals, having burst onto the international scene in 2016 when she won the World Cup title for visually impaired skiing.

At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics, she secured four medals, making her the most successful British athlete at a single Winter Games. Two further medals came at Beijing 2022, and at this year’s Milano Cortina Games, Fitzpatrick returned to elite-level competition despite suffering an ACL injury just a few weeks prior. Focused is an understatement.

33. Dina Asher-Smith

Dina Asher-Smith is the fastest British woman in history. The record-breaking athlete first dipped below the magical 11-second barrier over the 100m in 2015. She’s since lowered that mark even further, running 10.83 seconds to win silver at the World Championships in Doha 2019. At that same competition, she became the first British woman to win a global sprint title when she took gold in the 200m, firmly cementing her place in the history books.

Despite her commitment to track, Asher-Smith has always maintained an identity beyond sport. Graduating from King’s College London with a history degree in 2017, she’s since turned her eye to fashion and has been the face of numerous global campaigns, including the 2026 launch of the La Ferrari Dino handbag.

Now training in the USA, Asher-Smith is set to compete at this year’s European Championships, having pulled out of the Commonwealth Games due to injury. We do not underestimate her chances.

34. Aitana Bonmati

For three consecutive years, Aitana Bonmati has been FIFA Women’s Player of the Year. The midfielder, who plays for Spain and FC Barcelona Femení, is also a three-time Ballon d’Or winner; an individual award considered the most prestigious in the game.

And now her tactical analysis is becoming as respected as her game, after she stepped into broadcasting for the men’s 2026 World Cup. Working with Mexican network TUDN, she’s been praised for her breakdowns of what’s happening on the pitch and why.

In an interview with The Guardian in 2024, Bonmatí credited her mental state as the defining characteristic behind her success. “Talent is one thing, and you can work hard as well, but without this mentality of sacrifice, resilience, fight and to want to be better every day… I wouldn’t be the person I am today,” she said.

35. Katarina Johnson-Thompson

To know the footprint of Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s career is to know that she is a master of resilience. After stepping out onto the world stage as a 19-year-old at the London 2012 Olympics, where she could soak up the experience in the shadow of Jessica Ennis-Hill’s Golden Girl pressure, she was thrust into the limelight as Britain’s next heptathlon superstar.

And that she is. Look at her medal cabinet, which includes an Olympic silver, two World Championship golds (plus a further bronze), multiple Commonwealth Games titles and a cluster of international indoor medals.

Such achievements, however impressive, have been far from easy to accrue. KJT, as she’s affectionately known, has battled through her fair share of challenges, including a ruptured Achilles just months before the Tokyo Olympics. If anything, such hurdles have only made her stronger, with a reputation for wearing her heart on her sleeve that is equally admirable in the world of professional competition.

In 2024, after her Olympic silver, she released her book Unbroken in which she addressed her struggles and triumphs in equal measure, including a candid reflection on her teenage body image battles. It’s an essential read, not only for young athletes, but for women navigating ambition, confidence and relationship to their body.

36. Coco Gauff

Coco Gauff’s entry onto the world stage was something of a fairytale. In 2019, she became—at the age of just 15—the youngest player in history to qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon, going on to beat her childhood idol Venus Williams in round one. She made it to round four in the tournament, by which time she’d cemented herself as one of the most exciting prospects in the game to date. By 2023, her transformation to champion was complete when she achieved her first Grand Slam title on home soil at the US Open.

Since then, she’s become an icon on and off the court, adding the French Open 2025 to her Slam singles’ titles and becoming—like fellow pros Naomi Osaka and Venus Williams—one of the players cementing the intersection of high fashion and sport, having built globally successful collaborations with sportswear brand New Balance and fashion house Miu Miu.

37. Daryll Neita

You might think fourth place is the most agonising position to finish in athletics. Not Daryll Neita. When the second fastest British woman of all time missed out on a medal in her Paris 2024 Olympic final, she focused on the positives: “Stepped up when it mattered and did myself proud,” she shared on Instagram after the race. “Last place in the final in Tokyo, fourth place today. One thing about me, I’m gonna keep pushing.”

That unbreakable self-belief is what makes Neita so exciting. “I’ve always believed that I’m born to do track and field,” she told Marie Claire UK. “I believe that I can be the best. I just believe it.”

We believe it too. But Neita’s career isn’t just about her own performances. The sprinter is as committed to getting the next generation onto the track as she is to winning medals (and she has won plenty of medals, including Olympic, as well as at European and world championships). In 2024, she founded the Daryll Neita Athletics Community to inspire children to participate in sports, launching it with a sports day for over 100 students, and has plans to build out a programme of mentorship, workshops and events. The message she’s sending? The same one she’d tell her younger self: Never stop believing.

38. Emma Finucane

Look at 23-year-old Emma Finucane’s June photo dump, and you’ll find a mix of family photos, holiday shots, mirror selfies, pizza and coffee. You’ll also find videos of her front squatting 80kg, being interviewed alongside cycling legend Victoria Pendleton and riding in velodromes all around the world. All just part and parcel of life as the world’s fastest female cyclist who, back in February, broke the world record for the flying 200m event.

Finucane’s talent has been evident for a while. In Paris, at just 21, she won a hat-trick of Olympic medals—one gold, two bronze—to add to her first World Championship title in 2023. Since then, she’s become a two-time world champion, has signed with Adidas and become a host of the Watts Occurring Femmes podcast, a show dedicated to year-round cycling content.

“I’m not afraid to admit that I have big and bold dreams for myself,” she says when we catch up with her. “I’m motivated to be the most successful women’s sprinter there is, and I’ll chase that unless my body says otherwise.” And she wants to lead by example: “I hope to show young girls that being ambitious, and having dreams and goals, isn’t unrealistic. You can make them your reality.”

39. Zoe Atkin

I can lose hours watching the days-in-the-life vlogs of Stanford student and pro skier Zoe Atkin, who is “just a girl”—albeit one who majors in symbolic systems (a programme that combines computer science, psychology, maths and AI) and happens to also be a world champion. Oh, and an Olympic bronze medallist.

Atkin’s vlogs provide a look behind the curtain at the juggle that is student-athlete life, including training, nutrition, study, recovery and her passions outside of sport. What she shows, whether she means to or not, is the person behind the elite athlete. Her feed is, quite simply, a hugely positive place to be.

Speaking with Marie Claire UK ahead of this year’s Winter Games, she said: “It’s been a huge journey since my first Olympics in 2022. My mindset is something I work on every day. I’m very conscious of my thought patterns and emotions; I practice meditation and mindfulness every day, which really helps me to stay present.”

Sharing messages around women’s strength and body positivity, being open about the psychological side of sport, and just—quite simply—getting on with things. Inspiring and practical: that’s Atkins all the way.

40. Sydney Levrone

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has been making history since she was 16. The then high-schooler finished third at the Olympic trials in a new world junior record and became the youngest US track and field athlete ever to make an Olympic Games, going on to compete at Rio 2016.

As we now know, that was just the start for the 400m hurdler, who has gone on to become the only track athlete ever to break four world records over a single event. Those records—which included becoming the first female 400m hurdler to run under the magical 52 and subsequently, 51-second barrier—feature alongside four Olympic and four world championship gold medals.

That medal tally is currently on pause, as McLaughlin-Levrone has recently given birth to her first baby. With plans to make her return to training in time to target the LA 2028 Olympics, naturally.

41. Emma Raducanu

On a warm New York day in September 2021, a British A-Level student—one Emma Raducanu—became the first qualifier in history to win a Grand Slam title. And she did it without dropping a set. That single game catapulted her onto the world stage and, as the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1977, firmly into the hearts of the British public.

In the five years since, Raducanu’s battled injury, illness and coaching changes—all under the scrutiny of the world’s media. “Long term, I want to win Wimbledon. That’s my number one goal,” she told Marie Claire UK back in 2024 (this year’s tournament was not to be the one, after being forced to withdraw due to a stress fracture). “I think it’s very easy in tennis to panic, and I’m guilty of it. You feel like you only have 10 years of your career ahead of you, and that it’s going to be over before you know it.”

Despite the pressure, she remains level-headed—and committed to a life both on and off the court. Whatever her Grand Slam status, a headline deal with Uniqlo, announced earlier this year, is just the latest of a long list of notable ambassadorships, including Dior, Tiffany, Evian, Porsche and British Airways, demonstrating her continued pulling power. Power that Raducanu makes good work of in other areas, too, regularly offering her time to inspire younger generations in tennis, visiting children at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital and supporting community initiatives such as Surplus to Supper, which works to combat food poverty.

42. Yaroslava Mahuchikh

Very few athletes have won a World Championship gold. Let alone after a gruelling three-day escape from their war-torn home. In 2022, Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh—who was 20 at the time—won the World Indoor Championships in Serbia after a gruelling 2,000km journey by car through the Russian invasion.

Mahuchikh subsequently lived and trained as a refugee in Germany, Belgium, Estonia and Portugal, staying in touch with family and friends back at home via texts and calls. Still living away from home in 2024, Mahuchikh broke a world record that had stood since 1987, clearing a historic 2.10m at the Paris Diamond League, going on to win Olympic Gold just a few weeks later. At the end of the season, she was named Women’s Field Athlete of the Year at the World Athletics Awards for her undefeated year and world-record-breaking jump.

“Sport unites, sport helps, and athletes help each other,” Mahuchikh told Olympic Channel TV the year she left home, speaking of both her personal circumstances and wider beliefs in what sport can achieve.

And really, she’s just getting started. High jumpers regularly compete until their early 30s, meaning that (all going to plan), we’ll have at least a decade of Mahuchikh’s brilliance to come.

43. Millie Bright

Footballer Millie Bright’s career extends far beyond the pitch. The former Chelsea captain, who announced her retirement in April, had such an impact on the club and its fans that she’ll stay on as a foundation trustee and club ambassador, working closely with them to inspire the next generation. Which shouldn’t be a surprise: “It’s what I play for—to inspire young girls and boys,” she told Marie Claire UK back in 2023.

Bright’s influence on the world of women’s sports shows no signs of slowing down. An ambassador for mental health charity YoungMinds, successful podcaster and regular pundit and presenter—not to mention a new YouTube channel—Bright also recently launched The Growth Locker, an online platform is aimed at helping female entrepreneurs establish small businesses.

Stay tuned, because we’ve got a feeling there’s a lot more to come.

44. Aryna Sabalenka

Four-time Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka is known as The Tiger for her fierce energy on and off the court.

A formidable star, who this year took the so-called Sunshine Double after back-to-back wins at the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open tournaments, she’s also a vocal proponent of player rights and fair pay. At the French Open this year, she spoke openly about the need for players to receive a greater share of tournament revenue, and for tournaments to make contributions to pensions, healthcare and maternity pots.

Her influence extends beyond the court. In January 2026, she was unveiled as Gucci’s latest global brand ambassador; a move that demonstrated both her individual influence and marked another step towards closing the sponsorship gap between the men’s and women’s game.

45. Rebeca Andrade

Rebeca Andrade is back. Brazil’s most decorated Olympian, who has a total of six medals to her name (alongside the nine won at World Championship level), made her return to competition in June with a win on the vault at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships.

Andrade’s road to the top has been far from smooth. Three ACL tears in 2015, 2017 and 2019, respectively, have made her one of the most resilient and self-aware athletes in the game. It’s how she knew that she needed to prioritise rest and recovery when she made the brave (and almost unheard of) decision to take an extended break from the sport in 2025. “I’m resting. It’s very important to me,” she told Globo at the time.

Her decisiveness is something we can all learn from. Since returning to the sport, she’s made a decision to step back from the floor to focus on the vault, beam and uneven bars instead, to respect, what she has called the “limits of my body”. Either way, with LA 2028 on the horizon, it’s an exciting time—with that focus and direction the sky, surely, is the limit.

46. Amy Hunt

“You can be an academic badass and a track goddess.” So said Amy Hunt in the line that sent her viral last year. Speaking to the BBC after winning silver at the world championships in Tokyo, the Cambridge University English Graduate’s words resonated with young female athletes all over the country.

The messages flooded in, all asking for advice on how to get into Oxbridge. “I’ll always say, just give me a call, because the interview is so unlike anything else you’ll ever do,” Hunt told The Guardian earlier this year. Her eventual goal is to set up a scholarship to support track and field athletes to get into Cambridge.

For now, however, she has pressing matters on the track. And things are going well. Hunt has already set a new personal best of 10.97 seconds over the 100m this year, becoming the third fastest British woman of all time. At the UK Athletics Championships, she defeated fellow sprint icon Dina Asher-Smith to take the crown, going on to score two silver medals—in 100m and 200m—at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer.

47. Mary Earps

Think of Mary Earps and you can’t help but think of the summer of 2023. Just a year after played a pivotal role in the team’s victory at Euro 2022, that was the year she vice-captained the Lionesses to the final of the Women’s World Cup—uniting a nation behind women’s football and earning her the crown of Sports Personality of the Year.

Over those two summers, women’s football in the UK was transformed—all thanks to Earps and her team. As spectator numbers soared, the team became idols for young girls all over the country. It hadn’t always been that way, she told Marie Claire UK that summer: “I’ve spent quite a lot of my career being heavily criticised. But winning at the Euros, and the way I played, people look at me differently now.”

They certainly do. Now retired from the international game, she’s just signed for Women’s Super League team London City Lionesses—a move that brings her back to British soil after two years at Paris Saint-Germain. When asked what drew her back, Earps cited the energy of the club and its female owner, Michele Kang. “I think there’s a lot of broken promises made in women’s sports. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows,” she told The Guardian in January. But their vision and the way they’re actively working towards it—it’s not just words, it feels very much like action.”

Welcome home, Mary. It’s great to have you back.

48. Lottie Fry

At 26, Lottie Fry became the youngest dressage rider in history to win the individual freestyle title at the World Dressage Championships—taking home a second gold in the individual special class and a silver in the team dressage.

Her partner in crime, a black stallion called Glamourdale, has been described by Lottie as her “one in a million”. The pair were also part of a record-breaking Olympics for the British equestrian squad at Paris 2024, where they took individual and team dressage bronze.

And though her accolades are many, Lottie’s ride to victory has not been without it’s challenges. Her mother—Laura Fry, also a British Olympic dressage rider—died in 2012, when Lottie was just 16. Not long after, in 2014, the young rider moved to the Netherlands to continue her training. It’s where she met Glamourdale, and where she continues to train today.

There is undoubtedly a long and illustrious career ahead for them both—and we can’t wait to see it play out.

49. Nat Sciver-Brunt

Nat Sciver-Brunt is only the second Englishwoman to juggle motherhood and professional cricket. The first was Arran Brindle, who returned to international cricket in 2011 after giving birth to her son in 2008. Now Sciver-Brunt and her wife, Katherine (a former England fast-bowler), are carving their own path through family life and elite sport. “We are the guinea-pigs,” Sciver-Brunt joked in an interview with The Telegraph last year.

But Sciver-Brunt isn’t just part of the England squad who finished as runners-up to Australia in this year’s T20 World Cup. She’s captain—a role that has been 13 years in the making. Having made her international debut for England in 2013 when she was just 20, the 33-year-old is proof that you don’t need to be the loudest on the pitch to be an effective leader.

“We all know she’s not the most vocal person, and you don’t need to be,” head coach Charlotte Edwards told the England & Wales Cricket Board last month. “Your actions lead on the pitch, and that’s what she [Nat] does. She leads from the front. Juggling it with everything else—looking after young Theo—she’s kind of a superwoman in many ways.” Hear, hear.

50. Desirèe Henry

Sprinter Desirèe Henry is on her road to her third Olympics. The 200m former World Youth Champion and multiple Olympic relay medallist is documenting the journey via her YouTube and Instagram channels (both with regular cameos from her dachshund, Henry).

As well as winning medals, Henry (the person, not the puppy) has another mission—as she revealed to Marie Claire UK back in June. “I’m passionate about empowering women to build strength, confidence and a positive relationship with their bodies,” she said. “Strength is sexy, sophisticated, and most of all, feminine.”

It hasn’t always felt that way, she added: “But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised my body tells a story. It reflects discipline, resilience, consistency, and years of hard work. That’s something I’m proud of, rather than something I feel I need to downplay.”

The messages she shares, in interviews and on social media, all reflect this celebration of female strength, making her a much-needed voice for all of us.

When I tell you I have the driest lips in the world, I mean it. They're constantly chapped—a combination of chronic dehydration (I know, I don't help myself) and regular long-haul flights between London and Melbourne. It's certainly not for lack of trying— over my many years as a beauty editor, I’ve tried hundreds of lip balms, from £40 luxe viral hits to £3 cheap-as-chips supermarket bestsellers. And I’ve found some great ones, but I've still never found that one product I can turn to to keep my lips hydrated and smooth in the long run.

So when I heard about lip essences, I knew I was the intended audience. Anything that’s born in the K-beauty space automatically has me hooked (Korean skincare is simply elite), and the premise of a lip product that acts as a skincare essence (an extra hydrating prep step between cleanser/toner and serum) felt very appealing. Here’s what you need to know about this product category, and what happened when I—the perfect reviewer for lip hydrators—gave one a go.

What is a lip essence?

Dr Christine Hall, an aesthetic doctor and K-beauty expert, says that the way lip essences work is what makes them unique. As their name suggests, they’re like a skincare essence step but for the delicate lip area – but with a slightly different delivery method.

“People often think of an essence as the watery skincare layer that sits between your toner and serum when it comes to skincare. With the lips, however, essences are almost always still in balm form,” she says.

An essence aims to hydrate tissue, which means “ingredients are absorbed more effectively.” This can lead to deeper, longer hydration over time. And guess what? When used alongside lip balms, they’re most effective. “There are small experiments where people have shown that applying a standard hydrating serum or essence under your lip balm will increase moisture levels in the lips. Effectively, the essence hydrates and the lip balm occludes the moisture and prevents transepidermal water loss.”

Lip essences, however, do all the work. “In reality, you don't need two steps with them, as they’re formulated with lipids integrated, so they're effectively like a 2-in-1.”

How do they differ from ‘regular’ lip balms?

As Dr Hall explained, the delivery and hydration method is unique in an essence. “Historically, lip balms are about protection, being wax, oil or butter-based. They are about forming a protective barrier and sealing moisture in. Essences, in contrast, are about delivering more than just protection.”

In fact, they’re more like longer-term “skincare to the lips,” she says, rather than simple, short-term protection. And their ingredients lists are what count here. “They are often formulated with ceramides, hyaluronic acid and glycerin to plump, as well as specialised ingredients like PDRN for repair, retinoids for anti-ageing and lactic acid to exfoliate away dry skin.”

Despite this, I won’t lie: I had my doubts. Can lip essences really outperform balms in a noticeable way? Consultant Dermatologist Dr Sidra Khan—despite acknowledging they are undoubtedly a “great product”—says: “'Lip essence’ is largely a marketing term rather than a distinct dermatological category. The Torriden product is essentially a sophisticated lip balm or gloss, combining occlusive ingredients such as petrolatum with emollients including jojoba oil, shea butter and several other plant oils. It also contains ceramides and panthenol, which will help support the lip barrier.”

She says that examples like Torriden’s are undoubtedly “well-formulated product[s]” and “soften dry lips and reduce moisture loss.” However, as it stands, “there is no good evidence that products labelled ‘lip essences’ are inherently more effective than a good traditional, fragrance-free lip balm. They may offer a more lightweight or cosmetically elegant texture, but you are partly paying for the formulation experience and the K-beauty terminology rather than an entirely new category of lip care.”

I really enjoyed trying the Torriden Lip Essence and I’m torn between what I think about this product category more generally. On the one hand, this product felt lightweight, silky, smooth and refreshing on my lips, while performing beautifully under lipstick and liner. It also effectively delivered hydration and didn’t need continuous application; in fact, I do see how it could aid in lip health over time, acting more as skincare than simply instant gratification.

However, I’d say this worked similarly to some of the better quality traditional lip balms I’ve used in my time, when we’re discussing initial efficacy for chapped lips. It fixed dryness well, but I’m not sure it did this on a clearly superior level compared to my favourite balms. I would need to try more essences before deciding, and analyse the overall quality of the skin on my lips over time.

That said, I definitely think they’re worth trying if you suffer from very chapped lips—particularly given how affordable many are.

Where can you buy a lip essence?

With K-beauty now in stores such as Boots and Superdrug, trying lip essences is easier than ever. Below are some of the frontrunners and where to pick them up.

From the jubilant Arsenal parade to the verdant scenes at Wimbledon to the rallying cry of “it’s coming home” that echoed around every corner of the UK, it really is the summer of sport. The summer of sweat and power and persistence – and, lest we forget, fashion.

Hang on, you may be thinking. Fashion? Of course, for the uninitiated, the sporting arena may not seem like the most obvious terrain for couture. All of that snarling and grunting and grime! Think of the tulle!! But sport and fashion have always been strange bedfellows.

After all, Chanel has its origins in tennis dresses. In 2012, Vivienne Westwood drew from London’s hosting gig and served up a Spring Menswear collection inspired by the Olympic Games. Dior’s Resort 2021 collection presented modern athleisure silhouettes. And, of course, the likes of the Williams sisters have been pushing the boundaries of sportswear for years, with everything from a fierce tennis catsuit to a delicate tutu and embellished nails.

However, the trend is, without a doubt, on the rise—and morphing into something bigger and bolder than before. This summer, more than ever, these seemingly disparate worlds collided at full pelt as athletes and fans alike embraced the strength and power of a good sartorial moment, opting for fashion that is more elevated, more intentional, more avant-garde—more, if you’ll excuse the pun, ballsy than ever. It is, in other words, the summer when sport met method dressing.

In case you’ve somehow missed every A-lister press tour over the past few years, method dressing is all about reimagining the red carpet gown as a larger-than-life costume by making intentional sartorial nods to the project at hand. See, for instance, Margot Robbie recreating iconic Barbie looks for the 2022 Greta Gerwig film or Zendaya draped in goddess-worthy garments for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Odyssey film.

In sport, we’re now seeing a similar trend. American tennis star Naomi Osaka, for instance, transformed the grass and clay courts into red carpets with her headline-grabbing couture walk-on moments: a gilded, sequinned tennis dress with a cascading tulle train by Germanier at the French Open, followed by a draped, custom-couture white embroidered kimono by Tokyo designer Hana Yagi at Wimbledon.

"She’s not simply participating in fashion; she’s using it as a tool to express different facets of herself – her heritage, her creativity, her emotions, and the many identities she holds beyond the court," explains Osaka's stylist Marty Harper. "That’s what makes her style resonate so powerfully: it feels authentic, but it also expands the way we think about athletes and who they’re allowed to be."

This is new territory. "Naomi brought fashion into a space where traditionally athletes have been expected to minimise self-expression and focus solely on performance. By bringing that level of intention and creativity onto the court, she challenged the idea that athletic excellence and personal style exist separately," he continues. "The kimono moment was especially powerful because it wasn’t just visually striking – it carried meaning. It connected culture, identity, history, and performance in a way that felt deeply considered. It transformed a uniform into a statement."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk put a dainty spin on the classic tennis dress in the balletic white lace Wilson dress in a nod to the iconic lace dress worn by Chris Evert during the 1971 US Open.

In the football world, players have made their own fashion statements on and off the pitch with “tunnel ‘fits” becoming the footie version of a tennis walk-on. At the World Cup 2026 just last month, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s team swiftly went viral when they arrived in Houston wearing matching leopard print suits by Congo-born, Paris-based designer Alvin Mak. Last year, at the 2025 Euros, Denmark’s ladies arrived in oversized embroidered Rotate Birger Christensen two-pieces, while Poland’s team rocked three-piece red tailored suits by Lancerto.

And although couture moments actually on the football pitch aren’t yet as common as they are in the tennis world, Arsenal and England player Declan Rice quite literally turned his pitch into a red carpet, when he walked in Labrum’s London Fashion Week Show at the Emirates Stadium.

In addition to all of these viral IRL fashion moments, there are the endless collaborations. Ralph Lauren and Wimbledon. Gap, Aerie, American Eagle have all got their piece of the World Cup cake. Loewe recently announced a four-year partnership with Spain’s national teams, while Jacquemus has collaborated with France’s team. Indeed, cast your eyes up towards any billboard, and you’ll likely find your favourite footballer fronting a designer campaign.

According to Harper, this is just the beginning. "Right now, many of the most memorable fashion moments happen around arrival, entrances, or major events – those 'before the game' moments. But there is an opportunity to expand that storytelling ecosystem much further," he says. "The future is about creating a more complete visual narrative around an athlete: how they dress for competition, how they celebrate, how they travel, how they train, how they engage with fans, and how those moments collectively build their legacy."

On one hand, the growing alliance between sport and fashion feels like a logical capitalist inevitability. It's no surprise that, with all eyes on Wimbledon and the World Cup this summer, fashion houses and athletes alike were cashing in on the moment with theatrical, viral-worthy sartorial displays. Then again, perhaps there's another explanation.

As Zendaya explained during a BBC One Show interview, her relationship with method dressing helps her step into character. "Fashion is something I've always used as an outlet, a tool,” she said. “Ultimately, I think I am a more shy person so it allows for me to create this persona, this character that I get to live in for the day.” And after all, are the pressures and demands of a sporting arena really all that different from those of a red carpet? Perhaps turning to high fashion, athletes are able to craft their own costumes that help them to get into character – to get ready to perform. Stepping into a moment so grandiose demands an outfit worthy of the occasion. And draping oneself in a costume can have a real psychological impact.

“An athlete is no different [to an actor],” says Jennifer Michalski-Bray, celebrity stylist. “Tapping into their alter-ego before a competition helps create a powerful, confident mindset to match.”

Osaka herself has explained how embodying a character helps her perform. “For me, my Japanese heritage means a lot. They say all white at Wimbledon and I thought it would be really cool to come out in a kimono,” Osaka said in an on-court interview of her latest look, adding that she took inspiration from Kill Bill. "So I really love Lucy Liu’s character, O-Ren Ishii, and she comes out in this really iconic white kimono. I always tell people I like to be like a video game character sometimes, I don’t want to be myself when I’m playing on the court. And I kind of try to embody her a little.”

So, while some traditional sports fans may bristle at Osaka’s layers of tulle or Bellingham’s crisp cashmere, fashion may just be another piece in the mysterious puzzle of sports psychology. And just as method dressing on the red carpet gets fans excited about a film, these moments in sport can also draw in new fans.

"Audiences are craving a deeper connection," Harper says. "They don’t just want the statistics or the highlight reel; they want to understand the person behind the performance. Fashion is one of the most immediate and powerful forms of storytelling. In a single image, an athlete can communicate their values, their creativity, their heritage, or their mindset."

Adds Michalski-Bray, “I love seeing athletes express themselves through fashion because it brings an entirely new audience. People who might normally only watch because their sport-obsessed partner has the game on suddenly have another reason to tune in.”

It’s true – just as the method dressing trend in the entertainment world has seeped into fan culture in cinemas, sports fans are similarly rising to the sartorial occasion this summer. Where once pubs and watch parties were filled with uniform team jerseys, increasingly, you’re more likely to be greeted with a sea of carefully curated, intentional fan looks, filled with personality and self-expression.

Wimbledon has always been a fashion-forward sporting event, with guests playfully adhering to the all-white dress code. But other sporting events are catching up, too. For the World Cup, fans are not only sporting their team’s jerseys but also making their own playful nods to iconic fashion moments in the sport’s history. Chances are, you’ve already seen plenty of Victoria Beckham-inspired England looks at your local pub. I can also attest that this summer’s Arsenal parade was, thanks to a lot of sartorial creativity, a jubilant celebration not only of the team but also of the fan base’s diversity and personality. Celebrities are also getting in on the action. Take Taylor Swift’s viral DIY Knicks pun T-shirts, or New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, in her Knicks T-shirt dress by 2026 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Miss Claire Sullivan.

As Felicia Pennant, founder of football and fashion zine Season, explains, fans have always used fashion as a means of expressing their allegiance to a team, but in the past few years, it's become more visible (and more trendy) than ever. "From a football perspective, we've been seeing this trend for the past few summers with people being really unapologetically expressing their fandom or really embracing this so-called blokecore aesthetic. It's more visible," she says. "I just think more people have tapped into the zeitgeist. And there's way more merch, which means there are more options. We've diversified fanwear and merch so everyone has a choice. And obviously it's not just male-centric. Women have women designers and feel empowered to express femininity and creativity and different narratives in their designs."

Is this another brand of fan method dressing? "It's an expression of interest in fandom, so it's motivated by the same things," she says. But, when it comes to fan dressing, there's one key difference. "I don't think that being a fan is a different character – it's just who you are," she says.

This summer, sport has become more widely celebrated, more inclusive than ever. Amongst all of the bubbling sporting excitement, it does, of course, make a lot of business sense that fashion houses would be chomping at the bit to collaborate with the biggest sporting stars. But there’s a more positive side to the rise of sporting method dressing, too. High fashion is having a theatrical moment under the headlights of the sporting world – and this new brazen and bold love affair shows that sport really is more fun when it’s for everyone.

Real talk: I’ve had long nails for years now, but always struggle not to get them grubby after just a few days. This is particularly noticeable given that neutral shades are my go-to, meaning grime shows up more easily. And although it’s embarrassing to admit, I also know I’m not alone.

“It's something we all experience, particularly if you're typing, cooking, gardening or using self-tan regularly,” says Suzanne Cummins, Founder and CEO of 14 Day Manicure. “Longer nails naturally have more free edge underneath, which creates more space for everyday dirt, makeup, fake tan and even fabric fibres to collect. Lighter shades simply make any build-up more noticeable,” she explains.

Lately, I’ve even been considering ditching my neutral hues and/or longer length because I can’t seem to keep them clean. But here’s the thing: I really don’t want to. It’s my aesthetic (the long nails, not the dirt!) and makes me feel put together. Short nails just don’t feel like me.

Luckily, the following tips from three top nail experts have reminded me it’s absolutely possible to maintain a manicure, regardless of colour and length. Here’s what to know if you’ve been having the same problem.

1. Don’t use your nails as tools

I’m guilty as charged for this first one—literally, send me straight to jail. Whether it’s popping cans open, reaching an itch on my back or peeling stickers, my nails are my best built-in tools. But according to Emma Forrest, Founder & CEO of Buff, this is one of the biggest culprits for dirt build-up—and it has to stop. “It’s a fast track to damaged nails, and they will always seem to collect even more dirt once the free edge becomes rough.”

Instead, treat your nails delicately and avoid using them directly for any jobs that may damage them. Struggling to open your daily Coke Zero? Use a blunt knife instead—or, call for a roommate/partner/co-worker. That’s what they’re there for, right?

2. Know when to reach for the gloves

Another crime I should be locked up for? Failing to utilise the rubber gloves that sit over the faucet in my kitchen sink. A quick washing up job? Might as well just get right to it. Cleaning and dusting? I’ll just give my hands a wash after.

But for Cummins, this is a cardinal sin. “I recommend wearing gloves for jobs like gardening, cleaning or applying fake tan,” she says. Even chopping certain vegetables (I’m looking at you, onions) and preparing meals can necessitate some suitable gloves. If you’ve never cooked with turmeric before and have long nails… well, I envy you.

3. Keep it clean

Perhaps the simplest step to follow? Keeping your nails clean. It sounds simple, but given our busy lifestyles, it’s easy to forget to give the underside of our nails a quick scrub daily. “Regular hand washing is of course important, but don't forget underneath the nail too,” comments Mylee Brand Mentor, Jack Harper. “A soft nail brush is much gentler than using another nail or a sharp object to scrape dirt from underneath, which can actually damage the natural nail over time.”

4. Visit a quality manicurist

In terms of preventative measures, the best thing you can do is receive a high-quality manicure in the first place. “Proper prep is important,” notes Harper. “Making sure the underside of the free edge is smooth, the cuticles are neat and the gel is applied evenly can all help reduce places where debris might cling.” Cummins adds that a great nail tech will also “ensure the product is properly sealed around the edges, which helps prevent lifting and makes the nails easier to keep clean.” For at-home manis, she says that “finishing with a quality top coat makes a real difference to how fresh your manicure looks throughout the week.”

5. Keep nails hydrated

Dry, thin nails = breakage and splitting, meaning easier access for dirt and debris to cling to the areas around the nails. For this reason, keep reaching for your hand cream and cuticle oil for stronger, healthier nails. As someone who’s notoriously bad at remembering to apply hand cream, I sometimes treat myself to a ‘boujee’ buy like Chanel’s, because I always feel polished when I apply it.

6. Re-consider length (just a little)

Ok, take a deep breath. I’m by no means suggesting you should forgo your long nails (fear not), but as Forrester explains, “if you know you’re always hands-on, don’t feel like your nails have to be extra long. Even taking a couple of millimetres off can make them so much easier to keep looking fresh.” They can still be long; just a little more practical.

Again, seeing an experienced nail artist can make all the difference here. “A good nail technician will shape the nails appropriately for your lifestyle rather than simply following trends,” says Cummins.

Remember: compromise is a key life skill worth learning...