ALL IS VANITY: The West End has a new 1,344-square-foot pop-up dedicated to male grooming. Launched by the The Estée Lauder Companies, The Grooming Station sells skin and hair-care products from the company’s portfolio and offers services including complementary skin consultations, a 10-minute beard trim and express haircuts.
Prices range from 10 pounds, or $14, to 25 pounds, or $36. “With the U.K. male grooming industry valued at 1 billion pounds [$1.44 billion] in 2015, it’s important that the Estée Lauder Companies stays at the forefront of this boom,” said Chris Good, president of The Estée Lauder Cos. U.K. and Ireland.
Lauder isn’t the only brand that’s hot on the trend. A barbershop has just opened in the new Harvey Nichols men’s wear department. Called AONO, it offers full cut services and is open from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Prices range from 18 pounds, or $26, for a beard trim to 80 pounds, or $115, for a wash, cut, style and wet shave — ALICE COY
Related Galleries
The Grooming Station
One Fitzroy, 6 Mortimer Street, London, W1T 3JJ
AONO
Harvey Nichols
109-125 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7RJ
PICKING THE KNITS: “Missoni, Art, Colour,” is an exhibition that explores the influence of post-World War II art on the Italian fashion house’s designs over the past 60 years. Missoni’s colored and patterned knits are on display alongside works by leading 20th-century European artists, including Sonia Delaunay, Lucio Fontana, Gino Severini and Giacomo Balla, that were critical to the development of the brand’s aesthetic.
Luca Missoni, artistic director of the Missoni archive, said during a preview that his parents, Ottavio and Rosita, were able to translate the inspiration they got from art into textiles, building their signature language. “Our house was an art factory where color became the main element, which we tried to express and to celebrate in this exhibition.” Luciano Caramel, the curator, said the show shouldn’t be seen as a retrospective, however: “It just can’t be, since the Missonis are alive and well, and Ottavio too, his work lives on.” The show runs until Sept. 4. — Fabiana Repaci
“Missoni, Art, Colour”
Fashion and Textile Museum
83 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3XF
ELEGANT ESPRESSO: East London’s Modern Society, a concept store that carries magazines, lifestyle accessories and labels such as Frame Denim and Isa Arfen, has recently opened a coffee bar. The new café is one of the first in Britain to have a full Modbar, a new modular espresso machine with its hardware hidden under the counter. It serves coffee made by the local coffee roasting company Assembly. The breakfast and lunch options are just as considered: Homemade granola, burrata and sourdough toast served with a selection of locally made jams are among the highlights. — NATALIE THEODOSI
Modern Society
33 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DJ
CULINARY ART: Damien Hirst has recently opened the doors to Pharmacy 2, the successor to Pharmacy, the artist’s novelty restaurant frequented by the likes of David Bowie and Madonna. Located in Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery, the restaurant features artworks by Hirst, including his butterfly Kaleidoscope paintings and the Medicine Cabinets; an installation featuring shelves lined with medicine bottles and boxes filled with multicolored tablets.
References to medicine and pharmacies — an eternal Hirst obsession — are scattered throughout the space: There’s a neon ‘prescriptions’ sign at the bar, while bar stools are meant to resemble aspirin tablets and a 3-D installation in the form of molecular structures hangs from the ceiling. The menu was created in collaboration with Mark Hix and inspired by the artist and the chef’s shared appreciation for classic European and British food made using fresh ingredients. There are brunch and Sunday lunch options on offer for visitors to the gallery’s exhibitions, including smoked salmon and Belgian waffles, as well as options for evening dinners ranging from sirloin steak to a green prawn curry and pasta served with asparagus and snow peas. — NATALIE THEODOSI
Pharmacy 2
Newport Street Gallery
Newport Street, London SE11 6AJ
GOING DOTTY: A Yayoi Kusama exhibition with work made especially for the Victoria Miro Gallery in London is attracting major crowds. Spanning the gallery’s three locations and waterside garden, it features new paintings, pumpkin sculptures and mirror rooms. Kusama was recently named the world’s most popular artist by various news outlets and her exhibitions are constantly the most visited worldwide, drawing record-breaking attendances.
“Kusama’s extraordinary artistic endeavors have spanned painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, performance, film, printmaking, installation and environmental art as well as literature,” a gallery spokesperson said. The artist has also experimented with fashion, having collaborated with Louis Vuitton in 2012 for a collection focused on one of her obsessions and a motif she has returned to throughout her career: Multiplying polka dots. — ALICE COY
Yayoi Kusama: sculptures, paintings & mirror rooms
Victoria Miro Gallery
16 Wharf Road, London, N1 7RW
SPREADING THE NEWS: New York-based skin-care experts Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz are making the transatlantic move to London, where they will open the first flagships for Malin + Goetz, in Covent Garden and Islington. They describe the latter as “a much-loved location,” but when the opportunity arose to open in Seven Dials in Covent Garden they decided to open two outposts.
The stores’ design, created by local firm Jonathan Tuckey Designs, is a modern take on the traditional apothecary and the aim is to offer a one-stop destination for all skin-care requirements. Since the brand launched in 2004, Malin + Goetz has been championing a two-part system: cleanse and moisturize.
A Limited Edition Essentials Kit, offering a selection of travel-size editions of the top hair, skin and body products — is available exclusively at the London stores. — JAKE PUMMINTR
Malin + Goetz
Islington
146 Upper Street,
N1 1QY
0207 424 5171
Malin + Goetz
Seven Dials
6 Monmouth Street,
WC2H 9HB
0207 240 5476