The fashion futurist: how Vogue’s wartime editor revolutionised women’s lives

Audrey Withers was determined her magazine would be political, progressive and powerful. She commissioned Lee Miller to take photos from the front – and created a publication that went far beyond fashion

Part human, part machine: is Apple turning us all into cyborgs?

With its iPhones, watches and forthcoming smart glasses, Apple’s gadgets are increasingly becoming extensions of our minds and bodies. It’s the big tech dream – but could it turn into a nightmare?

By Alex Hern
Illustration by Steven Gregor

An MDF bookcase for £12,000? The jolting genius of design superstudio Memphis

The high-voltage style, comic-strip colours and eye-watering price tags of this Italian collective changed the world of design – what better place for an exhibition than modernist Milton Keynes?

‘Let’s bring joy into the house as early as possible’ – why Britain is already celebrating Christmas

At the end of a truly difficult year, Christmas lights, trees and decorations are springing up, and even the shuttered shops haven’t slowed the present buying. What’s behind this race to begin the festive season?

Gus Van Sant: ‘We are living in a wilder time than anything we could imagine’

He is the king of the Hollywood underground. So why has he made a mini-series for Gucci? The film-maker talks about life in isolation, his gay president project and the big screen’s demise

‘We’re going to the skies and stars!’ The man building our jetpack future – in tribute to his Dad

Richard Browning is pursuing the stuff of a million childhood dreams. But having built a working jetpack, will anybody use it?