Meet the brop
top. Yes, the
bro crop top
Spotted: midriff-flashing
jackets, knits and tees on
the menswear catwalks.
Mark Owen in the Relight
My Fire vid (below) still
wears it best.So wrong it’s right?
Gold leaf food
It looks like subtlety is out when it
comes to the foodie trends of 2022:
accessorising with gold leaf is
becoming a thing. It started with last
year’s opening of the Nusr-Et
Steakhouse, from internet sensation
Salt Bae, which had a £1,450 gold-leaf-
topped tomahawk steak on the menu.
The Bombay Borough restaurant in
Dubai has a 23-carat gold-leaf biryani
(above right); Paris Hilton served
potatoes with sour cream, caviar and
gold leaf at her wedding (right); and
then there’s the private chef who has
previously worked for Kanye West,
known as “MrZ”, whose Chelsea-
based sandwich delivery business
includes a “billionaire beef sandwich”
(below right) made with wagyu beef,
caviar and gold leaf — yours for £250.
Warning: if you’re trying it at home,
you need to go for a 23-24 carat gold
leaf/flakes/powder for it to be
safe to eat. Additional warning:
the restaurant manager at Nusr-Et
has confirmed it adds absolutely
nothing to the taste.Your^
Valentine’s Day
reading list
Our pick of the best new books on love,
sex, dating and all the messiness in
between. No self-help rubbish allowedBlock, Delete, Move On:
It’s Not You, It’s Them
by LalalaLetMeExplain
A no-nonsense “anti-f **kperson
guidebook” from the agony aunt
behind the cult @LalalaLetMeExplain
Instagram account. A mix of
dispatches from the front line of
dating plus expert advice: expect
everything from how to understand
your attachment type to why
“conscious celibacy” could be the
best thing you try this year.
Published by Bantam Press on
Thursday at £12.99Anonymous Sex
edited by Hillary Jordan and
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
For this collection of short stories,
novelists including the Pulitzer
prizewinning Louise Erdrich were
asked to submit an erotic tale based
on their sexual fantasies. Look out for
niche literary kinks: one story
involves sex with a hologram set in- Beam me up, Scotty!
Published by the Borough Press at £14.99
Unattached: Essays on Singlehood
edited by Angelica Malin
A compilation of 30 essays by the
likes of Love Island’s Megan Barton
Hanson, the body-image campaigner
Stephanie Yeboah and LGBT activist
Shon Faye on the power of being
single. One chapter title: A Single
Woman Is the Closest Living Thing to a
Goddess. Why yes, yes she is.
Published by Square Peg at £14.99The Lonely Hunter: How Our
Search for Love Is Broken
by Aimée Lutkin
A part-memoir, part-investigation by
the LA-based writer, director and
performer Aimée Lutkin, 32. After six
years of being single, she throws
herself into the dating pool, going on
two dates a week and documenting
her experiences. The result? A funny,
honest and confronting account that
challenges views about being single
in a world built for couples.
Published by Scribe at £14.99 PALOMO SPAINJW ANDERSONFENDI6 • The Sunday Times Style