Mandy Moore is the picture of fall. When I meet her inside a hotel suite on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, she’s dressed in a high-neck burnt orange velvet slip dress and tall brown leather boots. Her hair is blown out, her voluminous curtain bangs highlighted with a teeny bit of blonde.

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October 28 brings the lunar eclipse in Taurus at 4:15 p.m. ET. Not only is it the last eclipse of 2023, but it marks the end of the journey that began on January 18, 2022, when the Nodes of Destiny entered the Taurus-Scorpio lunar axis. We should use those dates to understand the themes that this eclipse will bring to our lives since they tell a similar story and theme. This period is the dramatic end to the series of eclipses on November 19, 2021, April 30, 2022, May 16, 2022, October 25, 2022, November 8, 2022, and May 5, 2023. The next time we’ll experience a series of eclipses like this will be in 2040, when the Nodes of Destiny shift into the same signs.

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The swan dress worn by Icelandic singer Bjork to the 2001 Oscars will be part of a new exhibition celebrating rebellious fashion. The outfit – by Macedonian designer Marjan Pejoski – was controversial at the time, as it was a huge departure from the black tie gowns normally seen on the red carpet. It’s gone on to take a prominent place in fashion and pop culture history, and this will be the first time it’s been seen in the UK, since it was created over 20 years ago. The swan dress will join ensembles worn by Harry Styles, Rihanna and Sam Smith at a new exhibition at the Design Museum called Rebel: 30 Years of London Fashion. The exhibition will feature nearly 100 looks from designers who have taken part in the NewGen initiative – a scheme run by the British Fashion Council (BFC) that supports emerging fashion talent. It will include trousers made from deadstock materials designed by Steven Stokey Daley and worn by Harry Styles for his 2020 music video Golden, as well as a replica of the inflatable latex jumpsuit worn by Sam Smith at the 2023 Brit Awards, designed by Harri. Other looks include the voluminous blue ruffled dress by Molly Goddard – worn by Rihanna in 2017 in an Instagram post which garnered 1.7 million likes – and a Nasir Mazhar headpiece modelled by Lady Gaga. Covering the last 30 years of fashion, the exhibition isn’t organised chronologically – instead, each room will cover themes, including colour (featuring work from Ashish, Richard Quinn and Mary Katrantzou), art school (Molly Goddard and S. S. Daley) and the club scene (with pieces from Halpern and Gareth Pugh). One room will be entirely dedicated to trailblazing designer Alexander McQueen, who was one of the first recipients of NewGen support. “It is impossible to underestimate the influence London has on Britain’s fashion talent, a city that produces wave after wave of young designers that value originality, wearing what you believe in, and tackling social issues to make a better world,” said Sarah Mower, BFC ambassador for emerging talent and guest curator of Rebel. The exhibition shows pieces from when each designer was taking part in the NewGen scheme – and some of them are now household names, such as Erdem and Northern Irish designer JW Anderson. “Only showing looks and accessories and supporting materials that were produced while the designer was receiving NewGen support has meant that we have the most extraordinary insight into early careers of designers that are incredibly familiar today,” said Rebecca Lewin, Design Museum curator. The exhibition will open in September, to coincide with the new season of London Fashion Week and to celebrate 30 years of the NewGen programme, which has supported more than 300 designers over the years. Rebel: 30 Years of London Fashion sponsored by Alexander McQueen will open at the Design Museum in London on September 16 and will run until February 11, 2024. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Chrissy Teigen welcomes fourth child – how does surrogacy actually work? 11 ways to work the colour clash trend at home Heart disease digital check-ups for over 40s being rolled out

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A London-based chef has apologised for what his peers branded a “rude” response towards criticism, after he faced backlash online for revealing the line-up of his kitchen team at his Notting Hill restaurant. Thomas Straker, who opened his namesake restaurant Straker’s in 2022, recently shared a photograph of his “chef team” comprising eight people, including himself. All eight members of the team pictured were white and male, prompting complaints from social media users who believed it did not reflect the diversity of London. Some comments claimed Straker’s team showed how the food industry was a “white boy’s club”, while others urged the restaurateur to provide chefs from minority groups a “safe place to grow as chefs”. Straker, who found fame by sharing his recipes and cooking videos on TikTok, responded to the negative backlash by commenting: “Honestly, people need to calm down. Firstly, there is a shortage of chefs/hospitality workers. Secondly, if you feel so passionately, please go and gather CVs of any chefs you think we’re missing in the team. Solutions not problems. Thank you.” However, his response has also been criticised as “rude”, with a number of chefs and other figures in the food industry weighing in on the online storm. He has since shared an apology via his Instagram Story. “On Friday night, I put up a post of my chef team and many rightly pointed out the lack of diversity in it. I am very sorry for my initial response, where some queried whether I take this issue seriously,” he said. “I am absolutely committed to ensuring diversity in my restaurants, unfortunately we aren’t achieving this in my kitchens currently and this is an area I know I need to improve on, making sure it is seen as a welcoming and approachable environment for all. Tom x.” Becky Paskin, a drinks expert who appears regularly on ITV’S Love Your Weekend, wrote on Straker’s original post: “Too often we say, ‘We only recruit on the basis of the best people for the job’ without any consideration the role bias plays in the selection process. “It’s been proven time and again that diverse teams are more creative, productive and successful. If every member looks the same and has the same background, you’ll find they’ll all think the same as well. Forming diverse teams is not only the right thing to do, it makes business sense too.” US chef Kenji Lopez-Alt, who is known for his book The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, added: “Get off the social media for a week or so. Do some reflection. Talk to people who care about you and who you trust. Be better.” However, some people have defended Straker’s choice to hire who he wants in his team, and pointed out the staff shortage affecting the entire restaurant industry. Henry Tilley, restaurant manager at Native in London, wrote: “The industry is on its knees right now. There [aren’t] enough chefs or even [front-of-house staff] to go around as it is. We would love some applications for chef positions in our restaurants from female or non-binary individuals. The reality of the matter is we never get the applications so can’t be as representative as we’d like.” But Ben Mulock, executive chef of Balans in Soho, says the onus is on senior chefs to “solve the problem” of lack of diversity, instead of “asking others to solve it for us”. He told The Independent: “I am a white male executive chef, so it is my responsibility to push for an inclusive workforce, be that sex, age or ethnicity. They are not mutually exclusive – they are all important. “No, it’s not easy and at the moment, it almost seems impossible to recruit, but if we don’t try, we don’t move it forward. We always need to do better for this industry, and if we can’t do it in London, where can we?” While Straker’s post was not intended to stir controversy, the lack of diversity in his team has “shone a light on the broader challenges we face in kitchens these days”, Hannah Norris of Nourish PR said. “This is a classic case of an ill thought-out post,” she told The Independent. “Thomas Straker has issued what he believed was a photo of a group of confident, strong-looking chefs ready for service but didn’t think about the optics of the image and what it represented. “Whilst it was well-meaning I believe, a picture doesn’t lie. For whatever reason, he currently has no women or people of colour in his kitchen, so it all looks a bit ‘pale, male and stale’. Perhaps the reaction to this image will make Thomas think again a bit more carefully about who he wants to employ in the future.” The Independent has contacted Straker for comment. 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