Bring back raucous changing rooms and friendly smiles – things you can’t buy online

Here’s a funny thing. The less we go to the shops, the more we shop. We buy more stuff than ever, now that we can do so without leaving the sofa. We have bypassed the bus ride into town, stepped back from the revolving doors and escalators, silenced the tinkle of muzak, skipped the exchange of smiles and niceties with sales assistants, forgotten what it feels like to journey home from the chase with shopping bags tucked next to tired legs. Instead, we can spend our hard-earned cash with the frictionless brush of an index finger, and collect our spoils from the doormat a few days later.

This, surely, is the worst of both worlds. Let us imagine for a moment a sliding-doors scenario, in which writing shopping trips out of the story had reduced our appetite for stuff. If, thanks to technological advances, we bought what we needed, and only what we needed. Imagine if the technology had been wired so that we could click on and buy a black mascara and a pair of navy socks, or whatever, and leave it at that, without the siren call of a pile of fluffy jumpers or a charming display of splatterware mugs leading us into temptation. Imagine if online shopping had been an Ozempic for shopaholics, blunting our greed, reconnecting us with our willpower. It would still have been bad for bricks-and-mortar shopkeepers, it would still have left ugly grey-shuttered gaps to blight our high streets like rotten teeth – but it would have been in the service of a healthier planet.

Ideally, I want Lydia Tár’s wardrobe or to look like a liberated 1930s heiress. But I need to be realistic

As winter (black elastic-waisted trousers, four motheaten jumpers) gives way to spring (khaki trousers, two jumpers), the harsh April light forces me to confront the truth: I’m in aesthetic freefall. In search of a solution that isn’t capitulating to the “miracle” trousers that stalk me around the internet, I came across this bold statement on the website Refinery 29: “Just three words stand between you and figuring out personal style,” . What are they? “Move to Iona”? “Vast lottery win”? “ Lydia Tár’ s wardrobe”? (You’d need the former for the latter; I couldn’t even afford her pencils .)

Actually, the “three-word method”, devised by stylist Allison Bornstein , involves thinking up, yes, three words to describe your style. Then you can “ask yourself if you feel like you embody (ideally) all three of your words” when you get dressed and “interrogate whether it aligns with one of your words” when you are considering buying something.

Woven, canvas or leather, there’s a crossbody bag for all styles

Extravagant outfits in Netflix caper have led to increasing interest in posh eccentric style

Heritage checks and tweeds, sharp tailoring and expensive watches – shoppers are increasingly seeking to emulate the old money English upper-class style portrayed in Guy Ritchie’s hit Netflix series The Gentlemen .

How to translate the extravagant outfits worn by the characters in the nobility-turned-gangster caper to real life has sparked much discussion online, from the red velvet suit worn by Susie Glass, played by Kaya Scodelario, to Theo James as Eddie Horniman in three-piece tweed and his brother Freddy, played by Daniel Ings, in a hand-feathered chicken costume.

From cowboy boots to Le Corbusier armchairs, miniature sculptures made of butter are having a moment

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The Easter bunny is waiting in the wings and the hot cross buns are ready to be toasted. But have you moulded your butter into the shape of a Doric or Ionic pillar yet? Thankfully, there is still time.

Butter moulds and sculptures are enjoying a moment – the sky’s the limit and butter maestros have shared pictures of butter in the shape of cowboy boots , chateaus and Le Corbusier armchairs on social media. Late last year, influencer and consummate host Laura Jackson called it “ the trend of the moment ” – but with the butter mould showing no signs of melting from the ether, it feels a fitting time to find out what’s going on in the dairy aisle, and beyond.

Forget the dodgy connotations: if it’s good enough for Chloë Sevigny, it’s good enough for the rest of us

The rugby shirt is the Breton top of 2024. I am entirely serious. Instead of Pablo Picasso or Brigitte Bardot in a navy and white stripe T-shirt, your style icon for this spring is Prince William in his St Andrews uni days, popping the contrast white collar on his Abercrombie & Fitch.

This is not quite true. I’m exaggerating for effect, no need to panic. Forget freshers’ week. Put Twickenham out of your mind. Instead, think David Hockney, in a pink and blue rugby shirt with washed-out green trousers. Think Diana, Princess of Wales. Chloë Sevigny, Oscar-nominated actor who – more importantly for our purposes, is one of the best dressed women in the world, with an innate style compass that unfailingly finds true north – regularly wears a rugby shirt, these days. “It’s warm and it’s easy and it’s casual. It’s basically a nicer version of a sweatshirt. I mean, it has a collar!” she told Harper’s Bazaar last year.

From starfish necklaces to funky sandals, here’s how to look shipshape for a day by the beautiful briny

The former Gucci designer, a favourite of Harry Styles, will replace Pierpaolo Piccioli at one of fashion’s big luxury houses

Alessandro Michele, the former creative director of Gucci, has been appointed as the creative director of the couture house Valentino.

Michele stepped down from Gucci in November 2022 and the announcement ends much industry speculation about where he would go next.

Biba secretary types in | Affordable festivals | Questionable internet searches | Who to vote for | Spurs fans spread out

I was that secretary who earned £10 a week ( Microminis, Twiggy and flamingos: the ‘fabulous’ story of Biba, 22 March ). I bought those £3 dresses and had just enough to pay my rent in a shared bedroom in, at that time, unfashionable Notting Hill Gate. The material was often thick and the armholes tight, so you could only wear the dresses a few times before buying another one. Dry cleaning was too expensive. I still have a few Biba pieces.
Lynn Wiseman
Lewes, East Sussex

• Every year you do an excellent festival guide . But almost every year you miss out the country’s most affordable, family-friendly, beautifully sited one. Purbeck Valley folk festival has dance, crafts, fancy dress, therapies, choir, storytelling, pyrotechnics and four days of the best music.
Moira Nunn
Bristol