The rise of the timber tub — plus more trends to know now (2025)

Boring white baths begone. Barbara Sallick, co-founder of the luxury American bathroom brand Waterworks, says she loves a timber tub inspired by the Japanese wooden deep soaking bath. The material and the craft involved are part of the attraction: “When I think of bathtubs made from wood I always think of boatbuilding,” she says.

At the London bathroom specialist Ripples, its senior designer, Jo Sangster, has noticed an increasing number of clients enquiring about wooden tubs: “People are looking for something truly unique and luxurious in their bathrooms. The rich grain and smooth finish create a spa-like atmosphere that’s hard to replicate with other materials.” The best and most beautiful of wooden baths can be found in a recently completed project by the San Francisco interior designer Lauren Geremia. Made by a Scottish artisan based on the east coast of the Highlands, it is “fresh, tactile and highly crafted”, she says. We say, roll over the cast iron clawfoot, the hot tub is wooden.

Spring tartan is a thing

You don’t need to wait for an Aran jumper and an unseasonal snowstorm to reach for your favourite tartan. Fashion has gifted our top plaid with perennial style status — making it now absolutely acceptable to wear checks all year round. At the spring fashion week shows, tartan emerged as the sunny-day essential we never saw coming, with the best dressed teaming it with vivacious shades (think tangerine). Layer with everything from denim to chunky boots: the perfect look for a Scottish summer.

Don’t dream it, be it: Rocky Horror is back

Let’s do the time warp again (and again and again). Yes, it’s 50 years since The Rocky Horror Show premiered on Broadway (it lasted just a month after it opened in March 1975) and the musical is set to be memorialised in documentary form. Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror is directed by Linus O’Brien (son of Richard, the show’s creator and Crystal Maze alumnus) and features interviews with O’Brien senior as well as members of the cast Tim Curry (Dr Frank-N-Furter) and Susan Sarandon (Janet in the film version). The documentary explores how Rocky went from Broadway flop to a beloved cult classic that audiences still embrace with sing-a-longs and midnight dress-up screenings. As Frank-N-Furter might say, though, there’s nothing like the real thing, and if you are Broadway bound, next year will see a new revival. In the meantime, Balenciaga brought Frank’s suspender look very much into the now at its spring/summer collection, while those in search of a more mindful vibe can get their glitter pens out for the official colouring book (from August 12). All together now: “It’s just a jump to the left/ And then a step to the riiiight …”

Everyone’s talking about… flowerovlove

“I’ve been writing songs since I was six years old,” says the 20-year-old singer-songwriter Joyce Cissé, aka Flowerovlove, who is set to break into the mainstream. Her latest single, the Sabrina Carpenter-like I’ve Seen UR Ex, has caught the attention of the Glastonbury headliner SZA (“This girl and this song is as fire as hell. Good on her,” she said recently). Hailey Bieber is also a fan. Cissé’s influences come from “paintings, what smells and feels like home”, and Harry Styles (“he is my Stevie Nicks”), she tells us. With an album due in September — as well as interest from Chanel and Louis Vuitton — expect a more confessional tone. “I love to story-tell in music. It’s stuff I don’t wanna talk about, nor confront, but I adore resolving in a song.”

One more thing …