Jelly shoes designed by Zaha Hadid for Melissa

Never mind overblown Fashion Week charity bashes - the place to be on Thursday night was the Wapping Project, an old pumping station still full of massive machinery, but now an installation gallery and restaurant. It was the perfect setting to launch the latest arts world crossover - brilliant architect Zaha Hadid’s extraordinary, organic-looking sandals for hot “jellies” firm Melissa. They’re asymmetric to make a complete design when you stand with your feet together and they come in a great colour range - the silver is other-worldly. — Avril Groom

Vanity Fair October 2008 Collector

Vanity Fair’s October issue celebrates its 25th birthday with one of the most iconic women from the last century on the cover. The cover shot comes from Marilyn Monroe’s last shoot which took place weeks before her death in 1962.

Top features include the collection of the past quarter century’s worth of covers (all 309 of them!), a Fall Culture Guide to New York, Masha Gessen’s piece on Putin’s death-grip on Russia in the wake of the recent conflict in Georgia and the tragic saga of Brooke Astor’s final years as her son heads to trial on charges of fraud and conspiracy. Society gossip, political discourse, celebrities and fashion tips… might all seem incongruous but when it’s Vanity Fair, it’s sublime… www.vanityfair.co.uk

Some iconic Vanity Fair covers from recent years

Marc Newson with his London Design Medal, Photo credit: London Design Festival 13 - 23 September 2008 www.londondesignfestival.com +44 (0) 20 7734 6444

He’s an absolute genius who specialises in funky, futuristic designs and interiors and produces iconic pieces that become instant design classics. We swoon over pieces like his Embryo chair…

Marc Newson Embryo chair