An A to Z of things to look forward to in 2022

A is for Anna Sorokin - February

The astonishing story of Anna Sorokin, the Russian-born fraudster who reinvented herself as a wealthy German heiress and conned Manhattan socialites is coming to Netflix in February, starring the brilliant Julia Garner (Ozark).

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B is for Broadwick, Soho

Designer Martin Brudnizki (Annabel’s) will bring his trademark opulent style to a new 57 room Soho hotel, Broadwick Soho. The hotel will also have a Sicilian restaurant and a rooftop lounge and bar, which will host live music and entertainment. Be ready to party!

C is for CHANEL N°1 - 14 January 2022

The launch of N°1 de CHANEL new range of skincare, fragrance and makeup is one of the key beauty moments of the year. Linked to the brand's historic camellia, N°1’s ground-breaking formula is moving mountains in the beauty arena. It is produced with sustainability in mind and the dark red packaging is simply gorgeous.

Our hero product is the red camellia revitalising eye cream, which refreshes and illuminates the eyes instantly. Its anti-dark circles and anti-puffiness 'light-complex' is really compelling and just what we need at this time of year. We are also addicted to Eau Rouge, a fragrance mist concocted by Olivier Polge.

SHOP N°1 de CHANEL

D is for Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels - 9 to 23 March 2022

‘Dance exists in myriad shapes and transcends linguistic, historical and cultural differences’ said the president of Van Cleef & Arpels, the jewellery Maison behind this inspiring festival of contemporary choreography.

Developed in collaboration between Sadler’s Wells, the Royal Opera House and the Tate Modern, Dance Reflections will start in London this year.

Curated by Serge Laurent for Van Cleef & Arpels, it will include performances by Lucinda Childs as passed on to her niece Ruth, as well as recent pieces from Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Ola Maciejewska. Beyond the Covent Garden and Sadler’s Wells’ studios, dancers will be performing three days a week in Tate Modern’s Oil Tanks and spectators will only need to walk and watch. Magic!

READ OUR CONVERSATION WITH VAN CLEEF & ARPELS

​E is for Elena Ferrante’s collection of essays - 15 March

In the Margins: On the Pleasure of Reading and Writing, Elena Ferrante’s series of four essays, the writer talks, amongst other things, about her first writing experiences when in elementary school as well as the female writers who have influenced her through her life.

A treasure trove for the many Ferrante book lovers out there.

PRE-ORDER HERE

F is for Francis Bacon: Man and Beast at the Royal Academy - 29 January to 17 April

London’s Royal Academy is staging the first exhibition charting Francis Bacon’s fascination with animals.

Best known today for his visceral, raw imagery of psychological and physical brutality, and his volatile friendship with Lucian Freud, Bacon saw humans as animals and often conflated the boundaries between human and animal existence.

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G is for Luca Guadagnino’s new movie Bones and All - June 2022

After lifting and breaking everyone’s hearts with Call Me By Your Name, Italian director Luca Guadagnino reunites with his wonderboy Timothée Chalamet for a vast road trip across Reagan’s America. We are told that there are cannibals involved. Based on the novel by Camille DeAngelis, the story follows the relationship between the marginalised Maren (Taylor Russell) and the intense drifter Lee (Chalamet) as they meet and hit the road. But inevitably, their disturbing pasts begin to catch up with them.

READ OUR SELECTION FOR BEST MOVIES IN 2022

H is for Heat

Heat is the new high-fashion mystery boxes start-up that has captured a Gen-Z fan base and is getting the attention of LVMH. Stirring the hype beast in us, it will be on our wish list this year.

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I is for Iwona Blazwick

Iwona Blazwick, the star director of the Whitechapel Gallery, is to step down after two decades at the helm. A fierce champion of emerging talent – discovering Damien Hirst is just one of a catalogue of achievements – as well as committed to showing art by women, she will be curating her final exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, A century of the Artist’s Studio:1920 - 2020, opening in February 2022.

J is for Jerusalem - 16 April to 6 August

Jez Butterworth’s smash hit play Jerusalem returns to the stage, after 2009’s sellout, five-star premiere and equally lauded West End and Broadway transfers. Best of all, Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook will reprise their starring roles, and Ian Rickson once again directs.

K is for Korean Wave at the V&A September

From BTS to Squid Game, Korean influence is now a global phenomenon. It's also the object of an exciting retrospective at the V&A. Hallyu! The Korean Wave will showcase the colourful and dynamic popular culture of South Korea, exploring the makings of the Korean Wave and its global impact on the creative industries of cinema, drama, music, fandom, beauty and fashion.

L is for Baz Luhzman

Baz Luhrmann always loves a party, and what's a better theme than the King of Rock and Roll? That’s right: the director of Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and The Great Gatsby (2013) is tackling a biopic of Elvis Presley, with Austin Butler stepping into the latter’s blue suede shoes.

The film spans 20 years in Elvis’s life, capturing his rise to fame as America was evolving and the complicated relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks).

M is for the Maldives' new dreamy resort

As we are nearing Blue Monday, let's cast our minds to sunnier shores. Amongst the coolest hotels on our radar is the just-opened Patina resort, designed by Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan. The hotel boasts an amazing art collection including James Turrell’s Skyspace light installation. And we are told that yoga classes will be held within the installation.

​N is for GetNourished.com

Personalised vitamins delivered to your door that taste and look like sweets with high impact ingredients. How: because they are uniquely 3D printed which allows the ingredients to be more efficient and highly digestible. We are currently testing them and the results are so far quite amazing. Perfect for post-covid sluggishness.

SHOP HERE

O is for Oslo's new National Museum - 11 June

Designed by German architects Kleihues + Schuwerk, the new museum will display more than 5,000 artworks from antiquity to the museum’s most recent contemporary acquisition. It will also boast a spectacular space for temporary exhibitions - the Light Hall situated on the roof - and the largest art library in the Nordic region.

​P is for Punchdrunk's The Burnt City - 22 March to 28 August

Kings of immersive theatre Punchdrunk will open their highly anticipated new show The Burnt City, an immersive extravaganza based on the fall of Troy, in Woolwich works in March.

They’ll be creating a ‘sprawling labyrinth', 'a whole living and breathing fictional city, complete with uptown spaces as well as back streets, dive bars and the corners you might otherwise avoid’. Think large-scale drama, contemporary dancers and a vast space for the audience to explore in their own time. An absolute must book!

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​….and Phoebe Philo

The former Celine creative director is set to launch her namesake label and Philophiles are already at a fever pitch. The only clue given was that the designer would offer 'clothing and accessories rooted in exceptional quality and design'. Keep your Celine-loving eyes peeled…

CLICK HERE FOR OUR ROUNDUP OF FASHION TRENDS FOR 2022

Q is for By Quanna

Time for feminine pleasure.

For too long, women have been playing catch-up when it comes to sex. Natural lubricants increasing sexual pleasure are popping up everywhere. Our favourite: By Quanna, addressing the "orgasm gap" with CBD oil.

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​R is for Sally Rooney

The BBC’s new adaptation of Sally Rooney's Conversations With Friends is due to be aired this spring. The story follows the fractured friendship between two Trinity College Dublin students who make a strange connection with an older married couple. As well as exploring the conflict between love, art and appearances, the story also examines the contradictions of the Irish elite following the financial crash.

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​S is for surrealism

'Surrealism is definitely in the air,' said Cecilia Alemani, the curator of the 59th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

Could it be that the chaos of our times is priming us to relate to the dreamlike works of Surrealists? Whether in Venice this summer or at the Tate Modern's Surrealism Beyond Borders exhibition in February, works are popping up by a host of surrealists, including Leonora Carrington.

T is for Tatale - January

There is a lot of anticipation around Tatale’s opening. Chef Akwasi Brenya-Mensa teased us with his supper clubs filled with dishes spanning the African continent. His new restaurant concept takes its name from Ghana’s plantain pancake. Housed in Southwark’s Africa Centre, the restaurant specialises in plates inspired by Brenya-Mensa’s Ghanaian heritage. We can’t wait to pay Tatale a visit.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR SELECTION OF BEST RESTAURANT OPENINGS IN 2022

... and To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara - January

Who could forget A Little Life, the must-read novel of 2015? Now its visionary author has written another epic destined for the bestseller lists, but very different to its predecessor. It explores entropy, mental and physical health, marginalisation, colonialism and inequality and America.

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​V is for Ivo van Hove's The Human Voice - 17 March - 9 April

Six years after Belgian director Ivo van Hove (A View from the Bridge) and actress Ruth Wilson collaborated on the critically-acclaimed, thoroughly modern revival of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler – a production which marked van Hove’s National Theatre debut and saw Wilson earn a Best Actress Olivier nomination for her performance in the leading role – the two are professionally reunited. Van Hove adapts and directs an adaptation of French writer Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice. Time to book!

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​W is for Wes Craven

With Scream 5 sequel being released this January, there is a lot of discussions around :

1/ the influence of horror movie director Wes Craven

2/ the ever so back to fashion toilettes of Scream noughties queen Neve Campbell. Corset and gothic... Are you prepared to follow suit?

X is for SeXy

The sense of liberation that sparkled in the past months is not going away.

Seduction, Stripped Down was the title of Prada’s SS22 collection. This year is not about being elegant, it is about being sexy and sensual and well, showing a bit more flesh.

Granted, not everyone can dare to show up in a Nensi Dojaka see-through dress like Camille Charriere or Zendaya, but wearing a sensual sheer top or a cashmere bra suddenly feels possible.

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​Y is for Yeezy Gap X Balenciaga - June

After hearing that Loewe’s Spirited Away collection is reselling for nearly £500,000, we are bracing ourselves for the mega fashion collaboration of the year: Yeezy Gap. The new line by Kanye West, (now Ye) and Demna Gvasalia (Balenciaga’s creative director) will hit the Gap shelves in June at what we are told will be Gap prices…

Z is for Zadie Smith - 22 April

London novelist Zadie Smith joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra for a concert blurring boundaries between music and words.

Music has always coursed through Smith’s works. At university, she worked as a jazz singer while her 2016 novel Swing Time explores her love of music and dance. Here, Smith joins the orchestra for an entertaining concert exploring the music, ideas and artists who have challenged, provoked and inspired her.