Welcome to our gifting issue. Read on and all of your most challenging Christmas gifting dilemmas will disappear in a puff of smoke. Our editors have chosen the cleverest presents for everyone in your life — plus the chicest taste makers, from Zac Posen to Mert Alas, have picked all the gifts they’d like to receive themselves. It’s quite the bonanza.
In this issue we also publish the shortlist for the 2025 Standard Theatre Awards. Founded in 1955, they are the oldest drama awards in the UK and have celebrated the finest actors, directors and writers across eight decades. Turn to page 20 to see who truly lit up the London stage this year, from Tom Hiddleston in Much Ado at Drury Lane to Cate Blanchett in The Seagull at the Barbican.
