Samantha Conti
Samantha Conti covers the power and business dynamics behind fashion brands, tracking boardroom shifts, market entries and the way U.K. and European labels compete for space and attention for WWD. She is London bureau chief at the masthead, leading coverage of fashion, retail and beauty news across the region and writing both daily news and longer features. Her recent work moves between corporate succession, lab-grown diamonds, luxury e-commerce, London retail corridors and crossovers between fashion, beauty and wellness.
Corporate strategy and succession in global luxury
Conti’s corporate coverage zeroes in on how leadership changes and governance shape major luxury groups.
In her piece on Richemont naming Anton Rupert as co-deputy chairman as part of a succession plan, she follows the implications of boardroom appointments and long-term control at one of the sector’s biggest players. Her reporting on De Beers shutting its Lightbox lab-grown diamond jewelry brand because of price declines and mass distribution examines why a large incumbent retreats from a category and what that signals for the wider market. She has also co-reported on Amazon’s plans to launch a new luxury fashion platform, looking at how technology companies try to structure offers that will satisfy high-end brands and shoppers. Across these stories she keeps the focus on strategy, ownership and the business conditions behind headline decisions rather than simple product news.
London and European retail, property and brand presence
Conti spends considerable time on the ground-level reality of retail in key shopping districts.
In “What to Watch: London Retail Is Heating Up With Brands Fighting for Space in Mayfair, Chelsea, the West End,” she tracks how labels compete for leases, move between neighborhoods and reshape traditional streets through openings and relocations. Earlier work on Tesco’s apparel strategy has looked at how a mass-market retailer builds clothing into its broader offer, underscoring her interest in fashion within wider consumer ecosystems. Her feature on Barbour taking over the Saatchi Gallery during London Fashion Week with a focus on heritage tartan combines retail activation, brand heritage and city-specific storytelling.
These pieces show her as a reporter who connects property decisions, store formats and local character to the evolving map of fashion in the U.K. and Europe.
Designer-led brands and fashion week activations
Conti gives close attention to designer-led labels and the ways they stage themselves during key fashion calendar moments. Her story on designer Alice Temperley quitting the brand she founded in 2000 follows a leadership change inside an independent house and treats the move as a business and creative turning point, not just personal news. Coverage of Damson Madder’s plan to promote its fall 2026 collection in New York with live acts at the SoHo Playhouse highlights how younger brands experiment with performance, venues and city culture to stand out.
The Barbour Saatchi Gallery takeover during London Fashion Week is framed through heritage tartan and immersive space, again showing her interest in how brands design experiences rather than simple runway reporting. On WWD’s own masthead archive, her bylines sit alongside news on collaborations such as Celia Birtwell working her wild flower prints into a Joanie Clothing collection, underscoring an ongoing thread of designer-brand tie-ups and capsule projects.
Across these stories she treats designer moves, collaborations and events as strategic choices about identity, not just styling notes.
Beauty, wellness and digital engagement adjacent to fashion
Alongside core fashion and retail, Conti writes on the borderlands where beauty, wellness and fashion marketing intersect. Her beauty-industry feature on food, beauty and wellness as a “new frontier” explores brands that blend categories and position products at the intersection of self-care and consumption.
She has covered social engagement during New York Fashion Week, including a piece on Calvin Klein taking first place in social engagement, which looks at metrics and audience response rather than silhouettes alone. References to her work appear in industry roundups of jewelry news, where her Lightbox article is cited as a key marker in the lab-grown diamond story, reinforcing her role as a business-focused voice even when the topic touches product and trends.
This strand of her coverage shows an interest in how fashion brands communicate, measure impact and stretch into adjacent sectors like beauty and wellness.
Across her body of work, Conti stands out as a bureau chief whose stories consistently join creative narrative with hard business detail, especially in U.K. and European contexts. She writes for readers who need both the headline and the underlying structure: who is in charge, where the stores are opening, how platforms are shifting and what new frontiers in beauty and wellness mean for fashion companies.
4 more fashion journalists.
Adam Cheung
Adam Cheung is a style writer at British GQ with a specialist focus on sneakers, streetwear and menswear product coverage. He treats sneakers and streetwear as culture and design objects, writing about individual models, new silhouettes and the details that make them stand out. His work spans men’s style, watches and grooming, keeping attention on how people can wear and buy into emerging trends. He produces service-led shopping edits on shoes, bags and accessories, built around clear recommendations and concise reasoning. He covers brands and market trends with an emphasis on wearable takeaways for everyday style and occasion dressing. His British GQ features are republished across international GQ editions, and he runs Typed Hype, an Instazine dedicated to sneaker culture, extending his coverage across mainstream menswear, niche releases and culture-facing commentary.
Alexandra Fullerton
Alexandra Fullerton is a freelance stylist and fashion writer for The Telegraph, known for turning professional styling methods into simple, practical rules for dressing. She covers outfit formulas, wardrobe edits, seasonal dressing, tights, festive knitwear, high-street fashion, smart shopping and investment pieces. Her advice focuses on what to keep, what to buy and how to wear it in real life, rather than fashion news or abstract trends. She draws on a long career as a fashion director and editor at Stylist and Glamour, styling shoots and working with actors, musicians and presenters. She also styles commercial campaigns and individual clients. Fullerton writes fashion books, including guides to everyday dressing and Chanel bags, and runs the My3Words shopping concept based on her three-word method.
Alexandria Dale
Alexandria Dale specialises in turning celebrity style and emerging trends into affordable high street shopping guides. She is Digital Fashion Writer at Cosmopolitan UK, covering fashion news, trend analysis and product-led features. Her beat includes seasonal colours, fabrics, transitional dressing, polished looks on a budget, sustainable fashion and new brands. She finds high street alternatives to luxury pieces and identifies trends worth investing in, with a focus on fit, fabric, versatility and repeat wear. Her guides often centre on one trend or wardrobe staple, with specific buys under a clear price cap. Recent work includes Victoria Beckham-inspired burgundy leather midi skirts, Primark wide-leg trousers, M&S argyle jumpers and Primark home delivery. She has six years of fashion journalism experience across digital and print titles, including Glamour and Ok!, and reports with practical styling advice and product detail.
Alice Reynolds
Alice Reynolds is a writer and production journalist on The Independent’s IndyBest shopping desk who tests accessible supermarket and high-street products in real life. She focuses on fashion, beauty, food and fitness, reviewing supermarket food and drink, protein bars and creatine supplements, and high-street clothing and beauty launches. Her beat spans supermarket staples such as dark chocolate, pizzas, Easter eggs and Greek yoghurt, plus workout snacks and performance supplements, and value-led fashion like viral jackets, wrap skirts and beauty advent calendars. She runs comparative “best of” round-ups that weigh flavour, texture, thickness, quality, price and usefulness, using hands-on trials and taste tests. Her reporting is plain, practical and grounded in repeated supermarket and high-street testing, informed by interests in food, fitness and lifestyle shopping and earlier experience across travel and news formats.