THE ENGLISHWOMAN
In the October issue of VOGUE, Lisa Armstrong investigates that intangible ‘something’ that defines the modern English woman, defined by more than just “tweeds, a stiff upper lip, athletic stride, and eccentric taste in hats… trench coats and hacking jackets” while VOGUE profiles some successful English women, from the players of the England women’s cricket team to nonagenarian author Diana Athill.

ADORING ADELE
Uncompromising, forthright, and blessed with a voice that’s “like listening to God”, cover star Adele has gone from hometown girl to global superstar in 2011. She talks pseudonyms and stage-fright with Christa D’Souza. “I puke quite a lot before going on stage...Thing is, the bigger the freakout, the more I enjoy the show.”

THE ULTIMATE ESSEX GIRL
Giles Coren pays tribute to the sauciest of stereotypes that has long-captured the popular imagination, the Essex girl. “For every man who dreamed of Pippa Middleton, there was another who dreamed of waking up in the orange glow of Amy Childs’s copper-coloured nakedness.”

WENDI MURDOCH
With her husband’s head for business and a mean right hook, Wendi Deng is emerging as a force to be reckoned with. Could she save the Murdoch empire? Fiona Golfar meets an unnervingly straightforward woman whose family is under siege. “I haven’t slept properly for weeks. I worry about Rupert being alone.”

PLUS Jane Birkin tells VOGUE why she won’t compromise on her English style, saying “My look is a cocktail. I’m not as nicely turned out as the French. But I don’t care, like the English”; rising starlet Felicity Jones’s style file; and British artist Tacita Dean tells Susie Mackenzie about her commission for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern remarking “It has really been hell”.

The October issue of VOGUE is now available.

www.vogue.com