PAUSE Hotlist: Our Favourite Things This Month

Welcome to the July edition of Our Favourite Things This Month, your go-to cultural compass for what to see, read, eat, and explore. Each month, PAUSE will gather the most exciting tech accessories, must-read books, buzzing restaurants, standout art exhibitions, and cultural curiosities, all curated for our style-conscious, experience-driven readers.

Health is wealth and if your idea of wellness includes actual data, the Oura Ring Gen 4 is the upgrade you want. This isn’t another bulky fitness tracker. It’s discreet, stylish, and slips seamlessly into your daily wardrobe.

The Instax Mini 41 is your pocket-sized invitation to live more offline. Boasting auto exposure and flash, this ode to nostalgia prints instant credit card-sized photos with charming retro contrast.

Nothing’s first over-ear headphone is all clean lines and crystal sound. With a transparent design that’s become the brand’s signature, the Nothing Headphone (1) delivers noise cancellation, along with a touch-responsive interface that feels intuitive from the first use. They’re light, they last, and they feel fresh without trying too hard.

Odell’s biography of Anna Wintour is not a puff piece or a takedown, but a meticulous and surprisingly intimate painting of fashion’s most recognisable figure. Pulling from interviews with hundreds of insiders, it gives you the peek behind the bob and the sunglasses. If you want to understand the fashion industry’s inner politics, this is required reading, especially with the latest development at Conde Nast.

A not-so-obvious choice, Martyr! is a debut novel that reads like poetry on fire. It follows a disillusioned Iranian-American addict in search of meaning, wrapped in grief, faith, and the fragility of identity.

A fever dream dressed as a coming-of-age story, Jade Song’s Chlorine dives into the mind of Ren Yu, a competitive swimmer obsessed with transformation, water, and escape. Part horror, part surreal myth, part queer manifesto, it asks what it really means to belong to a body. This book is impossible to ignore.

A lesson in seasonal British cooking. Head chef Callum Holyland crafts dishes like seared scallops with asparagus sauce or feather blade beef with potato rosti that feel timeless but never tired. The space is elegant, and every plate feels like it’s been seared down to what really matters.

Fusing Spanish flair with Middle Eastern warmth in a setting that hits just the right level of buzz. At Penelope’s, dishes such as spiced lamb and saffron-tinted aioli deliver bold flavours that linger. This place is perfect for a date night with zero awkward silences.

Co-owned by Theo James and helmed by Naz Hassan, at Lupa, the porchetta is unforgettable and the carbonara is silky and unapologetic. And if you’re lucky enough to grab a table in the sun, cancel the rest of your evening.

This exhibition ties together three decades of Bryan Adams’ portrait work. His black-and-white photos of icons like Amy Winehouse, Mick Jagger, and Kate Moss, as well as an unreleased portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, will be on display through July 27 inside ME London only.

A sharp, visual commentary on how digital culture is reshaping our sense of self. With work that spans AI influencers, augmented faces, and identity distortion, the show holds up a mirror to changing beauty standards in our society.

Doing exactly what it says on the tin, Rejects spotlights the pieces that didn’t make the Royal Academy cut. But don’t let that put you off,  these works are raw, wild, and often more provocative than what got accepted.

Not just your typical home TV, this is a design object that just happens to have unbeatable 4K picture quality, ultra-thin bezels, and audio that doesn’t require a soundbar to feel immersive. The concrete finish gives it an industrial-modern edge, and if you’re someone who wants your tech to blend in and stand out all at once, this is it.

^{That’s a wrap for this month’s picks. Stay tuned for next month’s highlights with more gear, more culture, and more to obsess over.}