dressing

IF you’re going to forget to pack something as basic as a T-shirt, it helps to do it on a trip where you will be spending most of your day in a spa robe.

I’m rolling my eyes at my other half as he stares haplessly into his suitcase but I do understand — the stress of parenting four kids, with another on the way, means both of us are fairly frazzled after a busy festive season.

So what better way to get some January wellness than at a Tuscan retreat where we can snatch a precious few moments to ourselves to relax.

The luxury Terme di Saturnia Natural Spa & Golf Resort in Manciano is so dedicated to relaxation that they ask you to stay wearing the hotel’s dressing gown and sliders all day and only smarten up for dinner.

It is one of the country’s top wellness destinations but any fears it would be all quinoa and minuscule bites of raw food were short lived.

This is a spa for busy people who want to chill out quickly, as most only stay for three days.

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So whatever you want, goes.

Fancy a steak? Done. A few beers? No problem. Five courses instead of three? You’ve got it, whether that’s tender meat or bread dipped in local olive oil.

But the main event is the natural hot-spring pool at the heart of the complex, which is honestly magnificent.

Water flows into it from an underground thermal spring at 500 litres per second, and a steady 37.5C.

Think of a steaming hot-tub half the size of a football pitch and you won’t be far off.

The pool is about four metres deep — so while a few industrious types do lengths, most guests grab a noodle and float in the mineral-rich water.

Then they get out when they feel too warm . . . and repeat.

All day.

But you can mix things up, too. There’s an 18-hole golf course, electric bike hire and tennis courts.

There are also programmes for detoxing or mindfulness, where you get a set series of activities and food, if you want a more structured approach.

Our jam was more the spa, which has a magnificent menu of high-end treatments to choose from.

I had an anti-ageing facial and found 80 minutes of being massaged, doused in serum and buzzed with suction machines helped me look a lot less knackered.

Dan had a detox mud treatment on his legs which was just as good — the spa treats the thermal mud itself, using plankton from the spring.

This is supposed to ease inflammation and, as Dan is a builder who suffers a lot of aches and pains, it was ideal.

But if you don’t fancy a spa treatment, the minerals in the water give your skin a glow and will zap any dryness anyway.

For a change of pace, is also worth taking a five-minute walk outside the resort to the Cascate del Mulino, a series of waterfalls that are over 3,000 years old and free to visit.

The cascades might already be on your bucket list — the beautiful blue pools have been all over my Instagram feed — but I had no idea they would be on our doorstep, until we stumbled across them.

Flocks of flamingos

Back at the resort, it’s all about five-star luxury — and so, of course, the rooms are stunning.

Our suite, with luxury bathroom, bedroom and living area even featured our own courtyard.

Whether it was the hot spring or how quiet and dark the room was, I had the best sleep I’d managed in months.

The spa also prides itself on its food. There are three restaurants — including the fabulous 1919, which serves up fine dining meat and fish.

This restaurant is the one to pick if you want a romantic date because it overlooks the pool. There, we had the best ravioli we’ve ever tasted.

The Golf Club also has a restaurant, with a smaller menu — think dishes such as grilled meat and soup.

But the real selling point here is the view — you can see for miles over the rolling Tuscan countryside.

There is also a pizzeria which is relatively new and offers the Italian staples — but sadly no pasta, I was slightly disappointed to find.

Terme di Saturnia is nestled deep in Tuscany, so getting to it feels like an adventure.

We flew to Rome and got a series of trains — feeling quite smug that we didn’t get lost — then a car for the final leg.

We tried a couple of different routes but found driving to Orbetello, around 45 minutes away, the easiest.

For more freedom to explore, hiring a car from Rome’s airports would cut down the journey time.

The area is home to one of the few natural flocks of flamingos in Italy — and were lucky enough to see one flying right by the train on the way down.

Hopefully we’ll spot another when we go back — which is the plan.

Cynthia Erivo’s aggressively feathered Balenciaga at the “Wicked: For Good” New York premiere. Alexander Skarsgård’s Ludovic de Saint Sernin halter top and snug leather pants at the London premiere of the BDSM dramedy “Pillion.” Jacob Elordi’s Celine suit — in monster green, no less — at the Newport Beach Film Festival as the actor promoted “Frankenstein.”

If these recent outings haven’t convinced you that Hollywood is in its method dressing era, well, where in the Law Roach have you been?

From left: “Pillion’s” Alexander Skarsgård, “Marty Supreme’s” Timothée Chalamet and “Frankenstein’s” Jacob Elordi.

(Photos by Getty Images)

For those not familiar, method dressing is when stars wear looks on a press tour inspired by the movie they’re promoting. The practice has been around since the days of Old Hollywood, when actors like Audrey Hepburn, in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “Sabrina,” melded their star personas with their characters. More recently, Geena Davis and Gwyneth Paltrow channeled their projects with their premiere fits in the 1990s, and the casts of 2015’s “Cinderella” and 2018’s “Black Panther” did the same.

But experts say the current method dressing trend — exemplified by Margot Robbie’s Andrew Mukamal-styled candy-colored juggernaut for “Barbie,” Zendaya’s dystopian desert and tennis chic in her Law Roach-styled appearances for “Dune 2” and “Challengers,” and the relentless, two-year press tour for the “Wicked” movies — is a different animal.

“Method dressing often becomes prologue to the film itself — it sets the tone and the context of the film and makes you curious about it,” says Ross Martin, president of marketing agency Known. “[But it’s also] a signal that the actor you like really is deeply invested in this film. They’re not just showing up, they’re actually embodying the character in the world of the film.”

‘Wicked’ stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

(Photos by Getty Images)

Martin cites Timothée Chalamet’s orange-hued campaign for “Marty Supreme” as a particularly skillful deployment of the trend. “If your favorite actor keeps showing up in the same way over and over again, that used to be rewarded,” he says. “Now there’s this pressure on Hollywood stars to define and then redefine themselves … [you] don’t want to see the same Chalamet that [you] just saw playing Bob Dylan. What you’re seeing is really modern marketing tools applied in very strategic ways to the traditional medium of films. It’s really necessary because 90% of the movies that are released don’t get the marketing dollars they need to launch. So this is innovation by necessity.”

Savvy stylists are also driving the red carpet cosplay. “Previously, stylists were responsible for making sure that stars appeared on trend,” says Raissa Bretaña, fashion historian and lecturer at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. “As they gained more prominence in the movie industry, it was less about making sure the stars were on trend and more about making sure the stars were setting the trends.”

Setting trends and creating meme-worthy, TikTok- and Instagram-friendly moments that often reach more eyeballs than the films themselves. An image of “a star wearing a beautiful gown isn’t enough anymore,” says Bretaña. “It is meant to engage with the algorithm. How do we get people talking more about this movie? How do we get more eyes on it by having a different manifestation of it in our real life?”

Indeed, during the “Challengers” press tour, online chatter peaked each time Zendaya stepped out in a new tennis-centric look. “I’m a storyteller, and the clothes are my words,” Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach recently said to Variety. As for his work with the actor on “Dune: Part Two” — including Thierry Mugler’s sartorial mic drop — Roach told Vogue the “looks served as an extension of the wardrobe from the movie; it was intentional and purposeful.”

Zendaya in outfits inspired by her movie “Challengers”

(Photos by Getty Images)

Pop culture commentator Blakely Thornton has been following method dressing closely, posting frequently on press tour fashions. “Maybe [Zendaya] walked so Cynthia and Ariana could run,” he says. “The stars are taking it upon themselves to be like, ‘I have to invest in myself in this capacity to get what I need out of it.’” It’s an important distinction, he notes, as film execs aren’t always footing the bill for stylists. “The studios are pretending that it’s not something they have to pay for when it’s something in the internet era you must require. Because if these people came out wearing a turtleneck to every premiere, you wouldn’t be happy.”

Enrique Melendez, the stylist behind Jenna Ortega’s viral red carpet looks for the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” press tour, believes his work was key in boosting interest for new demographics. “Jenna being of a newer generation, wearing pieces and looks celebrating the original film had a whole new wave of young people researching the references and Easter eggs with their parents who understood exactly what they meant.”

Still, you can’t guarantee virality: There’s a fine line between a “Spider-Man” triumph and a “Madame Web” tragedy. Some of it can be attributed to an actor’s commitment, says Martin, contrasting Chalamet’s enthusiastic campaign with Dakota Johnson’s reluctant “Madame Web” tour. It also depends on the film itself. Bretaña says method dressing tends to work best with sci-fi or fantasy projects because of the inherent drama in their costuming.

She’s excited by an upcoming period film, Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” starring on-theme veterans Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. “I think ‘Wuthering Heights’ will be our litmus test to see if method dressing will spill over into historically inspired garments,” says Bretaña. “In the past, whenever actors promoted period films, they try to look as contemporary as possible in order to distance themselves.”

Actors actually looking like themselves on the red carpet? Groundbreaking.