The New Songbird: Raise a toast to Polly Scattergood, as she carves out her own inimitable brand of pink pop alongside Björk and Kate Bush.

If listening to “Nitrogen Pink,” the tinkly, bubble-burst debut single from Polly Scattergood, sounds like stumbling upon some kind of harmonious magical accident, it’s partly because you have. “I don’t really know how I write songs,” says the 21-year-old Londoner. “They just sort of pop out. If I stopped to think about it too much, nothing would ever come out right.” Hailed by the British press as the apparent musical lovechild of Björk and Kate Bush, Scattergood weaves tales that are both strangely beautiful and breathlessly intimate.

The New Foot Fetishist: Towering over the competition with his dizzying designs, Nicholas Kirkwood reinvents the way we strut.

Adieu kitten heels -- hello Batman wings. Having just designed for the likes of Basso & Brooke, Tommy Hilfiger and 3.1 Phillip Lim’s 2008 runway shows, and now currently overhauling Pollini, Nicholas Kirkwood is on a roll. The London shoe architect has caught the attention of stiletto heavyweights the world over, including one self-described “despotic queen of shoes,” a blogger who has threatened to maim and kill for his power-woman designs. And still, when asked for the biggest compliment he’s received so far, Kirkwood laughs bashfully and takes ages to muster up an answer: “People say they’re quite comfortable. Which is good, because they’re kind of high.”