Meet The Inbetweeners: Six key items to see you through to summer
It's time to greet the new season with six key pieces that will see you through those awkward rain/shine, sunny/cloudy days....
As a lesson in dressing for spring, the front row of a fashion show has not traditionally offered much in the way of practical inspiration for us going about our daily lives. Or it hasn’t until now. Obviously, I’m not referring to Anna Dello Russo-style excess or the ‘look at me’ get-up of a rising popstrel, but rather how fashion types put themselves together during that tricky period that in fashion-ese is called ‘transitional’ dressing.
In other words, what to wear when it’s still too nippy for bare legs, but you’d very much like shake off the shackles of woolly black tights. We’re often made to feel as though we should be planning our wardrobes for the season ahead. But, really, who does that? Far better to dress for the here and now. Buying when something catches your eye and you know you’ll be able to wear it the next day is the sign of a successful shop.
Read on for our pick of the items that will spruce up your March wardrobe…
A floral spring dress
Even if a sporty, utility trend looms large this spring, there’s no need to abandon the dress. Thrown over a lightweight wool polo-neck from & daughter when it’s cold and worn with knee-high boots and a trench (in the style of French label Vêtements), it looks pretty but a tiny bit subversive. Look for bracelet-style sleeves if you’re on the petite size, and nothing too fussy around the neck if you have an ample chest.
Personal stylist Annabel Hodin advises revealing parts of your body that won’t make you feel too chilly, such as an ankle (perhaps worn with socks and platform sandals). Warehouse comes up tops with the bracelet-sleeve style, a snip at £33. Otherwise save up for Creatures of the Wind or The Vampire’s Wife, a great collection of prim Victoriana styles by Susie Bick, which will see you through April showers and beyond.
From left to right: Aster floral dress, £255, Topshop Unique; Capella mesh maxi dress, £180, Ganni; The Vampire's Wife Cate floral-print cotton dress, £695, MatchesFashion.com
If ’90s florals just aren’t your thing and you prefer something softer, head to Sies Marjan, a label that’s quickly gaining a fanatical following for those who can’t get enough of its softly draped, two-piece silhouettes that employ contrasting textures and a delicious palette of painterly hues. Meanwhile, Anna Mason, who won a scholarship in her second year at design school to work with Karl Lagerfeld in Paris, does great vintage-inspired designs, and her signature belted waists offer a very feminine silhouette. Favourites include a two-piece belted corduroy buttoned-up shirt and skirt combo, from £350 at annamasonlondon.com.
The trench coat
Without doubt one of Planet Fashion’s Duracell bunnies – the trench coat is enjoying yet another revival this spring, and it’s not hard to figure out why. What else works over a pair of jeans or trousers, or any workaday outfit, and yet manages to add an edge to eveningwear? Is there a better buy when four-seasons-in-one- day weather is very much the norm?
From left to right: Saskia mustard trench, £199, Hobbs; Magda Butrym trench coat with bow neckline, £1,435, Net-a-Porter; A.W.A.K.E jellychess fluted-hem oversized trench coat, £831, MatchesFashion.com
This spring, trenches have been spliced, diced and otherwise reinvented with maximalist detailing (ruffles and bows) or given an asymmetrical twist. Burberry’s gabardine classics have been reworked with leopard-print sleeves, while Prada’s come fastened with sporty neon straps. And while your heart may belong to Gabriela Hearst’s check version from Matches, it’s £3,000 (ouch!); for a more purse-friendly hit, try Magda Butrym’s from Net-a-Porter or head to Gap or Hobbs for something around the £200 mark.
The timeless trench: the best coats to buy now and love forever
Shirting
The trend for cotton shirting with asymmetric hems and a graphic, oversized approach shows no sign of waning. Stripes are still very much where it’s at, although there are also ruffles galore. If that word is enough to send you running a mile, then console yourself with the thought that these are architectural ruffles and can add definition to your outfit.
Left to right: Flounce hem shirt, £290, Palmer//Harding; Virginie ruffle shirt, £55, Boden
The French label Jacquemus is one to investigate here, along with the British brand Palmer// Harding (which collaborates with John Lewis on its Modern Rarity collection; prices from £100) and New York designer Adam Lippes. Zara, Mango and Marks & Spencer have also upped their shirt quota this season.
Shoes you can walk in…
Top to bottom: Otter embroidered lobster backless loafers, £130, Kurt Geiger; Embroidered track sole sandals, £59.99, Zara; Sasa kitten heel shoes, £345, Self Portrait X Robert Clergerie
… are still going strong. How pleasing. Plus this season designers have added the kitten heel to the roster. Meanwhile, Maria Grazia Chiuri festooned her models’ feet in branded-ribbon slingbacks at Dior, and JW Anderson and Mansur Gavriel added contrast trims and lace panels. Elsewhere, ankle boots are being worn a little higher and the trend for the backless shoe shows no sign of abating – as sellout Gucci Princetown loafers will attest.
New season shoes: the four footwear styles you should be investing in this spring
The chino
Yes, they’re back and not just for City boys on dress-down Friday. Chinos fill the trans-seasonal gap in a way that woollen trousers just don’t. A thick cotton-twill is lighter and fresher, tapping into the vogue for utility clothing with its predominantly sober colour palette (khaki, navy, caramel or cream), while allowing you to gradually move into the new season. Check out the paper-bag styles at Gap or the assortment of colours, including banana yellow, at Jigsaw.
Left to right: Paper bag high ride chino, £44.95, GAP ; Stretch cotton twill trouser, £115, Toast
Chinos work a treat with the enormous assortment of asymmetrical shirting on offer (see previous page). What else do rolled-up chinos work well with? Drool at Balenciaga’s oversized parkas and then check out nylon versions at A.W.A.K.E, a label that puts an interesting conceptual spin on workaday shirts, avant-garde stiff fabrics and blouses with architectural waves. Otherwise, there are great denim workwear jackets at Caramel and button-down tops from Baum Und Pferdgarten.
The single earring
From left to right; Single statement earring, £18, Dose of Rose; Simone Rocha hoop pearl single earring, £135, Browns Fashion; Asymmetric stone earrings, £35, & Other Stories
Sometimes the fashion gods look down kindly and decree a trend that doesn’t require you to slavishly follow the 5:2 diet or take out a second mortgage. This spring that trend is wearing only one earring. Before you suppress an eye roll, you may have to console yourself with the thought that it is infinitely more doable and ‘less fashion’ than wearing mismatched shoes à la the Celine show. Really, what could be easier?
