HUG IT OUT AS SPRING LEAVES US IN LIMBO
IS IT TOO EARLY FOR FLORALS? Too dreary for pastels? Too cold to part with your beloved tights? We’ve all been pondering the classic spring sartorial dilemmas this week as the mercury falls then rises. Like many of you, I’m torn between colour and darkness, heavy duty and lighter weights. Yesterday, I flung caution to the wind – literally – and left the house in a prairie dress, my boyfriend’s sweater and knee-high boots. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.
It seems counter-intuitive to wax lyrical on spring’s slinkier trends when yesterday’s coat-less experiment proved that it’s still too cold to lose a layer. But I find that knitwear is a definite solution to any tricky transitional wardrobe predicaments. Anything that is varied in weight and sleeve length always feels like a clever gap-filler and a sartorial candidate between seasons. Plus, what’s not love to about a piece of clothing that has the same sensory joys as a big warm embrace?
A lot has changed since I turned 30 a few years ago. Most notable are my social habits (I drink far more wine at home than in bars nowadays) and my sartorial inclinations – I’m not ashamed to admit I that live for soft clothes that are kinder on my bust and ever-fluctuating size 10 waist. I have recently made peace with the fact that I love shopping in
Marks & Spencer, namely for its snug cashmere knits.
I bang on about the sartorial pleasures of a soft geansaí every season but this year there’s a new breed of designers creating magic with texture, construction and embellishment. Designer duo Le Lion are stealing hearts with their celestial-inspired knits – they are on the pricier end but still everyday appropriate, whimsical and they speak to women in a sentimental way. Bella Freud’s cult sweaters strike a balance between relaxed and elegant, and I promise you they make dressing on a dreary February morning much easier with slogans like ‘J’adore’ and ‘Solidarte Feminine’.
On home turf, designer Zoe Jordan’s signature cut-out sweaters are still one of Brown Thomas’s bestsellers. Flanking her in store are Lucy Nagle and Victoria Beckham, whose London Fashion Week show tomorrow will no doubt showcase some of her popular preppy sweaters (pictured above) – a sweet indulgence but worth every cent. One of Lucy Nagle’s signature hoodies from an early collection is still one of my weekend treasures. It has survived many a wardrobe cull and is my ultimate travel companion. Buy one now and wear it forever.
If you’re still wondering how to pull a polished outfit together with an old, new or borrowed jumper, then my advice is to root out anything that has drama on the shoulders or sleeve – a ruffle, a flounce, an asymmetric fold or a elongated hemline. Yes, I’m talking about a sweater and a dress in one. A fashion marriage made in heaven.
“WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT CLOTHING THAT HAS THE SAME SENSORY JOYS AS A BIG WARM EMBRACE?”