THE NEW RULES FOR LEATHER

Want to rock the style without looking cheap? No stuuds. No stiffness. And not too skin-tight!

STAY calm. I know exactly what you’re thinking: Leather is not my cup of tea.

The fact it’s huge for 2019 — not only on jackets, but trousers, skirts and dresses, too — does not impress you one bit.

You think leather trousers, you think Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Cher. You once tried a leather skirt, but it was like wearing a wigwam: stiff and hot and heavy. And as for a leather dress...the very idea brings you out in beads of sweat.

And you have a point. Leather is not the easiest option, nor the cheapest, and it doesn’t get the vegan vote. Then again, it’s the only material that can be glamorous, elegant and subversive all at the same time.

And — the key to this leather revival — it’s not the same material we’ve known all these years. Thanks to new technology, the leather on these pages is lighter, thinner, softer and capable of taking subtle colour in a way it never could before — while still being just firm enough to smooth away lumps and bumps.

Even if you never do leather, or haven’t since college in the Eighties, this could be the moment to give it one last chance. So here are ten reasons to look at leather differently in 2019, starting with:

1. It doesn’t have to be black

AUBERGINE, petrol blue, hunter green; all these colours dial down the dark, punky, 20th-century associations of leather and make it more feminine, fresh and new. As of now, a dark green leather skirt is chicer than a black one, but still a bit edgy.

2. It’s not about a biker jacket

THIS time around, your leather jacket is edge to edge and collarless — a belted wrapover, or a boxy, denim jacket style (in cherry red or cream). You might even want a faux leather trench in merlot or parrot blue to sling over your trousers. And not a stud in sight.

3. If you want a break from your denim jacket . . .

A BUTTONED-UP cola or plum soft leather shirt (maybe with a matching skirt) is taking over where denim left off. Leather is smarter than denim; warmer, too.

4. It doesn’t even have to be leather

LEATHER-LOOK alternatives made from polyester are almost as prevalent as the real thing these days.

The mid-market labels doing the best-looking styles include Nanushka and Kitri, whose wide trousers are made of machinewashable polyester that passes the, ‘Is it or isn’t it?’ test with flying colours. More affordable, too.

5. It’s not about second-skin black trousers

NOW they’re cigarette style — straight and slim — or wider with a paper-bag waist. But skinny and clingy they are not. They’re dark hunter green, chocolate brown, burgundy and, yes, sometimes black. But these black leather trousers are for wearing out to lunch with heels and a soft polo neck, not for straddling a motorbike.

6. Any skirt, so long as it’s not a tight mini

THIS is a grown-up leather moment, not a Siouxsie Sioux tribute. The skirt du jour is light, not too tight and below the knee: a loose pencil, a button-through or an A-line wrap. Amber Rudd has been wearing a Me+Em wrap a lot recently, proving that merlot leather is the new navy tailoring.

7. It makes for the perfect no-fuss dress

THE easiest are button-through shirt dresses you can wear over a