Being colour coordinated just got cool
HMMM… maybe a bit too matchymatchy?’, is what you’d have said this time last year, if a friend asked your opinion about her top and skirt in the exact same fabric and colour.
For a while that’s been the first rule of fashion: don’t double up, mix it up. Wear the navy cord jacket, but with the black or print trousers. Wear pink with burgundy. Clash your prints. Do the tonal thing — five shades of green and a yellow bag to kick it all off.
Matching was the opposite of what you wanted to achieve: safe, flat, a bit mother-of-the-bride. Even a velvet navy trouser suit has looked old and tired for the past couple of years. Smart, yes, but out of step.
But, joy of joys, matching is back. Now it’s even called matchy-matchy, in recognition of the fact that it’s fun, modern and the kind of thing you do not to look job-interview sober ( the old matching), but fashionably fresh. AT
ONE extreme there is the bold matching print, such as Essentiel Antwerp’s matching red, white and blue floral blazer (£250,
essentiel-antwerp.com) and dress (£ 230). There are matching boots, too (£460).
There is something about more being more with prints: splash them all over and double them up, and they somehow work better. Oddly enough, it’s when you wear the striking print jacket over plain black that you start to look a bit like the party magician.
An easier matchy print option — not to mention a more affordable one — is Zara’s paisley print ruffle blouse (£ 25.99, zara. com) and matching midi skirt (£29.99). Or you might just want to twin a pink jumper (£55, boden.co.
uk) with a matching pleated midi skirt (now £88).
Ganni is the matchy-matchy brand to get ideas from — it may have even kicked off the trend. Current favourites include the heavy satin midnight blue dot-print skirt (£ 220, ganni. com) and matching blouse (£210).
But obviously (is it just me?) the real reason to celebrate the return of matchy-matchy is the go-to, Dress It Up, Dress It Down, Makes Life So Much Easier Trouser Suit.
A few weeks ago, Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge turned up to an event wearing a very matching Victoria Beckham green velvet trouser suit and looking terrific. So that’s put the bold evening trouser suit back on the map. Her particular suit is from Victoria’s prespring/summer 2020 range.
On the catwalks for next spring there was a lot of matching, from camel blazers, skirts and jersey T- shirts at Max Mara, to doubled- up blazers and jeans in primarycoloured denim at Balmain.
The matchy-matchy trouser suit doesn’t have to be frog green (though it does have to
be wide-legged or flared, not skinny). But, remember, the difference between your standard trouser suit and this trend is punch and colour.
You can take your pick at the moment: checks from Uterque (blazer, £180, and trousers, £99, uterque.com), or pale blue and slouchy ( blazer, £ 49, and trousers, £36, topshop.com,) or silky velvet in just the right teal (jacket, £350, and trousers, £175, lkbennett.com).
Or, for something casual, the alternative to double denim is a bone-coloured cord overshirt and trousers (both £49.99, mango.com).
It isn’t hard to match your clothes, but what to do about the shoes, the boots, the top under the jacket? Neutrals fill the gaps: white, black, beige and — worth thinking about — metallics. They work well with patterned ‘co-ords’.
With a trouser suit, you may want to break the look up with a splash of something similar, but different. A pink shirt with a red suit, maybe. A white polo neck under that bone, cord, casual two-piece.
The other way to do matchy is the scarf print match: the skirt (£29.99, zara.com) in one part of the print, the top (£25.99) in the other.
And, if in doubt, there’s always the so-called Canadian tuxedo — double denim.