THE NEW LADY LIKE LEATHER
This season, with a little help from heritage tweed, fashion’s toughest fabric has smartened up its act
Are you a leather skirt sort of woman? I’m still not sure I am. A few years back I bought one from Whistles (unlined, flared, black), which I’ve never worn; I can’t quite get past the feeling that it’s too slick and polished.
But I’ve held on to it, knowing that could change. It only takes a mood shift, maybe sparked by one outfit on one catwalk, and suddenly you’re in new territory looking at everything differently.
And that shift is happening. The aviator jacket I passed on to my stepdaughter, in the certain knowledge I wouldn’t wear it again. Hmm. Not so sure now. The biker jacket gathering dust in the cloakroom — wore it yesterday. The leather trousers I got rid of years ago because that’s not happening . . . well, maybe it could, if they weren’t tight, and they were cropped, and you wore them with a chunky heeled sandal and a blazer, say?
For various reasons (namely Celine: chic tweed, plus leather jacket, plus boots), leather is looking more sophisticated and wearable than it has done in years. Anyone old enough to remember saving up for one of those Agnes B leather jackets in the late eighties — that glossy ladylike leather mood is back.
You’re wearing leather like a French yummy mummy, with heels and starched jeans or over your dark floral midi-dress. It’s not a rock ’n’ roll leather moment, it’s more smooth, with a silk scarf, a blowdry and a stacked heel.
For this reason, quality is all important. The leather has to be soft and the details immaculate: bone buttons, quality zips, good stitching.
Most things look more expensive in black, but that’s not necessarily the case with leather, and for now, darker colours like chocolate and forest green work well and can be more forgiving (see the dark blue coat by Kley at Debenhams, pictured far right).
The best return for your investment has to be a leather jacket of some sort. There are belted styles (see reiss, pictured far left), but the most on-trend would be a Celine-esque blouson style or a neat, waisted biker jacket (Marks & Spencer Autograph in copper tan, £250, marksandspencer.com).
The advantage of a leather jacket this season is it adds metropolitan edge to all those affluent bourgeois lady looks, de-countrifies all the cord and tweed and sharpens up denim or a floaty dress. The leather shacket (the shirt-style leather jacket) is more casual and less versatile (rachel Leather shirt, £379, baukjen.com), but if you want something to glam up your weekend, this will do the job.
For dress lovers, the maximum return style (you can dress it up or down, roll up the sleeves, add a polo neck) is also a shirt in dress form (£699, baukjen.com). This one in chocolate brown looks neat with boots, but you’ve got to belt it or you’ll look like a leather pipe.
Skirts are obviously the easier option; there’s no one style — wraps, pencils, midis with splits, zip-fronted, they’re all out there — but when it comes to picking a leather skirt only three rules apply: Can you sit down? Do you feel relaxed? Is it skimming or packing-in? The packed-in look is a potential hazard of leather and
to be avoided. Also, it goes without saying that if you’re wearing a fitted pencil skirt, then avoid the silk blouse and stiletto heels (even if it did work for Stella Gibson in The Fall). The more I think about it, the more I might give it a go, but with a fitted cashmere sweater and boots.
Finally, there’s the ‘do you or don’t you’ trouser question. We’re no longer talking about leather jeans, skinny leather leggings or (my bête noir) leather in the front/Lycra at the back, but mid-waisted, straightlegged and cropped. The fact they’re not tight makes them a very different proposition, and the crop gives them a lighter look and takes away all the Thin Lizzy associations. Fashion girls have been snapping up the cropped leather style from Arket (£250, arket.com) to wear with cord blazers and these ones from Jigsaw (above) are a good shape. Is there a cut-off age for leather trousers? Not unless you look like you were wearing them to a Nineties Guns n’ Roses gig.