Lisa Armstrong
Finally, couture trends that will hit the high street
Couture doesn’t always offer up many suggestions that anyone on less than £5million a month can relate to. But last week brought a cache of ideas that, in my humble opinion, will surface in more affordable guises further down the line ( just as soon as everyone at Zara and co are back from their hols). And if they don’t, I’ll want to know why. Prepare, oh stylish ones, to be excited, because standards were generally high, and Valentino soared.
1 The Beret
I know. I comprehensively dissed the beret earlier this year. I’d seen too many adults wearing versions that the averagely fashion literate six-year-old Brownie would turn their nose up at. But now, behold. The structured Stephen Jones for Dior beret, complete with subtle, diminutive, light diffusing, no-needfor-filters netting. Ok, I probably won’t wear it
IRL. But it’s on my
Pinterest board. Just in case.
2 The Mega Cuff
How many times have you promised yourself you will never buy another cheap non-biodegradable polyester dress just because you’re a) bored, b) depressed, c) hungry, etc? Ennui – and not being able to see anything in your wardrobe because you keep breaking the above pledge – is the scourge of style. Too many clothes destroy creativity.
Invest instead in accessories that ring the changes. These are metal. As are many of the belts on the catwalks this past week (see Givenchy). Admittedly not all metals biodegrade but these will never go out of style and can therefore be handed on when you have.
3 The Bow
At Givenchy. At Dior. At Armani. At Valentino… not those twiddly, can’t-bebothered-to-do-them-up bows that muck up a perfectly good outfit, but Truman Capote Ball-worthy flourishes that pretty much are the outfit. This is how to do embellishment in an architectural, Maria Callas kind of way. Fortissimo (and pre-tied).
4 Capes
And capelets. In every guise, from floor-sweeping to tiny shrugs, as part of dresses, or stiff, stand-alone structures… The cropped cardi doesn’t really stand a chance against the
2018 cape. Meghan’s already sussed this, but she doesn’t have sole rights. Allow them to elevate a pair of black trousers, turn a simple bias-cut dress into evening-worthy wear and combat the Upper Arm Issue, until the Michelle Obama exercises kick in (no, I have no idea how long that will take either).
5 Evening Boots
These Chanel kitten heels, inset, are well signposted, what with the glitter encrustation. But less sparkly incarnations of the Evening Boot popped up at almost every show. Evening boots have a more modern attitude than the predictable strappy sandal and when they match the outfit, as these do, they provide a continuous flattering line. Even if your approach to night-time dressing is low key, an embellished ankle boot could do for your lower half what those dangly earrings do for the neck. Talking of which…
6 Short hair is mounting a comeback
Start buying stocks in manufacturers of necklaces, extensions and de-frizzes. Come to think of it, short hair could be a major plank in our post-brexit economic recovery.
7 Feathers
Is there anything more ludicrously wonderful than a fluttery fanfare of feathers?
Don’t bother answering, because apart from kittens, foals and puppies, obviously there isn’t. But a major word, or 40, of caution. Some feathers are harvested – or rather plundered – in horrifically cruel ways. Live plucking is not remotely wonderful.
Shop this one responsibly. It will be all over the high street and if they can’t respond to your questions with a straight answer, walk away from the feathers and find some other way to channel your inner
Marilyn. Or go vintage.
8 Polka dots
The pattern that isn’t florals. Dots, spots and pois look good on all ages, all bodies and have a graphic simplicity that most flowers, however pretty they may be, don’t. Plus you can have so much fun playing with different scales.
This outfit, right, is from Dice Kayek’s SS19 ready-to-wear collection, which showed during couture AW18 week, where there were also some men’s shows… confused?
Most of the fashion press have given up trying to make
sense of this all.