Trainers you can wear to the office
Get your coat, the new season is here. To guide you through the highlights and help you swerve the dubious, we’ve rounded up our favourite ideas and pieces from this autumn’s best offerings
LISA ARMSTRONG WANTS TO GET INTO ROKSANDA’S HONEY TRAP
Roksanda’s clever ways with colour consistently make us rethink classic shades. This is as much about encouraging us to root around our wardrobes to come up with fresh colour combinations as it is about rushing out and buying something new just for the sake of it.
There’s a Keatsian anthology of autumnal browns, rusts, ochres and olives – which is all very poetic but a bit intimidating if your usual winter approach is navy, grey and more navy. This, however, is one of the loveliest, grown-up takes. If you thought camel was stale and pale, observe how a flash of orange, a hint of yellow, a dash of, and a pointy mustardy-tan shoe pulls it into 2018.
Do note: There’s a shade of camel/ treacle/honey/taupe to suit everyone. Don’t treat it like a boring neutral but as an accent piece. There isn’t anything it doesn’t go with, including animal print (this season’s ubiquitous print) and since it’s never going to go out of fashion, invest in quality fabrics and good cuts. Where I’m (really) shopping: As well as this navy skirt, M&S has a good-looking double-breasted wool blend camel coat, at £99 and great burgundy cord flared trousers £35 (marksandspencer. com). For a luxury take on the pleated skirt see
Vince for versions in pale stone or antique rose (£290, vince. com). Me & Em’s mustard trousers are surprisingly easy to wear as well. As for shoes: from M&S to Joseph, Nicholas Kirkwood and Rejina Pyo have all embraced tan though to chocolate.
A few of my favourite things: I’m a sucker for a bit of moc-croc, which just happens to look particularly good in brown or tan. I’ll be dipping my toe into red as well – literally, with some bright red toe polish to ease myself in. I have high hopes of progressing to an entire dress in red to see what kind of impact it really has at night. I’ll also be playing with polka dots – a favourite navy and white polka dot blouse is coming out again to be partnered with burgundy trousers. I love Antibad’s bags, which are produced from dead-stock or ethically sourced leather (antibadstore. com). And Joseph, I love practically all of it. Louise Trotter, the creative director, is leaving, so maybe that’s my cue to buy some goodbye pieces from there.