Virginia Chadwyck-Healey on the labels that last a lifetime
This week I’m taking things up a notch with two head-totoe designer looks, by Gucci and Christian Dior. No, no don’t turn the page. I am hoping I can install a new perspective in your approach to how and when you decide to wear designer brands.
Buying designer brands is often referred to as “investment dressing”, perhaps as a way to offset the guilt. Investment tends to mean long term, investment means profit. Investment just seems that much more sensible than short-term thrift, or one-hit wonders. Justifying any purchase that leaves you with a little hint of guilt is never going to be easy.
By the way, I don’t buy designer unless I can justify and afford it, which is rarely. But I’ve learnt that real one-off designer pieces, that take a bit more oomph to buy (by “oomph” I mean consideration and money), will retain that wow factor in a wardrobe much longer than we realise at the time. I can remember when and how I bought every designer item I own, so there is a unique poignancy to it all.
No doubt many of you are sitting on vintage Gucci, Dior, Loewe, Ferragamo and Chanel items. You hold on to them, you guard handbags in dust bags, you keep silk scarves in their original packaging, and each time you open your wardrobe you are reminded of a memory, your engagement present perhaps, an item from your “going away” outfit. You stare at something that holds no role in your current day-to-day wardrobe function, but with which you simply can’t part for sentimental reasons.
Dust them off and bring them out of hiding. Wear your clothes, throw a Chanel bag into the mix, work out
new ways to wear that Hermès scarf (or have it stretched, pinned and framed and hang it as a work of art) and show off all these gems from a life past, but certainly not forgotten.
Here I’m wearing some of the latest “looks” from these two masters of fashion. Would I wear these looks at home in Berkshire? I absolutely would. Because I don’t think “designer” should be reserved for special occasions but instead should be
fused into your day-to-day. Overt branding is all the rage but my point with both of these looks is that you could wear a bold “look at me” Gucci-emblazoned T-shirt or carry an (actually very practical) tote with Christian Dior plastered across the front and, in 10 years, these pieces would still retain their clout. These brands have stood the test of time for good reason (Gucci was established 1921, Dior in 1946). Their changes in creative output adjust and move with the times, but ultimately they retain a unique afterlife far beyond that first (often) guilt-ridden purchase.
I have two daughters so I genuinely think about their ownership of anything I now invest in because, ultimately, they will receive the items further down the line. I tend to go on about “Buy Fewer, Buy Better”, but try it for a few months and suddenly the blinkers go on when it comes to fast fixes, and you start to really consider quality, necessity and of course investment. So here’s to some fabulous gems working their way (back) into your next outfits. Or you could always treat yourself to some Gucci trainers…