Inside, outside, upside down
Reversible coats, backto-front tops and folding shoes: it’s a wardrobe of transformers.
I often wear a cardigan or light jersey as a scarf, especially when I’m caught short. But there are not many garments that can straddle two forms. Indeed, when I first asked Barbara Brinsley to model for a feature a year or so ago, she replied with: “What, you want me to put my trousers on my head or something?” (That wasn’t what I meant, of course.)
Most truly transformable garments have been designed to be so. For example, all the coats I’ve featured are constructed so that you can wear them with the lining on the outside.
This is actually a pretty sensible choice. By hiding tell tale signs of the “inside” – such as care labels and loose threads – as well as picking a lining worthy of life on the outside, you have two options for the price of one.
Then there are the things you can wear back to front. They tend to be dresses or tops. A garment like this gives you two necklines to play with – usually one high and one low.
The Stuart Weitzman shoes can be worn as loafers or with the counter folded down to make mules.
That clear bag – well anything you put inside it changes the colour of the bag.
The rest of the examples I’ve chosen are garments that work hard in your wardrobe, over or under other garments. Scarves of the woven kind can be neckerchiefs, dirty or bad hair covers, shawls, window shades in a car and more. Your imagination is your only limitation.