HOW TO DRESS LIKE A GROWN UP Summer’s new print? It’s already in your wardrobe
PrINtS? I know . . . tricky. So tempting when the season begins. But, as any discerning dresser knows, all prints are not created equal.
And it’s around this point in the summer when all those big, blousy, florals currently bustling together on the sale rail look about as appealing as the rapidly disintegrating roses in my garden.
But there is a new print in town — much punchier, braver and less likely to result in accidental frock twinning at every barbecue/garden party/ wedding reception you attend between now and September 1.
On the catwalk, Miuccia Prada very much set the tone with geometric tessellations and bold colour combinations ever so slightly reminiscent of the textile patterns on the upholstery of a Seventies London bus seat.
(On the High Street, Cos has a fantastic red, white and blue geometric print top in a similar vein, now reduced to £28, cosstores.com).
While the inspiration is Sixties and Seventies vintage, shabby chic is not the order of the day here. In fact, these ‘neo-vintage’ prints are best worn with sharp separates.
For work, pairing an Op Art print top (try Bimba & Lola’s sunset shirt, reduced to £36,
bimbaylola.com) with well-cut navy trousers, contemporary block heels and minimal jewellery feels fresh and ready for business.
ABOLder option still ( I love this look for a party) is to go matchymatchy, with the same print on your top and bottom.
don’t ask me why, but the combination of a bold-print long- sleeve shirt and a matching midi-length skirt looks perfectly on point right now. (Warehouse has mastered this look brilliantly.)
I put much of this new print mania down to what I call the J. J. Martin effect. If you haven’t come across this sassy designer, I recommend her witty and wonderful website, laDoubleJ.com.
Originally from Los Angeles, she moved to Milan around 15 years ago, where she interviewed every designer in town, amassed a museumworthy collection of vintage clothes and jewellery and turned it all into a brilliantly inventive lifestyle brand called LadoubleJ — all inspired by her love of uncompromisingly bold and joyous Sixties and Seventies textile prints.
On the clothing front, it’s absolutely not about seasonal collections, rather signature shapes. She tends to favour floor- sweeping tiered skirts and neat little blouses in an eye-popping array of resolutely bold, brilliant patterns.
More often than not, these are reissues from the Mantero archives ( a mighty Italian textile mill on Lake Como).
With this print mood in the air, it’s worth delving into your wardrobes for treasures that might look right again now. I dug out a Pucci shirt in Neapolitan ice cream colours. It looks perfect with white jeans and a backless loafer.
One note of caution: if you do rework a vintage favourite, keep your accessories — shoes, sunglasses and handbags — ultra-modern. It cancels out the grandma effect.
But get it right and a print top or dress will also carry you seamlessly from late summer to autumn dressing.
Personally, I’ll be buying the neo-vintage print frock from Finery (£ 99, finerylondon.
com) and saving it to wear with ankle boots and tights when the temperatures fall.
Sarah Bailey is editorial Director of red magazine.