Got a bright blazer? Why not wear the trousers, too
HOW TO DRESS LIKE A GROWN UP
WeRe you to twist my arm and say ‘go on, what in your wardrobe delivers the most? Which has the most Thank-goodness-I-can-dragthis-on-and-I’m-all-set factor?’ I’d say a blazer.
And if you were to ask, ‘what do you expect to get the most wear out of in the months ahead?’ my answer would be, a blazer. And if, after all that (you’re nothing if not persistent), you were to say ‘oK, so what would you do to ring the changes?’ I would say — without missing a beat — buy another blazer . . . and the trousers to go with it.
That’s the message of this autumn pure and simple: a blazer goes with everything, smartens up jeans, anchors fluid dresses, puts the Savile Row in a shirt and a pair of trousers. You can make something unremarkable look chic and expensive if you wear it with the right jacket and, this season, women are doing just that with blazers in heritage checks and tweeds.
Zara does two that are fast becoming the clever buy of the season: a one-button checked wool-blend blazer in either a camel/brown or a blue/grey (£79.99, zara.com). If check isn’t your thing, it has at least 20 others to choose from.
When I was at the till in Zara a couple of weeks ago buying a green velvet blazer (now sold out, sorry, there will be more), I asked the sales assistant what the bestsellers were and she looked at me as if I was mad: ‘Blazers!’ she hissed. ‘Any blazers. Always blazers!’
So, We could stop right there. But that is not the way fashion works. The way it works, especially now, is that something hits the spot and then we want to switch it up and get more out of it.
The Birkenstock got furlined. The blouse got volume, the dress got longer and the jacket got its trousers back.
It’s been several years since trouser suits have been the go-to thing in our wardrobe. even calling them ‘trouser suits’ doesn’t seem quite right this time around: they’re not formal, they’re not black (unless they’re cord).
You’re not wearing them like a uniform, you’re not necessarily wearing both pieces together; they’re more like companion pieces, if that doesn’t sound too strange. A blazer with benefits.
And it does start with the blazer. Your eye alights on Massimo Dutti’s wool blazer — in a soft brown check or a variation on a Prince of Wales check (£269, massimodutti. com). The proportions are just right: long enough to graze the top of the thigh; waisted just enough to flatter; doublebreasted with sharp shoulders; two flap pockets; a peak lapel collar — and it says on the website ‘matching trousers are available’.
The trousers are not compulsory, they may not even be displayed together, but now you might think ‘matching wide-legged trousers (£149)? That would be great, too.’
After several years of finding trouser suits just a little too tidy and uniform, doubling up is back in favour.
If the tweedy look appeals (and it does look appealing at the moment, reassuringly chic, not too office-wear only), then there are good options at Me+em, including a puppytooth blazer in cream blue and black, and matching straight leg trousers with a navy and white side stripe (£275 and £185, meandem. com). This sums up the new mood of teamed-up jackets and trousers — comfortable, easy, sporty, but still dressed up. (Note: this time around your jacket is not relaxed but your trousers might come with a drawstring waist).
I have a soft spot for needlecord jackets and matching trousers: something about soft cord banishes any trace of corporate wear and at the same time it’s smart enough to wear with a ruffle-collared shirt for work or the evening.
This season Boden has done a nippy cord blazer in six colours (£110, boden.co.uk) with a similar range of wide-legged trousers (£90). Get them both in matching navy, or, in the spirit of the modern trouser suit, go for a tonal blue on blue or shades of ginger or pink.
Maybe the trousers are still the afterthought (they were when I got the pair to match my green blazer two days later), but we’re at the start of something here. So next time you’re tempted by a blazer, check if there aren’t some trousers to go with it for some extra mileage. You wait, by December you’ll be looking around for a velvet tuxedo.