Style that will always hit the SPOT!
Polka dots are back this season — with a new, sophisticated twist
For such a simple pattern, polka dots are extraordinarily versatile. rarely completely out of style, every few years they enjoy a real revival. This is one of those moments. How to look more Pretty Woman than Minnie Mouse? The trick is to keep it grown-up.
Polka dots are a playful print and, if you want to stay sophisticated, you’ve got to pare back the frills, tone down the colours and be a little more reserved on the skinflaunting front.
Polka dots make an eye- catching statement and when you team them with an on-trend cut such as wide, high- waisted palazzo pants, or a pair of glamorous day-wear pyjamas
from Kate Spade, then the result can be both confident and powerful.
Even feminine pink looks edgy on Mango’s fluid trouser-suit, which features polka dots in the same fuchsia.
Doing dots well comes down to what you wear them with. The pussy-bow blouse — while famously popular with Margaret Thatcher and, more recently, with Liz Truss — can look a little more chic if you team a polka-dot version, such as one from Me + Em, with a statement suit.
There’s no need to fear clashing prints, because polka dots work brilliantly with other patterns. Throw a stripy jumper over a summery dress from Somerset by Alice Temperley.
As ever, accessorising is key to lifting a look. Elegant heels in a colour that picks up the dots are a foolproof approach, but why not enjoy yourself with, say, Anthropologie’s long polka-dot evening gloves with a fabulous cocktail dress, or a Spanish-style bolero hat as a nod to the floaty flamenco layers of a ro & Zo halterneck? That’s how you earn your fashion stripes in spots . . .