SHOP THE STYLE TIME MACHINE
LOVE THE VINTAGE look, but baulk at the idea of trawling through a thrift rail? Then here’s how to get the fun of the vintage fair without all the polyester and whiff of mothballs. This A/W ’16, Zandra Rhodes has teamed up with shopping mecca Matches and creative consultant Grace Woodward to create 10 so-good-you’ll-pinch-yourself frocks that conjure up the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. How? Because these were the very dresses that fashion’s great and good wore in those decades, when Zandra first designed them – remastered as limited-edition redesigns. As she herself noted, ‘My historical archive has been a catalyst for many other designers, but now is the right time to present a collection of dresses that have stood the test of time.’ And as Natalie Kingham, Matches buying director, put it, ‘It’s a great opportunity to buy into a moment in fashion history, updated for now. The dresses are set to become future vintage investments.’ OK, so they don’t come cheap, but what price would you put on a dress beloved of Princess Di (pale pink off-the-shoulder) or Pat Cleveland (gold, pleated and completely mad)? £1,200 plus, apparently, but then they are hand-printed and embellished in Zandra’s London atelier. Hang them on the wall in lieu of a Warhol and take them down for only the most fabulous occasions – blackjack in Monte Carlo, say, or dancing barefoot on a yacht. And if those occasions don’t arise, best start rethinking your social life – your new Donna Summer dress deserves better.