Vırginia Chadwyck-Healey What to wear to… embrace tradition
Truly timeless fabrics and patterns suit all ages – and will hold their own for years
oundstooth, tweed, pinstripes, plaid, tartan… the season of the heritage heroes is once again upon us. A chance for everyone (and I really believe this look spans ages 20-100) to revert to those fabrics or patterns that are timeless and therefore relentlessly triumphant when it comes to what to wear. We can sometimes use this word “timeless” a little too freely. My own personal test for something timeless is wondering whether my grandmother would have worn it in the 1950s and, were she still alive today, whether she would still be wearing it today, next to me now, in my own version.
Consider a pair of monochrome check trousers, more specifically Prince of Wales check. These might just as easily have been worn as a cigarette pant with ballet pumps by Audrey Hepburn in the 1950s, as they are today by the elegant Charlotte Casiraghi, with a loafer and Chanel jacket.
There might be 70 years between the two trouser looks but the notion of timelessness is clear for all to see. Or take houndstooth, as I’m wearing in this grey cardigan by British-based brand Labeca. The sisters behind this brand have an innate sense of how to make knitwear both functional (warm) and smart (think cashmere overcoats or excellently cut vest tops for under your trouser suit when you don’t want to wear silk).
This cardigan feels like an approach to houndstooth that is more “me” than the obvious houndstooth overcoat or a red and white houndstooth jacket à la Diana, Princess of Wales. And that’s the angle I want you to consider: find a way of wearing these fabrics that suits you and in which you feel comfortable. I know I am also unlikely to wear a tweed singlebreasted jacket for instance, but I’d certainly wear these tweed trousers by Northumberland-based Bella Hoskyns with wellies for a weekend look or the odd invitation to attend a shoot. For a weekday I’d wear them with a big, cableknit roll neck and sneakers.
Next up, let’s consider tartan. I’m not one for tartan skirts or kilts (still haunted by my school uniform) no matter how many Prada or Miu Miu reincarnations are sent down the catwalk, but the other day I succumbed to the most expensive coat of my life – which happened to be a tartan bomber jacket. The shop staff who sold me the tartan triumph successfully employed the word “timeless”. Timeless is responsible. Timeless is future-proof. Timeless is an investment. Timeless is sensible.
Of course I did my own vetting of the garment – can I wear this on the farm, in London, on the school run, on Bonfire Night? It’s a total gem of a jacket for all of the boxes it ticks. So many traditional fabrics retain this sense of innate clout and will easily hold their own for years, but in this tartan case, for my own personal style, it’s the way the brand in question adapted and modernised the use of the tartan that really caught my own eye; my own style. Similar brands that cleverly push boundaries include Really Wild Clothing, Alessandra Rich, Shrimps and, of course, Chanel.
However, there are a few special examples of when a traditional fabric and style has no need of updating – and why you’ll find high street brands recreating them most autumn/winter seasons. The Chanel tweed jacket, for instance, just looks great year after year, decade after decade. You’ll find it reproduced by Zara, by River Island, by M&S.
Or take Christian Dior. He was one of the first designers to incorporate houndstooth in his momentous couture collection shown in Paris in 1948. And today, 73 years later, at the Dior flagship store on New Bond Street, you’ll find a similar nipped-in waist on a mid-length dress, crafted in – yes you guessed it – black and white houndstooth. It’s a play on the “House Codes” according to the Dior website, “showcasing an iconic motif ”. Timeless. What’s the saying? “If it ain’t broke…”