The daffodils are out, Vogue’s April issue has landed and the evenings smell a bit like blossom. Spring has sprung. It’s still chilly, mind, which makes getting dressed quite complicated. To help, here is a handy guide to the new season standing of the items you already have in your wardrobe.
Tights
Good news for those who enjoy warm legs: tights are a big deal this season. Not black opaques, obviously, but plain sheers of the kind worn by Melanie Griffith in Working Girl. The most 2017 way to wear them is styled awkwardly with little white ankle socks and trainers, or with strappy sandals in a contrasting colour. On the Céline catwalk, they were paired with mismatching sandals – one black, one white. It’s a bold look, but fashion was never going to make the rehabilitation of tights simple.
Skinny jeans
Don’t shoot the messenger – this is just an unbiased report from the front line – but in style circles, right now, skinny jeans are about as popular with designers as Brexit is. Should you consider becoming independent from yours, the alternatives are confusingly disparate: the Vetements-inspired stepped-hem kick-flare crop is still riding high and the Martin Sheen in Badlands-style indigo worker jean is coming on strong. Bear in mind that with a new jeans shape comes a new silhouette: a baggier jean often requires a top that will tuck in. Basically, go to a shop and try some on, because this one is going to be complicated.
White trainers
Most records pinpoint the genesis of fashion’s obsession with trainers at 6 March 2011, when Phoebe Philo took her post-show bow in a pair of Stan Smiths. We are well overdue something new. The new white trainer fashion types are into is the Reebok Club C 85. Where Stan Smith was 70s tennis clubhouse, this is 80s aerobics class. The ankle-scoop looks a treat with a cropped-hem jean.
Jumpsuits
Last week, Ascot announced that jumpsuits had become part of its official dress code, and, lo, a perfectly useful trend was jeopardised. We say: keep wearing them but, as with so many things, this is all about context. So, with high heels, a blow-dry and a manicure, a jumpsuit feels a bit Ladies Day. Worn utility style with a battered pair of converse, you’re basically Ripley in Alien, which is excellent.
Cold shoulders
Last spring/summer’s mega-trend – the neckline that united Hillary Clinton, Kate Middleton and Millie Mackintosh – is still happening, but with an inclusive twist: rather than going bra-free, wearers are now flashing their bra straps. So the neckline that was known as the Bardot becomes the Bra-dot for 2017.
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