6 1GT Wednesday August 5 2020 | the times

fashion

You’ll see me in a

shirtdress by the pool

Throw it over a swimsuit and

you’re done, says Anna Murphy

H

ere’s the dress to

make you realise there are

shirtdresses and there are

shirtdresses. A more

definitively shirt-like dress

is not to be found. Indeed, this one is

arguably more shirt than anything else

(£69, arket.com).

I can’t think of a better poolside

cover-up, should I actually make it

poolside this summer, which is,

needless to say, a watching brief.

I find the boho approach doesn’t

work for me. To be honest I think

it’s tricky for most Brits to pull off

unless you are very young, very brown

and very thin. Even then I think it’s

best saved for Mykonos.

I need crisper lines and, if a piece

is unwaisted, I look better with a

V-neckline, which is, in essence,

what an undone shirt collar delivers.

Were I to wear this number anywhere

away from the pool, I would sling

on a belt. For a hot summer’s day

I like Catherine Prevost’s pom-pom

corded style, the cord and tassels

blue, the pom-poms in cheerily

contrasting green and orange

(reduced to £45 from £95,

catherineprevost.com).

Why the belt? Because, again,

I have worked out what works best

for my shape. As someone with,

comparatively speaking, big shoulders

and hips, and an approximation of

a waist — the combination of the

so-called triangle and inverted

triangle body shapes — I tend to

look better signalling said waist.

That’s right, it’s always — always —

worth factoring in your body type.

A piece that is straight-up-and-

down like this works well, no

surprise, on those of us who are

straight up and down, the so-called

column body shape. Hourglasses

and triangles, either inverted or

not, look better with some

delineation at the midriff.

Rectangles and roundeds, the

two final categories, would,

according to the expert

bodymapper and personal

stylist Anna Berkeley, “be more

flattered by an A-line number

which is fitted to the bust but

skims what lies below it”.

Getting to know what does or

doesn’t work for your body —

not to mention your face

shape — is the ultimate

game changer when it

comes to dressing your

best self.

What I am also

looking for more than

ever is to invest in

clothes that are

multifarious. I have

grown to love

wearing the more

mannish variety of

shirtdress belted and

layered over jeans or summer

trousers. (The Mimi white linen harem

pants from the boutique British

brand Nrby Clothing tick the

latter box perfectly, £110,

nrbyclothing.com.) I also

I love

wearing

this

type of

shirtdress

as a

cover-up

like it worn open over a top. Now, after

the success of this week’s bodysuit-

related adventure (see right), I have

another option. After all, this is a

version of what I often do by the pool.

Swimsuit plus shirtdress. Job done.

Pimp your mask

I am not going to claim that the idea

of a chain for your mask isn’t, at first

pass, a bit weird. But at second pass it

seems to me rather sensible. Besides,

let’s face it, the whole mask-related

kerfuffle was weird until very recently.

Yet, only this week, going in and out

of assorted shops over the course of a

day, I kept forgetting to take mine off.

Anyway, the canny specialist brand

Sunny Cords has clocked that its

pretty sunglasses chains can work just

as well on your mask. (You put each

elastic strap on your mask into the

rubber loop at either end of the

chain, and then tighten the loop.

It’s straightforward, but there’s an

instruction video on the website

just in case.)

I like the Bead It style, which

comes with a silver-plated chain,

and beige, light or dark blue beads,

and the McTassel, which has a cord

and tassel of cotton plus gold-plated

heart and beads, and is available in a

range of neutrals and brights (both

£29, sunny-cords.com). At another

level are the semi-precious iterations,

such as the lapis lazuli or rainbow

tourmaline takes (£92).

All of the above can, of course —

as per their original conception —

be worn with your sunglasses too

Perhaps, here’s hoping, by a pool.

Smize, though your heart is aching

In a supermarket the other day I

found myself smiling at a woman

stacking shelves. For no particular

reason. Just because I think smiling

at people is generally a good thing.

Then I realised that, thanks to my

mask, as far as she was concerned,

I could simply be staring at her.

“I am smiling at you, in case you

are wondering,” I said.

“Yes,” she said, laughing. “I can tell

from your eyes that you are smizing.”

Ha! A whole new application for the

term made famous by Tyra Banks on

America’s Next Top Model. We all need

to learn to smile with our eyes now.

Eyebrow-raising technology

We also need to get our eyebrows on

point. I can’t claim it was due to any

prescience on my part that in early

March I started using Revitabrow

(£70, revitalash.co.uk). However, I

am jolly pleased I did. It was a friend

who recommended it to me for

fuller-looking brows. Even so, I

embarked on the project with

a scepticism untempered by the

talk of “high-impact proprietary

technology” on the brand’s

website. All I can say is it

works. Just don’t ask me how.

Instagram: @annagmurphy

£29,

sunny-cords.com

oonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

£69,

arket.com

they avoid the issues that can come

with a form-fitting top, “like riding

up, or ripples at the waist”. Unless, of

course, those ripples are one’s own.

Mugler offers low leg-cut bodysuits

too, but its, and Lipa’s, off-duty

showgirl influence can be felt

elsewhere. There are real-world

examples on the Zara website, for

example, such as the khaki trouser suit

given a frisson of kink courtesy of a

black ribbed iteration almost as leggy

— or to be more precise, hip-boney —

as Lipa’s (£12.99, zara.com). “This is

not a place you are supposed to show

skin,” Cadwallader says, “so when you

flash it, it’s pretty bold.”

In essence this is another variety of

the so-called keyholing trend that has

been around for a while, another mode

of revealing a section of flesh in a way

that, its advocates believe, looks

modern-sexy, not (and this is all too

easy a trap into which to fall) dated-

sexy. And, no, I have no idea what

particular physical jerks render that

part of one’s anatomy fit for public

viewing either. I suspect you’ve either

got it — aka Lipa — or you haven’t.

I remember when leotards — sorry,

bodysuits — left the balance beam in

the late 1980s. Here was a piece, a

slightly peculiar piece, in the new

sartorial jigsaw that was power

dressing. Power dressing: what a heady

phrase, and alluring phenomenon, to

what was then the adolescent and

distinctly unpowerfully dressed moi.

From what I could work out at the

The body is

It’s a T-shirt, it’s also a leotard, and this

time it won’t hurt, says Anna Murphy

I

t’s indicative of why this is a

fashion moment that I am

struggling with that I am even a

tad shaky on the terminology.

When I, along with 49.5 million

other people, saw Dua Lipa post

a selfie recently in a daytime

ensemble that encompassed

tailored trousers and a top that

evidently wasn’t, in fact, a top,

I thought: “Gosh. Dua Lipa is

wearing a leotard.” Then I checked

myself. “Gosh. Dua Lipa is wearing

a bodysuit.”

This was not merely an educated

guess, which was what used to be

required when bodysuits originally

made it out of the gym. Back then all

you had to go on as an observer was

the preternatural sleekness of fit and

that there was no riding up; no gaps.

That Lipa’s white Mugler number

was a bodysuit was indisputable.

Make that in-your-face. It had such

a high-cut leg that two curves of bare

flesh were revealed above her trouser

waistband. Punchy.

This — for those who dare — is

the 2020 bodysuit retool. Needless

to say, it’s out on manoeuvres on the

social media accounts of countless

influencers, often in more Mugler. The

label sent 13 bodysuit-encompassing

looks down the catwalk for

this season. Its designer, Casey

Cadwallader, explains his dedication

to the genre by way of “the physics of

fit. Bodysuits eliminate any bulk and

create sleekness.” Plus, he continues,