Times 2 - UK (2020-09-16)

(Antfer) #1

the times | Wednesday September 16 2020 1GT 5


fashion


From left: the influencer
Alexandra Lapp; the model Emily
Ratajkowski and £225 (reiss.com)

Antwerp’s puff-sleeved (£375,
essentiel-antwerp.com), Claudie
Pierlot’s raw-edged (£345,
uk.claudiepierlot.com), and the
Greek-American brand Stefania
Vaidani’s power-shouldered (€235,
stefania-vaidani.com). On a less
neutral note, the last’s constellation-
printed velvet (€198) has me thinking
longingly of party season.
If you want to avoid confusion over
whether or not you’ve forgotten your
trousers, Sandro has two options that
fall on the “dress” side of the line:
a short-sleeved double-breasted black
tweed iteration (£280, uk.sandro-
paris.com) with box pleating at the
hips, and a slinkier long-sleeved belted
one that flares out at the bottom. Self-
Portrait’s boxy double-breasted black
(£380, self-portrait-studio.com) gives
the illusion of a lacy-hemmed slip
dress layered beneath. For a slightly
longer length, try Karen Millen’s

tuxedo-y wrap dress (£125.30,
karenmillen.com) or & Other Stories’
oversized hourglass shape in black
linen (£135, stories.com), which falls to
mid-thigh even on a 5ft 10in model.
If you’re not keen on even that
much bare skin, add tights — a semi-
sheer low-denier black pair or warmer
black opaques. Pointed-toe court
shoes or stacked-heel ankle boots
will look great, but so will something
clompier or lug-soled: Grenson’s
Bridget boots (£295, grenson.com) are
cut lower on the ankle than most
hiking boots, which will elongate legs.
Or opt for a pair of over-the-knee
boots that stretch all the way to your
hemline, revealing a glimpse of leg
when you sit down (Russell & Bromley
has a great selection in walkable heel-
heights, russellandbromley.co.uk).
And come colder weather or more
casual dress codes, you can always
layer your LBD over jeans or tailored
trousers, narrow or wide-legged, thus
turning the wearability up, and the
raciness down. Spoilsport.
Instagram: @charliegowans

The tank top is back


(and this time it’s cool)


Massimo Dutti’s less chunky taupe
take (£89.95, massimodutti.com)
or Margaret Howell’s merino
and cashmere beauty, in
navy or tobacco (£325,
margarethowell.co.uk).
That a tank top can now be
a fashion statement shows how
much the world has changed.
Ditto that when I started to type
Timothy Lumsden into Google,
it autocompleted as Timothée
Chalamet. All we need now is
for Timothée to appear in a tank.
Only a matter of time.
I can see Chalamet in the new
conjuring from Wyse. The actor
is an entertainingly foppish
dresser, who, like Harry Styles,
understands that enjoying
fashion doesn’t render you less of
a man; indeed rather, these days,
it renders you more of one. Sure,
Wyse’s soon-to-land iteration is
grey, but it is rendered anything
but suburban by the zigzag
rainbow of sequins across the chest
(£195, wyselondon.co.uk). Phyllis
Lumsden would not approve. Same
goes on both scores for Miu Miu’s
outré orange number with necklace-
like crystal embellishment (£760, net-
a-porter.com) and Sandro’s black and
white style (£155, sandro-paris.com).
Although simple is good too. So
good that, in the case of Me+Em’s
recently launched ribbed camel style,
which has a detachable high-neck, it
has already sold out. The brand is
working to produce the same in black,
and a collared version in camel, to be
launched in January. Mango’s cream
cable-knit styles are available with a
crew or V-neck (£29.99 and £35.
respectively, mango.com) and Arket
has gone with a sporty zip collar, in
cream and camel (£69, arket.com).
Other high-neck approaches
include the ribbed cream tabard-
like affairs from Massimo Dutti
and Mint Velvet, the latter with
chunky side buttons (£89.95,
massimodutti.com; £69,
mintvelvet.co.uk), and Isabel
Marant Etoile’s grey Megan
(£290, isabelmarant.com).
Anna Murphy

A


nd lo, the music of the
spheres gives us this
season’s most unlikely
yet strangely appealing
trend. The tank top.
Sorry, as Timothy Lumsden might
say, but it’s true. Although I will go
further than apologise. I hereby
pledge that the return, or rather
reincarnation of this previously
beyond-the-pale garment is
something to be happy about.
A tank top adds warmth without
sleeve centimetres, which means
when an overlay is required you
have more options as to which
variety of over you lay. It can also
— bought right, styled right —
look cool. Cosy yet cool.
That’s not all. Worn without an
underlayer (a favoured modus
operandi among the streetstylers) it
can look sexy. Mildly preposterous
too, possibly. Which is just how the
streetstylers like it. Yet definitely
sexy. You heard it here first.
The key is to avoid too fine a knit,
which presents as dated and confused.
(Is it a jumper or vest? You never want
the former to be mistaken for the
latter.) Similarly, you want a cut that’s
more boxy than fitted. And proceed
with caution when it comes to
neckline. If Frank Spencer, that
other tank top-wearing
personification of late 20th-
century emasculation, would
have worn it, you shouldn’t.
I would also be wary of
Argyle, which might
similarly come across as
arrested development. I
think an unpatterned
knit is best. Although
perhaps that’s just me.
The mother lode —
or, maybe, little-boy
lode — comes in a
top-notch four-ply wool
and cashmere mix, in black
or beige, and is produced in
Scotland for the boutique brand
& Daughter (£295, and-
daughter.com). The boxy cut and
amped up V-neck ensure its wearer
runs no risk of being mixed up with
the smaller Ronnie. The same goes for

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blazer dress

GETTY IMAGES

Princess Anne Princess Diana


Gabriella Berdugo


£29.99 (mango.com)


DAVID HARTLEY/
REX/SHUTTERSTOCK;
TIM GRAHAM/GETTY IMAGES

GETTYIMAGES
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