the times | Wednesday November 10 2021 5fashion
by Hannah Rogers
£19.99, mango.com,
and £220, Gucci at
net-a-porter.comand pale grey/pink and red), each with
that most heart-warming of four-letter
words writ (very) large down its centre
(£225, broraonline.com).
Invest in a Penelope Chilvers, Hades
or Brora number for yourself and you
will assuredly live happily ever after. A
super-scarf indeed. Buy one for
someone you love this Christmas and I
wager life will still get better for you as
well as them. It’s always nice to have
someone feeling indebted, I think.
For an utterly plain super-scarf, try
Uterqüe’s Brobdingnagian emerald or
scarlet polyester (£50, uterque.com),
Mango’s softer green wool-blend
version of similar (£29.99, mango.com)
or Massimo Dutti’s camel wool-blend
(£69.95, massimodutti.com).
If you fancy plaid, Massimo Dutti’s
is black, brown and cream (£69.95,
wool and alpaca, massimodutti.com),
Uterqüe’s black, cream and grey (£60,
acrylic, uterque.com), Sezane’s
sunshine yellow and pale pink (£80,
alpaca, sezane.com), and Zara’s bold
black squares of black and cream
(£25.99, recycled polyester, zara.com).
Arket’s almost literal security
blanket — yes, it’s that big — is an
abstraction of black and green that
looks like a Rothko (£115, wool,
arket.com), while Begg x Co’s blue and
green patterned beauty is a
collaboration with the artist John
Booth (£160, lambswool and cashmere,
beggxco.com). The arty super-scarf.
Take that, Daleks!
Instagram: @annagmurphycocktail party rush. Either way,
you can hide behind Gucci’s
or Mango’s and feel equally
glamorous (£220, net-a-
porter.com, and £17.99,
mango.com, respectively).5 The reverse manicure
Two trends are taking over
the delicate hands of fashion’s
insiders this season: the red
French manicure and cocktail
rings. The first is exactly as it says
on the tin — a clear nail tipped
with a tiny strip of red rather than
white, versions of which abound
on Instagram should you need
a reference to take to the salon
(@harrietwestmoreland’s is the
most aspirational).6 The gem ring
The second is a gobstopper of
a jewellery piece: boiled-sweet-
gem topped rings. My favourite
at the pricier end is Mejuri’s
scarlet garnet Heirloom ring (£500,
mejuri.com), or you could design
your own from scratch at Fenton
(fentonand.co). Just as toothsome is
Daphine’s chunky gold Aida with
a citrine cabochon (£120, shop-
daphine.com). Need a quick sugar fix?
Uterqüe’s pack of three so-called old
gold rings with navy, lilac and emerald
stones is £50 (uterque.com).
Instagram: @hannahlouiserogerslook? Start with a super-scarf
COVER AND BELOW: GETTY IMAGES; DAN HALLAnd 6 other items
that will transform
your style instantly
T
ime was that the turn of the
season demanded a total
overhaul for our wardrobes.
Thank heavens that’s over.
These days the most
stylish women take a less heavy-
handed approach to refreshing their
looks (one that the rest of us can
keep up with). Instead of buying
everything new, it’s all about
tweaking. That might mean
recommissioning something
already in your wardrobe, adding
a statement accessory or investing
in something ever-after. The good
news? It’s all easy. These are the
instant updates for winter 2021.1 The riding boots
Paging Jilly Cooper: riding boots
are having a moment. With the
sexiness of a long boot and the
sturdiness of the flat, is it any
wonder the style is the first to
turn the Instagram set’s head from
track-soled stompers. They wear
theirs with miniskirts; the Duchess
of Cambridge wears hers with skinny
jeans. In Uterqüe’s black and maroon
iteration with bridle buckle (£205,
uterque.com) or Ralph Lauren’s
Bradleigh burnished tan take
(£199, ralphlauren.co.uk) you
could work either. Giddy up!2 The DBB (double-
breasted blazer)
Easy-to-wear, dressable up or
down, and nearly always on a
catwalk in some form each season,
there’s a reason the double-breasted
blazer is a fashion editor staple.
Chances are you have one in your
wardrobe: neutral or bright, pinstriped
or gold-button adorned, now is the
time to pull it out. The fail-safe outfit
formula on the front row is to pair
it with jeans and kitten heels, but
a DBB’s joy is its versatility: throw it
over a dress, skirt, T-shirt or rollneck
and it will always look equally chic.3 The chunky gold chain
If you don’t own a gold chain by
now I’d love to know what you are
wearing around your neck: from the
It brand Missoma’s monopoly of
the millennial jewellery market to
Normal People’s Connell, the accessory
has been something of a cultural
touchstone in recent years. This
winter they are only getting bigger,
metaphorically and physically. The
best chains now come super-chunky,
Loadsamoney-era style. See Bimba
y Lola’s links choker (£85,
bimbaylola.com) or trawl Susan
Caplan for vintage styles (from £35,
susancaplan.co.uk).4 The Sixties sunnies
Big, bold and not a little bug-eyed, the
hot shades now come round, oversized
and with just a hint of mod. Blame it
on Quant or the size of the bags under
our eyes from the pre-Christmass
nny
on,
ediped
e
f5
3
6
£360, tillysveaas.co.uk1
£350, todd-duncan.co.uk@__clbeauty£500 each,
mejuri.co.uk£169, massimodutti.com2
£199, ralphlauren.co.uk4