the times | Wednesday November 10 2021 7fashion
On screens at the moment, Sarah
Snook as Shiv Roy in Succession has
been centre stage with a perfectly
pitched 0.1 per cent wardrobe.
Hers is a style that turns
traditional power dressing on its head
and has taught us oiks that there is a
level of rich person for whom dress
codes simply don’t apply. For Shiv,
trouser suits count as casualwear
(always high-waisted and wide-legged)
and flesh-flashing is rarely trad sexy:
bare arms in a tank top, or the cut-out
back of a Gabriela Hearst knitted
mididress mean business. She also
deploys luxurious silk shirts in jewel
shades as the rest of us might a plain
white T-shirt — plenty here to crib
from, even if you’re dressing for dinner
rather than a hostile takeover.
Elsewhere, a shaven-headed 17-year-
old with a penchant for hot pants and
knee-high boots (played by the 28-
year-old actress of unearthly beauty
Jordan Alexander) might not seem a
likely source of style inspiration for
anybody over 25, but bear with me andconsider Julien Calloway
from Gossip Girl (on
iPlayer). The series’s
costume department put
together up to 200
outfits per episode, so
there’s something in
there for everyone, from
the geek-chic corduroy
blazers and silk blouses
of the teaching staff at
the fictional Upper East Side school to
its students’ It girl handbags. After
only half an hour I found myself
endlessly searching for navy blue
shirt-jackets in homage: I love Reiss’s
Tilly style (£198, reiss.com) and
Baukjen’s Gabby (£169, baukjen.com),
although Julien’s almost certainly cost
even more than my actual telly.
On the horizon of your viewing
schedule, look out for Sienna Miller as
the embattled MP’s wife Sophie
Whitehouse in the forthcoming
adaptation of Sarah Vaughan’s political
thriller Anatomy of a Scandal (launches
on Netflix next year). So far she has
been papped on set in a Celine-esque
navy blazer and camel skirt ensemble
— Ganni’s skirt is a good match (£225,
net-a-porter.com). A Stella McCartney
trench coat and skirt-dress, plus
Loewe bucket bag, suggests there is
more sartorial catnip to come in this
#MeToo tale set between Westminster
and Oxford.
Finally, there are the characters you
might not exactly be inspired by —
the murdering sociopath Villanelle in
Killing Eve (played by Jodie Comer,
series four airs next spring on the
BBC), for example, or Insta airhead
Emily Cooper in Emily in Paris (Lily
Collins; returns December 22 on
Netflix) — but whose wardrobes tap
into our childlike love for joyful outfits
on screen. Look out for Villanelle’s
fashion wellies in the coming series
and for Emily’s south of France garb in
the second series. Deny it all you want,
but you too might want a fluoro-weave
basket bag in orange recycled plastic
for your hols once you’ve watched it
(€65, carel.fr). Be warned, though:
there’s a waiting list for them already.
Twitter: @harrywalker1I want what
she’s wearing:
why TV is the
new catwalk
Do you lust after Carrie Bradshaw’s
latest wardrobe or Shiv Roy’s 0.1 per
cent chic? Me too, says Harriet Walker
C
an’t wait for Carrie
Bradshaw? Kicking
your heels until the
next Killing Eve?
Perhaps you’ve
managed to sever the
umbilical connection
to your TV that
developed during lockdown — I
haven’t. Yet even those of you who
only too gladly relinquished the
remote control on freedom day will
have to admit that television these
days occupies so much more space
than simply one corner of the sitting
room.
Post-pandemic, our viewing
schedule isn’t just entertainment, it’s
equal parts content-provider for rusty
socialisers and connection point for
those still WFH. Big-hitting shows
such as Bridgerton and Squid Game are
reversing some of the atomisation that
has taken hold since the days when
the nation sat down to watch
EastEnders together as one. More than
that, TV is also positioning itself to
take the place of glossy magazines and
designer billboards. Your sofa is the
new front row, and you are the fashion
editor noting your favourite pieces on
this big-budget catwalk.
During the darker days we found
comfort in Kate Winslet’s grown-out
highlights in Mare of Easttown and the
cosiness of Nicole Kidman’s pixieish
coat in The Undoing. Now the ultra-
soigné figures stalking the small
screen are a sight for sore eyes as we
navigate our own return to glam
before party season, and producers are
making it easier than ever to get the
look. The release last week of Netflix’s
modern western The Harder They Fall
(starring Idris Elba and Regina King
and produced by Jay-Z) was
accompanied by a capsule collection
from Balmain full of cowboy fringing,
earthy Midwest tones and designer
logos (from £195, farfetch.com). Asos
and Boohoo offer near replicas of
Squid Game’s much-googled signature
teal tracksuits. Forget window-
shopping, the digital age has made us
all screen-shoppers.
It was the stylist Patricia Field who
first raised TV costume to an art form
and inspired weekly trips to Topshop
during the original run of Sex and the
City. Now And Just Like That... , themuch-hyped reboot — styled by
Field’s friend Molly Rogers (Ugly
Betty, The Devil Wears Prada) — is
infiltrating wardrobes even before
its air date (starts December, Sky
Atlantic). Of the most
anticipated releases this
winter, the return of telly’s
most famous clothes horse,
Carrie Bradshaw, ranks
highest. And Just Like
That... was never going to
be a minimalist affair but
beyond the bonkers (think
the tutu 2.0 and a Rajasthani-
style crop-top and maxiskirt combo)
are a few more subtle outfits you’ll
be falling over yourself to recreate.
My favourites of those leaked so
far is a grey trench and matching
trilby; oversized mannish tailoring in
claret (a rare trouser suit moment);
and a chic side-fastening coat-dress.
Expect this series to reignite
interest in bodycon cocktail frocks
(Carrie’s are by Norma Kamali),
platform sandals (Saint Laurent
and Celine) and be ready to
come round to clogs (try
Swedish Hasbeens, £160,
swedishhasbeens.com). Sarah
Jessica Parker has even been
spotted in a humble pair of
dungarees — hers are pale denim; you
might find black a little easier.c
fr
iP
c t o t t t b othefictionalUH
tralKristin Davis, Sarah
Jessica Parker and
Cynthia Nixon on the
set of the Sex and the
City reboot. Below:
Sienna Miller filming
Anatomy of a
Scandal, and Sarah
Snook in SuccessionREX SHUTTERSTOCK; SPLASH NEWSJordan Alexander in Gossip Girl.
Right: Jodie Comer in Killing Eve