the times | Wednesday April 13 2022 5fashion
femininity — is a broderie blouse.
Even if you are the sort to eschew
frills and furbelows, I would advocate
for just a bit of etherealness peeping
out at the neck and cuff of a jacket
or knit.
I saw a friend last night who hates
“anything girlie”. To my surprise she
was wearing Me+Em’s broderie
balloon-sleeve blouse (£125) — a move
on from its original broderie layering
blouse, which I still live in (£95) — and
it lightened her look (black tailored
trousers, Eton crop hair) wonderfully.
Aside from Me+Em, there are rich
pickings to be had at Sézane — my
favourite being the Chloé (£95,
sezane.com) — and at Maje. The
latter’s embroidered cutwork crop top
and matching miniskirt (£279 and
£259 respectively, maje.com) are
definitive proof that a woman in white
can have more to do with raising
temperatures than taking them.
Instagram: @timesfashiondesk£130 and £160 respectively,
thereformation.com); or downtown
edge (Reformation’s short-sleeved twill
jumpsuit, £198, or Allsaints’ biker
jacket with detachable sleeves, £399,
allsaints.com).
Channel the Man from Del Monte
in suiting (Mint Velvet’s beige blazer
is £149, the matching trousers, £89,
mintvelvet.com) or Tess of the
d’Urbervilles in the mutton-sleeved
white broderie Belle frock from Aspiga
(£155, aspiga.com).
Go head-to-toe, the better to
make like it’s a matter of weeks
before you head off to Ile de Ré for
the summer with the rest of the one
per cent. There you can just slip on
Bamford’s white cashmere cardi when
it gets chilly after dark (£575,
bamford.com). (Other warmth-
endowers include Sunspel’s classic
sweatshirt, £120, sunspel.com, and Me
+Em’s cotton chevron knit tank, £115,
meandem.com.) Or play it more real
world, mixing white in with navy or
black or — if you want to be really au
courant — popping brights.
A white accessory or two may
do the trick. I am sure you already
have a pair of white trainers. I love
Essen’s Foundation Flat (£161,
essenthelabel.com) and Russell &
Bromley’s stompy chelsea boots (£225,
russellandbromley.com) and happen
to think Strathberry’s East/West Mini
cross-body is a cracker of a bag (£425,
strathberry.com).
Just whatever you do, wherever you
go, carry with you Tide to Go’s stain
pen (it works so well). Aside from said
pen, my hero piece for the season —
although it would be more accurate
to call it a heroine piece, given itsO
n the one hand I
couldn’t be happier
that last month a
white shirt was the
Oscars garb of choice
for women as well as
men, from Zendaya
to Kristen Stewart by way of Uma
Thurman, who made the look her
own in Pulp Fiction way back in 1994.
I have always loved a white shirt or
blouse. And as someone who has
finally, after 50 years on this planet,
found a pair of white jeans that suit
her (strictly speaking they’re sailor
pants; £149, pressprimrosehill.com), I
am happy to see that they are having
a moment too.
As for all the white dresses in
the shops, I have had people oh so
hilariously asking me to take their
temperature for decades. I don’t mind
being mistaken for a nurse, not that
there’s any danger of that in Massimo
Dutti’s sunray-pleated halterneck
maxi (£169, massimodutti.com),
Mango’s bodycon knitted column
(£49.99, mango.com) or Essentiel
Antwerp’s babydoll mini (£180,
essentielantwerp.com).
On the other hand it seems perverse
that it’s the spring of 2022 that should
be declared white hot in the most
literal sense. The two springs before
it would have been far more suited to
enforcing the stain-free cordon
required. Yet to be honest, my
lockdown-related tomato salsa and
tortilla chips addiction would have
been less than ideal in that regard.
Anyway. White. It’s the (non) colour
of the season. Ditto cream. And I do
think on balance that this is good
news. There is no easier way tofreshen your look than by way of the
hue that so epitomises freshness as to
have the starring role in every washing
powder advert ever.
Choose between sleek lines or a
modicum of froth. Or mix the two,
perhaps pairing Claudie Pierlot’s
clean-cut safari jacket with its frill-
trimmed blouse, both with contrast
stitching (£249 and £179 respectively,
claudiepierlot.com), or Baukjen’s
Jayden utility jacket, an earlier
iteration of which is a spring/summer
staple of mine (£169, baukjen.com)
with Cos’s lace-panel shirt (£79,
cosstores.com).
Think uptown chic (Me+Em’s
gold-buttoned bouclé knit jacket,
£225, meandem.com, or Reformation’s
scallop-edged bustier and trousers,Above from left: blouse,
£95, meandem.com;
dress, £169,
massimodutti.com;
dress, £135,
meandem.com; shirt,
£85, sezane.com; dress,
£49.99, mango.com.
Left: jacket, £169;
baujken.comup — the style set have