The Times - UK (2022-06-08)

the times | Wednesday June 8 2022 7

fashion

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F

orget Bojo if you can,

here’s boho instead.

Admittedly, this fashion

trend has similar

Marmite qualities to

our prime minister —

not to mention a habit

of lingering on long

after the general public are sick of it

— but we’ve had enough of a break

since the last go-round that many

of us have forgotten its less vote-

winning characteristics.

Remember Sienna Miller in a floral

minidress and pirate boots? Kate Moss

in skinny jeans, waistcoat and chain

belt, an Alexander McQueen skull

scarf looped around her neck? They

were the poster girls — or at least

the Heat magazine pin-ups — of a

movement that began in millennium-

era Primrose Hill and ended just

pre-crash on the sale rails of Topshop.

Now, on the back of a Gen Z-powered

Are you (new) boho enough?

Festival dressing is

back, but this time

it’s sleek and city-

friendly. Just don’t

overdo it, warns

Harriet Walker

revival of all things Noughties, it’s time

to re-Raphaelite your wardrobe.

“We need to add some fun back

into our lives,” agrees the designer

Alice Temperley, whose Somerset-

based label has boho-ed everyone

over the years from Keira Knightley

to the Duchess of Cambridge. “It’s

a timeless and carefree look, perfect

for thrift and vintage shopping and

making use of those for ever pieces

in your wardrobe.”

On the high street — and in pub

gardens — denim minis and cowboy

boots are already back. The number of

times the latter have sold out in stores

has risen 98 per cent in the past year,

according to the retail intelligence

company Edited. Its data also shows

a quarter more waistcoats in the

shops over the same period. That

isn’t because the fellas are suddenly

wearing them to work again, but

thanks to a vanguard of clothes

horses who have begun styling them

al fleshco with jeans and wafty skirts.

Hold onto your flower crown,

because on the catwalk Conner Ives’s

London Fashion Week collection

featured not just handkerchief tops

and bandanas but low-rise printed

flares too. The street-stylers outside

last February’s Etro show in Milan

— boho’s spiritual home — were

decked out in the label’s paisley and

embroidered suede. Then there’s

the fringing: Edited estimates a

57 per cent rise in sales this year,

although it admits that many pieces

were discounted as soon as Coachella

kicked off.

There’s the rub — and I’m not just

talking about cowboy boots on a warm

day. Boho has become so inextricably

linked to so-called festival chic that

many of us now consider it a sort of

fancy dress. Indeed, its costumey

ubiquity was a large part of its

descent into the sort of fashion cliché

that very few of us who remember

2004 (or the 1970s) want any part of

again. (That, and the fact so many

of us teamed our ponchos with

Uggs back then.) Flâneur fashion

only really works when the fops are

in the minority — once everyone’s

a bohemian, then by definition

nobody is.

Yet this look still has a lot to offer.

Boho’s blend of pretty floatiness and

a bit of rock’n’roll is just the ticket for

the first truly post-pandemic summer.

The prairie dresses, straw bonnets

and general Petit Trianon vibe of

2019 were killed off by a lockdown

that felt less bucolic than bubonic,

and the sweatpants and cynicism

that replaced it have only just begun

to lift. This is where “Boho 3.0”

comes in: that’s boho for the over-

30s, which is sleek and citified.

What’s different this time

around? Fewer accessories, and

that includes rock star boyfriends.

New boho retains the mishmash of

styles — something like Pink City

Prints’s Tamsin top (£150,

pinkcityprints.com) and Mango’s slit

denim midi (£35.99, shop.mango.com)

— but cuts back on all the bangles,

feathers and overly styled hats.

For dresses, redeploy vintage

paisleys and Talitha Getty-ish kaftan

styles (Jigsaw has a great range of

embroidered linen midi and mini

peasant dresses, from £145, jigsaw-

online.com). But hold the fringed

jacket and keep sandals modern; I’m

not convinced elaborate gladiator

sandals should be part of this revival.

Instead, I like Everlane’s elegantly

Velcro-ed Renew Sport pair (£78,

everlane.com — made from 100 per

cent recycled materials) or

Birkenstock’s Boston clogs in taupe

suede (£120, birkenstock.com).

The rise of the colourful, printed

dolman jacket is another simple route

to adding a bit of boho. I am a huge

fan of the British label Homebrunn’s

lightly quilted Liberty printed layers:

its Jasper jacket is the perfect

bohemian foil for an otherwise quite

straight outfit (£395, homebrunn.com).

I’m also a little bit in love with Boden’s

short-sleeved smocked paisley blouse

(£75, boden.co.uk).

As for finishing touches, exercise

some restraint. Add a scarf or gold

hoops by all means, but put the brakes

on before you hit Captain Jack

Sparrow territory. For more reason

than simply boho ones these days.

Twitter: @harrywalker1

Fashion editor

and stylist

Kim Hersov

Influencer

Laura Bailey

Influencer

Gitta Banko

Tops, £60 each,

skirts, £100 each;

all aspiga.com

Dress, £410;

bymalina.com