Some current style fixations

I was sartorially triggered by Annette Bening and Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Annette Bening in 20th Century Women

Hi friends, as promised, I’m back with a topic that isn’t related to my nasal passages!

It’s funny that I’m best known for writing about design and interiors as I started my career in fashion. I studied fashion at uni and for much of my childhood, I wanted to design clothes for a living. I realised during my Textiles GCSE that I have a complete intolerance for sewing (by hand or machine), so I scrapped that idea but I still enjoy fashion and personal style as a hobby. I rarely shop for clothes these days, so this newsletter scratches an itch for me as a place to share the things I love, even if I’ll never own them.

My boyfriend and I share one tiny wardrobe and my half is a measly 90cm rail with a single shelf above it, so I wear the same clothes week in, week out until they’re too worn to wear anymore. I still feel energised and inspired when I see a great outfit but I don’t often buy new things and I always stay true to the styles, colours and shapes I’ve loved for years, no matter which way the trend pendulum is swinging.

Having a microscopic wardrobe doesn’t mean I’m not constantly compiling wishlists of things I’d love to own or unearth, though. There’s always something I’m searching for and these are eight of the pieces on my mind right now…

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1. Annette Bening’s fleet of vintage blouses in 20th Century Women

I re-watched 20th Century Women the other day and it made me want to go vintage shopping for the first time in a while. It’s annoyingly hard to find good vintage without being confronted by rails of sweaty, shiny polyester, so I stopped trawling vintage shops with the fervent enthusiasm I used to have.

I’m predictably drawn to anything set in the 1970s or California or with a cast including Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig or Annette Bening. This film ticks all of those boxes. As someone born in the ‘80s but forever enamoured with fashion and music from the ‘70s, I get mega joy from ogling Annette’s character’s excellent collection of patterned cotton and silk blouses. It’s the loosely tied necks, the paisley prints, the Mandarin collar jacket. I want them all and they’re perfection with her curly bob.

I thought about them again when I was browsing the Mytheresa sale this morning and stopped to admire this men’s Bode shirt.

About 15 years ago, I owned the perfect ‘70s ultra-thin cotton blouse – I found it in a vintage shop just off Second Avenue in New York. I can’t remember the name of the store but I shopped there a few times over the years and the lady who owned it always sang very loudly, completely unprompted. Being typically British and embarrassed by everything, I’d continue browsing and try to act like nothing was happening. Maybe you know the place? Anyway, I was young and stupid and didn’t realise the importance of hand-washing delicate pieces, so after a couple of dalliances with my washing machine, it literally disintegrated. This photo, taken in Rome back in 2011, is one of the few times I ever got to wear it. Annette’s blouses in 20th Century Women always make me think of the one I ruined and how emphatically ‘me’ I feel in pieces like that.

2. Rugby shirts for nostalgia’s sake

Like everyone else, I’m heavily into rugby shirts (when everything goes to shit, we all want to dress like a comforting early ‘90s J.Crew catalogue). While I usually eschew a big trend when I see it barrelling towards me, I am governed by nostalgia for my childhood/teens/early 20s, so I like them. In fact, I bought the one below left and I love wearing it – it was £29.99 in the sale from Mango and it feels like a lighter alternative to a sweatshirt without being too warm.

I decided against splurging on the beautiful And Daughter knitted version that I featured in a previous newsletter as suddenly everyone seemed to own it, plus it’s getting marginally warmer and I wanted to wear it in summer. I love menswear when the cut is right, so if my budget was more footloose and fancy-free, I’d also pop into Drake’s to try on the below styles (top right linked here, bottom right is linked here).

3. Flat shoes that aren’t Mary Janes

Mary Janes will always get the time of day from me, I own several pairs by different brands and I love wearing them. I recently bought the Reformation Bethany flats (as featured in my most recent fashion edit) and they feel like buttery soft slippers. They’re so comfy it seems wrong to wear them outdoors but I do and I’ve already scuffed the leather off the toes. Mary Janes aside, sometimes they’re too cute for my mood, or perhaps my outfit needs something less girly, so I need another flat shoe to feel excited about wearing.

I like the idea of something a bit jazzy to crank my jeans and t-shirts up a notch, minus any heel or sparkle as I’m a casual, low-key dresser. I keep everything for years and I don’t shop for the new season, so I’ve been looking online for older pre-loved shoes that aren’t in stores anymore. I don’t fancy the idea of boat shoes for myself, transparent mesh flats are a no for this foot-hater and I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience in a pointed toe. I’m contemplating some classic Gucci loafers in leopard print (from 2013), or perhaps the slime-green snakeskin version that they did for men a few years ago.

I’ve also made a mental note to search for the suede Saint Laurent moccasins that my fashion designer ex was wearing when I last saw him for coffee. I haven’t tracked them down yet but I'm still looking! I think moccasins are coming back this year. Or they are in my wardrobe, anyway.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this 0 times or 10 times (genuinely, my memory is awful) but one of my big fashion regrets was selling a couple of pairs of limited edition Chanel flats on eBay for £120 a few years ago. I’d bought them brand new from Chanel in South Kensington for £275 a pop, so I figured if I ever changed my mind, I’d just buy another pair. A fool! The photo below is from 2013 and that pair was made from densely woven ribbon, with the tiny Chanel typeface looking more like flecked tweed at a distance. I’d love to wear them now. People, if you own a future heirloom, for godsake, don’t sell it cheaply on the internet…

4. Finding new t-shirts via Richie from The Bear

This is where Instagram unexpectedly came up with the goods! A couple of months ago, someone shared a video of actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach making a charming acceptance speech and he was tagged in the video. Anyway, I clicked through and in one of the first photos on his feed (see below), he was wearing a long-sleeved blue t-shirt that was exactly the kind of thing I’m always looking for. Plain, straight-cut, soft, washed out like he’s owned it for 20 years. This is truly what I want from the perfect cotton T-shirt, so I left a comment asking where it was from and then forgot about it, until last week, when he replied with the intel!

It’s from Velva Sheen – an Ohio-based brand that has made its t-shirts in the USA since the 1930s and still does. I live for old-school brands like this! I Googled UK stockists and found several colours/styles at End Clothing, all on sale and all low in stock except for size small. Fate! I bought four of them as I’ve been wearing my men’s navy Jungmaven t-shirts weekly for about seven years now and they need a break from the relentless washing and wearing.

Velva Sheen’s pigment-dyed tees with the chest pocket are a heavier weight and they do look (and feel) authentically vintage. They’re just about OK in length, whereas the rolled regular tee (no pocket) is lighter and much softer but way too long in the body, so I’ll need to hem that style. Otherwise, men’s small is a perfect fit. For reference, I’m 5’7 and a UK 8 (US 4).

I actually deleted the Instagram comment after he replied – I quickly started getting lots of spammy female followers who I assume are bots or super-fans of his/The Bear and I’m just here for a quiet life…

5. Woven bags and baskets (as per usual)

I can’t get through winter without a woven leather bag or summer without a raffia basket. Both have been my bread-and-butter accessories for years and I never get bored of them. Some people can’t stop collecting red lipsticks or Breton striped t-shirts, for me, it’s woven bags. That explains why I always include (at least) one in all my shopping edits. I featured the khaki Justine basket by Sezane in a previous newsletter and I finally relented and bought it as I had a gift voucher to spend. I have to say, it’s even better IRL. The raffia is light, soft and malleable and the leather on the handle is smooth and feels expensive.

I always have my eye on multiple woven bags at any one time and at the moment, that includes Little Liffner’s large leather basket in dark brown as it’s just wide enough for a laptop (my permanent shoulder knots won’t thank me for that). The only reason I haven’t caved already is its striking similarity to a vintage leather bag that I’ve been using constantly since I found it on eBay for £15 in 2017. I don’t own a green leather bag yet, so there could be room in my life for this handy little basket.

In the raffia category, I spotted a couple of bags in Liberty by Maison N.H Paris. There’s a simple brown shoulder bag that’s super light and versatile (I tried it in-store) and then I took a fancy to the one below, found on their website.

The raffia bags that I really can’t get out of my head though are all from Fendi’s current collection. I walked past the logo tote below in Selfridges the other day and backtracked to take a photo. Can I afford it or ever buy it? Absolutely not. Can I (or anyone) justify over £1000 for a raffia bag? Unless Ryan Gosling personally hand-weaved it for me, no. Do I allow it to live in my head rent-free regardless? YES, damn it.

Then it got worse when I searched for the aforementioned tote online and discovered the Maxi Baguette bag in their men’s collection. It’s £4,600. A generation ago, you could probably buy a house for that. Do I adore it? Yup.

6. A belt brand I’ve bookmarked for later

I realised recently that I’ve worn the same leather belt (braided brown leather, from a charity shop) for about 20 years now and I’m ready to invest in a backup option. A men’s spur belt caught my eye on Aime Leon Dore recently and it’s by traditional makers Tory Leather. I googled the brand to find other styles (one of their London stockists is Couverture & The Garbstore) and yet again, Google came up with the goods as it also served me Anderson’s belts. They’re stocked on Net-a-Porter, there are several styles that I’d gladly own and in my opinion, they look much more expensive than they are. Plus they’re a quarter of what you might spend on a brand like Khaite et al.

7. Patches on things

My Girl was my favourite film when I was a kid and I did my very best to replicate Vada’s ‘70s wardrobe as closely as I could. That extended to her Converse high tops, boxy striped t-shirts and patched-up denim. When I was a teenager, I had a grey army-style jacket that I covered in iron-on patches and I thought about it again recently. I’d hate the shape of the jacket now but I still love the overall effect. Then I thought, you know what I want to put patches on? One of my L.L. Bean tote bags. Then it would look even less like the Trader Joe’s canvas tote that inexplicably has half of London in a chokehold.

For confirmation to my American readers, we don’t have Trader Joe’s here. Whatever next? Tesco’s bag-for-life on the streets of LA?!

Anyway, I googled L.L. Bean tote bag with patches and sure enough, I found a few examples, then the related images served me a whole collection of patched stuff from Bode! Including several jackets (see one of them below). I’d never seen their patched pieces before but clearly, we have a great minds thinking alike sitch and it spurred me on with my bag plan. That snowballed into thoughts of designing my own patches. I didn’t get any further but I’m not not mulling it over.

8. Men always get the best trainers

It’s true! I have a pair of black Gucci G74 trainers that I’ve worn for years and I bought them from the menswear outlet at Bicester Village in a size too big because they don’t make them small enough. The same trainer in the women’s offering downstairs was Calamine Lotion pink.

If you’re a size 39 (as I am) and you don’t subscribe to the notion that sports shoes for women must be pastel-coloured, sparkly or floral, the best advice I can offer is to hit the men’s online sales because their trainers (sneakers if you’re across the pond) usually start in a UK 6 but few men take that size. The rogue 6 is usually the last size remaining in the sale, having been marked down several times.

Sometimes though, brands won’t entertain the idea that we might like unisex styles. Take the Supergas below. I’ve worn navy or off-white Superga pumps every summer for the past 10+ years and it’s time for my upgrade. I took a shine to the pair below – the men’s Superga Artifact collection 2750 OG (they have two extra eyelets, a more discreet Superga label and the logo on the back is a 1950s design). The smallest size available is a UK 7. I checked the women’s collection and sure enough, the pink trims, hearts and flowers are present and correct.

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I’ll be back in your inboxes next week after our trip to Copenhagen this weekend. It’s our first time overseas since April last year and I can’t wait to get my chops around a cinnamon bun. x