Wrap It Up

Between misty breaths exhaled upon Hermès shop windows and an almost constant coveting of Louis Vuitton’s ubiquitous leopard-print styles, it’s safe to say I have quite a thing for scarves. I like to wear black, and lots of it. If I’m feeling dangerous I might mix in a bit of navy or grey - it’s not so much a colour-pop as more of a leaking inkwell of a look. But a scarf is the one area of my wardrobe where I feel I can be bold: it’s the easiest way to work an outlandish print or ultra bright hue without drifting into Donatella territory. I enter Liberty’s kaleidoscopic scarf department and suddenly I’ve gone from ex-goth Olsen-twin wannabe to Rachel Berry from Glee. An Etro paisley-print number in shocking pink? High five! An Alexander McQueen skull scarf in highlighter orange? How did I ever live without it!

Arctic-like winters seem a whole lot more agreeable when swathed in one of those super-sized shawls: a cheeky flash of colour peeping out the top of your coat, facial features burrowed in mille-feuille folds of silk. Let’s not get carried away here – a scarf is a scarf is a scarf after all – but for me it’s also a small but perfectly formed opportunity to transform any look for the better.

So it is with great longing that I tell you about London-based print label Swash. The designers, Sarah Swash and Toshio Yamanaka, specialise in the kind of scarves that really make a statement. They print huge sheets of silk with eccentric, hand-illustrated sketches, all labyrinthine mazes, floating hot-air balloons and platters of far-flung fruits and fish. The resulting pieces are a madcap mix of classic and cool, looking like Hermès from afar and an eclectic chaos up close. They'd probably be better appreciated hung up on gallery walls rather than knotted around necks, such is their beauty. Does that mean I can justify buying one as an artistic investment? Yeah, go on then...

http://www.swash.co.uk/

P.S. I regularly feed my scarf addiction with Hermès' very cool J'aime Mon Carré website, an online street-style campaign to encourage a whole new generation to spend a small fortune on TEENY TINY squares of printed silk. 

Secret Handshakes

This season’s love affair with all things classic and clean-cut shows no sign of waning, so it’s no wonder the world of fashion has created what I like to call, in very important capitals, ‘The Secret Handshake of Style’ (SHS for short).

It goes a little something like this: amongst a sea of seasonless camel coats, simple cashmere knits and discreet leather handbags, where’s the elbow room to stand out and be counted? How do you so much as whisper “I’m not actually just untrendy and vanilla, this is FASHION yeah?” without stepping outside of the minimalist mindset altogether?

The answer lies in the SHS. Fashionista turned Freemason, a series of subtle, mutually recognisable signs of sartorial flair have emerged over the past few seasons to flag up a classic yet still fashion-conscious wardrobe. A top knot here, a Chanel-polished fingernail there, the glinting gold ‘Y’ of a YSL black leather belt - they all signal insider trading. This sounds terribly cliquey and Heathers-esque, but really it’s one of the most democratic trends to date. Gone are the practical difficulties of harem pants, jumpsuits and ugh, clogs - autumn’s simplified styles make looking stylish equally as simple: just roll up a cuff, or a sleeve (just roll up anything to be honest), add a skinny belt and hey presto, you’re basically Alexa Chung.

And my new favourite of these twiddly-thumb secret handshakes? A flash of bright orange. If this season’s colour combination of choice is camel and red, then for spring/summer 2011 it has to be white and orange.

Outside of fashion, what is orange other than fluorescent cycling jackets and Tango? Behind closet doors however, that ripe shade of tangerine heralds Hermès. Seen at Jil Sander, Antonio Berardi, J.Mendel and even offered at the altar of Céline, a slice of citrus orange is the freshest way to make an outfit look ‘fashion’. And, more importantly, and particularly when worn against white, it looks beautiful to boot. So invest in a calypso-coloured belt, shoe or scarf, pair with a matching peaches and cream complexion (a tan should be avoided to shake off all WAG-like connotations), and therein lies spring/summer 2011, a Solero ice lolly of loveliness, just waiting to be unwrapped. 

Céline

J.Mendel

Antonio Berardi

Jil Sander