Big girl's blouse: how to embrace your feminine side for Autumn with this season's silkiest secret weapon
If you, like whole Uber-loads of women I know, are the sort who screws up her face at fashion’s floaty, feminine side, you may wish to look away now.
Now turn back - is it high time we lightened up? After all, indulging "the lady" within is, it would seem, the season’s zeitgeist. Championed by Gucci’s Allesandro Michele and by Miuccia Prada - a woman who has made a career out of simultaneously embracing and rejecting so-called ladylike codes - a heroine who shuns mannish minimalism in favour of frills and fun is the season’s leader.
As a result, slouchy navy blazers give way to neatly tailored jackets in pastel shades while the ever-dependable tuxedo pant plays second fiddle to knee-length pleated skirts in nourishing shades. This season also demands that we embrace the blouse.
Set to join a navy cashmere sweater and a pair of carpenter jeans as one of the most called-upon items in your wardrobe, a blouse in all its unashamedly girlie glory is poised for staple status and is the foundation on which a whole host of stellar autumn collections were built - so much so, in fact, that you’ll be hard pressed to find a collection in which one doesn’t feature.
To fully comprehend the blouse as a viable contemporary fashion item that’s worth both your brain power and your bank balance, it’s important that you fully grasp its character. Or more simply, register the fact that it’s different, in fashion terms at least, from the classic button-up shirts we’ve come to rely on in recent seasons.
Generally but not always crafted from silk and fastened with a row of buttons, a blouse should be collarless. Some - see Gucci and Saint Laurent - come trimmed with pussy-bow trims while others, such as Jonathan Anderson’s colour-drenched creations, feature subtle bell-sleeves.
The blouse, which by the way is not to be looked upon as a replacement for your favourite oxford shirt but as a worthy addition to your increasingly dynamic collection of failsafes, brings with it a whole host of new dressing opportunities. Especially for those of us who find dressing for evening in anything that isn’t a pair of jeans a bit of a drag. After all, what the shirt lacks in dressy appeal the blouse has in abundance.
So where to find the best ones? Not surprisingly, given their reputation as providers of floaty femininity, French labels Isabel Marant, Vanessa Bruno and See by Chloé offer a whole host of blousy options. See by Chloé, a master when it comes to a posh boho aesthetic, is also a one-stop shop — team ruffle-trim blouses with dark-wash flares or layer under jackets for a typically Chloé look. And if you’re after something with a little more edge, it has to be Saint Laurent.
In the charge of Hedi Slimane, the twee Thaterchite connotations of the pussy-bow blouse are replaced with a rocky, Seventies-inspired vibe - team with black drainpipe jeans and a faux-fur coat for a look that’s part Courtney Love, part Kate Moss. For the less adventurous frill fearers among us, low-key brands such as Massimo Dutti and APC will serve as sure-fire providers of a blouse that suits.
The options for blouse shoppers on the high-street are also plentiful but do try to avoid cheap and nasty fabrics where possible - this is undoubtedly a look that works best in silk.
M&S has a whole host of options in store this season, from stark white choirboy ruffles to butterscotch pussy-bows, while Topshop has a variety of short-sleeve versions that work well in the office. As a starter for 10, team with the slouchiest, most unashamedly low-fi pair of navy trousers the season has to offer. Nothing to wince at there.
Big girl's blouse: how to embrace your feminine side this seasonSaint LaurentchloeMiuccia PradaHedi SlimaneTopshopJonathan AndersonKate MossIt's autumn and high time you embraced your feminine side. Screw the shirt, blouses are back
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