Spring Style Mojo Alert - some enduring classics
Spring has Sprung and this is what I am feeling.
I don’t generally buy many new clothes (more vintage) but when the seasons change I get a yen to update the classics in my wardrobe. The pieces I have chosen here really are enduring clothes to wear and wear again.
I went off the Breton top as EVERYBODY and their MUM was wearing it, but I am back into them now. I wore my one for years and years and it literally fell apart. It was a man’s one and actually I like the mens’ shape better; they fit looser and more free; they feel cooler on - at least for me. Sometimes the womens Bretons can be nipped in at the waist and be fitted, and that was rarely how the icons wore them. I think they look better when they hang a bit and the cotton falls in a softer way over the body.
I love how the Breton started as workwear (most of the best things did) in 1858, when the French Navy adopted the striped jersey as part of Sailors’ uniform. It was Coco Chanel who introduced it into her designs in 1917 after spending time on the French coast. And the rest is blue and white history; it has now been made truly iconic by the likes of Picasso, Jean Paul Gaultier,Birkin, Bardot and Audrey Hepburn and of course many others. It is now in the style of classics hall of fame as signals something not just effortless French cool, but also an artistic identity and a bit of intellectual savoir- faire too. Not to mention how comfy it is. I will be wearing mine all summer long.
If you know me at all you will know I love a vintage belt. I just think everything looks so much cooler and more stylish with one. (I do love parred back too) but for me a belt lends high style vibes to most outfits. If clothes are new and you add a worn leather belt, the whole looks just becomes more YOUR own look. Wear one over a sweater or a T and it adds a style signature that is all your own.
Love a pump. Always have. Again, a total classic - they combine simplicity, comfort and elegance - they have the polish and smartness that heels can give, but for me they often look cooler and more effortless.
Of course they are directly inspired by ballets shoes, hence the graceful shape and the lightness they seem to exude. They never take over an outfit; the restraint is what makes them such classics - and they work with almost every outfit day to day. I love them.
The Denim shirt is one of my all time favourite pieces of clothing EVER. It has been worn by workers, musicians, cowboys and movie stars. They were built for durability, and brands like Levi and Wrangler helped popularise denim workwear in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for labourers who needed clothing that could handle the rough and tough work of the American midwest - because of that origin the shirt carries such authenticity and heritage and that just does make it cool in my mind.
I always love a gold hoop. Hoop earrings are one of the oldest jewellery designs in human history. Variations of gold hoops have been worn in ancient cultures across the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East. When I go to the Metropolitan Museum in New York or the British Museum in London, it is the gold hoops and rings I lust after; they always look as if they were made yesterday they are so chic and modern, and yet they are thousands and thousands of years old. In the summer I love a gold hoop with a stone to become a bit more bohemian and glamorous, and always a nod to the style vibes of Cleopatra.
First Prize of the classics goes to: Blue denim jeans - Yves Saint Laurent famously said: “I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes” Enough said.
That is it for now. As I write this, I have my sweater firmly back on and the raincoat at the ready…