Handbags and Granrags
Perhaps I am just a peculiar fashion magazine junkie but it seems to me that after a feverish night of tapping away manically at your laptop, labouring under the false illusion that the world will end if you fail to hand in your essay, there is nothing more satisfying than being reassured that life would be so much better if only you invested in espadrilles this season.
After grappling with the subtleties of Hegel, fashion tips are wonderfully straightforward and are helpfully presented as bullet points accompanied with pretty pictures, as all good academic tracts should be. Even more enjoyable are celebrity fashion tips.
I love their carefully cultivated conspiratorial tone, and their schizophrenic tendency to oscillate between the desire to dispel the celeb myth: “It’s so terrible I always forget to take off my make up after a night out with the girls and wake up with panda eyes.” Or their insistence that they are somehow superhuman: “It’s funny, every morning I eat an entire chocolate cake and three Big Macs for breakfast and yet I never seem to put on a gram.
The problem is that the most original style icons tend not to give away their tips and we end up with Victoria Beckham advising us to invest in a big jumper for when we have fat day. Or Paris Hilton singing the praises of pink, Chihuahuas and infra-red photography. Or, most impressive of all, Jade Goody’s fitness video. Which is why I thought I would bring to your attention a forgotten, or perhaps deliberately overlooked, style icon, the granny.
After years of heading over to granny’s for Sunday roast and a chat about youth today, Britain’s best dressed are cottoning on to granny chic. So, head round to her house, or to the local vintage shop, to invest in cute knitwear, Miss Marple-style handbags and dresses with crochet or lace details. Just be careful you do not overdo the influence, team it with contrasting accessories, the look is meant to be eclectic and soft yet edgy, not frumpy.
In particular I would like to mention my great grandma. A true throwback to the Victorian era, she wore a corset her entire life and was always immaculately dressed in silk scarves, white blouses and jet broaches: a great idea for adding some excitement to an evening dress. Or team a pair of city shorts or a pencil skirt with a silk blouse and tip your vintage hat to the elegance of a previous, pre-Jade Goody generation.
25th May 2006