Add a touch of ‘summer seasoning’ to your wardrobe
THE STREET STYLE set aren’t known for being wallflowers when it comes to getting dressed. Their outfits are all about shouty colours and larger-than-life patterns, and very much subscribe to the ‘more is more’ school of thought. Right? Kind of. You see, change was afoot at the latest round of menswear shows in Milan. The city is usually known for its la dolce vita approach to apparel – stilettos! Blow-dries! Movie-star sunglasses! – but the assembled ladies were, whisper it, almost pared-back in appearance, the shoes were practically invisible (a black brogue here, a white strappy sandal there) and there was a lot of cream, beige and black on the front rows.
All this paved the way for what we’re calling the ‘offset accessory’. It’s a flourish of something jazzy in an otherwise basic-ina-good-way outfit – and what it does is add oomph in the flavour department. Think of it as summer seasoning.
Take Victoria Beckham. The designer travelled to Seville for a friend’s wedding celebration – and what did she pack? A pair of hot-pink heels from her own collection: the Cinderella pump, yours for £450, which she styled with a simple cream frock covered in a snaking rope print. Marion Cotillard took a similar approach at a Chopard party last week, adding a pair of peacock-blue, shoulder-grazing earrings to a super-simple black dress and denim jacket combo. Perfection. Here are the five hacks for offsetting your wardrobe this summer – just add to a tee and denim cut-offs.