Recently I found myself looking at the fashion pages of Sunday supplements and indulging in a fantasy of living like the landed gentry.
The fashions for country house tweeds, elegant chiffons and even the odd piece of fur belong to a more glamorous era and it certainly couldn’t be further from my reality (that everything must go in the washing machine because the baby has thrown his food all over me).
One thing not part of my life-of-leisure dream is having to change five times a day. These women would dress for breakfast, lunch and dinner with more changes to accommodate shooting or riding.
Today we rarely change during the day at all, even expecting our work clothes to take us on into the evening with a mere swapping of shoes or the addition of some jewellery.
Sometimes, however, a completely new outfit is the only way to get yourself into the right mood. The clothes on this page are all part of the autumn/winter collection from Coast and are exactly right for an evening out after work.
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I love these clothes. They speak to the little part inside of me that wishes I had call to dress up and sip cocktails on the lawn of a grand house — perhaps in this chiffon dress with its wrap-over neckline and corsage-detail belt. And before you dismiss it, a wrap style of this sort is surprisingly flattering to all shapes, although the sheer fabric may prove a challenge.
We have read about pussy-bow blouses, part sexy secretary, part Margaret Thatcher circa 1980, but this one is resolutely unfuddyduddy. Hot pink lifts it from being a fashion risk into a seductive, feminine blouse.
Skirts are well represented in diverse fabrics such as velvet — in this matching black skirt and top combination, set off with a white faux fur cape — and simple wool. It is hard to beat the simple elegance of a cream skirt worn with a camisole and cardigan twinset. Accessorised with pearls and heels this is the kind of outfit a modern aristocrat (or someone pretending to be one) might be found wearing.
“English eccentric” is one of the terms used to describe this collection but, unlike some of the clothes that lay claim to country house aristo style, these outfits are anything but eccentric. They are eminently wearable, if not to the office then to any number of occasions. It’s well worth bothering to change.