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The new rules of winter cool
The new rules of winter cool: suit up, get a Cherry Moon hat, go XXL
It’s easy to get lazy in winter. Just get a padded jacket and voice some
pithy thoughts about the election and you’re set until spring, right? Wrong. It
is possible to be cool in winter. All you have to do is pretend it’s 1996,
dry-clean that suit you never wear, get a baseball bat and buy everything in XL.
Or hell, even XXL. Just let us be your guide …
Suit up
For a long time, it felt as if suits had been killed off – the casualty of
casual dressing. But when Tom Ford talks, we listen. Apparenty, the designer and
film director wore suits and boots on the set of his new film Nocturnal Animals,
proclaiming he felt “weak in trainers”. Take note: smartening up is totally that
strong-arm emoji.
Buy everything in XXL
The oversized trend is this season’s overarching look. It can be seen from
Topshop to Balenciaga, from menswear to womenswear, and, because of its
flexibility (you can apply it to coats, trousers, jumpers), it probably won’t
peak. Fashion has caught on, though, so if you want an oversized Raf Simons
jacket, expect to pay upwards of £3,000 (even Topshop Unique’s tent-like pink
padded jacket is more than £100). Our tip is to buy everything in XXL. Comically
oversized. Better still, try menswear XXL.
Show logos
Granted, fashion tends to yo-yo on this one (sometimes it’s no logos on bags,
sometimes it’s big logos on hoodies), but when it comes to underwear, in this
post-capitalist, post-consumer, post-post world, logos are deeply cool. As long
as they’re worn with a smidge of irony. And if flashing your Calvin Klein
waistband feels a bit trite, try a designer name (Christian Dior) on your bra
strap (like Bella Hadid) while saying something pithy about
post-consumerism.
Wear Old Skool Vans
Yes, Frank Ocean wore Vans to the White House, and the popularity of the
“Damn Daniel” meme saw a 30% spike in sales. But sorry, Frank, those aren’t the
right Vans. The Old Skool – the black ones with the squiggle down the side,
yours for £52 – are worn by the frow and on the catwalk for Off-White. They also
date back to 1977, which provides that stamp of authenticity.
Don a Caballero hat
Everybody knows Prince’s Purple Rain look. Now it’s time to explore the rest
of his fashion oeuvre. Enter the Caballero hat. Prince wears one in the bath in
his 1986 black-and-white film Under the Cherry Moon, set in an unspecified era
that is possibly the 1930s. Feel free to wear one, too.
Do Gucci on a budget
Love the new Gucci look but can’t afford the four-figure prices? Silken
Favours is your friend. Set up by former model Vicki Murdoch in 2012, its
designs include cowboy shirts with parrots, and blouses with leopards as
standard. They might be £265 and up, but they are worth the investment. Not for
wallflowers.
Style your hair like the Brain
The Brain is Zeljko Buvac, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp’s assistant; the
Horatio to Klopp’s Hamlet, a quiet tactical force with a thousand-yard stare and
dark, thick curtains for hair. It’s unlikely he sees himself as cool but, as the
saying goes, the best leaders are those reluctant to lead. To pull off the
sports luxe-Brain look, you also need a full head of hair, so it doubles as a
great humblebrag.
Wear a choker
This year, no other TV show has been more on-trend than clammy angst fest My
So Called Life. The shearling and layered look worn by Jordan Catalano (played
by Jared Leto) brings a dash of 90s realness to 2016, while his signature
accessory (a choker) has popped up as this year’s gender-fluid look. See: Louis
Vuitton, Raf Simons’s Robert Mapplethorpe collaboration and the Harry Styles
shoot in Another Man magazine.
Reference Janet Jackson …
After Trump’s “nasty woman” attack on Hillary Clinton propelled Janet’s 1986
hit Nasty back into the streaming charts, La Jackson herself was spotted in the
tabloids heavily pregnant in a Y-3 male hoodie, challenging what we thought we
knew about gender neutrality, modesty and maternity wear. It was a triple-whammy
fashion moment from the woman who brought us athleisure boilersuits (Rhythm
Nation), oversize boxy jackets (What Have You Done For Me Lately) and much
more.
… or River Phoenix (men) and Nico (women)
Cooly detached, iconic and ultimately self-destructive, River Phoenix and
Nico fit the brief for cult hero status. Designer Ashley Williams put Phoenix at
the centre of his latest collection, which riffs on suburban adolescence, and
Nico, a singer who went from statuesque Teuton to goth goddess, continues to
inspire with a film of her life having started shooting this year.
Use an analogue face mask
It is with a healthy does of scepticism that we pop this here because no face
mask can ever replace the benefits of getting enough sleep and drinking plenty
of water, but they can come close. It started with the SK-II, a pricey,
super-luxe mask that erased any extracurriculars from the night before, but
similar masks are now available from Garnier for a few quid. Justin Bieber uses
them. So does Cristiano Ronaldo. Downside: you’ll resemble a damp Michael Myers;
upside: that’s very Instagrammable.
Light your Instagrams with pink and blue
Pantone’s colour of 2016 was Rose Quartz and Serenity, a sunset burst of pink
and blues that perfectly articulates our gender-fluid age. The colour has
appeared in the posters for Barry Jenkins’ drama Moonlight and Issa Rae’s HBO
sitcom Insecure.
Raise your accessory game
Accessories are a natural entry-point into fashion. The thing to remember is
that not all accessories need to have a point. Why line Gucci loafers with fur
if not for the lols? Why not pretend your phone is a packet of antidepressants?
(Thanks, Moschino!) Beyoncé deployed a baseball bat effectively in the Lemonade
video without ruffling a hem of her Gucci dress. Margot Robbie carried one in
Suicide Squad, making her an antihero with an edge. And, of course, fans of The
Walking Dead will know the part “Lucille” has played this season.
Customise your bomber jacket
Bomber jackets are the grey squirrels of fashion. In whatever form – badged
at Topman, shearling at Louis Vuitton – they are so ubiquitous they risk taking
over the coat world. If you don’t already have one, then customised bomber
jackets are your way in. Try Cinq à Sept or Gabriel Bruce’s merch bombers, which
come emblazoned with “Come All Sufferers” (Florence Welch is a fan).
