How To Dress Well (clue: it involves Rene Russo)
If you don't know what to wear, look for women who do.
The world is separated into two types of people. There are those born with an innate sense of style, who know how to dress and what belts go with which trousers and what colour works with which pattern; the ones who walk into a room with an ease that comes from knowing they look put together; the ones who embrace the latest trends but never get overwhelmed by them and who always retain that unique quality which ensures, whatever they wear, they remain ineffably themselves.
And then there are those who can’t do any of that.
I fall into the latter category. Whatever I might have learned about how to dress has only come as a result of study or accident. Finally, in my 40s, I have a bit more sense about what suits me and what I enjoy wearing, but I still get buffeted by the tides of what other, cooler people tell me is ‘in’. Mesh ballet flats, for instance. Do I like them? Not objectively, no. Do I own a pair? Reader, I do. I still struggle to know which jean length looks best with which trainer and how on earth anyone layers without feeling like a stuffed capon and whether a knitted gilet will ever not make me look like my old Geography teacher.
I think this is partly because I have the standard dose of body dysmorphia that trails behind most women who came of age in the 90s like a cloud of midges. I’m not actually sure I know what I look like. Unhelpfully, I don’t particularly trust mirrors because they don’t allow me to see myself in the context of the world, only in the context of myself.
I’m incredibly lucky that I now am able to hire a stylist for key events who can take all the anxious thinking out of it for me. Her name is Annie Swain and she is brilliant. Annie has taught me so much about what to wear and how to wear it. She has a knack for finding the garment that will most flatter my shape rather than seeking to disguise it. She also knows how to accessorise, which is another thing that baffles me - how do some women casually wear lots of different necklaces and earrings and look so good?
Sadly I can’t carry Annie around in my pocket (although she’d probably be able to find some glorious vintage dress that had an appropriately sized one), which is why it’s helpful to have readily accessible style references for every day. So here’s my top tip for anyone who feels a bit like me…