It always makes me feel a tiny bit queasy when looking “ladylike”, as a trend or a vibe or whatever, comes into fashion. How does it make sense to spend our hard-earned paychecks cosplaying as women of lunches and leisure?
You can’t deny these clothes are cute, though. A boucle jacket can make you feel as if the Eiffel Tower might come into view around the next corner, even though you are in the wrong country. A mini-heel lets you imagine you might be having a glass of sancerre with your lunch, when in reality a can of San Pellegrino is as exciting as it is going to get. There is an air of gentle charm, of courtesy, to lady-adjacent style that can take the edge off a tough day.
So I am cautiously, provisionally, glass-half-full about this season’s ladylike-with-a-twist trend. Call it the lady who lounges, not the lady who lunches. The lady who lounges has the jacket and the heels and maybe even the pearls, but she wears jeans and she’s definitely not in a pussy bow. Same DNA, different agenda. The allure of ladylike dressing is about the delicious fantasy of ease, of life lived off the clock. This is not real life, no. But maybe it doesn’t hurt to dream a little.
Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel is the mother ship for this mood. Chanel is where much of the visual language of ladylike comes from: the neat little jacket, the chain bag, the two-tone shoe, the pearls. Blazy has been ruffling Coco’s bob, throwing masculine tailoring in against the house’s more buttoned-up instincts, redoing bags with a crumpled, lived-in slouch. This is Coco getting dressed from a boyfriend’s wardrobe rather than a boutique. There were clues at Miu Miu’s autumn show, too, which Miuccia Prada described in terms of “gentleness” and “romance”, and where pencil skirts were worn with wellies, and bow-trimmed minidresses with walking boots.
This is ladylike with its shoes kicked off, and it probably starts with a textured jacket and jeans. The jacket should sit on your shoulders rather than pin them into position. The jeans have an ease to them – a lower waist, rather than mom jeans, helps knocks the primness out of the jacket. Underneath, try a crisp shirt or a plain white vest. Or swap jeans for a pencil skirt, but wear a big jumper rather than a neat cardigan. A silk blouse wants a masculine trouser; a brooch wants a battered old coat.
You need something in your outfit that turns up with its elbows on the table. A look where every element is saying the same thing feels robotic and cookie-cutter. Personal style has the odd raw edge. Don’t underestimate the power of hair and makeup. Or rather, the power of a little less hair and makeup than the clothes seem to expect. Slept-in hair or a bare-ish face are a useful counterpoint to pearls and tweed.
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Trends are a buffet rather than a tasting menu these days. If a fancy pair of jewel-coloured leather gloves make you feel fabulous, go for it; if they make you feel as though you should be waving from a carriage, steer clear. Ladylike accessories work best when they look as if they wandered into the wrong outfit, so pin a brooch to denim or wear a silk scarf with a sweatshirt. This isn’t about making casual clothes smarter or fancy clothes more laid-back exactly, but more about making the outfit hard to pigeonhole. We can play with the fantasy of being a lady without having any intention of taking on the job full-time.
The old ladylike trend felt like performing a life you didn’t have. This one lets you live your real life, only in such a nice jacket that people will wonder where you are going for dinner. Have the boucle. Have the pearls. Have the sancerre, should the opportunity arise. Then put those kitten heels back on and get back to business.
Stylist: Melanie Wilkinson. Model: Imogen May at Milk. Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Kama Ayurveda and Ilia Beauty. Jacket, £60, Asos. Shirt, £22.99, H&M. Jeans, £115, Aligne. Heels, £99, Dune. Earrings, £44.99, Pilgrim. Sunglasses, £101, Vogue Eyewear
