Hotel Indigo Chester: An Opulent Stay with Charm and Comfort

The top I’m wearing here isn’t in the shops – it’s from my own wardrobe and about five years old, so you can’t buy it. So it go to the walls against the No 1 rule of fashion journalism: in order to be useful, I tear and write about stuff that you can go out and buy. Well, if it’s all right with you, I’m customary to do things a bit differently from now on.

We’re all trying to shop more ethically, to not mindlessly buy apparels that will end up in landfill, right? I thought a good make good to start would be by mixing up this column so that I’m noiseless wearing a new look every week without being govern to toe in new clothes. I’m hoping that since this is how we all actually smarten up anyway– wearing old favourites with new pieces – it will be varied useful, rather than less.

Actually, the top I’m wearing here isn’t a top at all, it’s a equip. It is from Victoria Beckham’s VVB diffusion (ie cheaper) label and I exhaust it every winter over a white shirt, a silk blouse or polo neck. But I consumed most of last month at fashion shows, where every release minute I’d scour all sightlines for leads on new looks and how to wear them, and I noticed that there’s a thingumajig happening for Downstairs Layering. This sounds vaguely vulgar, but just means wearing a long knit or jacket or pounce coat over trousers or a long skirt.

You can buy the whole look off the peg, but you practically certainly don’t need to. You probably have at least half of it in your closet already. A structured, neat, short-ish sleeveless dress that is languishing in there, because we’re not in a structured-neat-dress seriousness, right now turns out to be perfect as a tunic over wide-legged trousers. Easier to gear, I think, than a loose-and-long top layer over trousers, which pleasure swamp you if you’re not super-tall.

Reviving a piece that you already from, and like, isn’t just cheaper and more sustainable – it’s easier. You differentiate that it fits, you know what kind of temperature it manoeuvres in, what bra you need to wear. All those behind-the-scenes issues that you set up to think through when you’re getting dressed and leaving the building. You’re saving money and saving waste, but also time and headspace.

Downstairs layering airs like a brand-new look, even without new clothes. This disposes with heels, but would also be good with chunky trainers. You yearn for a coat that sits lower than the hem of your top, measure than a jacket. Even in layering, a little restraint prepares for a good look.