Leather and lace · Autumn · Winter

Charcoal wool blazer and leather-panel handkerchief skirt

Asymmetric charcoal wool tailoring: a draped-front blazer over a panelled wool and leather handkerchief skirt, with brown platform chelsea boots.

A charcoal wool blazer with a sharp padded shoulder, a single hidden fastening and a front that twists at the waist into a drape, so the hem drops longer on one side. The skirt is cut from the same flannel, pieced with black leather panels on the diagonal and finished with a handkerchief hem that points at the knee and the calf at once.

Winter tailoring, essentially, with the proportions pulled off-centre. It takes a heavy boot: here a chocolate-brown platform chelsea with a lug sole, which stops the wool reading as office and keeps it in the gallery. No tights, because the shin has its own artwork. Autumn through to the cold months, over a fine black knit when the temperature insists.

I stood next to a bronze head for ten minutes. Nobody could tell which of us was the exhibit.

the pieces

  • Charcoal wool blazer with a draped frontblazer · wool · charcoal
  • Wool and leather panelled handkerchief skirtmidi skirt · wool · charcoal
  • Brown platform chelsea bootsboots · leather · chocolate

similar pieces

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styling notes

  • Keep the boot heavy; a pointed heel turns this into costume
  • Wear the blazer closed on its own, or over a fine black roll neck in winter
  • Let the hem fall where it wants; do not press the drape

palette

details

wearabilitycloser to street

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