Our fashion director Avril Mair answers your style conundrums and solves your sartorial headaches
I’m going to several Christmas parties that will have a similar crowd in attendance. I don’t want to buy six different outfits I’ll only wear once – can you suggest one or two hard-working pieces that I can style in fresh ways?
A two-piece is a better investment than a dress, as you obviously double the outfit options. Also, trouser suits are everywhere right now, so there’s plenty to choose from at all price points. Me + Em’s black-velvet number feels sleek and modern, but also suitably celebratory; it would be great with just a camisole underneath and stilettos, à la Saint Laurent Le Smoking, but you could wear it with a shirt and brogues for a more androgynous look. The trousers would work with a silk blouse, the jacket would work over a dress… the possibilities are endless.
I’m at my in-laws’ for Boxing Day lunch. They tend to look askance if I wear anything deemed ‘too sexy’, but they also always have the heating turned up to a million degrees. Any ideas for something suitably demure?
Let me show you Kaia Gerber on the Valentino couture catwalk (far left). Now, unless you are Catherine, Princess of Wales, it’s unlikely couture features in your Christmas plans. But this shows how chic an item as simple as a white shirt can be with the right styling – pair with jeans, a party flat and good earrings. (Maybe fasten a few more buttons until the second glass of sherry, though.)
My partner buys me jewellery for Christmas every year, and I never like it. What should I do?
Tell them you want to add something specific to your collection – and show them what it is. Try smaller Brit brands for affordable, ethical creativity – Completedworks is every fashion editor’s favourite for super-chic earrings (the ones pictured on this page are in recycled silver). Its super-sp
