Associate tweed with a twinset and pearls or a shooting rifle? It’s time to reassess an iconic luxury fabric
Written by Michelle Rowley
With more tweed currently on display at the V&A’s Gabrielle Chanel Fashion Manifesto exhibition than you can shake your fabric scissors at, it’s the perfect time to shine a light on the iconic British textile. There’s lot to explore in tweed’s fascinating history, its rise in popularity and how to incorporate it into your handmade wardrobe.
CUTTING EDGE
Whilst Coco Chanel’s longstanding love affair with the wonder wool fabric is legendary and a Chanel tweed jacket remains the ultimate luxury garment, it’s not the only fashion house which has recently been sending tweed clad models down the runway. Giambattista Valli’s Fall 2023 Collection featured stunning oversized sequin-trimmed tweed jackets and exquisitely tailored ankle-length tweed frock coats. Balmain’s tweed jackets are a house signature and its fringed tweed jackets from the Fall/Winter 23/24 retail for more than £2,000. When the fashion powerhouse collaborated with Barbie® to create a recognisable shade of fuchsia Barbie® metallic tweed skirt, luxury store Harrod’s sold out of the midi skirt despite the eye-watering price tag.
POP ROYALTY
With tweed’s links to high-end designers and prices we might think of the luxurious fabric as only being worn by royalty and wealthy older women. We would be wrong. The fabric has recently been embraced by contemporary fashion icons from the world of pop and celebrity, which while endorsing tweed as a luxury moves away from its perception as old fashioned.
Pop icon Rihanna styled her black tweed blazer with a baseball cap and Vivienne Westwood pearls to pop to the shops in New York City. Beyonce rocked a full tweed suit for her May trip to London. Taylor Swift has been seen in numerous tweed pieces from matching crop top and shorts for a walk round Central Park, an Elisabetta Franchi tweed dress in her Lover music video and even a tweed jumpsuit with matching coat at the Sundance Film Festival. If, arguably, the top three queens in pop royalty are sporting the tweed trend, who can deny its place in the style stakes of youth.
SCOTTISH HERITAGE
So, what exactly is tweed and why does it come with such a hefty price tag? It’s thought that the word ‘tweed’ came about by accident after a London merchant misread the word ‘tweel’ (the Scottish word for twill) on a label. The fabric itself is certainly of Scottish heritage, having star
