Leafing through Grazia magazine’s autumn fashion special, amid the adverts for Cartier panther rings, power suits and slinky boots, I was stopped in my tracks by the following headline: “Is your wardrobe boring enough?”
Apparently, this season’s catwalk shows were teeming with hoodies worn under drab coats combined with leggings, trainers and cross-body bags. It’s me! At last, the capsule wardrobe I have painstakingly curated over many years is bang on trend. (Well, maybe not my cashmere hoodie which has served as a free buffet for all the moths in north London since I last wore it, but that’s a mere detail.)
Perhaps this crashing down to earth by the fashion pack is a reaction to living in straitened times. It makes sense. Who wants to spend a fortune on a baguette bag when you’re struggling to afford an actual baguette? A trend forecaster quoted in the article mentioned that the revival of humdrum dressing could be viewed as an attempt at “self-soothing” and, preposterously, “a form of mindfulness”. Exactly what the connection might be between meditation and wearing a baggy grey jumper is unclear unless it’s a modern day form of sackcloth and ashes, an expression of remorse at having for so long splurged on shiny, blingy things.
Whatever the reasons, there is clearly something about nondescript dressing that is appealing. The plain white T-shirt worn by protagonist chef Carmy Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White) in cult TV series The Bear is a good example. The humble garment looks like it could transform any man into James Dean, never mind that said item costs about £70 from an obscure Berlin clothing firm. A similar trick was pulled off by Shiv in Succession, swathed in a stealth wealth Armani cloud of caramel and oatmeal blandness. Trouble is, when I went shopping and tried on a cut-price version of this look, I realised I was in great danger of being mistaken for a biscuit.
That’s the trouble with the so-called dressing-down trend: it takes serious money to get away with looking this boring.
Anita Chaudhuri is a freelance journalist
