Buttoned Up: Nine ways to wear the timeless cardigan

Thu, 23 Nov, 2023 - 15:27

Everyone loves a comeback. This season’s cardigan is no exception.

Librarian looks at Miu Miu; louche Loewe co-ords; Molly Goddard’s girlie grunge—you could say the humble knit is having a moment.

Not that it hasn’t had its fair share. Both fashion iconography and iconoclast; beneath the cardigan’s prim exterior belies a reputation for disrupting the status quo.

From the first indoor iteration designed for women by Coco Chanel to former First Lady Michelle Obama wearing J.Crew to meet the Queen, the cardigan won the democratic vote despite raising a few eyebrows.

As for body politics, stars from The Golden Age of Hollywood like Lana Turner, Jayne Mansfield and Jane Russell (a.k.a. ‘the sweater girls’) outraged pearl clutchers with their form-fitting twinsets and conical bras.

Meanwhile, in 2019, actor Katie Holmes nearly broke the Internet wearing a cashmere ‘bradigan’ (bra and cardigan), spawning a slew of high-street copycats and subsequent midriff mayhem.

Today, the buttoned knit has adopted a quieter sense of purpose. Parisian label Sézane’s bestselling ‘Gaspard’ cardigan (€100) proves wearable and wantable with its soft-touch blend of Mohair and Baby Alpaca.

Likewise, high street giant M&S wins big with its popular cashmere crew neck in nine colours and over 1770 online reviews. Even loungewear brand Sleeper features removable feather cuffs on its Clueless-inspired creations.

This season, I’ll wear mine fitted with straight-leg jeans and pointy kitten heels or layered over a silky camisole dress and biker boots. Who knows?

I might cause my own stir and wear one slightly unbuttoned and back-to-front. Like Chanel, that’s perhaps best kept indoors–for winter at least.

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