The one outfit you can wear to three different weddings, according to our Style Doctors
In this advice series, Telegraph fashion experts Lisa Armstrong and Stephen Doig answer readers' what-to-wear dilemmas. This week, they advise on dressing cleverly for weddings and brightening up a gloomy wardrobe.
I've got three summer weddings coming up and I want to invest in one good outfit I can mix up and wear to all of them. Any ideas?
– Lucy
The three most versatile options here are a suit, co-ords or a coat-dress that you can wear over a matching dress or trousers. Let's start with the last. Lalage Beaumont (pronounced 'lallagy' with a hard 'g') is a London-based designer who makes everything in the UK. Coat-dresses seem to be a vanishing species, but she specialises in them. Find the right one and it's modern, youthful and sleek.
Hers tend to be plain, pastel with dark trims that, if you don't want to go the whole hog with a matching dress, allow you to co-ordinate with a darker pair of trousers or skirt and top. With heels and a smart top-handle bag or clutch (which she also designs) it's an excellent way to go. Rixo also has a great knitted chevron-printed midi coat that allows for multiple co-ordinations.
Linen blend blazer, £390 and linen trousers, £290, both Cefinn
Trouser suits in a lovely summery shade are available at every price point, from Reiss, Jigsaw and Cefinn, all of whose tailoring is pretty decent for the price (Reiss also offers tailoring in its flagship stores), to Erdem. If you want to inject some romantic femininity, consider a ruffled silky blouse (Me+Em has a big range), or a trouser suit with some flattering contouring (check out The Fold).
Tencel blend blouse, £195, Me+Em
Or perhaps a cropped, tweed, Chanel-esque jacket. Again, they're available at all prices and I've seen women look a million dollars in ones from Cos. It's well worth changing cheap-looking, plastic buttons, though. You can find good-quality ones on eBay, often from Celine, Chanel and Saint Laurent – small change, huge difference. Team the jacket with contrasting wide trousers and an array of striking jewellery for each wedding. Zara is currently excelling with its costume jewellery.
Then there are co-ords: plenty of those around, too, from the gorgeously flamboyant and patterned at La DoubleJ, where the aesthetic is 1960s Italian riviera, to Me+Em, which has some lovely lace blouses and matching skirts in bright orange or cerulean blue. You could wear them together or partner them with cream or navy. A partially white outfit is fine, but not head to toe.
Finally, rental: for less than the price of one outfit, you could rent three showstoppers. Check out the sites mentioned above.
– Lisa
My wife says all my clothes are dark and gloomy, but I don't know where to start with colourful clothes for summer. Any suggestions?
– Nicholas
You're not the only guy who feels all at (Aegean) sea when the subject of bright clothes comes up, especially when a holiday looms. Men tend to spend their lives in more sombre tones – the identikit office uniform, the don't-have-to-think-about-it formula of white shirts and chinos on weekends.
Summer's the time to lighten the mood, but the fear is often of looking deliberately 'wacky' in garish printed shirts and the like, and in knowing which colours go together. There's also – sorry, gentlemen – a certain strand of toxic masculinity that fears pastels and bright hues as girlish. I hate to break it to you, but the most powerful men of the 18th century showed their machismo by wearing pink.
Let's start with your holiday shirt… If you're not keen on print as you worry you'll resemble an American dad straight out of The White Lotus, consider a great plain linen shirt in a rich colour such as rust or olive. There are some excellent options at Luca Faloni and Hackett, which look on point alongside a pair of dark (or, if you're particularly continental, white) trousers.
Linen shirt, £130, Hackett
Look to the culture of New England preppy that Ralph Lauren has mined over the years: a pair of sunny yellow tailored shorts with a white shirt, for example. Throw a cheery knit over your shoulders for extra Ivy League points.
The subject of colourful tailoring is a tricky one. I'm all for Pierce Brosnan stepping out in an electric-pink suit, but it's not for everyone. If you've got something smart on the agenda – a wedding, say – and wearing greige or navy suiting feels too corporate, a suit in a subtle sage or cobalt blue can look fitting without being over the top. Mute everything else – white shirt, tan shoes – so that the suit is the standout.
Suede shoes, £510, Tod's
Another way to lighten up is with a pair of driving shoes or a pleasing sweater. Life is just too short to spend it shying from glorious (or even discreet) Technicolor.
– Stephen
In the lead photo, Lisa wears: Jacket, Lisa's own, Celine; Crinkled viscose dress, £570, Toteme; Sequin and suede sandals, £825, Jimmy Choo; Gold plated bangle set, £100, Sezane; All other jewellery Lisa's own. Stephen wears: Wool jacket, tuxedo trousers and crepe de chine silk shirt, price on request, Dolce & Gabbana; Patent-leather bow loafers, £850, Manolo Blahnik
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