This was published 9 months ago
Who cares if stripes make you look bigger or smaller? They are chic and that’s enough
By Damien Woolnough
When the new wave of trends being pushed by designers and mined from 1980s leftovers leaves you at sea (do we really need padded shoulders and ra-ra skirts again?), nautical stripes offer safe harbour.
Matteau shift dress, $360, and breton top, $300. Longchamp x K.Jacques sandals, $660. Credit: Hugh Stewart
You can get away with a pinstripe suit in the city or a striped shirt in the country but the closer you get to the water, even if it’s a pool or autumn shower, the more stripes make sense.
The classic combination is navy and white, borrowed from French sailor uniforms. Style-conscious seamen were only permitted to have 21 stripes on their shirts, to commemorate Napoleon’s victories over the British.
To be specific, 21 20-millimetre-wide white stripes and 21 10-millimetre-wide blue stripes; with 15 white stripes and 14 or 15 blue stripes on the sleeve.
Enough time has passed since the Battle of Waterloo to stop counting.
You can even go bold in red and white without fear of the guillotine or fashion police.
Since the French emperor lost at Waterloo striped tops and shirts have been liberated by Coco Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, James Dean, Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid to become a wardrobe staple.
Maggie Marilyn dinner jacket, $850. Fella x Maggie Marilyn “Hunter” bikini top, $175, and “Hubert” bikini bottom, $120. Credit: Hugh Stewart
Coco Chanel transported the top from naval uniform to lifestyle essential by making it in jersey instead of wool and including them in her collections as far back as 1913.
More recently, stripes have returned to the runway in collections from Balmain, Virginie Viard at Chanel, Carolina Herrera and Saint Laurent.
Luxury houses are harnessing the visual appeal of stripes, putting them to work beyond jaunty sailor tops across swimsuits, oversized shirts and casual pieces. What the pinstripe is to business, the sailor stripe is to sunny weekends.
Mother “Itty Bitty” tee, $280, from Edwards Imports. Fella x Maggie Marilyn “Mr Smith” bikini bottom, $95. Credit: Hugh Stewart
Stop worrying about the horizontal arrangement of stripes making the wearer look bigger, like a cruel fun house mirror. In 2021, Dutch researchers conducted three experiments of female models in horizontal striped dresses compared to solid dresses. The models in striped dresses were perceived as significantly thinner. Who cares if you look bigger or smaller? Stripes are chic and that’s enough.
If you want to take your stripes from warm weekends into the cooler months, the classic combination of a striped shirt, navy blazer, wide-leg jeans and loafers has endured for a reason.
Stripes have even extended to new season handbags and shoes from Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Manolo Blahnik. Although these investment pieces are an exception to the “looking best closer to water” rule. You don’t want to get them wet.
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