Over or underdressed — which tribe are you?
Amal Clooney is part of a select club of globally famous, immaculately turned-out women. Why wear a T-shirt and jeans when you could wear Versace instead?
When Amal Clooney arrived in Venice at the weekend, she looked like a film star. Dressed in a bright yellow minidress, an oversized hat and enormous designer shades, she accessorised her look with a Chloe handbag and George Clooney. Amal, lest we forget, is not some fashion influencer. She’s an Oxford-educated human rights lawyer and she is always, always dressed up to the nines.
She’s part of a select club of globally famous and immaculately turned-out women: Anna Wintour, the Princess of Wales, Brigitte Macron, Gwyneth Paltrow. In Amal’s world, more is good: more make-up, bigger earrings, four-figure suede minidresses and high heels to walk the dog, and a strapless ballgown to go out for dinner. Out for dinner in Venice this week, she looked as ready for her close up as her husband. I don’t have much in common with Amal but we both know this: whatever the question, overdressed is the answer. Why wear jeans and a T-shirt when you could wear Versace instead?
I too am routinely overdressed, but without being married to George Clooney. I am smartly turned out in a newly casual world, where athleisure is spreading like an itchy rash into places it has no business. Trainers are taking over, shoes are pretty much passe and stilettos are viewed as some sort of quaint anti-feminist anachronism akin to corsets. Comfort is king. Pah.
For a start, my smart tailored trousers and fine-knit jumpers are perfectly comfortable, thank you very much. My wardrobe might be overly smart but it comes in all the fashionable colours of the rainbow, if rainbows were navy and black. I love my very un-casual velvet jacket and I find my heels as comfortable as your flats. So, on the one hand, I don’t want to look like I got dressed in 1997. On the other, I’m not prepared to go for lunch, let alone to work, wearing leggings and a hoodie.
Being in your gym kit at lunchtime used to be a sign that you were a slattern but now everyone’s at it. I put proper clothes on when I get home from the gym, and my idea of casual is well-cut jeans, a cashmere sweater and shoes. I have no idea if any of them are this season’s shape or the right brand. I buy quality, not quantity, and if I’m paying good money for a pair of jeans they’re going to last years, not one season.
I do own a pair of blue Adidas Gazelles, which I assume are acceptable because my twenty-something niece wears them too. A second, white pair of Adidas arrived the day I read an article saying that white trainers are social death. Hey ho. I wouldn’t dream of wearing trainers of any colour to the office but everyone else does. Then again, some people also wear sundresses I consider ideal for lunch on Paxos, and open-toe sandals with grotty feet, which is both too much information and unprofessional. If you’re in a customer-facing role, isn’t dressing smartly a nod of respect to who you’re meeting? And don’t leggings and grotty feet fail that test?
The question is how to zhuzh up my look without buying a whole new wardrobe. The underdressed are right to think that elegance comes from feeling comfortable, confident and unselfconscious but wrong that the solution is trackpants and Crocs. I feel comfortable and confident in my clothes and (most of) my shoes, and I’d feel neither in theirs. Unlike them, I think there’s no shame in wearing crippling shoes just because they’re beautiful, if looking at them makes you happy.
All sorts of things in life are painful, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them: leg waxing. Root canal. Childbirth. So I’ve decided it’s about the accessories. Stud earrings are ageing, unless they’re enormous diamonds (fat chance). Chunky cuffs are youthful, as are chunky heels, which I now own, as well as spikes. I’ve upped my grooming game. I’ve always had expensive haircuts, because I’ve got rubbish hair, but now I try to get regular manicures too. I spare no expense on my make-up. I add a new jacket or a pair of on-trend trousers to the repertoire every so often, mix them up with the old stuff and carry on wearing them until long after the fashion set have moved on.
And if you’re still not convinced where you stand on the overdressed/underdressed divide, ask yourself this: wouldn’t you rather look like a woman who’s married to George Clooney?
The Times
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