Fashion

The classic white shirt: Always flattering and effortlessly elegant

Stylefile: It’s all about turning heads, keeping to heel and squaring up

Cocoon grandad shirt from Cos.

Deirdre McQuillan's face
Deirdre McQuillan
Mon Feb 25 2019 - 06:00

QUITE ALL WHITE

Those who know the benefit and flattery of a pristine white shirt will welcome Cos’s latest White Shirt Project which reinvents classic styles in an eight-piece collection. Each piece has a focus on the details that create the perfect white shirt – altering collars, cuffs and plackets to create new styles for every occasion. In 100 per cent cotton, the reinventions explore volume, silhouette and proportion, striking a balance between tradition and modernity, and highlighting the white shirt as a standalone piece that transcends seasons.

Styles include the relaxed granddad shirt, the tie-waist bib front, the cocoon granddad shirt, concealed button shirt and the long shirt with pocket – for both men and women in textured cotton, cotton seersucker, organic cotton poplin and lightweight cottons. The shirts go on sale on Tuesday, February 25th, both online and in stores, €69 and €79.

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Speed knit high top trainers, €650, Balenciaga at Brown Thomas.

TO HEEL TRAINERS

Blue denim mules, €695, Balenciaga at Brown Thomas.

Look to flats and sneakers for the new season’s footwear styles. Footwear figures tell their own story of changing tastes – sales of high heels dropped 12 per cent in 2017 while sneakers jumped 37 per cent. According to a survey conducted by Deichmann shoes, when it comes to first dates, 44 per cent of males preferred trainers on women as opposed to 30 per cent preferring killer heels.

Speed knit high top trainers, €650, Balenciaga at Brown Thomas.

A nationwide survey of 2,000 British adults found that the average Brit owns 14 pairs of shoes with women owning an average of 18 and men owning 10. This may explain the season’s preponderance of sneaker, flats and mules over the higher heels, comfort taking precedence over power dressing like these two from Balenciaga – a hefty €650 and €695.

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SQUARING UP TO SILK

Bohemian Rhubarb – large silk wrap scarf by Debbie Millington €295 at Harvey Nichols and debbiemillginton.com.

Scarf designer Debbie Millington used her career as a design assistant on Hollywood movies such as Star Wars, Moulin Rouge and others to travel the world and photograph places from Alaska to Africa that, when she went out on her own, became the inspiration for her numerous scarf designs.

Their kaleidoscopic colours and vibrant, abstracted images of animals, plants and buildings make up her collections each year which are not guided by trends or seasons. The classic squares, €170-€190, like the Zebra print in black, white and yellow have become her best sellers and are ideal for the races (large silk wraps are €295), to wear with a trench coat or to provide a shot of colour with jeans and blazer (neckties €125). Made in the UK and digitally printed, they come in silk satin with machine rolled hems handstitched on each corner. Debbiemillington.com

TURNING HEADS

One of Carol O’Connor’s hairbands, €55, from Caroloconnormillinery.ie.

There may be artistry in millinery, but it is not often that a successful fine artist turns her hand to hats. Carol O’Connor, an NCAD fine arts graduate who has worked in art and design for 15 years, is an award-winning artist whose work is in many collections from the OPW, to Meath County Council, Beaulieu House and Luciano Benetton’s Imago Mundi.

Though she started to make hats after completing a millinery course in 2016, her new spring summer collection of hairbands and obi belts called Postcards is the first in which she incorporates both printing and painting techniques with traditional millinery.

It is based on an ongoing correspondence and collaboration between her and artist David Newton when they turned their collages into postcards for five years. Her pieces are stylish, playful and quirky often with hidden messages and always exquisitely crafted. Find examples of her work on her website caroloconnormillinery.ie where these fun little hairbands can be had for €55 each.