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Apparently, according to the outdoor living magazine Grough, mountaineering and fell-walking clothing is topping the sales in the high street. Debenhams Menswear Director told the magazine, ‘Men and women have fallen in love with the rugged outdoor image the hill-climbing clothing style portrays.’
It’s called the Wainwright look, after Alfred Wainwright, whose seven-volume life work, named the Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells has become a reference book, as has his guidebook to the first ever Coast to Coast Walk, a 192-mile footpath guide that he created himself.
So how do you get the Wainwright look?
Choose layered clothing in natural and neutral colours with belts or waist detailing to get that classic post-war fell-walking impression. The look is likely to be a big hit this autumn, so spend the summer looking out for cream and beige long-sleeved T-shirts, green, grey and brown jackets and soft cotton trousers that can be worn with hiking boots.
T-shirts were not traditional Wainwright apparel, men preferring to wear a string vest under a shirt in cold weather, so the look requires a cream, pale yellow, grey or pale blue polo-shirt rather than a modern Tee.
Women should look out for canvas skirts and fitted linen shirts, worn with soft jackets or cream trousers or shorts.
The recent burst of telecommuting is damaging fashion sense, according to a number of fashion pundits. They blame the ability to work from home for the way that both men and women have been letting their clothing standards drop.
Some supermarkets have taken to banning customers in pyjamas from shopping because it can offend. They claim that it’s because customers have got used to shopping online in their pjs and now expect to be able to do the same in person.
It’s just one sign that business-casual is devolving into ‘anything goes’ but for those who hope to travel up the career ladder it’s a dangerous path. Companies have taken complex dress codes and turned them into ‘use your best judgement’ but for savvy employees, owning a good pair of trousers or a skirt, a smart shirt and a decent pair of shoes is still the minimum requirement. If your CEO suddenly turns up in your home town and the company want you to drop off some papers or take him or her a memory stick, then you need to look right. And for those who work in ‘back offices’ it may be tempting to wear shorts, flip-flops and casual teeshirts but if you tend to look sloppy and unprofessional, you may fail to win promotion.
Find a middle path by wearing polo-shirts instead of T-shirts, lightweight casual trousers instead of shorts and simple pumps or even this year’s fashion winner, high-top trainers, instead of flip-flops.
Women in particular know that a summer look combines style and comfort, and long sleeved T-shirts can be a real boon, especially when British weather can be so unpredictable.
This year the look is very much long sleeve T-shirt with maxi skirts, as an alternative to the maxi dress, or alternatively, relaxed fit long sleeved T-shirts with Capri pants for a cute but not too casual appearance. If the weather really turns nasty, you can even layer a short sleeved T-shirt or a pretty vest over a long sleeved one, to add warmth without bulk. Plain long sleeve T-shirts look especially good with a bold tribal or bright summery necklace as the round neck can make a simple setting for dramatic jewellery.
They are a particularly good choice to wear for work in summer, because they can look smart without being too frilly. Team long-sleeved T-shirts with lightweight trousers for a good casual office look, and pack a pair of shorts in you bag so that you can change into them and catch a few rays in your lunch break.
Even the most gormless person can manage to fold a T-shirt, although the fashion-conscious have leaned the triple fold rather than the half fold, to make a T-shirt look better when you take it out and wear it. But packing a polo-shirt can present a little more difficult because of the collar. Here’s a simple guide to the triple fold and the polo pack too.
Triple fold
• Lay your T-shirt with the front down, on a flat surface
• Fold one shoulder in until it reaches one third across the shirt, turn the sleeve back so it lays across the fold – your shirt should now be two thirds as wide as it was before and the sleeve should have its open end facing out, not facing into the body of the T-shirt. This is especially important for long-sleeved T-shirts
• Fold the other shoulder and sleeve the same way. Your shirt should now be one third as wide as when laid out flat
• Lift the bottom of the T-shirt until it reaches the neck, persevering the two folds you’ve already made.
• Pick up and turn over. Perfect triple fold achieved!
Polo fold
• Button the collar of your polo and pull the collar so it’s folded down neatly before putting the polo-shirt face down on a flat surface
• Grip the shoulder seam in one hand and with the other take the corresponding sleeve and fold it into the middle of the shirt so that the fold makes a perpendicular line from the shoulder seam to the bottom of the shirt. Fold the shirt sleeve in half
• Repeat with the other side of the polo shirt. Smooth out wrinkles as you fold
• Take hold of the bottom right and left sides of the folded shirt. Bring the bottom edge of the shirt up to the bottom of the sleeves. This divides the shirt into thirds.
• Bring the folded edge to the top edge of the collar. Turn the shirt over and put in your suitcase
• To preserve polo-shirt collar shape, you can tuck other items such as clean socks, underwear or swimming togs into the neckline to hold the neck it its rounded shape.
Summer’s favourite colours are usually white and ice-cream shades of pink and blue, and this year is no exception. There may be more ‘rainbow shades’ in the uniforms at the World Cup but at Wimbledon it’s white all the way, and white can be a difficult colour to wear successfully.
For women, white can cause difficulties against a tan, or the lack of one because it can also make a fake tan look well … fake. The answer here is to take a leaf out of Audrey Hepburn’s book and separate the white from your skin with a border of black and white. Either black with white polka dots for the cute type or zebra stripes for the more dramatic look will break down the visual barrier between flesh tones and white, and create a ‘disturbed impression’ ie stop it looking like you’re a plastic Barbie in a tennis outfit.
Men’s problems are different to women’s – white expands the waist and neck and can make you look like you swallowed the ball! Things to avoid:
• white under white unless you are Andy Murray thin – a navy vest or a black T-shirt under a white hoodie will slim you down
• round-necked tops white if you are still winter-pale – a V neck or polo shirt will stop your skin and the white clothing blending together into a ‘lump’
• white against black – unless you’re slim, a white top with black trousers can make you look very top-heavy. Instead try grey or camel coloured trousers or shirts, or faded jeans which will balance the lightness of a white summer shirt.
There are three or four classic summer items that look great if worn properly and terrible if not:
- The white polo shirt – you can wear this under a blazer or linen jacket or much more simply with shorts. It’s a colour that can be worn by men and women and it looks fine on a hot day in the office as well as being suitable for a day on the beach or an evening barbecue. To look after it properly, apply sun lotion and deodorant at least an hour before putting it on so that you don’t get rings and stains from the chemicals in those vital summer toiletries.
- The linen jacket – the unstructured jacket is a summer favourite. It’s cool and light and can be crumpled. It looks good with most things but is at its best with beige or cream trousers or a summer skirt and not so great with jeans, because the difference in weight between the fabrics can make the jacket look skimpy.
- Shorts – wearing summer shorts is an art form and making the right choice can be vital. Capri pants are better for women who have thick ankles and for men with a beer belly, drawstring shorts that reach the knee are much more flattering than elasticated waist shorts that only come to mid thigh. Both sexes tend to look good in cargo shorts, especially in the summer colours: cream, beige, light blue. All shorts look terrible with formal tops like a collared shirt, a structured jacket or a silky top just create a horrible mish-mash of styles that offend the eye. Keep to casual clothing like polo-shirts or summer T-shirts to give your shorts the laid-back vibe.
The recent case of a badly sunburnt baby whose parents had kept it on Brighton beach all day in inappropriate clothing just goes to show how dangerous the sun can be. But we all want to enjoy the good weather and children in particular love to be outside when the sun shines. So how do we keep them safe?
Sunshine and clothing
People of any age, with any skin colour, can develop skin cancers but children are five times more likely to suffer sunburn and it’s sunburn that is often linked to development of melanoma skin cancer in later life. The areas where melanoma is most often seen are the face, head and shoulders: areas that can easily be protected by hats and short or long-sleeved T-shirts.
Prevention is better than cure
Try to keep children out of direct sun between eleven and three – let them sit in the shade or even, although it feels wrong, indoors watching cartoons on TV!
A good UV screening T-shirt is thick enough so that when you put your hand inside, you can’t see your skin through the fabric. Anything thinner than that doesn’t offer adequate protection. Clothing choices for children should work with a good waterproof sunscreen to offer maximum safeguard.
Hats help most
In Australia they’ve run a national campaign to encourage parents to put hats on their children. It’s claimed that a child wearing a baseball cap is 78% less likely to suffer sunstroke.
Babies belong in the shade
The latest government advice is that babies under 6 months should be kept completely out of the sun, and should not have sunscreen applied to their skin. This means that your baby should be indoors, under a parasol or – if you have to expose them to the sun – choose baby clothing that covers the entire body such as a long sleeved T-shirt and leggings with a wide-brimmed hat.
According to the Ralph Lauren style guide, every woman should have five essential items in her wardrobe:
- Classic polo shirt – this shirt, usually in a RL colour such as pink and white, or mint and lavender, or just pure plain white or baby blue, is teamed with any casual item of lower body clothing such as jeans, shorts or a casual skirt.
- Skinny-fit polo – this tailored look works with more polished clothing such as fitted trousers or a heavyweight skirt in wool or silk. Often worn with boots and a tailored jacket by WASP girls in the USA.
- Traditional Oxford shirt – this versatile wardrobe classic can be dressed down to wear with jeans if you put a form-fitting T-shirt or vest underneath and wear trainers, while with dress trousers and a fitted jacket, especially if teamed with a smart handbag, it’s suitable for an interview or smart lunch date.
- Lightweight sweater – Ralph Lauren says this is a great layering piece that can elegantly accompany any basic.
- Jeans in stretch denim – these are the final components of the RL look and he suggests that you choose from a sophisticated dark dye look or the faded style for a more casual look.
Women often feel that they are disadvantaged in the workplace: if they dress dowdily they are overlooked for promotion or interesting tasks, but if they dress attractively they earn envy and resentment and may be taken less seriously!
If it seems that you can’t win, there is a simple solution that helps you stand out, without putting you at risk of being considered either frivolous or tarty. The answer is to combine your wardrobe to hit two different targets in each outfit.
This means everything you wear should be meet one of these three aims.
• Combine bright colours and neutral ones
• Mix floral prints with geometric ones
• Always balance any feminine touches (such as frills) with and masculine details such as tailoring and fitted clothing.
How do you do it? Well if you wear a white or blue plain work shirt, for example, you can team it with a flounce-hemmed skirt as that’s a nice mixture of feminine and masculine.
Chosen a pair of formal black trousers? Why not match them with a red or yellow jacket that has a contrast trim or a bright detail to meet the bright/neutral colour target?
If your bag is ‘girly’ or pretty, carry a formal black leather wallet to balance it out.
And if you’ve got a striped or contrast trim polo shirt, why not pair it with a floral patterned skirt to achieve the floral/geometric balance?
While this way of dressing takes a little bit of getting used to, it produces the right effect by allowing you to dress so that you stand out from the crowd, without being pigeonholed in a way that doesn’t further your career.
Everybody wears cotton clothing – babies are popped into it from birth because of its softness, its breathability and the way that it can take heavy laundering (therefore its absolute cleanliness can be guaranteed). Baby clothing is, quintessentially, cotton clothing.
Once we grow up we move into the kind of rugged cotton clothes that our mothers can wash and wash and wash – whether it’s sports gear for the budding footballer or gymnast, or short-sleeved T-shirts for the incipient artist or junior trainspotter. This cotton wear is wash-and-wear style, in bright colours and is often the kind of garment that a child will fall in love with and insist on wearing all the time. It’s a good thing it’s tough!
And as we become adults, we moving into our own fashion preferences: brilliant white shirts worn for interviews, brand new black T-shirts to impress the opposite sex at the weekend, comfy hoodies for weekend meet ups.
Caring for Cotton
While cotton is robust, you can do quite a lot to keep it looking better for longer. Deep colours benefit from being washed inside out – especially if they have transfer designs on them. Light colours take almost any amount of laundering, but be careful not to wash them with anything dark, or they are likely to pick up a tint of the darker colour.
Cotton or Poly-cotton?
The choice isn’t as simple as you might think. Pure cotton has advantages – it becomes more comfortable the more it’s worn, and you can iron it on a very high heat without destroying it. It holds its dye colour well too. On the down side, it does crease quite badly.
Poly-cotton doesn’t crease nearly so badly, but it does have a tendency to pill, which is where the fabric makes tiny bobbles over time. Also it can’t be washed on as high a temperature as 100% cotton can.
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