The grown-up guide to getting hoodies right
Plus: Lisa solves your fashion dilemmas below
Six minutes ago I wouldn’t have predicted that I’d soon be taking sartorial cues from Justin Bieber. But saints preserve us, that’s the roller-coaster ride you get with fashion. If you keep an open mind but don’t allow it to control you, it’s a win. So here I am in a hoodie and blazer, liking it and, actually, not looking too Justin.
It started when I bought a gorgeous big stripy scarf from the small label Colville. It had a hood attached. Never mind, I thought, I can tuck the hood into the scarf and no one will be any the wiser.
But then it got cold and I started wearing the hood instead of doing the folding thing. And people complimented the hood. This made me realise that not all hoods are equal. A big bulky thing attached to a basic jersey hoodie is not happening in the Armstrong wardrobe – what do you wear it with? But something a bit slicker… Enter the current collections and the little wool number above from Massimo Dutti, a brand dedicated to not making anyone look foolish.
Wool hoodie bib, ￡310, Toteme; Cashmere wool knitted hood, ￡85, Rise & Fall
Hoods have long appeared intermittently on the catwalks. Often they have had a sort of Scottish Widows grandeur. But last year, Miu Miu embarked on a more casual hood rehabilitation process – taking hoodies in sweatshirt-type fabrics and showing them as jackets to be worn over twinsets, with 20-denier tights and big knickers.
Miu Miu has a knack for making basic necessities seem like considered styling choices, and charging commensurately huge sums for them. (The Navygrey hoodie above is not cheap either, but high quality and a steal compared with the ￡2,150 catwalk piece.) Most Telegraph readers won’t, I trust, be doing the knickers-and-hoodie look, but the hoodie has become a nifty way to make a smart outfit more relaxed and sporty.
That’s very useful in itself. Bored by your old coat? Belt it and add a hoodie. Finding your usual skirt-and-boots standby stale? Wear with a hoodie layered under a bomber. Provided the hoodie is slimline and has a luxe air about it, you’ll probably meet with a surprising degree of success.
Obviously no one wants to look like a superannuated saddo experiencing a perpetual ‘mid’-life crisis, but that’s easily avoided as long as you keep everything else sophisticated and grown-up. I was in a board meeting the other day with an 80-year-old gentleman in a hoodie and Dunhill jacket – and it worked.
As one gets older, one quirk per outfit really will suffice. If it’s like Toteme’s nifty sleeveless hoodie, it’s positively chic. A good belt helps. The one I’m wearing here is pricey but reversible (tan on the other side), durable, and the motif is positively delightful.
On the practical side, there’s the considerable convenience of having something that adds an extra layer of insulation around your neck, but almost as importantly, this is about tone. Hoodies are one more handy item that can turn the stiff stuffiness of a classic into something fresh.
Try these
Organic cotton relaxed fit hoodie, ￡150, Navygrey; Cashmere hoodie dickey, Veronica Beard
Wool blend hoodie, ￡138, Reiss; Wool hooded jacket, ￡135, Cos
Lisa wears: Wool blazer, ￡179, Hush; Merino wool hoodie, ￡210, Sheep Inc.; Wool blend trousers, ￡150, Balzac; Leather belt, ￡350, Loewe; Patent leather shoes, ￡205, Bobbies x Icone; Crystal earrings, ￡39, All Saints; Sunglasses, ￡77.48, Le Specs; Hair and Make-Up: Oonagh Connor at Joy Goodman using Nars and Dr Paw Paw
Lisa solves your style dilemmas
Lisa responds to your queries, lending her expertise to help you shop smart. Have a question for her? Submit it here.
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