Summer doesn't get much better than a beaded cardigan. Yes, I'm serious. And, yes, I know they haven't been fashionable since the 1990s. But that's the point. They've transcended fashion. They're now officially part of the style armoury.
Ooh, that was cheesy wasn't it? But I know I'm on thin ice here. I'm battling your incredulity. Beaded cardis were the era of Knebworth, This Life and thinking things could only get better. We wore them with bias-cut skirts and pretended we were Helena Christensen. Although she sourced hers in vintage shops in downtown New York and we bought ours in River Island.
Or we teamed them with combats and urban pouts like All Saints. Beaded cardis were gorgeous. Then ubiquitous. Then marginally less charming than discarded McDonald's wrapping. Life cycle of a trend: usual story.
But surely one of the most seductive aspects of summer, even one as damp and moody as this, is the permission it gives you to deviate from whatever fashionable straitjacket you've constructed for yourself. Not that straitjackets can't be useful. But monochrome boyfriend-blazers or angular Roland Mouret-style dresses - should that be your particular straitjacket - don't cut it on holiday. What's required is something playful, uplifting and colourful, even if it's so old it predates our children. Aha. Timeless. Because who has the budget or the inclination to go out and buy an on-trend holiday wardrobe for two weeks' wear every year?
My beaded cardigan gladdens my heart every time I pull it out of storage, which I've been doing every summer since 1998. It was a superior genus of beaded cardigan in its day and it's superior now: a lovely sunny coral that goes with every colour, especially khaki or cream, with white, 1950s-style, hand-beaded flowers and fronds, and a flattering stretchy cut that works over dresses and trousers, at parties or by the (glamorous) pool. It wasn't vintage - hence the modern shape - but by the American designer Nanette Lepore, who's usually a bit too decorative for me. But not in summer. Even one like this.
From left: Viscose and angora, £149, Day Birger et Mikkelsen, my-wardrobe.com ; Cashmere, £2,200, Oscar de la Renta, net-a-porter.com ; Cotton, £87, French Connection (020 7036 7200)
Via: The investment dresser: three best beaded cardigans
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