Natural fur waistcoat from Zara £139.00. Available on line.
I love Hadley Freeman in the Guardian, she makes me laugh with her Ask Hadley page, which this week considered the possibility that buying a new dress for the Party Season might be a bit of a marketing ploy by retailers. It resonated because I was just mulling over the very same thought, not because of the marketing, I KNOW I'm being played, but more because I can't bear the idea of having anything less than four layers of woolly things on currently to beat the cold and by Thursday (my first party) it's going to be snowing again.
I want to wear warm, snuggly cashmere, woolly tights, wrap scarves around my neck and yes, wear my Ugg boots. This is obviously very wrong for a party, but how can you combine staying warm-as-toast AND looking gorgeous in glammy clothes? I hardly go to proper dress-up parties now, so the motivation to buy a new dress at high cost and low warmth value, only to sit in the wardrobe is pretty low.
Our solution is to layer a furry-but-in-a-glamourous-way waistcoat over the top of an existing dress. The three we've selected would work well over trousers or dresses and if you have a waist, then they'd be great belted too. If things hot up you can slip off the waistcoat, so NO to wearing Uggs, instead shift the sheepskin up and snuggle into a waistcoat.
Faux fur waistcoat in mink, from Mint Velvet £79.00 available on line.
Topshop gilet from the Unique range, in leather and shearling, £150.00 online.