| Tweed Still Strong |
| Tips on how to wear tweed this winter. Yeah, yeah… I know I’m not telling you anything you didn’t know in saying that tweed was the biggest thing to hit autumn since… um… falling leaves. Well, the leaves are all on the wintery ground now and tweed remains as current as ever. |
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I’ve seen a lot of confusion out there, so I’m going to give you my ideas about how to wear tweed. Unless you’ve got some sort of cool punk thing going on, tweed is a more refined look and is works best treated as such. I’m not saying that it can’t be fun or hip or sexy, but to do it proper justice tweed must be worn with grace.
DON'T GET TWEEDED OUT
The first thing to consider when wearing tweed is which article of clothing (or accessory) you'd like to pair with it. I know the magazines show models fully “tweeded out”, ie. a skirt, jacket, shoes, and purse all in tweed. This look is simply for editorial effect; most designers would never encourage such ensembles outside of a magazine or runway. By no means am I saying that you can’t ever put more than one tweed piece in an outfit. A tweed suit can be stunning so long as it’s on the subtler side. In my opinion, wearing a bright pink tweed suit is a bit much, while the same bright pink tweed skirt would look great with an off-white silk blouse. Matching tweed bag and shoes can be gorgeous, as can a complementary tweed bag to tweed skirt. By ‘complementary’ I mean not matching, but not clashing: a black and white tweed skirt in a zig-zag pattern complemented by a black and white tweed bag in a criss-cross pattern.
Tweed is not only great mixed with blouses, twin-sets, or form-fitting sweaters for work attire BUT a tweed blazer is fun mixed with a lacy camisole and jeans OR a ¾ length tweed coat is beautiful over sexy evening attire AND a tweed bag is terribly versatile as a classy complement to casual-wear, work-wear, or evening-wear.
WORDS OF WARNING
1) Be careful with poor quality tweed as it can stretch out and look really baggy and sloppy
2) Fuller figured ladies have to watch some tweed clothing pieces (especially skirts and any pieces with a large pattern) as they can add bulk. However, a flat-front, wide and long legged trouser in a thin tweed material can be very effective at hiding flaws – as can a good quality tweed blazer.
TWEED IS EVERYWHERE
Tweed is available from almost everybody. Here’s a few names that I found while traversing the malls and perusing the fashion magazines:
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Handbags |
Guess, Furla, Lulu Guiness, Nine West |
| Shoes |
Transit, Nine West, Charles David, Aldo, Enzo Angiolini. |
| Blazers |
The Gap, H&M, Hype, Banana Republic, Bebe |
| Suits |
H&M, Banana Republic, Jacob, Commes des Garcons, YSL, Moschino, Alexander McQueen |
| Coats |
H&M, Jacob, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Burberry, The Gap. |
| Skirts |
H&M, Max Mara, Miu Miu, Ralph Lauren |
| Trousers |
Club Monaco, Ralph Lauren, Kenzie, RW & Co. |
… and, of course, one of the main forerunners (and clingers to) tweed: Chanel. Check out Chanel’s big print tweeds and signature boucle blazers. I’m not a big fan of Chanel for younger consumers, but see what you think. Tweed is everywhere, just don’t get overwhelmed ;).
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