Trust The Sunday Times Style to get right to the heart of the burning questions of the day: "Can a grown woman really get away with knee-highs?" asked the magazine yesterday. After much investigation, intrepid journo Kate Spicer concluded that, yes, she could. Recommended? Chunky knits by Jonathan Aston, like those on the left, for example. More socks that rock here.
The weather is still rubbish so we might as well go straight into autumn/winter. Trend news? The waist is back, everyone (see Dolce & Gabbana, above left), so here are three of our favourite ways to get that all-important hourglass shape this season.
Left to right: Miraclesuit Shapewear Inches Off waist cincher, Spanx Power panties, Rago waist cincher.
image: wireimage
Not so summery, then, this weekend - at least in the UK - so we might as well get started on autumn/winter. One of the big trends coming up (and one of UK Elle's "10 essential buys" for the new season) is coloured opaque tights, so here are a few suitably colourful examples by Jonathan Aston to cheer us up over another waterlogged week.
If any one garment sums up the Eighties it's this one. Yep, the body - the mainstay of executive women who spent the decade striding around Manhattan dressed head to toe in Donna Karan - is back, with these two Wolford bodies newly arrived at figleaves.com and more to follow in the autumn. Best thing about the body? The nice smooth line it gives, with no danger of your t-shirt coming untucked or your thong showing. Worst thing? Wasting precious seconds doing up the poppers every time you go to the toilet.
Bored of the sales? Me too. We have some big spring/summer lingerie trends on the way, but in the meantime here's the first of this season's mini-trends.
Sure, black and white always looks chic but, thanks to catwalk endorsements from the likes of Chanel, Luella, Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren, it happens to be looking particularly good for 2007.
Allumette (left) and Princesse Tam-Tam (right) are the first lingerie houses off the mark. Go buy it.
Lest you feel that we have been neglecting the men, here are our top five men's underwear trends for this season, as selected by figleaves.com menswear buyer Amanda Lepar:
l to r: Polo Ralph Lauren's city stripes, Calvin Klein's seamless trunk, Tommy Hilfiger in khaki, Playboy's Lucky Pants, Calvin Klein 365 logo waistband
Oh the excitement - Marie Antoinette finally opens in the UK tomorrow and we're looking forward to much oohing and aahing over those Manolos (not to mention the opulent frocks that have influenced so many designers for this season and next). Square necklines look set to stay for a while, so here are a couple of our favourite balconettes.
News reaches us that fashion retailers are in turmoil thanks to this season's mania for grey - it's turning women shoppers off, apparently. “When I discovered that grey was going to be big again this season, I did think that retailers and younger buyers must have short memories. They have forgotten how the decline of M&S was triggered by grey in the autumn of 1998-99," retail analyst Maureen Hinton told The Times.
What is the matter with these anti-grey people? When it comes to lingerie, grey is a truly marvellous colour - subtle, sophisticated and far less harsh than boring old black. See Simone Perele's masculine/feminine Prince of Wales checks and Leigh Bantivoglio's pewter silk cami for proof.
