How to dress like a grown up with Sarah Bailey: Why silver’s now the real style winner
- Sarah Bailey took silver dress inspiration from Roland Mouret’s spring collection
- The designer debuted a gunmetal silver maxi dress during fashion show month
- Sarah recommends investing in styles that skim rather than hug your shape
- She suggests pairing silver slip dresses with thick-soled boots
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After the craziness of the fashion show month, there are always a few standout moments that stick in the brain.
Those that do, tend to be the pieces worth sacrificing your next 200 lattes for. One such knockout, from the spring 2019 collections, was a gorgeous gunmetal silver maxi dress by Roland Mouret.
Mouret showed his collection on the roof of the National Theatre in London, with models striding forth in flat shoes, their dresses fluttering ever-so-slightly in the breeze.
The silver one in particular moved like a dream. Get your order in now before Meghan (Mouret’s unofficial muse) does and causes a stampede.
Sarah Bailey took inspiration from Michelle Williams (pictured) for this season’s silver dress trend. She suggests going for mattish fabrics that skim rather than hug your shape
Silver was all over the winter 2018 runways, too. I love its cool, futuristic glamour — not as glitzy as gold and much easier to wear. Clare Waight Keller at Givenchy showed stunning silver-fringed cocktail gowns, while Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel tapped into a futuristic vibe with metallic gloss fabrics.
At Erdem, another of my stand-out shows, the silver sequins were worn in rule-breaking combinations with crisp white shirts and Prince of Wales suiting.
The High Street is filling up with silver options as party dress season creeps up on us. If you’re concerned about looking like a Bacofoil-wrapped turkey, relax. Stores have plenty of subtler options that will render you party, rather than oven, ready.
The Nineties slip-dressing trend is continuing, and if you haven’t got one lurking at the back of your cupboard from the first time around, there are some fantastic Halston Heritage options at The Outnet to choose from (lamé halterneck dress, now £119, the outnet.com).
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As a rule of thumb, go for a mattish silver fabric and a slip that skims rather than hugs your shape.
If you are worried about showing too much skin with spaghetti straps, consider layering it over a skinny black and silver marl roll-neck that keeps the Nineties minimalist silhouette.
There’s a midi-length option at Zara that works perfectly styled like this (metallic thread herringbone jacquard dress, £39.99, zara.com). When layering, let the Nineties monochrome palette be your guide. Wear a slinky silver slip (such as Asos’s satin midi dress, £40, asos.com) with white, black or silver-on-silver.
How do you style metallic dresses?
- Metallic fabrics can be unforgiving. Choose a style that skims rather than hugs your shape
- Don’t go crazy with colour. Tones of silver worn together look chic and modern
- If in doubt, you can never really go wrong with silver shoes
Don’t be tempted to throw in any colour at all, unless you want to look like you’ve been inspired by a box of Quality Street.
The fashion world has fallen back in love with head-to-toe sequins, thanks in part to fashion wunderkind Michael Halpern. Celebrities including Marion Cotillard and Lupita Nyong’o can’t get enough of the 30-year-old London-based designer, thanks to his revival of the sort of upscale glitz not seen since Studio 54.
In real (mid)life, wear a bold silver sequinned piece by all means, but consider taking the bedazzle down a notch by taking style cues from the aforementioned Erdem show — a tweed check overcoat as a party cover-up, say?
For a drinks event, try pairing a cream tuxedo jacket with a drop-hem sequined dress such as Monsoon’s Aubrey (midi dress, £99, monsoon.co.uk).
One of the best things about silver dresses is that they are not just for Christmas parties. Your matt silver slip can just as easily work for day — shrug a chunky black knit on top (Zara has the most fantastic sweater, bestrewn with bold applique florals — £69.99, zara.com), and finish the look with opaque black tights and thick-soled boots. You won’t want to wear anything else all season.
SARAH BAILEY is executive brand editor at Porter
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