A link-up to love


After a year of celebrity-designer mash-ups, designers are now collaborating with…other designers! We’ve had the Comme and Speedo love-in, the Fred-Perry-Jessica-Ogden link ups and the New Look and Giles castastophe. The latest hook-ups include Fred Perry with Raf Simons, Philip Lim with Birkenstock and Henry Holland with Levi’s (I know!).

But the only one I can really get worked up about is Baracuta with Margaret Howell. I’m a classics girl at heart and even though I never buy it (cannae afford it, natch) I’ve always lusted after Howell’s just-boyish-enough collections. Her take on Baracuta’s iconic Harrington jacket (as worn by Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, countless cute indie boys etc etc) is to slim it down and crop it to the waist. Just the thing to wear with ankle-length cigarette pants and my beat-up Bass Weejuns.