Toteme

Trend report: what to wear for SS24



Bally SS24

Spring is properly here, so it’s off with the coats and on with the T-shirts. LOL April Fool! Alas no, it’s still pretty chilly in NW10, so my Spring trend report is leaning a little towards knits and waterproofs for another few weeks. But amongst the leather outerwear and aristo-inspired Barbours and barn jackets, there are skin-baring T-bar shoes, shiny, happy tinted lip oils and molto pops of primary colour (the Italians do it better). (more…)



Gentlewoman style: Toteme time



Toteme AW24 fashion show

If Toteme is trying to be the affordable(ish) Row, it’s succeeding. Its stealth AW24 fashion show during couture week delivered lean trench coats and floor-sweeping trousers styled with the airiest of scarf-neck blouses, while its new Mount Street store is a shrine to tailoring, leatherwear, handbags (that T-lock!*) and jewellery as polished as its more expensive neighbours (but with much more welcoming sales staff) .

I suspect having established its early position in the stealth luxe sphere, Toteme will start to add a few more unpredictable designs and styling twists to keep our interest piqued (more…)



Shop the post: Chalet girls



Slim Aarons après-ski style 1960

This week as I marinate in the damp, wind-battered streets of NW10, I’ve been reading all about the French mountain resort of Megève. In particular, the ‘chaletwear’ store AAllard that specialises in après-ski wear and whose founder Armand Allard actually invented the ‘fuseau’, aka the tapered, tailored stirrup pant that begat the stretchy ski pant as an early garment to tuck into ski boots. (When local ski champ Émile Allais wore them for his triple medal win in the 1937 world skiing championships, a trend was born.) (more…)