Tonight:
5°c
I hate to say it, but I love a cold snap. London's weather has been too "blah" in recent months: the summer was coldish, the autumn was mildish, with barely any sense of the seasons changing at all. For the fashion bunny, all this blandness is a wardrobe nightmare. Extreme dressing requires extreme weather - so you can see why we are happy now.
This winter, there is only one look to be doing, and it can best be described as "shaggy chic". Coats with Afghan trims, voluminous faux-fur hats, strange-looking hairy bags and Mongolian lamb coats all seem to have found favour with a certain brand of celebrity (ie: all of them) who craves nothing more than to set the flashbulbs popping. Leading the charge is Pixie Geldof, who has so far been spotted around town in not one but three Mongolian lamb coats - in tobacco brown, bright green and crimson - all by Mulberry.
Another shaggy chic fan is Agyness Deyn, who surprised many in the fashion industry by brazenly wearing a floor-length fox-fur coat. In doing so, she generated the first negative press of her career, simultaneously shedding light on why Mongolian lamb is currently so popular. A by-product of the meat industry, it is a far more benign alternative to fur, just as cosy and - crucially - just as stylish. Little wonder it has become so popular with women who wouldn't be seen dead in a fur coat.
If a full-on coat is a little too Chewbacca for you, try Joseph, which does a wide range of Mongolian lamb accessories including hats and bags, as well as a sleeveless gilet in either black or white.
For vegetarians (or those who are too squeamish even for Mongolian lamb), there are plenty of woolly ways to attain shaggy chic. Topshop has a great line in those looped wool jackets your granny may have knitted you if you were a child of the Seventies, as well as Simone Shailes's avant-garde knitwear. Per una also does a warm range of shaggy woollen cardigans.
For even shaggier chic, look out for a long-haired faux-fur jacket that apes (excuse the pun) the cult monkey fur "chubbies" designed by Yves Saint Laurent in the 1960s. M&S has a grey version, while River Island has a zip-up jerkin in black and white.
Reader views (2)
That would be a funny costume for a fancy dress party, but it's a bit too expensive!
- James, London, 08/01/2009 18:26
Report abuse
More an abomination than abominable. She looks like Big Bird from Sesame Street!
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx, 08/01/2009 14:11
Report abuse
