Refreshable, Repeatable, Relevant: a mini wardrobe for September

Built around the everlasting backbone of the closet - the velvet jacket.

My on-repeat, go-to Early Fall look that works literally anywhere, from the office to a dinner: velvet jacket (this one is by Tom Ford); straight jeans (Citizens of Humanity); vintage Huntsman white collarless men’s cotton shirt; sandals by Tom Ford. The scarlet nail polish is Opi's 'Once and Floral' which I love for its soft coral tone - a red that is too sharp can look a little cheap.

There’s a cold breath in the evening air suddenly, even if the days are still warm. The whisper of autumn always arrives on the wind in England, and because I live mostly in the Cotswolds, high on the hills, I feel this before many city dwellers. We’ve had an outrageously beautiful summer this year: it hasn’t rained properly for months, the roses are still blooming madly and one could, almost, imagine summer going on forever, like it seemed to when one was a child. But all summers come to an end eventually, and here fall tends to blow in suddenly, the temperature dropping surprisingly quickly, that faint chill at night signifying the change in season.

Even if I still feel far too summer-holiday-ish in my heart to wear anything but a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers, in my head I’m changing gear already, and my thoughts have started turning to work in London and imminent business trips to Paris and New York. I’s always tricky to make the sartorial mental leap between summer and early Fall, but over the years I have realised having a hard-working fall standby ready - one that transitions easily between day and evening - is vital. Mine is so classic that it can be tweaked every year so that it doesn’t date: I call it my ‘Refreshable’ capsule; there’s no need to buy a new version of every piece every year, but I can swap out or ‘refresh’ a tired part of it and the rest still feels chic and fashionable.

Charlotte Rampling in an YSL velvet tux in 1974. The over-the-top Bow Tie is what makes this look, though few of us could carry off such a bold gesture. The contrasting understatement of Rampling’s barely-made-up face and au-naturel hair enable her to do so.

Anyway, before I digress any further, let me stop dithering and get on with it (as one of my daughter’s prep school teachers would yell at the entire class to get them started on writing an essay). I’ve always argued that tailoring is the backbone of the wardrobe. If you don’t have a coat or a jacket, you don’t have anywhere to start or finish a look, and you don’t have a silhouette either - fatal error. Cast your mind back over fashion history, and you will see that the greatest designers, the ones who gave women the most beautiful line, were all exquisite tailors interested in creating a stunning silhouette for their clients. Whether it’s Christian Dior or Yves St Laurent, Helmut Lang or Phoebe Philo, this is an Everlasting Fashion Truth. (But do lmk if you disagree. I’d be fascinated to hear.)

So let’s start with the jacket (I will do coats in a month or so, when we really need them). For Septembers, a month that isn’t summer but isn’t truly fall either, I’m a believer in a sharp jacket and a great pair of trousers, or really high-end jeans, but not a suit, not just yet - September is not quite far enough into fall for that, in my opinion. I will always love a crisply tailored black jacket, but black is a little dour for this time of year, if the skies are blue and the sun is out, so I have tended to veer toward midnight blue or very dark navy. I choose navy carefully - not dark enough, and it can be frumpy, reminiscent of 1980s air hostess uniforms or headmistresses at speech days, but too blue-black and it can look funereal. I like to think of navy as the bitter chocolate of dark blue, one that has extra depth and richness, making the fabric as important as the shade. I’m also, as anyone who has read my work over the years will have gathered, a firm believer in the necessity of adding a splash of glamour to any outfit, a little sartorial fairy dust so to speak, whether its for day or night.

Velvet for day. Moi pounding the pavements in London, wearing navy Bella Freud Saint James velvet jacket, white Petit Bateau tee, Gucci sunglasses, Vanessa Bruno capri pants, Marina Raphael purse, and Manolo Blahnik velvet shoes with a diamante buckle.

So its probably no surprise to learn that the jacket I turn to again and again at the start of fall is a marine-blue, velvet Bella Freud jacket, the ‘Saint James’ style that she has been selling at her heavenly Chiltern Street store in London and online for years and is available throughout the seasons in beautiful velvets, thick cords or cavalry twills. I bought mine, which has a slim, high cut arm, a sharp shoulder, lapels that are just right - neither too wide nor too narrow - and old-school horn buttons, at least three years ago and have been wearing it religiously ever since. For daytime in Fall, it looks great with a fresh white t-shirt or shirt underneath, black capri pants, ballet flats or a low-heeled sandal and a structured bag, preferably something with a bit of gloss to it and great hardware. It’s a super relaxed look but the velvet, which is such good quality that it wears to the most delicious patina, brings an old-school sparkle to the outfit that a flat wool or cotton simply would not. And wearing velvet by day, which is strictly speaking an evening fabric, brings that dash of glamour to breakfast or lunch time. (I’ve always loved the the relaxed 1970s chic of people like Mick Jagger and Charlotte Rampling, who never seemed to be out of their daytime velvets.)

The other ingredients to this look do not have to be expensive, but they need to be carefully chosen. I love wearing a crisp white shirt under navy and the London tailor Huntsman of Savile Row made the vintage collarless shirt I am wearing in the photograph at the top of the story and Budd shirtmakers do a beautiful version in fresh white ‘pinpoint’ cotton that is timeless. If I’m wearing a t-shirt under the velvet jacket, I have a stash of these white cotton Petit Bateau tees which, again, last years, are pure cotton and come out of the washing machine bright white. (Even after years of owning mine, they haven’t ‘greyed’ during washing like t-shirts filled with polyester and lycra tend to. The navy version is also brilliantly useful.) When I’m doing the t-shirt version of this look, its nice to add a little jewellery, and the double string of pearls that my grandmother gave me when I was 21 look agreeably ‘BCBG’ worn like this. (I steer away from pearls with a shirt, as that somehow starts falling into Sloane Ranger territory.) This pearl necklace was made by my cousin Cassandra Goad and I later went back to her Sloane Street shop and bought the gold cross to jazz them up a bit. The sunglasses are Gucci, square-framed with that famous stripe on the arms - even I am not immune to the odd logo occasionally peeking out from behind my hair. The capri pants are from Vanessa Bruno in Paris and I love the flat front and length of these. The bag is by the Greek designer Marina Raphael whose styles are modern and architecturally inspired, but always classical. The shoes are old Manolo Blahnik but equally a pair of ballet flats from Rothy's work just as well and are not nearly as pricey. (How did shoes get so damn expensive?)

When September arrives, these clothes help convince me that I’m ready - that I have some sort of ‘plan’. In a week or so, I'll report back as to whether that’s actually panned out. Pray for me.

XXX Moi