What’s hot, what’s not, and what to wear it with
Women’s accessories, read from the collections and the shopping pages both. We tell you where a trend came from, whether it has actually arrived, and where to buy the version that costs $20 instead of $2,000.
This week’s edit
Every week-
The fortnight the season turns
Summer stock is at its cheapest, the fall colour reports have landed, and for once the two things point at the same shopping list.
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Peaking now
The swap of the month: straw out, leather in
Not a big bag. A comically large one, carried on purpose — and the shape most likely to wreck your shoulder.
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Peaking now
Still summer: the bandana, not the cap
Vintage paisley, worn with good sunglasses. The bit of headwear that says you left the house on purpose.
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Rising
New colour on the table: soft pink
Soft pink is one of the season’s key bag colours, and the neutral claim holds — but only for about half the pinks on sale.
Peaking right now
All trends-
Peaking now
Burgundy is the new neutral
Deep wine has quietly taken the job black used to do — and it is easier to wear than it sounds.
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Peaking now
Top-handle bags, and why they change how you stand
Structured, compact, carried in the hand. The most formal thing you can do to an outfit without changing it.
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Peaking now
Beaded bags have stopped being just for weddings
Beadwork, embroidery and small jewelled bags — carried with denim, not just with a dress.
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Peaking now
The unstructured bag, and why it needs good leather
Buttery, frameless, meant to age. The one trend this season where the material is not negotiable.
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Peaking now
Clutches got strange, and better for it
A bag that holds a phone and a card, and exists to be looked at. The least practical thing here, deliberately.
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Peaking now
The flap bag is the safest buy of the season
The shape that has never actually been out. This year it comes puffier.
Shop by category
All categories-
Jewelry
The fastest way to change an outfit without changing clothes. Earrings do the most work for the least money.
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Bags
Shape first, colour second, size last. The bag sets the register of the whole outfit.
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Scarves & wraps
The cheapest colour you can add to an outfit, and the only accessory that also keeps you warm.
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Belts
A belt is the difference between wearing a dress and styling one.
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Hats
The accessory most people rule out and then discover suits them.
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Hair
The lowest-cost, highest-frequency accessory category there is.
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Sunglasses
Frame shape is the whole decision. Everything else is colour.
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Watches
Quietly the most-worn thing in this list.
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Gloves & hosiery
The cold-weather accessories that read as deliberate rather than practical.
Outfit ideas
All outfits-
A white shirt and straight jeans, five ways up
The outfit everyone owns. What you hang on it is the entire difference between errands and dinner.
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The black dress, without the pearls-and-heels default
A plain black dress is a blank surface. The mistake is treating it as a finished outfit.
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School run to lunch without going home
The accessories that survive a car, a playground and a coat, and still work sitting down.
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The first properly cold day
Four items that turn a coat into an outfit, all of which also keep you warm.
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Wedding guest, and the bag nobody plans for
The dress gets months of thought. The accessories get bought the day before, which is the wrong way round.
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Interview accessories: the ones that stay out of the way
The only outfit on this site where the goal is for the accessories not to be remembered.
On the way in, on the way out
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Rising
The hobo bag came back and brought the 2000s with it
Curved, slouchy, worn high under the arm. If you owned one the first time round, you already know how to wear it.
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Rising
Fuzzy bags, and the one rule that keeps them out of novelty territory
Texture is the season and fur is the loudest version of it. Keep the shape boring.
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Rising
Animal print, and the case for anything but leopard
Zebra, python and cowhide are the fresher half of this. Leopard is the half everyone already owns.
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On the way out
Raffia: buy it now, at the price it is now
A summer trend at the end of its summer. Which makes this the sensible month to buy one.
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On the way out
What’s not: the tiny gold chain
Every source we read this month says the same thing: minimalism is over. Here is what that actually means for a wardrobe you…
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On the way out
Shells, cowries and the last of the summer jewellery
Oversized spiral pendants, cowrie strands, turquoise. Peaked in July — which is precisely why it is worth buying in August.
From the journal
All articles-
How to buy jewelry online without being disappointed
Six specifications that are usually on the listing, and which predict almost everything about how a piece will feel to own.
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The five accessories that do the most work
If you were starting again with nothing, these five would cover almost everything, and they are not the five most people would…
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Why your necklace never sits right
It is almost always length, and almost never the necklace.