Trends
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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
The flap bag is the safest buy of the season
The shape that has never actually been out. This year it comes puffier.
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Peaking now
Pearls, but irregular and worn with denim
Uneven shapes, layered strands, no occasion required. Pearls have lost the formality.
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Rising
Coloured tights are a fashion decision again
Pea green, burnt orange, printed wool. The cheapest colour you can add to an autumn outfit.
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Always works
Headbands, claw clips and the case for the cheap accessory
Consistently among Amazon’s best-selling accessories, and the category where spending more buys the least.
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Peaking now
The bow grew up
Satin, lace and velvet rather than grosgrain. The version that works past twenty-five is a material question.
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Rising
Watches: yellow gold, smaller cases, coloured dials
The one accessory most women wear every day, and the one they think about least.
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Rising
Socks you are supposed to see
Pea green, burnt orange, nature-print wool. The two inches of ankle between shoe and hem is now doing work.
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Rising
Pink is being sold as a neutral. Is it?
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.
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Rising
The bolo tie is a necklace now
A cord, a slide and two metal tips. Worn with a shirt rather than a western outfit, it is the sharpest thing here.
Outfit ideas
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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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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.
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A blazer with jeans, and the four ways it goes wrong
The most-worn smart-casual outfit in America, and the one most often let down by its accessories.
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Dressing the top nine inches
A camera crops you at the collarbone. Almost every accessory you own is below the frame.
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Sunday lunch with people who will comment
Family lunch has its own dress code, and most of it is about not looking like you tried too hard or not at all.
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The five-minute swap that makes summer clothes work in September
You do not need autumn clothes yet. You need to change four accessories and keep wearing what you own.