In fashion design, primarily in ready-to-wear lines, boyfriend is any style of women’s clothing that was modified from a corresponding men’s garment. Examples include boyfriend jackets, boyfriend jeans, and boyfriend blazers, which are often more unisex or looser in appearance and fit than most women’s jackets or trousers, though still designed for the female form.
The origin of boyfriend fashion is literally borrowing and wearing a boyfriend’s clothes—his distressed jeans, his band tees, his dress shirts, his blazers, his cardigan.
The trend expanded in 2009 when actress Katie Holmes was spotted in public wearing Tom Cruise’s slouchy jeans after a Broadway rehearsal; other celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon, Rachel Bilson, Sarah Jessica Parker, and others began to follow the trend.
There are two main important ways to wear the look: making it oversized, and rolling up the sleeves. The boyfriend trend is all about wearing clothes that look a size too big for the wearer. It is recommended to only go up one size. By rolling up the sleeves, it makes the look more feminine and balances it out while implying that the sleeves would be too long for the wearer’s arms. The boyfriend blazer ranges in many different shades ranging from classic hues of black and gray to whites, pinks, and neons. They are very versatile because they can be worn with a cocktail dress, a skirt and blouse, or even leggings.
This look is my interpretation of the trend by dressing it up with heels and my vintage boyfriend blazer but you can also wear it casually by pairing it with pumps or sneakers and a tee. Making ita versatile staple in our wardrobe.
Jeans: Jahaan jeans, Cape town.
Nautical influences are engrained within the very fabric of menswear. The traditional nautical palette of navy, white and red is both classic and easy to wear, whilst timeless staples such as Breton tops, pea coats and boat shoes have a strong naval/maritime heritage and continue to form an integral part of any true nautical-inspired look.
Of course, with the style holding a perpetual place in the modern wardrobe, it’s hard to class it as a ‘trend’ as such. That said, each year designers and brands deliver their own unique spin on the key pieces, helping to give the classic aesthetic a contemporary twist.
This season the nautical update has centred around four key components: fisherman jackets, jewellery, stripes and seafaring-style prints. The fisherman or rain jacket is a firm favourite regardless of nautical’s popularity, yet this season it ties in well as a stylishly practical option, especially considering our ill-fated summer weather.
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