Are We Suffering From Tweed Fatigue?

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

No matter that Marc Jacobs decided that a tweed pencil skirt, prim sweater, and velvet bow belt was what we should all wear this autumn, or that Michael Kors, in his final collection for Celine, decreed that a ladylike tweed skirt suit was the must-have look this season.


After what seems like months of glossy magazine spreads proclaiming tweed as the look of the moment, and shop rails bursting with all sorts of tweedy options, the tide seems to be turning. Tweed fatigue has set in.


Unfortunately, celebrities seem to have taken the look a bit too literally – the kiss of death for most fashion trends. When Beyonce dined at Cipriani with her boyfriend Jay Z last week, she wore a gray tweed pencil skirt, black silk shirt, diamond brooches and bracelets, and a plush black fur stole.


Of course, the radiant singer can pull off most looks, but she is best suited to the kind of showy frocks befitting a soul diva rather than the style of Joan Crawford in “The Women,” George Cukor’s film where tweeds, furs, and jewels play a leading role.


The other crucial point to remember for anyone adopting the ladylike look is that a bared midriff and a grown-up tweedy skirt simply do not mix. Beyonce tied her silk shirt in a knot to bare her buff stomach – which is fine for Miami beach but with a tweed skirt, it looks all wrong. Similarly, Geri Halliwell, out last week with Darius, attempted ladylike chic with a pencil skirt that hung on her hips rather than sitting correctly on her waist.


Veer too much the other way and you could end up looking like Miss Marple. Madonna recently wore a Miu Miu suit with fur collar, croc belt, Mary Jane shoes, and a matching vanity case and looked like an extra from an Agatha Christie miniseries.


A modern way to wear tweed is with denim. A jacket with a camisole or vest and some beaten-up jeans is, as Sarah Jessica Parker proves in her Gap ads, the way anyone with style is wearing tweed this winter. Alternatively, wear one piece at a time – whether it’s a pair of cropped tweed trousers with boots and a colorful fitted sweater, or a fitted tweed waistcoat over a mannish white shirt.


Less is definitely more when it comes to tweedy dressing. Busta Rhymes helped fellow rapper Sean Combs to celebrate his 35th birthday wearing a salt-and-pepper tweed waistcoat, hat, and a fur-trimmed full-length coat. Too much tweed, even on the coolest folk, is never a good look.


The New York Sun

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