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Couture Week in Paris, and the temperature was nine degrees cool. There weren’t many people present at the party and they wore their corsets, mesh dresses and satin bra tops, sans manteau, regardless.
Actress Florence Pugh made a statement of her own, wearing a dog-walking coat that might once have been his name. fleece, borg liner, camping jacket…
It cost Pugh £890, and she wore it with heels, a mini skirt, and lots of Valentino accessories. But still, it’s a casual piece that’s newly seen in a high-fashion context. Any enthusiast Vogue the writer said that his choice “ricochets through the fashion industry” [sic].
Hyperbolic, sure. But a good excuse for us all to note that the humble fleece is now considered an It item. The styles that meet the Fashion Criteria are very different from sportswear fleeces, or the dull and smelly sherpas that the dog actually walks in.
The comfort is there, but so are some design details; Drawcord waists and exaggerated collars, coarse grain hood ties and satin quilted pockets. They are taller than hoods, but not as smart, or as heavy as a proper shearling coat.
Fleeces have appeared on the catwalk at Stella McCartney, Dior and Louis Vuitton in recent seasons, and the current offering on Net-A-Porter covers organic cotton, cashmere and silk-blend versions, with prices rising up to £5,500. It’s fine if the fiber material is luxe, but if you’re paying more than £300 for a coat made from recycled polyester then, really, you might as well have been fleeced.
The high street retailers are calling them “borg” jackets, and are actively showing us how they make great series tools. See how £29.50 fleece was used in a “shirt sandwich” at Marks & Spencer, topped with a cream knit and striped shirt.
Borg gilet (£29.50, Marks & Spencer)
This concept of clashing materials in your layered look has caught on from independent labels such as Marfa Stance, whose creative director Georgia Dant says it’s all about “textural play”.
“Our shearling liner is reversible and modular which means there are endless ways to layer and update with our unique built-in accessories (like collars and hoods) for both style and function,” Dant says of how she developed a mix and match concept that can be adapted depending on the weather and the desired effect.
“In winter we love to combine with other pieces of outerwear, for example under a bulky Parachute Parka with exaggerated proportions. As it gets warmer towards spring, it can be layered over a more subtle piece of outerwear such as a denim or leather jacket, and in spring it can be worn on its own over a summer dress or light knit with for a refreshed and different look.”
Marfa Stance panel color pairs – khaki, cream and coral, navy, black and burgundy – are a design signature. Elsewhere, ecru tones are among the most popular this year (match your fleece top with your Instagram-friendly boucle couch) but you could also embrace the trend’s high-visibility roots in a bolder colour.
Fleece was invented in 1973, when rock climber Yvon Chouinard wanted a quick-drying, but still warm, alternative to wool. He combined two types of polyester material – one of which was intended for use as a toilet seat cover material – and sewed them together to make a prototype. Based on his first light jacket design, he launched his Patagonia brand – estimated to be worth $3 billion today. For many years, that unglamorous history meant that fleece was treated as a purely functional garment – but now, no more.
Patou, the LVMH-owned Parisian house founded by Jean Patou in 1914, is Pugh’s main style. from wearing restrictive clothing.
He was one of the first to offer a liberating sportswear line to wear around town – obviously not using the kinds of high-tech, stretchy materials we usually wear in sportswear now, but still an early recognition of the ethos that couture and comfort could. coexistence
It is not known whether Pugh knew this history or not. But you might suspect that Patou might have enjoyed the reinterpretation, 110 years later, of a camping jacket in his name being worn amid the razzmatazz of couture week.
fashion fleeces
Windproof sports gilet (now £35, H&M); Borg fleece (£130 boden.co.uk)
Stack jacket (£129, arket.com); Sherpa Jacket (£158, uk.varley.com); Cotton blend fleece (£550, JW Anderson at net-a-porter.com)
Five items you’ve always owned that are now in fashion
Poplin shirt
Wear the classic striped shirt with jeans, or smart trousers, and a statement belt.
Leggings
Wear them again the way of the 1980s, with a large shoulder blazer.
Fine stripe shirt, £95, With Nothing below; Thermal leggings, £16, Marks & Spencer
bell slippers
Wear them anytime, anywhere – not just at home.
baseball cap
No logos, ideally in corduroy material.
corduroy slabs
For men and women, in all colors and cuts.
Telluride slippers, £64.50, Penelope Chilvers at snowandrock.com; Unisex border, £38, LuluLemonTrousers, £55, John Lewis
