Oxblood and burgundy and bordeaux, oh my!
Or perhaps that should be ‘oh wine!’, given that the hue of the moment seems to be of the kind that you’d swirl about in a wide-bowled glass before quaffing. Either way, wine is the sartorial colour of the moment and I, for one, am crushed as a vino grape.
I’d been attempting to ignore this incoming trend with moderate levels of success. Emails from the likes of Net-A-Porter and Who What Wear advising that I get on board with burgundy were promptly deleted, and I stayed well clear of my usual style haunts. All was going well until last week when I was struck with some kind of summer ‘flu, the kind that leaves you bed-ridden for half a week, and whilst at first this seemed like a positive development – if I couldn’t leave the house, I would be safe from even a street-sighting of burgundy – boredom quickly seeped through my defence wall of constant trash television and a tap-tap-tap later I was knee deep in style blogs and having my ‘burgundy is not a trend’ bubble of pretense punctured by this Fashademic post.
You see, it’s not that I don’t like burgundy but rather that I love burgundy in the all-consuming way that I think I’ll love my (still very much hypothetical) first born child and to that end, do not want to share it. Burgundy is my winter pink, my dramatic red. It’s not that I’m looking to claim credit for being forward-thinking or cutting edge – it is, after all, only a colour, not a copyrightable innovation – it’s just that I don’t want to look like I’m unable to dress myself without first consulting the ‘Vogue Loves’ page.
I know loads of ladies (and gents) who have been here. You figure out a colour/style/way of wearing something that makes you look your best, and then somewhere along the way that very thing that seemed so individual to you and your wardrobe becomes a trend and a version of it is selling like hotcakes on ASOS. Maybe you were op-shopping before vintage was hot property, or were a Manolo devotee before Carrie Bradshaw was a household name (if this is you, I am pea-green at the very thought of your shopping budget), or rocked a fedora before it became a festival mainstay. In any case, I’m thinking you’ll know my pain.
Rather than dropping burgundy from my wardrobe faster than an indie kid ditches their favoured band at the first whiff of commercial success, I’ve decided to ride it out and, after a little inspiration from the archives, amp it up by adding more burgundy to the mix. As my fondness for the hue seems to have primarily manifested itself in the footwear department, I couldn’t stretch it to a full oxblood only outfit and so have thrown in a little white to ensure that I stayed fully clothed and decent for public viewing.
Urban Doll knit (seen before here) / Iris & Ink white silk shirt / ‘Marilyn’ pants by Neuw / Dieppa Restrepo loafers (again) / Colony x Alice Euphemia cat eye sunglasses / vintage necklace / MAC ‘Dark Side’ lipstick
Thanks to Chloe of Fashcapades for snapping these, and for alerting me to the fact that my fallback ‘blogger’ pose seems to be spinning in circles. Only a friend can tell you that kind of awful home truth.
