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Stripe Tease

This Spring/Summer sees stripy garments at their leanest and meanest. Liz Mallett reads between the lines.

Stripes have been around for a while. We all raced down to Topshop last year to buy that baggy wool jersey with its chunky alternating bands of grey and black. This season it's time to play it down. Thick all-over stripes have been replaced with sharp, sporty highlights. Now stripes are providing the accent rather than the main show.

Try red or navy and white underlayers or accessories. Perhaps a crisp vertical lined vest peeping from under a cool linen jacket or daintily striped cargo belt tied loosely over a shirt. It's also fun to wear sharp vertical lined cropped trousers with skinny white belt and pumps. A densely striped scarf or bag can be juxtaposed with mat areas of colour for a clean contrast.

Stripes are also moving away from the nautical look into a more sporty field. Lacoste socks and jerseys provide that preppy Ivyleague original look. Ideally, you look like you might be slouching around the tennis court on your Spring break in the Hamptons. But if you can't afford Lacoste and don’t have a place at Harvard its still great to tailor your stripes for a clean-cut American fresher look.

For a more gown up twist of the line see Max Mara's pinstripe suits where the classic office look has been reworked to a casual breezy finish. Roll up the sleeves and keep it slightly tousled to banish businesswoman fastidiousness forever.

This season stripes are also likely to emphasise edges rather than providing dense all over pattern. Select jackets with sharply outlined rim around the collar or pencils skirts with a crisp band of contrasting colour at the hem. This kind of outline gives distinct delineation and emphasises cut. 

So keep it clean. And get out your tennis racquet…