Post by CM
We, the people of Ireland, have had no fewer than five whole beautifully sunny days in a row, at the time of writing. It’s enough for anyone to root out their summer holiday clothes (i.e. those items that usually only see the light of day in warmer climes) down from the attic and onto their eager and willing persons. But some of them just don’t seem quite right, if you’re not by the sea or near a meadow in which to frolic. City dressing is a little bit easier, but when you’re in a mid-sized Irish town that’s mostly concrete with a bit of a green area, sunny warm day dressing isn’t a walk in the park. So enter the Breton top.
The Breton top is absurdly easy to style, and looks out of place literally nowhere. Every style icon worth their salt has taken theirs out to play on multiple occasions in numerous settings.
Audrey Tatou as Coco Chanel
Alexa Chung, of course
It’s worth noting that men are more than welcome to rock the Breton as well. It’s with them that it started, in the onion fields of Brittany!
James Dean
You can easily go down the white, blue or black jeans route, with lovely little ballet flats or sandals and some minimal jewellery – you really can’t go wrong with that combo; it’s basically what off-duty Kate Middleton lives in.
But the beauty of the Breton is that it can be styled in unexpected ways as well:
Via cocosteaparty.com
Via threadsandginger.com
Not quite as traditional as the blue or black stripes, I’m rather partial to a red Breton as well, paired with mind-length shorts or something navy.
The best thing about the Breton is that it can be worn all year round. If you can, get yourself a few with different stripe thickness and colour, t-shirt versions and varied texture, and you won’t have any trouble getting yourself dressed on these sunny days (that are sure to last!). Save the tropical print maxi or tank top and cut-off denims for your holidays and channel Parisian chic for the school run, sports day or cheeky day off work. The Breton even looks great drinking cans of cider down in the park – you can take my word for that 😉
