For years, collars have been my style kryptonite: twee, whimsical, cute, prim, all of the things that I adore. Back in the late noughties, I was a 20-something blogger who religiously bought Lula magazine, listened to Au Revoir Simone and admired stylist Leith Clark, it girl Alexa Chung, director Sofia Coppola and actor Zooey Deschanel - of course I wore oversized collars.
(I swear I am not a manic pixie dream girl, though I am definitely peak white whimsical hipster...)
Back then, my collars were generally rounded Peter Pan style, sometimes intricate lace. Eventually, as fashion and I changed, my penchant for collars began to feel a little childish. I flirted with a more minimal or ‘sophisticated’ approach (yuck, who decides 'sophisticated'?) - but I always came back to collars.
Now, I am 36-years-old and the collars have grown along with my confidence in my own twee, whimsical, cute, prim personal style. Today, designers like Twenty-seven Names, Kowtow, Ganni, Miu Miu, Vampire’s Wife, Batsheva, Simone Rocha, Erdem, Vivetta and Bora Aksu (the latter two incidentally both styled by Leith Clark) are offering playful takes on this charming detail.
The difference now, compared to the twee late noughties, is that collars are oversized and unapologetic, from bib to pilgrim style. But really, any size collar will do. The key to pulling it off is a winking confidence in that it is slightly obnoxious and silly - darling, that’s the fun of it.
Scroll, and click on the + symbol, to shop some of our favourite big ass collars from local designers and boutiques.
