What to wear on Christmas Day? Taffeta gowns come out on top amongst London style set
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In an unexpected turn of events, the most fabulous outfits waiting to be worn this Christmas day would not look out of place on the cover of Tatler — circa December 1986. Indeed, mink shawls (Granny’s, from the Eighties) and taffeta ball gowns are go. The decade has succeeded in gripping popular culture by its fuchsia hemline — from the return of Rupert-Campbell Black and the whole Rivals entourage, through to Alessandro Michele’s new vision of Valentino which, during his debut catwalk show in Paris this September, showed a handful of gowns torn straight out of Jilly Cooper’s playbook. You can’t miss the mood which has been stamped on Oxford Street: his designs currently line the windows of Selfridges.
Playing their part as leaders of the renaissance are Gen Z cool girls Apple Martin, 20, nepo-royalty as daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, who wore one of Michele’s sapphire, strapless creations to drift into Le Bal des Débutantes in Paris this November, and Angelica Kendall, 19, the Brazilian model crowned by British Vogue as the next great supermodel in their January 2025 issue. She is pictured on cover, in front of a roundabout, wearing a similar jewel-hued number from the Valentino Spring 2025 runway, complete with an ermine-esque stole.
While over the summer months it was Bonfire of the Vanities-appropriate puffball mini skirts which flew off Abercrombie and Fitch’s shelves and stampeded through town, the fashion fluent now are looking to go the full Upper East side gala supper, and invest in blow-out ball gowns for the big day.
