Go-go gingham!

Dear Tatty, As a flaming friend of Dorothy’s, I’m no stranger to a spot of gingham. Eyeing up the new Tatty Devine Gingham range (just a tiny taste of the joys to come from the A/W10 seasonal collection) I’m transported to the sock aisle in Woolworths, back-to-school shopping. The boy socks my mum was forcing into the basket were sad and grey… completely lacking in any sort of sparkle. I looked with hungry eyes at the girls' section. Just out of grasp of my sweaty boy fingers were rows and rows of the most perfect little white socks, all sporting gingham ruffles at the ankles in different shades. As a child this sort of sartorial stimulation literally set my head spinning… thinking about rocking up to school in a pair of these badboys, with gingham shorts and shirt to match. Even then I was all about the matching maximalism. Gingham: the tartan of the countryside. Until this year it’s had a bit of a bad rep. Lumped in the pile marked “obsolete camp,” this classic print has finally been rescued by taste makers and fashion’s rule breakers. It started with some Christopher Kane lovelies and then Peter Jensen was chucking gingham down the catwalk and BOOM! Now there’s no print hotter to cover yourself in. For “full immersion” choose a selection of these pieces in different colours (I would go for the Heart Earrings, Pocket Hair Barrette in blue and Pocket Brooch in pink) and affix to a complimentary, but different shade of gingham (green… purple… brown…). It’s the same sort of mathematics applied to mixing animal prints or different shades of pink: it all goes together… you just have to go the whole hog and really commit to it. Posh school summer dresses make great thrifty gingham bases for this kind of layering, or vintage stores like Beyond Retro have loads of gingham blouses in at the moment (you may even find a rare gingham colourway. Orange? Lime green? Yes please!): For a less festive take on the gingham capsule collection: simple and chic does it. A white blouse in starched cotton or billowing silk is crying out for its own little gingham pocket, which come with a little button sewn on:To die for, right? I also think these pieces look great on lads wearing a simple white vest: Or rather than the mix-and-match colour approach, for men perhaps stick to all one colour gingham: This style looks great worn on double denim too (especially if one half of the look is a battered old denim boyfriend shirt, worn baggy and with a tan.) Personally, I look no further than HRH for tips on how to work a bit of gingham. The Queen of Country and ruler of my heart: I’ll leave you with Miss Dolly Parton: Love, John John William is a regular stylist for Tatty Devine www.pucemoment.com