the extras

I tore this out of a copy of British Vogue five years ago, thinking: "this is a pretty excellent summary of all you need in your closet".






Five years on, I'm struck by how true it is. Nothing on these pages date, and nothing about them is boring either. Not to me anyway.

I enjoy looking at this list from time to time - it's interesting that it always seems to offer a solution, and I appreciate how it offers a range of price levels. I pretty much still want everything on the first page. Actually, I have almost every suggestion on that page.

I suppose at this stage, when you have your basics covered, it's time to move to the next hierachy of needs. What are the special pieces, the extra touches you bring in to express yourself a little more richly through everyday dress?

I'm very much a basics girl, and basics for me aren't so much the foundations as they are essentially, my entire look. But even I sometimes feel a vague yearning for the odd special effect.