moloh: moloh on Bourbon and Pearls blog

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2014

LE STYLE ANGLAIS

We English (and by that I really mean us Brits) are known for a few things: incessantly talking about the weather, how else could one possibly pass the time of day with a stranger? Dithery flustered stammering at awkward social events (none of that confident Californian ease for us) and quietly judging a person for using the words 'toilet' 'settee' and 'living room' - although 'lounge' is even worse in my book. Frankly, the war might be over but it's a social minefield out there. One wrong step and you will be stuck in No Man's Land.

There is one other thing for which we are known which Vogue bizarrely insists on wrapping in French vowels, 'le style anglais' but which I prefer to think of as 'the latter day Bloomsbury Bluestocking', an image that quietly whispers 'intellectual insouciance' but is quite happy to shout if no one is listening.

The woman who wears this look knows her 'Woolf' from her 'Pound' and is as comfortable striding across our green and brown mottled land as heading 'up to town'. Think Mitford sisters and Land Girls with their buff coloured library tickets tucked into their inside pockets.

It is not a look for all, in fact, one could say it is more of a vocation than a trend, as a woman who falls into its tweedy embrace at 20 will remain earthed in the soft folds of its muted colour pallet until she reigns as a grand dame.

If you feel the velvety embrace of the style of this sceptred isle, then may I direct you to Moloh, who are based in Gloucestershire.

Caroline Smiley's designs are just at home on the streets of Notting Hill or Edinburgh as in they would be in the well thumbed pages of Evelyn Waugh.

Those who embody the style & a little Moloh...