“Am I allowed to touch that?” Weird as it may seem, being given permission to handle a Fair Isle sweater at Margaret Howell’s showroom felt like a giddy thrill. Well, that might be overdoing it; Margaret Howell and all her works are practically anti-thrilling on principle. But the experience of being able to touch clothes again IRL after more than a year of distanced fashion reporting was (literally) sensational.
The touchy-feelies just begged to be performed because this Fair Isle sweater—in two slightly different beige-y colorways on both the female and male sides of the collection—was made in “undyed sheep wool,” according to the house notes. Verdict? A bit crispy to the touch, yet soft enough to put near to the skin. Knitted loosely on a pattern as if someone might have passed it down for a couple of generations—yet, of course, exactly right for now.
London is unlocked a bit, streets are lined with tables packed with people enjoying eating outdoors (wrapped in coats, scarves, and blankets—but never mind!), and it’s possible, per prebooked COVID-19 protocols, to go on fashion appointments again. Thus the IRL encounter with the Margaret Howell collection.
As far as her Fair Isle sweaters go, there’s nothing more ragingly fashionable for next winter, as anyone who has eyes to see well knows. In the context of Margaret Howells’s ever-wear wardrobe, however, they simultaneously jump out and calmly fit in. Which is exactly one of the nuances of British classicism that she and her team seem to use as a benchmark for the good-looking, useful, and non-trendy things they make look as if they just happened, or might have been around forever.
Thus, the importance of how familiar Margaret Howell things feel to the touch. There are Army green single-breasted raincoats for women and men that have a slightly rumpled, ready broken-in texture. Harris tweed coats which are somehow soft and pliable. Loads of accessories too, like hand-knitted scarves, berets, and usefully capacious bags made by the saddlery company Walsall in the English Midlands. A knitted bandana that is handily a scout scarf or a COVID-19 face covering. The joy of it is how completely suited everything is to life in 2021, right through—we can vouch—to how it all feels.
