While plenty of trends are self-evidently for the under-30s, others become age-inappropriate by association
Rihanna wears a varsity jacket, and Cara Delevingne, and Taylor Swift. These women are 25, 20 and 23. Oh, and Romeo Beckham got papped in his the other day. He's 10.
So you see the problem: the varsity jacket has gone all ageist on us. This is an unexpected development. While there are many trends that are self-evidently for the under-30s – those "pokey" shorts with pockets longer than the legs; anything with an amusing animal face on it – others become age-inappropriate by association. The varsity jacket is one of those.
You may know the jacket I'm wearing as a baseball jacket, or a letterman jacket, depending on vintage – your vintage, that is. Those of us (ahem) old enough to remember Flip in Covent Garden – an 80s temple to baseball jackets and Levi's – might struggle to reclassify this style as a new trend. The rule goes that if you're old enough to have worn a trend first time around, you should bow out of its revival. There was some logic to that when fashion moved at a slower pace and a look took decades to come back. But now, when fashion careers from trend to trend at such breakneck speed that it is liable to come full circle within 18 months, the old law is trickier to enforce. Were I to adhere to it, every hemline between midi and micro mini would be off limits, as would every decade from the 1920s to 1990s. I'd be left with a stark choice between hobble skirts and dress-down Friday chinos.
Therefore, I've decided I'm not really prepared to cede the varsity jacket to the kids. There should surely be some zones within fashion that are permanently accessible to all, not available to be land-grabbed by the latest generation of hipsters. We need a sort of right to roam, but for style rather than countryside. A green belt of clothing options that we know will always be there. Into this category I would put the varsity jacket, along with white T-shirts, jeans and Dunlop Green Flash.
It's only fair. After all, not all of us are young enough to have the option of wearing pokey shorts and a zany animal T-shirt.
• Jess wears varsity jacket, £400, by Oak, from net-a-porter.com. T-shirt, £68, by Lulu & Co, from asos.com. Jeans, £229, by J Brand, from fenwick.co.uk. Shoes, £59.99, mango.com.
Hair and makeup: Dani Richardson, using YSL Beauté.