What I wore this week: this season’s minimalism

This is not a simple case of black and white

Minimalism. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? In theory, you should able to whack on a white shirt and black trousers, and sit back secure in the knowledge you were the epitome of minimal chic. But that’s not quite how it works. Some seasons a white shirt and black trousers is unbeatable. Others, it’s fine, but nothing more. And this autumn is one of the latter.

The waters are muddied here by the fact that some women can slay any room, anywhere, anytime, in a white shirt and black trousers. I know this for a fact because they are a hazard of the job, working in fashion. There I’ll be, slightly effortfully glammed up, and she’ll slink out of some atelier, emanating self-possession and making the rest of us feel like Cinderella’s stepsisters, wearing too much perfume and trying to jam our feet into uncomfortable shoes. It is unbelievably annoying, and also misleading, because this type of woman makes it look as if a white shirt and black trousers is always the answer. And it’s not.