Style icons Anne Hathaway, Kate Middleton, Dua Lipa are fans of houndstooth – how to wear it without looking too retro
- Welcome to the year of Anne Hathaway – the actress has been serving some exceptional looks of late. Among them have been several houndstooth outfits
- Hathaway is not the only one who has been spotted in the bold, timeless print. We get some tips on how to have fun with houndstooth and make it contemporary
Anne Hathaway is on an unparalleled style streak of late. Indeed, this may be her year, despite all the naysayers.
In September, the WeCrashed star sat next to American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour at the Michael Kors show in New York, channelling her Devil Wears Prada character Andie Sachs – right down to the fringe.
The fashion streak has continued this month in New York, with Hathaway appearing in several of her signature high-octane looks for press appointments.
Incidentally, Hathaway also wears an impeccable houndstooth blazer as the Grand High Witch in Roald Dahl’s The Witches on HBO Max.
According to Simpson’s biographer, Anne Sebba, a houndstooth coat may well have helped change world history.
After Simpson’s then-husband, Ernest Simpson, admired the future British king Edward VIII’s houndstooth tweed overcoat, he was sent an identical coat by the royal tailor. Given Simpson was having an affair with Edward, Sebba wrote: “This later gave rise to the jibe that Ernest Simpson was the man who sold his wife for a bolt of cloth.”
It was only a matter of time before houndstooth was restored to prominence.
In recent seasons, it has been spotted everywhere from Versace to Ami Paris and Anine Bing – the pattern works as well for a boxy blazer as it does a fitted midi-dress.
Chanel was not the only couturier to favour the print, a woven tessellation of shapes in a repeated pattern that was first worn by shepherds in the Scottish lowlands in the 1800s.
He later used it in collections including his game-changing 1947 New Look, and on the packaging for his first bottle of Miss Dior fragrance.
Oscar de la Renta’s summer 1992 collection was an ode to the pattern and to sassy, elegant women with busy lives, while Alexander McQueen’s autumn/winter 2009 collection, titled Horn of Plenty, famously parodied fashion and sent out look after look in houndstooth check.
Évelyne Chetrite, founder and creative director of French brand Sandro, often uses houndstooth in her chic and playful designs.
“Houndstooth, or pied de poule in French, is one of the most recognisable iconic prints,” she says. “I love the symbolism of this pattern, and its unique vintage [and] retro look.
“At Sandro, we love to play with codes, aesthetic codes. But when we do, there’s always a twist. For us, houndstooth is a great pattern to have fun with.”
To avoid feeling too retro when you wear it, Chetrite says it is important to create some balance with your outfit.
“You have to associate it with opposite pieces,” she says. “For example, you can pair [a] tweed houndstooth jacket with a vintage denim and a ’70s T-shirt. Because it’s a very ‘bourgeois’ pattern, it’s great to give it a twist to make it modern and contemporary.”
Because of its history and how it has been worn, Chetrite believes houndstooth is the ideal pattern to experiment with.
“It has something almost of an optical illusion. It is classic, timeless and glamorous, and at the same time it’s the perfect pattern to twist,” she says.
Honestly, just ask Anne Hathaway.
