Now Trending: Pep Rally

Posted by Julia Neel

You might as well get used to it: peplums are here to stay. They were as big on next season’s catwalk
as they are for this summer.

For the initiated, they can be scary, sure. Extra fabric? Over hips and thighs? Yeah, great idea. But, done right, they can make your waist look tiny, and your legs look long (and skinny).

Take the silhouettes seen at Dries Van Noten and Givenchy, for example. In both collections, trousers were cut close to the leg and ended just above the ankle, and teamed with a drop-waisted peplum (at Dries), or with a waterfall-fronted jacket with ample volume over the hips (at Givenchy). Both designers managed to make the look both fresh and flattering.

Traditionally, peplums have fallen into the remit of mothers-of-the brides; purchasable from dark corners of M&S and at obscure boutiques in the provinces, but this season, they’re everywhere from Marchesa and Alexander Wang in New York, to McQueen and Dior in Paris.

This is a game of contrasts; volume balanced with leanness. Jason Wu played it best in New York, by wrapping ribbon-thin belts around his models’ waists to accentuate womanly curves, as peplums fell in waves over strict pencil skirts or little shorts.

At McQueen, Sarah Burton lifted the waistline to under the bust, and added a slight ruffle to the hem of pencil skirts for an elegant play on proportions that seemed to make legs look miles long – this is an especially good formula for those of us who are in possession of child-baring hips.

Charlize Theron has been championing the look on the red carpet, working peplum-and-pencil combos by Stella McCartney and Lanvin. Coco Rocha got in on the act in Jason Wu’s standout pink and white number, while Zoe Saldana showed how to work a more low-key version of the look in shorts by Prabal Gurung.

Appearing on the hems of little jackets, peplums add a fun new dimension to 9-to-5 skirt suits, too – keep things streamlined by making sure your under layers are form-fitting.

You will have to wear a heel with this look. Fact. Unless you’re blessed with the same proportions as Sasha Pivovarova, this is not a trend that can work with ballet slippers or brogues. Sorry.

Belt wise, make sure yours is thin. Half an inch at most. Any wider and you risk pushing the look back into the realms of ‘church congregation’.

And practice wiggling while you walk, you might as well get used to it.

Shop our pick of super-stylish peplum pieces here.