Averyl Oates, buying director of Harvey Nichols, pinpoints the key trends in the season and tells Deirdre McQuillanhow we should wear them. Enjoy the style, if not the prices
When she's not playing classical pieces on her grand piano dressed in Banana Republic sweats, or holidaying in Ibiza in kaftans, Averyl Oates goes on a worldwide prowl for gorgeous clothes. Buying director of Harvey Nichols, and one of the most powerful women in the fashion business, she is always the epitome of elegance when attending the international catwalk shows. A love of clothes that began as a hobby now forms her working life.
Apart from well chosen DKNY, Balenciaga and Andrew Gn pieces for the store, and a host of other brands carefully tailored to customer taste, she can take serious risks, too. Last season she bought into Balenciaga's extraordinary Terminator-style armoured gold leggings, at €8,500 a pop, and Beyoncé was one of the first customers.
So what is Oates wearing this winter? She has bought an Alice Temperley knitted dress, and she tells me that "it's colour blocked, in keeping with current trends, and I already have my YSL belt from two seasons ago. Definitely a belted look is important this winter. I have so much from Stella , so much nice knitwear which I'll wear with big chunky belts." Her best advice is to get a good belt "and slap it on everything, either a YSL chunky number or a slim Versace". As for shoe boots, this winter's key footwear trend, add to cart.
As visitors to Harvey Nichols in Dundrum will know, Oates is a huge fan of Lanvin, and will be seen this winter in a long-sleeved fuchsia silk dress, a real statement piece "which really suits me. I am so into dresses and they are so easy. Black and grey are always staples, but our Continued from previous page
customers look for colour. I do think that people are going to wear black with a pop of red or pink, maybe with those McQueen 'sex on legs' shoes in shiny red patent".
She was aghast, she says, at some of the winter shows. "I mean, how were we going to do the Joan of Arc look [from John Galliano] commercially? But then, I thought, we will buy a couple of skullcaps and have covered the trend. It is much more commercial because there is only so much you can pick up without being dressed head to toe in a certain look. We have bought very strongly into Balenciaga - the cutaway jackets and jodhpurs - and Andrew Gn's amazing embroidered sleeveless dresses. We also have a few exclusives, like Giambattista Valli's double wool coats, and the Alaia shearling coats, at €6,500, will be this season's equivalent of the Balenciaga leggings."
Does she think jodhpurs will catch on as streetwear? "I think you have to be skinny and tall to wear them. I love them, but commercially it was pretty difficult to get customers into skinny jeans, and I think that people are welcoming wide-leg pants instead. It's the 1940s look and so easy to wear and glamorous when worn with slouchy DKNYs tweeded knits." As for the season ahead, "you can do little things like buy a belt and shoes, and be in tune with what is going on in fashion. Or you can go to extremes and buy a studded Burberry trench. But one beautiful blouse that makes a really dramatic statement can be enough."