Fashion Brief
Miss Piggy (The Muppets Christmas Carol)
Photograph: Steve Meddle/REX/Steve Meddle/REX
Miss Piggy is, granted, always a style icon, but I love her as Mrs Cratchit, wearing a bonnet, pin curls, lace shawl and a gingham pinafore. And never let it be said that this pig can’t accessorise. The mauve gloves she wears for a walk with hubby (AKA Kermie) and Tiny Tim are a masterpiece of Diana Vreeland levels. Lauren Cochrane
The Queen
Photograph: WPA Rota/Getty Images
The Queen is Britain’s most unappreciated style icon. Our comparative obsession with the Duchess of Cambridge, who dresses only marginally more adventurously than her grandmother-in-law but has thinner legs and glossier hair, says very little positive about us as a nation, frankly. So: let us take a moment, around 3pm this afternoon, to appreciate the fact that Her Majesty nails her Christmas speech look, year after year. Because – leaving aside the actual baby Jesus for a moment – what is Christmas about? Tradition, family, ritual, continuity, welcome, a spirit of deck-the-halls abundance. All those elements are in the Queen’s Christmas Day look. She always, always wears a long-sleeved shift dress in a simple colour, to which she adds – in the same spirit of ritual and abandonment with which the rest of us wear a paper hat for five minutes – a necklace, and a killer brooch at the left shoulder. Last Christmas she wore the primrose dress she had worn to William and Kate’s wedding in 2011, with a diamond, ruby and sapphire brooch given to her by her parents when her own first child, Charles, was born. To Her Majesty, we pay our respects. Jess Cartner–Morley
Lady Mary (Downton Abbey)
Photograph: Nick Briggs
OK, caveat: Lady Mary would be the Christmas lunch guest from hell. Her modus operandi at any social gathering is to lob a cool verbal grenade across the dinner table, sit back and wait for others to start throwing their napkins down and flouncing off. At which point she sits back, raises an eyebrow, takes a sip of claret and watches the drama unfold. She’s a nightmare. But while she may have a virtually sociopathic relation to her nearest and dearest – and, I repeat, I am not endorsing this as festive behaviour – there is no denying that she looks damn good as she wreaks merry havoc. Since Christmas lunch is the only time most of us get anywhere near to sitting down to a family meal as formal as Tuesday night sups chez Grantham, it’s worth taking a few style pointers: 1) Black, lots of it. Never lets you down. 2) A little skin. The little dip behind Lady Mary’s clavicles is accentuated by candlelight; this is not an accident, mark my words. 3) Jewellery: Mary loves her bling. Jet against pale skin; a diamond comb in dark hair – make it stand out. One part Downton cut glass, one part pantomime villain: it’s a recipe for pure festive drama. Jess Cartner–Morley
Morecambe Wise (In Pieces)
Photograph: FremantleMedia Ltd/Rex Features
If Morecambe Wise is a Christmas tradition in your household, you too will have an intimate knowledge of the choreography of the Breakfast Sketch. Of course, this skit is charming and funny – Eric Morecambe slices grapefruits, Ernie Wise whisks eggs, all in time to The Stripper by David Rose. It is also surprisingly chic, showcasing the fashion nous of two of Britain’s unsung loungewear style heroes. Wise sports a turquoise dressing gown with clean, neat lines – no slubby, oversized fleece here – and candy-striped jim-jams. Morecambe takes the prize in a silky gown with psychedelic swirls over purple cotton co-ords. Retro loungewear is enjoying a fashion renaissance of late, and is just the thing for Christmas. These really are some brilliant pyjamas. Hannah Marriott
Kevin McCallister (Home Alone)
Photograph: c.20thC.Fox/Everett/REX FEATURES/c.20thC.Fox/Everett/REX FEATURES
Nobody does Christmas knitwear like Kevin McCallister from the original Home Alone film. Too often movie Christmas jumpers are kitsch and knowing. But Macaulay Culkin’s mastery of knits is blissfully free of the Richard Curtis factor. They’re that bit grittier. His bobble hats and scarf are authentic – you just can’t get the look with a quick trip to Primark. I’m going to overlook a white knit he wears in one early scene and focus on the best movie Christmas jumper ever – the wine chunky rib knit he wears in the boobytrap bits. Worn over a golden T-shirt with his cropped nineties elfin supermodel hair it is a look worthy of Acne or Isabel Marant. That the McCallister home with its polished floors, outdoor fairy lights and giant staircase is the ultimate template for a dream Christmas interior, goes without saying. Imogen Fox
