A darker autumn look

Young Mim would have approved. (No, I can't
remember what the cow was for, but I still have it.)

For the first time in a very long time, I'm actually excited by what's hitting the High Street this coming season. I was looking at a press shot site earlier this week and was really chuffed to see so much stuff that Younger Mim would have adored: shedloads of Victorian-style blouses, including plenty in black, Biba-esque dresses in dark floral fabrics (Laura Ashley and Monsoon have some particularly good ones coming – that strikes me as quite funny as I'd put 1970s Laura Ashley at the opposite end of the fashion spectrum to Biba), and velvet suits. Yes, it warms what remains of my gothic heart.
I love velvet. It's soft. It's cosy. You don't iron it. Honestly, what's not to love about it? Okay, the real thing, which you can't wash, is a faff, but a bit of washable velour never did anyone any harm.

Part of me really, really wants a velvet suit, only with my rotund figure I worry that the effect will be less alluringly decadent, more 'lost my teddybear mask on my way to a Furry convention'. Maybe I should just stick to jackets. The two velvet jackets I currently own, one teal and one black, are both very battered. I've had them for at least five years, and they were passed on to me by a friend who'd bought them secondhand anyway. This could be the year when I replace them with new ones. (They don't often turn up in charity shops, and the amount of wear I've had out of my others convinces me that velvet jackets are worth the outlay. Though I could wail till next year, when this year's fashions will be making their way into the chazzas.) Victorian shirts are a no-no on me. I've got an awful lot up top, and adding extra volume in the form of frills will be a mistake. That look probably needs to be filed under 'for the petite and perky of torso'. Still, I reckon the 70s-style dresses, voluminous cuffed sleeves, pussybows and all, might work for me.

There's scope for vintage lovers to pick bits off the high street. Shops seem to be taking their main cues from the 1970s (which, as we all know, took a lot from the 1930s and 1940s anyhow), but there are pieces that have the shapes typical of other decades. The wide-legged trousers have 1930s hostess pyjama appeal, and the pussybow blouses (for those not so keen on Victoriana) hark back to the 1940s. I've also spotted some knee-length, squarish coats with big collars, ideal for the 20s-at-heart. Monsoon have some flapperish eveningwear too, but then they always have flapperish eveningwear. Boden seem to be bucking the trend, sticking to their standard 60s-ish style, though even they've got a pussybow dress and blouse in their lineup.

At any rate, I'm glad to see a bit of darkness in fashion. Perhaps it's because I'm a lapsed goth, perhaps it's an age thing, it could be the general state of the world or just the approach of autumn, but I'm becoming rather tired of the cutesy candyland that is most mainstream vintage. It suits some people, but not all and, let's face it, I'm unlikely to win a cute-off any time soon. (Olympic standard at frumping, but hopeless at cute.) I quite fancy cosying up in some wide-legged velvet trousers this autumn.

Do you love a bit of velvet in the autumn? Will you welcome a bit of darkness, or be keeping calm and pastelling on?