RETURN OF THE WRAP TOP

September 19, 2017 by Mary Cate Smith

Rise of the Wrap Top – Your New Wardrobe Staple

The wrap top – it’s your new sartorial hero. While it’s not quite time to swathe oneself in layers upon layers of voluminous fabrics, there’s a nip in it all the same. Cue the multi-purpose, much-neglected wrap-around. We all loved the off-the-shoulder top for the summer season but the time is now to embrace the wrap top. With just a sliver of skin on show, (unless you go full cleave) you can convey the charm of your clavicle without an ounce of pit on display. Winning from all corners, so.

The History of Wrap

Don’t you just love clothes with a history? Although Diane von Furstenberg is lauded as the creator of the wrap dress, the style had been around for several decades before. Legendary bad boy Charles James actually invented the first wrap dress in the 1930s. Known as the Taxi Dress, James wanted a dress that women could slip in and out of in the back of a taxi. I changed into this wrap top from Dresses.ie in a Crannog in Wexford Heritage Park so I like to think I was honouring the memory of the godfather of couture, as James was known. James didn’t shy away from scandal or quirk; he accused Halston of being a copycat; he emptied a jar of cockroaches on the front desk of the Delmonico Hotel in a fit of rage at having been asked to pay his rent and during the 60s, he lived in room 624 of the Chelsea Hotel, his bed at the end of on a spiral path surrounded by his books.

Channel your inner prima ballerina

The wrap top can conjure up some serious ballet connotations. I’d like to think I can bust out some serious moves on any dance floor but the Great Unwashed would probably beg to differ. Suffering from self-diagnosed Dyspraxia and hypochondria, the very thoughts of joining an actual dance class shrouds me in shame and fear but wrap tops channel off-duty ballerina without ever having to move a muscle. Score!

Do you dare to wrap up?

If the thoughts of wearing a wrap top send shivers down your spine and you can’t help thinking of the dreaded pirate ’80s, wear it in the hue du jour – flamin’ Nora pink. The more sophisticated the sleeve, the better. Think leg o’mutton, bell jar, bat wing, Juliet, peasant, Bishop; your arm is the linchpin of this look. Make your bottom half look like it’s on Xanax; a bright colour with intricate sleeves will have appropriate amphetamine appeal. Go as bright and breezy with your shoes as you so please. I like to think that these shoes scream “Carrie Bradshaw at a boudoir shoot meets border control police woman” (imagine the stuff those gals get to confiscate!) Can you believe they’re PENNEYS, hun?

Wrapping it Up

How will you wear yours? Here are my top fave wrap tops from the highstreet. Click on the image below to view and buy. These products are affiliate links which means if you click and loads and loads of you click and I get to a minimum amount, I get to cash in a few cents. That would be great, thanks!