The glitzy adornments aren’t just for Christmas naffness – they have had a cool update on the high street and from designers such as Ashish and Michael Halpern
It is all too easy to throw shade at sequins. Well, not literally, obviously, but for certain fashion tastemakers – let’s imagine them as a cabal of Kinfolk readers who only wear navy, grey and camel-coloured cashmere – sequins are a turn-off. Sequins are not tasteful, in the subtle, understated sense. They seek to attract attention. They are Marilyn, not Audrey. They are Bob Mackie and RuPaul and Jessica Rabbit and Beyoncé on stage in a leotard and Bianca Jagger at the Met Ball in 1974. (I mean, come on, guys. What’s not to love?)
Sequin snobbery is nothing new. In 1955, while accompanying a satin-swathed Grace Kelly to the Oscars, the costume designer Edith Head summed it up with the snooty comment: “Some people need sequins; some people don’t.” This party season, however, even the usually sequin-averse among us may feel the urge to welcome sparkle into their lives.
