Comfort is the sole aim

The perfect affordable velvet jacket has arrived, berets are cool and high street shoes get a boost. Our fashion editor celebrates

Patently good

It has been a dramatic week for Gap. First, the reports that some of its suppliers have been subcontracting to manufacturers who employ children in India, then the swift promise to sever links with those factories. Pierre Hardy, who designs the shoes at Balenciaga and Hermès that account for some of the most creatively challenging ideas on the catwalks and also heads up his own line of accessories, has huge faith in the brand. “It’s iconic, isn’t it? Everyone can picture Gap’s aesthetics - that clean, American, slightly Seventies thing.”

You would expect Hardy to be an enthusiast. His first collaboration with Gap - a pair of patent platform sandals and two flat pumps, manufactured in various colours in Brazil - goes on sale tomorrow. Together with the arresting Gap ads in which he is starring this autumn, these are likely to put paid to his status as a designer revered by the cognoscenti. At £55 and up, they exude a desirability too often missing from high-street shoes - and they’re comfortable.

“Comfort - that’s the first thing women comment on, always. Even when they’re in my studio trying on 10-cm heels. It’s as if they have to justify the purchase every time,” Hardy observes. “But yes, these are comfortable. It’s because of the padded soles, something I wanted to do with my own line for years, but never quite managed.”

At 51, he never trained as a shoe designer, but as an arts graduate he found their sculptural qualities irresistible. “Unlike clothing, shoes aren’t really altered by the body wearing them. It comes down to being able to control the finished effect better, which sounds a bit freakish, I suppose.”

The neatest of men, which implies considerable control, Hardy suggests that one reason women have developed a seemingly excessive taste for shoes in the past decade is that “while men are happy to wear vintage shoes, old and well looked-after, for a woman a shoe is like make-up, it has to be pristine and fresh. It’s a way for her to feel powerful and renewed, although in reality it makes her fragile when they’re so high.”

Hardy is happy designing flats, as is testified by this taster collection (and the ten styles he has produced for Gap for next spring, including a gladiator sandal that nails the season).

“Flat can be as much a statement as high. What’s difficult is medium – and what seemed high three years ago looks medium now. We keep pushing to extremes.” Not that he’s worried. “Women are prepared to put up with a certain amount of pain to look good,” he says, “and no shoe is as painful as plastic surgery.”

Head cases

The message that this is a hat-heavy season has already embedded itself in the national consciousness. The Times fashion desk has noticed legions of berets on the streets, never mind the number on the red carpet as Juliette Lewisites grope for ever more novel ways of letting the world know how bohemian they are – or telling their stylists and agents to let the world know.

Obviously compared with the KGB-style caps at Costume National or the Little Miss Muffety doylies with ribbons at Betty Jackson, a humble beret might seem tame. You say compromise, we say versatile. Key, of course, is not to look as though you're trying to be Cate Blanchett trying to be a member of the resistance. Worn correctly, a beret looks as cute as, well a beret. Correctly means wearing it with an ample swish of hair, pulling it low on the head in a nononsense statement.

Verily berets haven’t had it this good since those mischievous courtiers told an innocent Lady Di that she would go straight to hell if she didn’t support British millinery at all times. Comptoir de Cotonniers has excellent ones (£39).

Buy this

We haven’t found much to get excited about at Hobbs lately, but the velvet jacket (in picture gallery above) has it all. Well cut, soft velvet with a polished gleam and nicely placed pockets, it’s a refreshing and sophisticated alternative to cardigans.

The perfect accompaniment to masculine trousers, jodhpurs and white shirts, T-shirts, the perennial tunic dress and yes, jeans.

It’s a fraction of the price of one by Dolce e Gabbana or YSL but we think you’ll get a satisfying amount of wear out it. In camel or black, priced £99.