9 Breton Top’s To Make Your Ride Or Die

There is not one outfit a striped t-shirt won’t improve. Fact.

Published on2nd October 2017 at 8.52am

With Paris Fashion Week coming to a close this week, I am reminded for the umpteenth time just how effortlessly stylish French women are. I hate to generalise, but what makes them stand apart from us Brits is their reliance on classic, understated pieces. At the epicentre of their wardrobe of staples is the humble, but never maligned Breton top. As cliche as it is, there is only one word for it: it’s chic.

Once the uniform of ruddy French seaman, this little stripe top has risen to the ranks of dressing the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel and a thousand more stylish faces.

A real marinière, like the ones made famous by Saint James, has a certain amount of stripes (20 to be exact) each a specific distance from another (20mm). This classic has only grown more covetable with age, which is proven by the number of times designers like Sonia Rykiel, Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier have revisited it over the years. However, don’t be dissuaded from experimenting with a zebra with new stripes. For instance, Boden’s pink concoction is just as delectable as M.i.h’s top that reference’s Jean-Luc Godard’s iconic 1960s flick Breathless, which starred a Breton-clad Jean Seberg.

Fall in love with these nine endlessly stylish striped tops and just know that investing in one will have dividends for many seasons to come.