Outer layer charm for both women and men

In the iconography of style, there are few symbols as loaded with meaning as the trench coat, and that goes for the women’s version as much as the men’s.

It’s all about Hollywood. You could even say, without too much exaggeration, that it’s all about Casablanca, the ultimate wartime romance and a movie that you could safely pitch as the story of a man, a woman and a trench coat. On Humphrey Bogart as Rick, the coolest character in movie history, the belted trench suggests strength, knowledge and secrets to be hoarded. Loosen that belt and who knows what might happen.

For the women, think Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, all glamour and mystery and again, inescapably, the heady almost indefinable allure of movie sex.

Other associations also weigh in to give the trench a classic quality you might think warrants a place in the Timeless 50, (and you can vote on http://timeless50.com/).

Acquascutum and Burberry might both claim to have invented the style, but there is no doubt it came to prominence among British officers in the trenches of the First World War. It has also figured plenty in other movie genres, think Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies or Woody Allen communing with Bogie in Play It Again Sam. Once a coat gets its own movie send-up, its iconic status is assured.

Flats have fought a battle with heels, their arch nemesis, for centuries. They just about weathered the two-inch boost given to Catherine de Medici on her wedding day, which gave a boost to heels for some time after. They came back into style when Marie Antoinette sported heels on the way to the guillotine in perhaps the greatest public relations disaster in footwear history. It was the inimitable Audrey Hepburn, though, in the 1957 movie Funny Face, who ensured that ballet flats would become a staple of every girl’s wardrobe, and qualify in the process for inclusion in the Timeless 50.

Comfort is one reason they will stay there: tottering around on heels all day is not exactly a fun proposition.

But they can also look great with skinny jeans, leggings or a short skirt, whether you are talking the classic lines of dance-shoe specialist Bloch, the elegant originality of London Sole, or the daring of Christian Louboutin.

Flats will always have their defenders, including it would seem the UK’s Trades Unions Congress which was recently to be found debating a ban on high heels for the damage they cause to the suffering feet of Britain’s women.  Ballet flats, it would seem are not only timeless but the healthier option. Vote now for ballet flat’s inclusion in the Timeless 50.

A timeless style icon that will endure

It only takes one little black dress in a woman’s closet to ensure that not a day will go by when she will think “I have nothing to wear”. It’s one of those items–or possibly the only item–that’s suitable for any occasion–a cocktail party, a lunch out with friends, a wedding–you name it. It was even Michelle Obama’s pick for her 17th wedding anniversary.

When you hear “little black dress” you may automatically envision Audrey Hepburn in her long black Givenchy dress, munching on breakfast in front of Tiffany’s. This dress, which she wore for her role as Holly Golightly in the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, was sold at an auction at Christie’s for £410,000 in December 2006. Can you believe a little black dress could be worth that much?

The little black dress dates back even further, actually. Coco Chanel originally made it popular in the 1920s. According to this legendary designer, “Fashions fade, but style remains the same”. Surely, the little black dress will be still be around for many centuries to come.

Would you vote the Little Black Dress to your Timeless 50?