Claudia Winkleman’s tartan goth Traitors style shouldn’t work – but it does

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Is my wardrobe crying out for a kilt? It’s not a query I believed I’d ask myself. However then I didn’t reckon on the Claudia Winkleman impact. Within the second episode of The Traitors’ second season, the presenter strode into the breakfast room carrying a tartan pleated skirt in shades of inexperienced and navy, and I’ve not been capable of cease serious about it since.

In concept, Winkleman ought to’ve appeared like she was cosplaying as a bagpiper or paying homage to an old-fashioned uniform. And but she didn’t – she regarded unimaginable. However the presenter has type for pulling off appears to be like that maybe shouldn’t work, however undeniably do. Consider the eye-skimming full fringe. The thick eyeliner. The orange tan. If the remainder of us tried to recreate this signature fashion, it’d in all probability elevate eyebrows, or result in pointed feedback about whether or not we’d been on vacation not too long ago. For Winkleman, although, it’s a part of her distinctive attraction, making her one of the crucial recognisable ladies on British telly. She’s even joked that her distinctive look helped her construct her profession: “I used to get work as a result of for those who couldn’t keep in mind a reputation, they’d say ‘That bizarre one with a fringe,’” she instructed The Instances final yr.

The primary collection of The Traitors debuted on BBC One again in December 2022, and have become an sudden rankings smash, pulling in a median viewers of 5.4 million viewers per episode; total, it clocked up 34 million viewers on BBC iPlayer. Winkleman is actually an enormous think about its colossal recognition, and earned a Bafta for greatest leisure efficiency for her presenting function (her fourth nomination and first win).

Sure, the backstabbing, betrayals and thoughts video games that contestants ended up embroiled in made for addictive viewing – however so did Winkleman’s English heritage meets fashion-forward panto villain fashion. Dreamedup with the assistance of her long-time stylist Sinead McKeefry, who studied trend at Central Saint Martins beneath the legendary tutor Louise Wilson and has beforehand labored at The Face journal, Winkleman’s Traitors look mirrored her new guise because the goth girl of the manor. Swapping the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom to stalk the corridors of a fortress within the Scottish Highlands meant that sequins and smiles had been out; of their place was knitwear so outsized it continually appeared on the verge of engulfing the presenter (or not less than teaming up together with her famously vision-obscuring fringe to swallow up her face utterly). The general aesthetic was a intelligent “combination of nation fashion and darkish glamour”, with a touch of Scandi noir (that’d be the jumpers) and TikTok-favoured darkish academia, says Jennifer Richards, trend tutorial and analysis tutor on the Royal Faculty of Artwork.

Additionally on the agenda had been tweed blazers and argyle checks, pussybow blouses and Barbour jackets, accessorised with an array of faintly villainous fingerless gloves (all the higher for rubbing her arms collectively in glee when all of it kicks off on the spherical desk). Oh, and most of those outfits additionally regarded good with a darkish inexperienced hooded cape thrown over them, when Winkleman was communing together with her “traitors” (ie the gamers tasked with eliminating their fellow contestants from the sport, whereas pretending to be 100 per cent “devoted”) in the dark. Throw within the TV star’s heavy rings of eyeliner and trademark radiant pretend tan (she as soon as instructed The Mirror that she “really feel[s] higher after I’m orange” and has claimed that she used previous tea luggage and Bisto granules to get the glow when she was a cash-strapped scholar), and also you take a look that undoubtedly doesn’t make senseon paper. And but Winkleman pulled it off with aplomb each time – and made us need to gown just like the mysterious proprietor of a haunted nation pile, too. 

Winkleman has beforehand cited former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld as a method icon. Maybe unsurprisingly, then,“her Traitors wardrobe completely blends a Parisian effortlessness with the construction and substance of haute countryside appears to be like,” in accordance with Krishan Parmar, a celeb stylist who has labored with stars like Vicky McClure, Anita Rani and Lashana Lynch. Quiet luxurious, he provides, has been an enormous development over the previous yr (in no small half because of Succession’s Kendall Roy and his obscenely priced baseball caps) “and Claudia has nailed this … however as a substitute has tailor-made it to her environment within the Highlands”. Jennifer Richards agrees, pointing to Winkleman’s emphasis on “basic tailoring and timeless items” whereas she’s on the job. However whereas a few of Winkleman’s garments are from excessive finish manufacturers like Saint Laurent, she notes, they “will be simply replicated by means of easy silhouettes and excessive road dupes” – which makes all of them the extra interesting for these of us working on a narrower funds. Equally, McKeefry typically finishes off these appears to be like with equipment from excessive road manufacturers, which “are much more accessible items for anybody to personal”, provides Richards. 

The sartorial bar was fairly excessive for season two, however Winkleman and McKeefry have risen to the problem. The primary three episodes, which landed on iPlayer final Wednesday and performed out on consecutive nights on prime-time BBC One, have been an actual deal with for followers of the presenter’s idiosyncratic trend. 

Up to now, her outfits have spanned the high-low spectrum, from a £749 double breasted coat by luxurious label Holland Cooper, beforehand worn by the Princess of Wales, to a pair of purple leather-based fingerless gloves from Amazon. She’s teamed truthful isle knits with checked trousers tucked into wellies – heritage model Hunter is her typical go-to – like an impeccably turned out Mr Toad from The Wind within the Willows. (I assume that Winkleman wouldn’t be significantly fazed by this comparability, seeing as she beforehand summed up her season one Traitors look as “Princess Anne meets Ronnie Corbett meets Madonna when she married Man Ritchie” – she and co-conspirator McKeefry know the worth of an eclectic reference level). And her night appears to be like have had “a little bit of a rock and roll edge”, like “the pairing of Dr Martens together with her signature leggings and Saint Laurent blazer combos,” notes Holly Macnaghten, a celeb stylist who has labored with the likes of Bridgerton actor Regé-Jean Web page and Every part I Know About Love star Emma Appleton. “It’s these barely off-beat pairings that I feel she and her stylist have actually nailed.” 

Maybe the largest speaking level, although, has been one standout outfit from episode two, when Winkleman wore a inexperienced mohair kilt from Scottish model Brora (the one which impressed my feverish web searches final week) with an outsized khaki cable knit sweater from the Japanese menswear label Kapital, a model that’s “quirkier in its strategy” than her typical Traitors fare, says Richards. On every elbow was Kapital’s vivid yellow smiley face brand, in lieu of a conventional leather-based patch. 

It instantly felt like a basic Traitors Claudia look: countryside stylish, with a recent spin. “I like how her appears to be like this season really feel completely location applicable with robust nods to Scottish heritage all through … however are all given a contemporary twist that feels cool somewhat than cosplay,” says Macnaghten. Viewers had been obsessed too. Since 3 January, when the episode arrived on iPlayer, luxurious trend web site Mr Porter has seen a 98 p.c carry in searches for Kapital versus the earlier week, with gross sales almost doubling too. The khaki jumper bought out utterly on the location after Winkleman wore it on the present, but it surely’s nonetheless out there in brown. 

What’s significantly interesting about Winkleman’s Traitors look is that, as Macnaghten notes, it by no means appears like fancy gown – and though it’s stuffed with nods to her Scottish backdrop, you may nonetheless really feel her character shine by means of as she leans into the present’s knowingly camp really feel. “There’s a playfulness to it – the pussy bows, the smiley faces,” says Parmar. “They show that her fashion is critical, but it surely’s additionally about having enjoyable.” A trend icon who doesn’t take herself too critically – no marvel we’re 100 per cent devoted to Winkleman’s fashion.