Twinsets go from uptight to easy: ‘Look put together without thinking too much’

At Milan fashion week Gucci’s creative director, Sabato De Sarno, picked up on an enduring moment in street and runway style: the twinset. On Gucci’s spring/summer 2025 runway, it appeared as a bandeau made from coffee-coloured jacquard with a matching jacket. To De Sarno, the twinset represents “casual grandeur”, an irreverent and easeful approach to dressing that hails from simpler times (specifically, times that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis went on holiday in Capri).

According to Sophie Barker, a stylist and the co-founder of the fashion directory Homeroom, the latest revival of twinsets began just over five years ago when Katie Holmes had a viral moment wearing a beige cardigan and matching bralette by the New York designer Khaite. Within an hour of a photo of the actor wearing the cashmere twinset appearing online, the bra had sold out.

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The twinset is versatile: it can be preppy and minimal, or streetwear and casual. It’s perfect for trans-seasonal weather since the outer layer adds warmth – or can be wrapped around the shoulders when the sun comes out. For Barker, it endures because it is conveys effortlessness. “It’s the easiest way to look put together without thinking too much about it,” she says.

Twinsets have been embraced by luxury brands including Prada and Dior, as well as Australian designers including Venroy and Scanlan Theodore. It sits at the intersection of a Venn diagram of the biggest trends from the last few years: quiet luxury, the return of 90s fashion and appearing “demure’”.

The earliest evidence of a twinset seems to be a Coco Chanel design from 1918: a long-line cardigan over a high-necked top in a yellow, grey and navy horizontal stripe. Since Chanel is widely credited with casualising womenswear by introducing sporty silhouettes that were practical and easy to move in, it makes sense that the twinset was her creation.

The style has experienced several resurgences since. In the 1950s and early 60s it was worn with pearls and championed by Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. In the late 80s and early 90s the take was low-key and stripped back, with stars including Winona Ryder, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston styling it with capri pants and slip skirts.

Wynn Crawshaw, the designer behind the New Zealand brand Wynn Hamlyn, says brands are modernising the look with twinsets made in plush fabrications and different proportions – like the cashmere worn by Holmes.

Margie Woods, the creative director of Viktoria and Woods, says the style has been a staple in some women’s wardrobes. She has featured versions of the twinset in her permanent collection since 2004. “Our customer has never waited for it to become ‘a moment’ to appreciate its value,” she says.

Woods puts this resurgence down to surprising styling. “I think traditionally the twinset has always had a conservative stigma … Its return has more to do with its liberation,” she says. “It’s a sleek silhouette for someone who styles it with a tailored pant and walks into the office, but it’s fun and flirty on someone with a micro mini.”

If you’re drawn to twinsets but wary of looking like a secretary from an early season of Mad Men, Crawshaw suggests playing with styles and textures when you’re putting an outfit together. “If the knitwear is cashmere or merino, wear it with interesting jeans or cargo pants to mix it up,” he says. “If the knit is chunkier and more oversized, pair it with a slip skirt or tailored pants and loafers.”

For formal offices, Barker suggests pairing twinsets with wide-legged wool trousers and chunky accessories – like silver or gunmetal chain necklaces. If your workplace dress code has eased, or you work in a creative environment, she says a fitted wool twinset will also work with low-slung baggy jeans and a bulky black leather belt.

The simplicity of the combination – a snug underlayer in a silhouette coordinated with an outer layer made from the same fabric – means it continues to please. “For all of fashion’s cycles, there are some pieces of clothing that have earned their value,” Woods says. “Not purely because they come back, but more fittingly because they never leave.”