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How to wear boilersuits

I think this is how it works: boilersuits are what women who used to wear jumpsuits wear, now that everyone else is in on the jumpsuit act. A jumpsuit traditionally had a sleeves-rolled-up, get-stuck-in vibe that suggested its wearer was ready for anything. Like, for instance, you were dressed for work, but if you needed to you could totally change a tyre on the way there. But the jumpsuit has been watered down over the past five years. In Hollywood, jumpsuits are worn on the red carpet, accessorised by the kind of diamond earrings you don’t climb under cars in. The jumpsuit has gone entirely mainstream, but the boilersuit still has a gritty edge. You know the difference when you see it: if it is streamlined, a bit glossy, or in a delicate fabric, it’s a jumpsuit. A boilersuit is closer to its workwear roots, and probably has a practical tie belt, like this one.

The boilersuit is utilitarian, but with a welcome side order of slight eccentricity. Think of Anneka Rice, running down a windswept seaside pier on some loopy mission; Winston Churchill, who loved a boilersuit and ordered his from his Jermyn Street shirtmaker, Turnbull & Asser; Rosie the Riveter, flexing a bicep with a jaunty scarf tied in her hair. There is a seam of wartime nostalgia running through the boilersuit which lends an air, to use a 2019 buzzword, of resilience. And to balance the retro mood, the silhouette is in step with modern fashion: it has a structure of its own, sitting slightly away from the body, rather than skintight.

Related: How to wear the dress that can take you anywhere | Jess Cartner-Morley

Loo-going issues notwithstanding, it is blissfully easy to wear. No draughts, no gaps, adjustable waistband to give a little post-lunch leeway, plenty of pockets. Some clothes are quick and easy to get dressed in, but hard to wear all day – a little black cocktail dress, for instance. Some looks take a bit of effort to put together, but are very practical once you are dressed – a trousersuit and shirt, for instance, has all the weather-adaptive layering options you need. But a boilersuit is both an easy one-step way to get dressed, and a practical piece to wear all day. And – with the addition of a pair of festive red party shoes, which I don’t recommend trying to drive in, let alone changing a tyre – all evening, too. Taxi shoes with this outfit? Why not. There is nothing this look can’t do.