I first saw one of these almost exactly three years ago when the ever chic JD from Show Me Your Wardrobe turned up at Heathrow for a Halloween trip we took to New York before moving over here.
She has the art of travelling down to a T. She's always swathed in beige & cream cashmere & wool, pants tucked into sheepskin boots, hair tied loosely up, looking like she gets upgraded just by existing. I follow in her effortlessly chic wake, dropping my passport & boarding pass, trailing wraps & shawls, arms full of magazines & water bottle, feeling cosseted by her professional traveller shtick.
When I saw her wrapped in her DKNY cozy, essentially a long sleeved cardigan, short and fitted at the back, long and flowing at the front, I immediately wanted one. I hoped it would confer on me the same kind of traveller style that had evaded me up to that point.
But I didn't get round to trying one on until my mother came to Manhattan a year later for her annual Christmas shopping expedition. We wandered into the Midtown flagship store and there, just by the door, was a rail of cashmere cozys emitting a subliminal siren's call. They weren't cheap but they looked great on her. I flexed my press discount; she bought one for herself and, a day later in the DKNY store on Broadway she bought me one too in black merino.
It's perfect: I wrap it around my body under my coat when it snows here in midwinter. I wear it loosely over LBDs when I don't want to reveal my curves at work cocktails, drape it around my torso to look chic with pants and, finally, wear it over a T shirt on planes when I want to look like I, too, might just deserve an upgrade.
- Black Merino Wool Long Sleeve Cozy $160 from DKNY.com
