Are Going Out Tops Coming Back?

Charlotte recently recounted the best part of starting to grow up as finally coming to terms with the fact that to go out does not mean to wear a going out top. I’d have adamantly agreed with this legitimate credo until a month ago. After all, I’ve long been a supporter of the tenet that if you’re at a place that requires you wear a going out top, you should really reconsider when you’re spending your recreational time.

But recently, my personal gauge of what to wear when socializing has changed. Just last week I wore a raw silk Max Mara wrap blouse for no reason other than my wanting to. Before that I considered a floral lace-trimmed camisole from Zara and, well, look at me now: brown silk, uneven hem, exposed arms and all. I’m wearing a bona-fide going out top and though it comes from the purveyors of weird (see: Maison Martin Margiela), it is what it is which is not who I was. Know what I mean? And what’s more? I feel further whole than I ever have in a layman t-shirt.

So what in the good name of plunging necklines and elastic velvet is happening?

I have three theories that come in the wake of having taken a recent interest in a. this satin top by Stella McCartney, b. this crop top by Delpozo and c. Giambattista Valli. Period.

The first is that like in the case of Isabel Marant’s pioneering wedge sneakers propelling a full-blown ugly shoe/sneaker-proper renaissance, so too is the white cotton “boyfriend” shirt making room to allow for a new interpretation of waist-up toppers (it’s beginning as poplin interpretations of white blouses in more feminine silhouettes like this one, by Acne, but you just wait). Where we forewent blouses in the name of t-shirts just a few years ago, here we are again, hungry to look like the better versions of our 1995-selves.

This parlays perfectly into theory #2, which essentially just suggests that going out tops were as much a part of the 90s Zeitgeist as plaid and Jordan Catalano were. Having exhausted every other element that made the decade unique, party shirts are the obvious next stop on a train called Misplaced Nostalgia.

And finally, quite simply, maybe we’re bored of t-shirts. Considering the boundless denim that I, personally, wear, it’s refreshing to think that the world can be my oyster in terms of what I choose to pair with my jeans. I’m not saying it’s going to be a halter top but I’m also not saying it’s impossible.

Of course, though, if I’m going to wear a going out top, I’m also going to make sure that it’s wearable under any circumstance, which is where the white sneakers permeating the first half of the above, shot-by-Charlotte photos come in.

And for when I am going out? Gladiator style bow pumps that are equal parts fantastic and devastating.

But the most important perspective — yours — remains undiscussed, so, talk to me about your party wear policies.

Maison Martin Margiela blouse (from Yoox, for $95, you’re welcome), Helmut Lang leather pants (now 70% off, you’re welcome again), Golden Goose sneakers, Chloe pumps.