For a long time I thought beige was the aural equivalent of a shrug. Nothing says “I don’t care” like beige. When my flatmate Priya saw me trying one on in a store once she told me “you look like the inside of a biscuit tin” and tbh she wasn’t wrong. But that was beige done wrong. Lifeless flat beige that noones skin looks good in and that just hangs there sad and forgotten. I should probably apologise to beige though, because done right a beige cardigan is all those things.
It has to be warm not dusty, smelling more of honey or oatmeal than grey and as soon as you find the one that looks good against your skin you’ll see what the fuss is about. It’s all in the shade.
What makes a beige cardigan worth investing in is entirely down to the knit itself. You want something substantial that has a bit of give, a real rib or cable stitch that keeps its shape so it doesnt just pills after wearing once and look baggy in the elbows by September. Buttons are important too, you’ll want something like horn or corozo rather than a cheap plastic option that always seems to catch on jumpers you layer it over. The ones that fit you well will feel like they cost double what you paid for them, the ones that don’t feel exactly that.
Throwing it over a white shirt and jeans does nice things to an outfit that a black cardigan simply cannot.
Belted over a slip dress it can pull off a dinner you’ve had zero intention of dressing for. Under a coat on your commute it’s doing infinitely more work than anything else you own, because no one looks at your beige cardigan they just see that you look vaguely put together and haven’t tried too hard. It looks good with jeans, with black trousers, with a smart top, it even works under a slightly weird print if you’re feeling adventurous, because it never tries to steal the limelight like a bold colour would.
It’s your go-to for the days that have no special occasion. Not a wedding, not the day you want to impress someone; just those Tuesday-Saturday evenings where you still want to look nice but don’t want to over think it. Days at the office, weekend trains where you know you won’t want to get off until you reach your destination and that latte date that turned into a three hour catch up because you were too lazy to get up.
Nothing fancy. Just silently, wonderfully appropriate.
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