Sweaters with benefits: it's okay to wear hot jumpers to cool parties

The greatest style gift of the season? It’s finally OK to wear hot jumpers to cool parties. As the top designers create knitwear with chutzpah, try on these smart woollies for size
Winter warmers: left to right, embellished bouclé jumper, £1,565, Stella McCartney (stellamccartney.com) Photo: Photoshot; marabou feather-trim knit, £75, Coast (coast-stores.com); chunky knit, £500, bustier, £600, Marni (net-a-porter.com) Photo: Photos
Emma McCarthy19 November 2014

With the start of every winter comes the opportunity to cultivate our knitwear collection.

We Brits, after all, are professionals when it comes to combating the cold. Throughout the harshest seasons — and, in fact, all year round — we cling to our toasty Arans and cosy cashmeres as a means of staying snug and effortlessly stylish at all times. So why not during cocktail hour too?

It’s certainly a tempting thought. As temperatures plummet and the opportunities for festive merriment rise, the prospect of ditching our comfort blankets in favour of an eeny-weeny frock is about as appealing as the office Christmas party itself. So wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to?

Thankfully, the fashion gods have answered our pleas for party wear with a practical edge this season, gifting us knitwear with enough chutzpah to make any after-dark occasion — even the office Christmas party — all the more bearable.

Sweaters with benefits - in pictures

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In his autumn/winter offering, Scottish designer Christopher Kane presented a range of show-stopping knits that could stand up to any dress code — providing you’re not a wallflower — with slashed-sleeve fisherman knits and elaborate ruffle-front jumpers crafted from the finest cashmere in eye-popping shades of acid green and citrus. Continuing the theme in his resort collection, which touches down in stores this month, Kane offers cut-out neoprene sweatshirts trimmed with floral appliqué and neon leopard print.

For Stella McCartney — a stalwart when it comes to doing sexy without the clichés — the cocktail jumper was a hero this season, with a chunky bouclé option embroidered with mountaineering rope proving the perfect companion for a night on the tiles, while Marni’s Consuelo Castiglioni showed that protection against the winter’s chill need never be banal by pairing her deliciously chunky knits with peplum bustiers.

If your search for the perfect night-time knit leads you to the high street, make a beeline for Coast. Under the guidance of new CEO Kate Bostock, the former spiritual home of sparkly bridesmaids’ frocks is experiencing an image overhaul. Its new calling card? Decidedly dressed-down attire to dress up in. Among the brocade cigarette pants and relaxed co-ords are a host of knits with added interest, from shimmering sweatshirts to polo necks trimmed with marabou feathers.

& Other Stories’s pearl-embellished box sweaters will work a treat if you’re planning a swift exit from the boardroom to the bar, while ASOS’s premium Black label — which prides itself on turning eveningwear on its head — also champions the humble knit with crystal-encrusted sloppy jumpers and fluffy, tinsel-flecked incarnations.

So there’s no danger of being left out in the cold this party season.

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