Tops & Shirts

The top is the part of your outfit people actually see across the table, so it may as well be a good one. Here you will find women's tops and women's shirts for the school run, a working lunch, a wander into town or supper with friends, in shapes that look put-together and get along with the rest of your wardrobe. Which is more than can be said for some of the impulse buys at the back of the drawer.

Flowing blouses sit next to button-front shirts and crew neck tops. Stripes and checks keep things crisp on weekdays, while embroidered details and prints bring some interest at the weekend. Knitted tops arrive when the weather cools, short and long sleeve tops follow the seasons, and a few relaxed sweatshirts wait for Saturday mornings. There are matching sets too, a top with trousers. White, blue and black do most of the work, with green, pink and soft grey for variety. Most styles run from S to at least 3XL.

Start with what you wear most. If your week is trousers, a shirt with our wide-leg trousers looks smart in seconds; if it is jeans, a striped top does the job on its own. Ladies tops in a print can carry a lunch out with nothing more than a pair of earrings. For dressier occasions our blouses go a step further, and as the evenings cool, one of our jumpers layers neatly over a shirt collar. In spring, a knitted top under a jacket does the same job with less bulk.

Women's tops are the pieces that get worn hardest and thought about least. Give that honour to something you really like the look of, and getting dressed starts to feel less like a chore and more like a small pleasure.