The frazzled English Woman rebooted

Noughties knitwear and A-line skirts from a Richard Curtis rom-com are having a moment, says Maddy Mussen

WE talk a lot about how quickly the fashion world recycles trends these days — with decades that feel like they’ve barely passed suddenly coming “back” into fashion before we even had time to process them being out. And yet, one era persists: the Noughties.

Fashion has moved through the resurgence of Y2K’s moments — double denim à la Britney and, low-rise, white vest tops, Pamela Anderson’s bimbo chic and indie sleaze — but it has remained entrenched in the same decade.

Just when you think it’s on the way out, the Y2K revival will throw up another old aesthetic to keep us running on that Noughties hamster wheel, too deep in the pocket of Miss Sixty to ever fathom crawling out. And its latest addition? The Frazzled English Woman.

Australian fashion magazine Russh coined the term in September, predicting it to be one of the big trends of this autumn/winter season and beyond. They cite examples such as Kate Winslet’s character in The Holiday, Keira Knightley from Love Actually and, of course, the OG Frazzled English Woman: Bridget Jones.

The Frazzled English Woman (FEW) has an office job, is most likely middle class, wears a lot of knitwear, tailored shirts, A-line skirts with opaque tights and probably owns a fair few skinny scarves and chunky belts. She’s most likely to be found in a Nancy Meyers or Richard Curtis rom-com (where turtlenecks abound) or penned by Helen Fielding, and she is in a constant state of being mildly to majorly flustered.