There is a moment about halfway through Christmas dinner when the cracker hats have slipped askew, shoes been kicked off under the table and belts un-notched, that marks the official end of the season of Making An Effort. A frenzied month of putting on mascara in the work loos and shivering on the way home because you are wearing your fancy coat instead of your warm one is over, up in flames along with the Christmas pudding brandy. Time to breathe out, shift into a lower gear, adjust to the sacred interlude of cheese and telly, half-eaten chocolate reindeers and gap-toothed jigsaws that is Twixmas.
So it can feel a little tricky, a few days later, to go full jazz-hands for New Year’s Eve. But that’s what we are doing.
I have decided that we are getting dressed up for new year this year. Yes, I mean you. I mean all of us. OK, calm down, obviously not absolutely everyone, I’m not the Fun Police. If you twisted your ankle dancing on the table after Christmas lunch, or if your baby doesn’t sleep through the night, if you are working, then I will turn a blind eye. But for the rest of us, it is time for one last push. No excuses. Before you know it, it will be January, and we will all be beached at home, wind whistling through the empty pages of our diaries.
New year is the finale of the festivities. It is the fireworks display that marks the end of party season. It is only fitting to go out with a bang. But should wriggling back into an LBD feel like too much, at this point, I have an alternative proposition: the Party Jean.
The Party Jean is a brilliant new year party piece. Take Zara’s sequined beauties (pictured here, £79.99). Wear these jeans and you are a dancing glitter ball. But the best thing about them is not the sparkle. The best thing about them is the fact that they are jeans. You are wearing jeans! Life is always easier in jeans. You are never too hot or too cold. You don’t need to overthink what to wear with them, because everyone knows that jeans-and-a-nice-top is a fail-safe formula. You don’t really need a bag, if you can put your phone and credit card in your back pocket. And even the dressiest jean feels like a look to kick back in.
A jean never looks precious, even when it is pure gold, as in the case of another favourite pair of the season: the M&S Metallic Wide Leg Jean (£49.50), which I earmarked as new year-worthy when I spotted them in the M&S showroom months ago. The prettiest pair of party jeans I’ve found are the Kenna High Rise by Pilcro (£148) from Anthropologie, which have a soft barrel leg shape and are embellished all over by tiny black bows.
Good American, whose size-inclusive denim means it goes up to size 22, hasthese rhinestone beauties (£255) at Selfridges. I must admit that those might feel like an indulgence right now, since you’re going to be hard pressed to find anything to wear them to in January. In which case, the more versatile party jean is a classic black leather – or faux-leather, such as Mango’s Mid-Rise Leather Effect Trousers (£49.99), which will work as well with a chunky jumper and a parka next weekend as they will with a bodysuit and a leopard-print coat this weekend.
Have you ever noticed that people stand differently when they wear jeans? Something about the feel of a classic five-pocket jean has us sticking a thumb in a pocket, and jutting out a hip. A jean looks nonchalant, even when it dazzles. We’ve got one last hurrah before hibernation. A party jean will get the job done in style.
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Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Hair by Sam McKnight and Victoria Beckham beauty. Styling assistant: Sam Deaman. Model: Claudia at Milk. Jeans, £79.99, Zara. Beaded shirt, £42, River Island. Heels, £179, Kurt Geiger. Earrings, £75, and bracelet, £115, both Ottoman Hands
