From a £16 henley to a £390 handbag: Jess Cartner-Morley’s November style essentials

The clocks have gone back, the mornings are cold and the evenings arrive early, so it is no surprise that fashion ambition tends to shrivel. Jess Cartner-Morley’s latest November style essentials, published by the Guardian on 1 November, push back against that. Her argument is that clothes in winter are about more than staying warm enough to function. They are about, as she puts it, staying “alive alive”.

A November style essentials edit built around fun

The edit is notable for its range of prices. At the bottom end is a £16 wool-touch, semi-sheer henley from M&S, which she says looks far pricier than it is. She calls the henley a quietly classy shape, the kind a film character wears to signal a good soul. In her view, a superfine rib and delicate buttons give it an old-fashioned sensuality.

At the top end is the Polène Cyme mini handbag at £390. She notes that new Polène bags draw queues outside the brand’s Paris stores, and suggests a visit to its Regent Street shop in London to see why.

Knits, skirts and a very 2026 bird

The most talked-about pick is probably the Reformation Iris knit at £98. Cartner-Morley describes it, cheerfully, as a “slutty jumper”, and means it as a compliment. Her more polite phrasing is a going-out top you will not freeze in. She would choose the cherry blossom pink, though the knit comes in several other colours.

Skirts get a firm endorsement. Citing Miuccia Prada, she declares them “so back”. Her choice is an £80 M&S silk-blend midi with an asymmetric hem and a lace insert. She first saw it in the summer, worn by M&S womenswear head Lisa Illis in the showroom before it went on sale, and says she has been “stalking” it since. Now that it has arrived, she confirms it lives up to the wait.

The seasonal wildcard is a £20 glass pigeon decoration from Fortnum & Mason. “Forget robins and turtledoves,” she writes, declaring pigeons “the spirit animal of 2026”.

Everyday elegance and a bit of sparkle

For comfort, she points to a gathered-back sweatshirt from The White Company, from £80 and also sold at Selfridges. The brand’s “everyday elegance” strapline, she says, is a policy anyone can support. She credits the label’s relatively new clothing director, Sheila McKain, formerly of Jaeger and Donna Karan, with strong womenswear. She likes the drawstring waist, which avoids the usual sweatshirt hem sitting at the hip, and the gathering that lifts it above the ordinary.

The final item in the available text is a gold-plated Deco necklace set with lapis and blue sapphire, from £155 at Edge of Ember and John Lewis. She says necklaces are having another moment, though many pendants strike her as “babyish” or cutesy. This one, which also comes in greens, does not.

The edit also promises ballet pumps with “exactly the right amount of grownup elegance” and a two-in-one coat. The available text cuts off before those details, so they are not covered here. Even so, the November style essentials make a clear case: the dull months are a good time to dress with a little more spirit. As the piece notes, Guardian journalism is independent, but it may earn a commission on purchases made through its affiliate links.

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