The fashion items we should all be thankful for

As you read this, I’m somewhere over the Atlantic, winging my way home to North Carolina – the state that brought you Pepsi, aviation and the Krispy Kreme doughnut – to celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s the one holiday I get sentimental about, and one of the most stereotypical. Meaning, if you’ve seen a movie about a Thanksgiving dinner, then you can pretty much picture what goes on at my house. Yes, we really do go around the dining table and share what we’re thankful for. And yes, it gets me every time.

Should I choose to eschew the biggies (family, health, happiness – you know) and focus my remarks on fashion instead, I could come up with plenty to say. Such as: right now I’m thankful for the jewellery department at & Other Stories, where I seem to turn up another pair of purse-friendly earrings every time I duck in to fill time between meetings.

And I’m thankful for a ticks-all-the-boxes J Crew blazer. This one is double-breasted, in a navy, brown and cream houndstooth check, with a velvet-panelled collar. It smartens up everything, even if all I wear it with is jeans and a stripy T-shirt. Ditto for velvet sandals, for telegraphing fanciness, even when all I (still) wear them with is jeans and a stripy T-shirt. (The fact that I’m thankful for stripy T-shirts – Boden – you’ve no doubt gathered.)

For a round handbag, for showing there is something new under the sun in accessories design. And for Mansur Gavriel’s lipstick-red wool-cashmere coat. You might not think your wardrobe is calling out for a carmine coat, but try it on and do your best not to smile. See? Impossible.

Velvet sandals, £35, Marks & Spencer; brass earrings, £17, & Other Stories; Nico Giani handbag, £370, Net-a-porter.com

The coat is rather dear, which reminds me that I’m also thankful for shops where sales assistants remain friendly even after I try something on, look at the price tag and then immediately return it to the rail. There’s always red lipstick to brighten the day instead, for which I’m very thankful indeed.