The simple styling trick to stop black jumpers from looking boring

How can I continue to get wear out of my black and grey jumpers without being boring?

Grey, black and charcoal knitwear are wardrobe essentials in autumn and winter: they do the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping warm and maintain a put-together appearance. When paired with other dark separates, though, the overall effect can be a touch monastic, even when you’re wearing the most luxurious cashmere.

But on the runways at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month, jewel-bright accents – particularly emerald greens, sapphire pinks and topaz yellows – vanquished the monkish murk. Don’t worry if you don’t possess a treasure chest of Cartier and Tiffany & Co necklaces: at Prada, Bottega Veneta and Ferragamo, jewel-toned cuffs and collars crept out from beneath dour investment pieces, sparking onlooker joy. These brilliant blouses, whether in silk or cotton, provide stylish punctuation, in the same way as a colour-popping handbag.

Those women of substance, the late, great queens, Elizabeth R. and Liz Taylor, are your role models here (both of them understood, after all, that, when it comes to jewels, the bigger the impact the better). So why not add some of their royal amethyst to the mix, too? Beneath a jumper, it merely hints at imperial strength but, if you really want to command attention, just remove that top layer entirely.