The five rules for wearing summer sequins

Every little girl who loves dressing up knows it: sequins are fashion magic.

They catch the light and bounce it back in joyful rainbow colours; they shimmy in mysterious ways as you move; they even lift your face (thanks to all that reflected brightness) and boost your mood.

Yet, sadly, they are often relegated to just a few weeks around the Christmas period. It’s true, those gloomy days benefit from a little added glamour, but this season, I’m very happy to report that high fashion is bent on reclaiming sequins for summer. 

So, if you’re trying the trend you’ll want to make sure you look grown-up rather than tween, chic rather than cheap – and more summer party than ‘pass the mince pies’.

 Here are five simple rules to stay on the right side of fabulous.

Try capes and corsages

Your instinct might be to keep things simple, but the truth is, a shapeless, unadorned sequin slip dress will always look cheap. Look for added accents to avoid Mamma Mia-tribute territory.

Polish designer Magda Butrym has spear-headed the recent return of the rose corsage, including on her sequin creations. Mango’s sequin halter-neck dress (£320, mango.com) is a great alternative when the £2,235 Magda original is out of reach — it boasts a similar halter-neck, tie-up back and chic corsage.

A cape detail will also add the high-fashion factor to High Street sequins, like Karen Millen’s silver gown with corsage.

Stay pale and peachy

To avoid looking seasonally confused, avoid gold, red and green — leave them to December.

Instead, opt for apricot, cream and soft pink tones. The garish turquoise and fuchsia sequins of last summer’s mermaid and Barbiecore trends are still lurking on the High Street, but tend to look tacky.

Paler colours are grown-up and feel more luxe. Go for items with high necks and pull your hair back —next to the face, sequins in pale colours reflect the light for a beautiful glow.

Reserved has an off-white sequin dress (£89.99, reserved.com) with an almost-halter shape — it closely resembles the £2,470 version Emilia Wickstead sent down her SS24 catwalk.

Add a casual note

Pairing sequins with the right separates will ensure you look chic. Take notes from Gucci’s SS24 runway and clash a sequin top with loose jeans.

Similarly, sequin trousers look all kinds of incongruously cool paired with a simple white tank – H&M’s pair (£34.99, hm. com) have that essential ‘just rolled in a pile of sequins’ quality.

A cashmere knit atop a sequin skirt adds grown-up factor and makes sequins daytime-appropriate. Just make sure it’s a midi – a mini sequined skirt veers into the ‘just raided my teenager’s wardrobe’ territory.

River Island’s nude one is perfect (£35, riverisland.com).

Mix textures and layers

At the SS24 shows, Armani layered transparent sequin minis over satin maxis and 16Arlington added airy chiffon skirts to its dresses’ sequin bodices. The texture clash adds an intricacy that will again ensure your sequins don’t resemble bargain-bucket fodder.

Mango has a sequin dress featuring a lace overlay (£250, mango.com) — the sequins shine through the lace’s delicate gaps in a way that’s more subtle elegance than disco ball.

For the equally subtle-minded, sequins adorning a light knitted fabric are another option. Zara’s mint-green tank, covered in tiny sequins, will be a summer pastel dream with pale pink trousers (£32.99, zara.com).

Never, ever go patchy

Tiny sequins catch the light beautifully on summer evenings, but there must be enough to avoid the piece looking cheap, it should be completely and utterly covered in them.

Scarlett Johansson wore a crystal-adorned dress at the Berlin premiere of her new film last month that looked like it had been positively soaked in sequins. By contrast, so many High Street sequin pieces are patchy. 

Designer Celia B’s most certainly are not. The long sleeves and high neck of her ‘Bunzi’ dress (£216, celiab.com) make it the chicest take on sequins I’ve seen.

Alternatively, opt for disc sequins so big their patchiness could never be called into question. 

ASOS has one (£210, asos.com) that’s a great dupe of the custom 16Arlington dress Alexa Chung wore on the red carpet recently. While Mango’s version shimmers as you move (£350, mango.com).