Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, is the best day of the year. Fact. No need to waste your breath arguing, since I am quite certain I am right, thank you very much. The 24th of December is infinitely superior to the 25th. Indeed, the moment you realise this is the moment you become an adult.
Christmas Eve feels as if it is everyone’s birthday. The magic of Christmas is all in the promise. Presents keeping their secrets under the tree, mistletoe poised to be kissed beneath. A fridge that is groaning with food for Christmas, none of which you are actually allowed to eat yet. If Christmas was a song, tomorrow would be the bridge and Christmas Day would be the final refrain of the chorus when you’re thinking about what to play next.
It stands to reason – in this column at least – that the best day of the year should also be the best-dressed day of the year. The logistics of Christmas Day itself are likely to define what you wear. If you have young children and are cooking, your “look” will probably be your dressing gown until three minutes before lunch guests arrive. But Christmas Eve has a reasonably civilised pace, at least in the morning, even if the to-do list pressure starts feeling pretty real later in the afternoon. In 36 hours’ time you will be eating brandy butter out of the tub, and for the days after that you will be in the jeans-and-jumpers lowlands of Twixmas, but tomorrow is a day for a properly festive outfit.
So may I recommend a dark velvet? I just don’t think you can beat it in black or navy. Velvet is every bit as ritzy as sequins, but it is inviting and cosy with no hard edges. Sequins have disco-ball razzle-dazzle, but the plush pile of velvet reflects the light subtly, catching your eye like the crackling of a log fire. Velvet is posh but unfussy, so it works whether you are spending tomorrow queueing at the butcher’s to pick up your order, at a Nutcracker matinee, or drinking mulled wine on the sofa while you wrap presents, with one eye on It’s A Wonderful Life.
Velvet isn’t just for Christmas. I have a pair of black stretch velvet Spanx leggings that I wear to early-morning pilates classes, and they never fail to get noticed in the changing room. I also have a Topshop dress I bought for the party season of 2015 which combines a black velvet top half – very plain, almost severe, with a round neck and long sleeves – with a full skirt of ivory lace. I will never have a black velvet Christmas dress like the scallop-necked dream Edith Head chose for Rosemary Clooney in the 1954 movie White Christmas, but no matter – I am more than happy with my Topshop treasure. It could be this season, it could be decades-old vintage: it is undatable.
For those who find velvet twee, (a little too Nutcracker-matinee, a touch too hair-ribbony to be truly chic) I commend my loose black velvet boiler suit which, when worn a little unbuttoned with heels, can silence all critics of the plush stuff. Tomorrow, though, I think I will bow to the practicalities of last-minute food shopping and wear my favourite midnight blue velvet boat-neck top with jeans.
If velvet isn’t on your wishlist, you could be a snow angel in layers of white knitwear, like Cameron Diaz in The Holiday. In the seasonal spirit of goodwill I will even sanction a Christmas jumper, especially if it has a Last Christmas-video 1980s retro vibe, although I would gently steer you in the direction of cool-New-York-girl Christmas, in a tweed coat and Oxford bags, à la Meg Ryan buying a Christmas tree in When Harry Met Sally. Whatever brings you the most Christmas cheer is the right thing to wear. Tomorrow is when the magic happens, so what are you waiting for?
