Life.Culture.Discovery.

The Dictator: on style, she rules

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Published: 11:30pm, 8 Mar 2014

I read something about Olympic athletes stocking up on funny onesie hoodie tracksuits in Sochi. I don’t care that the hot weather is coming, I’ll always make use of something that comfortable, especially lounging around inside with the air-conditioning on!
One for All, Shouson Hill

The Dictator rules: Funny is right. Funny looking, which is what you’ll be when you wear one. Even Olympic hockey players have been reduced to looking like amorphous Teletubby versions of their former studly selves by these adult versions of the babygro. But let’s back, um, track for a moment, because they’ve been big in Europe (and probably Japan) for years. Before alpha athletes sought the loose-fitting ease of onesies, celebs such as Rihanna, Rita Ora, Pixie Geldof, Sadie Frost and Ed Westwick, as well as cool kids who go clubbing, were photographed wearing them. Even Justin Bieber (don’t start) has one. The craze has grown around OnePiece, the Norwegian brand founded in 2007. As the founders tell it, they sought the comfort of a tracksuit minus the annoyance of the waistband, so they sewed the two separates together and added a giant zipper. Besides Sochi, other OnePiece hot spots include London, Berlin, Sydney, Los Angeles and various Swedish cities. Hong Kong residents can order theirs at onepiece.com for about HK$1,235 to HK$1,545 each, not including delivery. Don’t even bother asking me how to accessorise. What does it matter? You’re wearing pyjamas in public!

I love cashmere jumpers but I hate how they look after just a few wears. They pill up and look generally sad – even the really expensive ones. I have tried different brands and weights, as well as cashmere blends, but to no avail. Please don’t tell me to buy one of those little pill-shaving machines. They don’t work.
Fuzzy Wuzzy, Mid-Levels

The Dictator: Switch to Merino wool. Its strong, tightly woven fibres are less likely to pill than those in cashmere. Seriously, you’re just going to have to live with it, because pilling is a fact of life. To reduce the risk of clumps, however, try conditioning your cashmere like you might treat frizzy hair. The Laundress makes a Wool & Cashmere Shampoo (HK$230; Lane Crawford, IFC Mall, Central, tel: 2118 2288) formulated with the added benefit of mothrepelling essential oils. Or try Loro Piana’s cashmere soap (HK$400; IFC Mall, tel: 2234 7398), which is made from olive oil and sugar. Now, to remove that pesky pilling, we’ve found a few good alternatives to the many shavers on the market. The Sweater Stone (HK$62; www.containerstore.com), for example, is a pumice stone for fibres. The Gleener (HK$155; www.containerstore.com) is a nifty contraption, too, with three edges that attack specific types of fuzz, plus a lint brush at the other end. I’ve had some success with jumper shavers, so you could try the Wenko Double Wool Shears (HK$85; King Tak Hong, 126 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, tel: 2527 7616).