Tonne Goodman is an American fashion editor – for 20 years the fashion director at Vogue in the US and now the sustainability editor. She has always dressed in a particular uniform, and it’s a rather menswear one – white or black jeans, dark jackets or knits, loafers and a silk scarf.
It’s the kind of uniform – the kind of ‘capsule wardrobe’ – that we love exploring here on Permanent Style because I know many readers want to find their own personal version: a small collection of quality clothes that require little thought to put on in the morning, but can equally be played with at the edges.
Tonne Goodman’s uniform is one such example. So how does it break down?
1. White jeans
Goodman wears mostly white jeans, sometimes black. They have always been a classic straight leg, in a world of womenswear that constantly pushes new cuts – cropped slim legs, wide flared ones. As in many things, this is something that she has in common with classic menswear – that virtue in staying subtle and eschewing fashions.
“You know, a white jean isn’t a blue jean,” she told Jeans Stories. “It has a whole different look to it. You can put it with anything and it adapts. You can put it with a black velvet shirt and it becomes one thing, you can put it with a t-shirt and it will be another thing. So it’s a very good basic piece.
“[White jeans] can go from a shoot, to being at a show, to being in your office – at least that’s true for me and the way that I wear them. Because it’s always a very classic approach, and very unadorned.”
Of course, clothes read differently on men and women, and white jeans can be a hard thing for a guy. But if everything else is neutral and simple, and it becomes a uniform in the same way as Goodman’s, that’s an effective way to do it.
2. A navy or black jacket, shirt or rollneck
Goodman’s top half is usually a jacket or knit in a dark, neutral colour like navy or black. This creates high contrast, but is also neutral and simple. A shot like the top one above makes me want to try my double-breasted Assisi jacket with a pair of white jeans.
Goodman often adapts to the weather by varying the thickness of these tops, as well as the number of layers. So in colder weather in might be a jacket and a rollneck, but in warmer weather often just a loose, untucked shirt (basically an overshirt), like the one above. (We’ll get to the camel jacket in a moment.)
“Any time I travel, my outfit doesn’t change; it’s always a few pairs of white jeans and black turtlenecks. That’s about it. It’s always been the same,” she told Industrie magazine. “I’ve always packed a carry-on case. If you have a uniform, it’s very easy and you don’t have to think about it.”
3. A silk scarf
The one decorative element in Goodman’s uniform is a silk scarf, usually knotted tightly at the neck. This is also quite a menswear approach, similar to how an ascot or bandana is worn. The colours are often blue or black, but can also be white, red or brown (above).
This is something I do fairly often – using one of my Hermes scarves. See the third image in this post, or this layering, and indeed my Assisi jacket outfit referenced earlier. Ironically, while I usually prefer the Hermes women’s collection for its variety in silks, Goodman’s favourite maker is the menswear stalwart Charvet.
Her scarves can adapt to the weather a little, with Goodman sometimes opting for a cashmere scarf worn in a French loop, or a big shawl around the neck as the warmest option. Something I’ve also been fond of.
“I usually take four pairs [of jeans] so that I can wear a fresh pair every day. And then it’s really simple: A dark top and a light bottom, and so easy. And a Charvet scarf. That’s my favorite thing,” Goodman told Jeans Stories.
4. Flats in neutral colours
For flats, read loafers. Goodman usually wears black slip-ons in suede or leather, as the simplest thing that will go with every permutation of the uniform elsewhere. They create a chic, understated stop to the outfit.
She will occasionally wear other colours though – snuff suede or dark brown (very menswear) – and a slim boot in the winter. There’s an occasional trainer, but of the Common Projects variety in similar colours of black and white.
5. Camel coats
OK, a lot of her coats are navy or black, just like the jackets. But there’s an equal number of camel or beige – probably the next most common colour in the wardrobe.
You can see why camel or beige might be a good choice: it’s fairly neutral like white and black, but also creates contrast with the rest of the outfit, as the tops and shoes do with the jeans. Alternative colours like olive or brown wouldn’t create that same contrast, and could look out of place.
This is something you can see in my outfit below where I wear my taupe/beige overcoat from Ciardi with white jeans.
So what can we learn?
That outfit above is actually a good example of how to adapt some of these lessons from Goodman into subtler, everyday versions.
Instead of a strong camel colour like my Anthology coat, for example, the Ciardi is a more muted taupe; instead of black boots like Goodman might favour, it’s dark-brown suede. The principles are similar, but the contrast has been dialled down.
You could do something similar with other parts of the uniform too. Instead of a black knit – which is high contrast and so more striking – pick a charcoal one. I’ve gone for charcoal with that Ciardi coat, and I also sometimes wear charcoal on top and bottom (below) where I’d never really wear black and black.
The general principles of the uniform can also apply to the most obvious of menswear combinations – such as blue jeans and navy knit/jacket/overshirt. Begin with that, layer a navy coat over the top in the same way Goodman would wear black and black, and play with dark shoes like black leather, dark brown suede or Color-8 cordovan.
One last lesson I think it’s worth spelling out is to experiment at the edges, rather than the core. Goodman might wear a technical jacket or snuff shoes, but the core of white jeans and black knit remains. This is much easier than varying the trousers or top.
There are lots of brands that work with these looks of course, particularly Rubato (below, a very Tonne Goodman combination). And The Anthology’s Goodman jacket was apparently named after her.
For more on capsule collections, have a search for ‘capsule’ on Permanent Style. I particularly recommend those for Scotland and Japan, particularly as they reflect winter and summer respectively. Emilie Hawtin’s article is also a great womenswear contribution.
