It was once reserved for office workers and Rishi Sunak, but now pop stars and supermodels can’t get enough of the preppy look
M
y favourite kind of fashion moment is not a Met Gala headline-maker or a Paris catwalk extravaganza. Nope. My favourite fashion moment is when one piece of clothing is suddenly everywhere for no obvious reason, which is what is happening right now with the quarter-zip sweater.
The jumper with a chin-to-breastbone zip, which has been around for ever, is the breakout main character of the 2026 wardrobe. At a Chanel catwalk show held in New York recently, a quarter-zip knit was the star of the show, worn with a fancy cocktail-hour skirt and diamond drop earrings. Charli xcx teamed a Saint Laurent one with sunglasses and shorts on her last trip to Paris fashion week. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wears stealth-wealth dark merino ones in the dugout, rapper Central Cee wears a cream Ralph Lauren one on TikTok – and the man opposite you on the train right now, taking a Zoom call on his AirPods while eating Pret porridge, is probably wearing one too.
This is fashion at its most capricious and bonkers and I love the you-couldn’t-make-it-up madness of it. Three years ago, this sweater only seemed to come in grey, and was worn by Rishi Sunak, Prince Harry and our mate on the train with the porridge. It definitely wasn’t worn by supermodels or pop stars. Back then it was called a half-zip, before a name pivot that, confusingly, has nothing to do with the length of the zip, which has remained pretty much the same. It is just social media doing that thing where it gives something as old as the hills a cute new name. Picky tea became girl dinner, doing something on your own became a solo date – and the half-zip became a quarter-zip. Go figure.
