Reading: Holidays in Style: Fashion Gift Guide 2022

The holidays are fast approaching, and it’s time to get inspired gifts. Fashion and style are so personal that some avoid the category for gifts altogether. But fear not! TheCovey has curated this fashion gift guide with items that any woman can enjoy — even yourself!

Bucket List

Mansur Gavriel’s Limited Edition Mini Bucket Bag in Shearling

Accessories brand Mansur Gavriel was founded in 2013 by Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel with just two products: a bucket bag and a tote. The two had met randomly three years prior at a The xx rock concert in Los Angeles, both having graduated from art school, and realized they had a mutual interest in creating a fashion brand. Their bucket bags are still going strong, and the collection — made in Italy — has blossomed to include chic and handy small leather goods, notably the zip card holder, $195-$225, available in 10 colors, including a shimmering gold. Mansur Gavriel even has shoes, such as the sneakers made in collaboration with Brazil’s Veja sneaker company, $175, which have been selling out. For winter, though, we just love the limited edition Mini Bucket bag in natural shearling for $795. 

A Jacket of All Trades

Veronica Beard Miller Dicket Jacket in navy polyester cotton with silver buttons

Every woman needs a perfect blazer. And if she already has one, get a variation on a classic, the signature Miller Dickey jacket ($695) in navy from Veronica Beard, a fashion label founded by two sisters-in-law, Veronica Miele Beard and Veronica Swanson Beard. The hourglass-shaped double-breasted jacket features crested buttons arranged in a way that accentuate a woman’s figure. It’s called a “Dickey jacket” because you can attach one of the brand’s signature dickeys to behind the lapels for a layered look that’s comfortable rather than bulky. Dickey jackets come single- or double-breasted in a variety of other materials, including tweed, leather, and stretch corduroy.

You’re Sexy and You Know It

Agent Provocateur Christi Short Slip and Kimono

British lingerie label Agent Provocateur has been sending out sizzling and sexy ensembles for nearly 30 years. Creative director Sarah Shotton started at the company as an office assistant, eventually rising through the ranks and taking over the creative reins when the company changed hands from the founders. Alongside the signature lingerie, which includes a dominantly black “naughty” range and a delicate white “bridal” collection, the label has terrific loungewear. Feel like splurging? Go for the Christi short slip in teal silk satin with pink French leavers lace appliqué, $1,095, and its matching short kimono, $1,555. For something more modest in style and price, there’s the Arlette silk satin camisole ($155), and matching shorts ($135). We love that Agent Provocateur adds a dash of elastane in its silk satin, giving the fabric a bit of stretch and comfort.

Bracelet Yourself

Roxane Assoulin’s Just Say It Custom Bracelets

Roxanne Assoulin has been creating fashion and accessories for top fashion designers for decades. In fact, she started off casually peddling bracelets of her own design from her basement when she was 28. Flash forward to 2016 when she officially launched her signature line of jewelry as a sixty-something-year-old. Her “Chiclet” bracelets, made from stringing rounded square ceramic beads that look like Chiclets gum, remain among her bestselling items. Her pieces range from chic and dressy to fun and whimsical. We like the Just Say It option, which allows you to choose what you want to say in your own bracelets. Available in a variety of colorways or in gold and white, $150 per strand. 

Rolling Stones

Green onyx rosecut faceted earrings from Original Eve

For a refreshing take on jewelry, head to Original Eve Designs from jewelry designer and gemologist Eve Streiker. Working with an 18K recycled yellow gold base for chains and settings, Streiker’s creativity shines through with her choice of uniquely shaped and unusually colored precious and semi-precious gems, such as the speckled green banded malachite stones in a necklace and earring suite, which will have debuted at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show in November (necklace: $4800). Because she hand-picks her stones and makes everything by hand, each piece in her collection is one-of-a-kind. She also loves working with clients to create custom designs. Streiker always has fabulous earrings at the ready, starting at $700. We love the rose cut faceted green onyx drop earrings ($1,100) that measure just over two inches long. Order by December 19th for guaranteed December 24th delivery. 

California Dreamin’

Chan Luu’s Indigo Blue French Floral Scarf in silk and cashmere

Remember those trendy beaded leather strands from several years ago that you’d wrap a few times around your wrist? Everyone always said the best ones were from Chan Luu, a Vietnamese fashion designer who founded her Los Angeles–based eponymous company in 1996. Luu has stepped back from the daily grind. Since 2021, her niece Tessa Tran has been the company’s CEO and creative director, having absorbed the label’s aesthetic since she started at her aunt’s company as an intern. While Chan Luu is still best known for its jewelry, the bohemian style label also sells home accessories and fabric fashion pieces including scarves and beachwear. This indigo blue French floral cashmere and silk scarf, $245, is a perfect winter staple: it’s lightweight, warm, and not at all scratchy.  

Coddled by Cashmere

Tailored Industry’s Nova cashmere hoodie

Hard to imagine anything more luxuriously cozy than the matching Nova Hoodie, $468, and Mia Joggers, $932, in 15-gauge cashmere. Available in 11 colors, they are made by Tailored Industry in good ol’ Brooklyn, NY, on high-tech 3-D seamless knitting machines and designed by a tiny in-house team whose members previously worked with top international designers. The company, cofounded by CEO Alex Tschopp and COO Kady Gray — who just got engaged! — does on-demand manufacturing. This means that the process for clients is design, sell, manufacture, a method that results in no inventory and little waste for fashion brands, which have traditionally been built on the design, manufacture, and then sell model. Looking for something a little less pricey? The Brooklyn Beanie ($74) in pure merino, and the matching Tube Gloves ($76), are great and available in a whopping 15 colors. 

Heart and Sole

Midnight Blue Velvet Platform Sandal from Margaux

Gifting a pair of shoes is a sizable task, given how hard it can be to find shoes that fit comfortably. But take a chance on Margaux shoes, a New York–based company founded in 2015 by fellow Harvard grads Sarah Pierson and Alexa Buckley. The two set out to create a collection of comfortable, size-inclusive footwear. Hence, their shoes and boots range in size from 3 to 14; come in narrow, medium, and large widths; and boast plush foam padding for the interior soles. Everything is made in family-owned factories in Spain and Portugal. The Chelsea boot in weather-resistant umber-colored suede, $348, is a perfect gift for the urban or country woman. Margaux encourages customers to take advantage of virtual fittings via its website.

In a Pickle

Oliver Thomas 24+7 In A Cinch racquet sports bag

For your pickleball aficionado, there is nothing more sportif than the 24+7 In a Cinch quilted drawstring backpack, $99, from Oliver Thomas. It has enough space and compartments for a pair of sports shoes up to a women’s size 9.5, a water bottle, game balls, and, of course, the paddle. Additionally, the zipper pocket has RFID blocking technology. Don’t let the brand name fool you. Oliver Thomas was founded by Sue Fuller, a former brand builder for fashion companies including Ralph Lauren, Vera Bradley, and Carhartt, and bears the name of Fuller’s Shih Tzu. Fuller was tired of schlepping around heavy, inefficient bags for work, travel, or being a mom, and in 2017 launched the Oliver Thomas bags, which are quilted, very light weight, and machine washable. They also can be customized with patches and different colored straps. 

Beach Baby

Beach to Bistro Pippa Pintuck Blouse in Night Heron print

Indian hand-block printed fabric can be found everywhere these days, for everything from home linens to long, flowing dresses. The fabric is gorgeous, but one never knows how unique the pattern is or where and how it was made. Veteran fashion designer and artist Sigrid Olsen has solved the conundrum with Beach to Bistro, a beautiful collection of beach- and day-wear that features prints she develops herself, often using potato stamps, and unique embroidery designs she’s hand-drawn. She works with Indian textile designer and manufacturer Mandira Mohan, whom she met during her first trip to India in early 2020. Mohan’s Delhi-based factory does Beach to Bistro’s blockprinting and sewing in-house while embroidery is done by local artisans. The collection includes everything you need for days in the sun, from scarves and pareos to tunics and blouses. We love the Night Heron–printed Pippa Blouse in blue and white, $136, that has chic pintucking on the sleeves, shoulders, and the center of the back. Olsen had a heady fashion career with a signature label that was bought by Liz Claiborne; it was shuttered in 2008 when Liz Claiborne restructured. With Beach to Bistro, Olsen is coming full circle — a trained artist, she entered the fashion world with her own hand-designed prints.