First, a quick recap of the modern history of necklines. A long time ago, when cleavage was A Thing, the primary function of the neckline in womenswear was as a showcase for hoisted breasts. Then, cleavage stopped being A Thing, and in its absence the neckline became about filling the visual gap left by the absence of hoisted breasts. To this end we had statement necklaces, slogan T-shirts with arcs of pretty French words, jewelled collars, and the collar of a contrasting collar shirt pulled over your crew-neck jumper. And then things moved on again, and the polo neck took over. The polo neck is all blank severity, an uncompromising nothing-to-see-under-the-chin-here message.
And now the deep V neck is back. It can go over a polo neck, over a crew neck, or over nothing at all. (But even over nothing, there’s no cleavage. It’s all done with underwear, in case you were wondering.) At the most recent Paris fashion week, the Chloé catwalk featured black silk dresses and blouses plunging almost to the navel, with nothing beneath. This is very charming and can go on the moodboard for, say, a beach lunch in Ibiza, but is not enormously helpful as a day-to-day sartorial reference. Céline, on the other hand, showed ankle-length tunics with a deep V neck layered over polo necks. Which is fabulous in a Jedi-knight way, but in its deliberate awkwardness not much more appropriate for real life than the ribcage-baring version.
The real-life route, inevitably, lies in the middle. The silhouette began last winter, when we were all wearing polo-neck sweaters with long, 70s-style pendant necklaces. That look was a deep V lightly pencilled; swapping the pendant for another piece of clothing underlines the look. A deep V-neck sweater can be layered over a crew-neck T-shirt now, and over a polo neck in autumn. The look is easiest to wear if you make the bottom half utilitarian, to balance the Vogue-reading-artisan vibe of the top half: a simple pair of jeans, say, rather than a floor-length skirt. Resist the temptation to augment: there is little to see, here. And that is the point.
• Jess wears sleeveless V-neck jumper, £39.99, hm.com. T-shirt, £9.95, gap.co.uk. Jeans, £50, by Costes, from thesting.com. Heels, £250, kurtgeiger.com.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Fashion assistant: Hannah Davidson. Hair and makeup: Sharon Ive at Carol Hayes Management.
