Christmas has 12 days, and they are all brilliant, but Christmas Eve is the best of all. The anticipation of all that lovely downtime and TV and permissive snacking is as delicious now as it was when you were hyped up to the eyeballs at the excitement of waking up to a stocking on the end of the bed and eating chocolate coins in the dark with your little sister.
It is also the most elegant day of Christmas. Tomorrow is about stuffing endless recycling sacks with wrapping paper and gorging yourself until you can’t move, but today the presents are under the tree and you can still fit into your clothes. It is without doubt a day to dress up for.
Even – no, especially – if you are staying in. We get into the habit of dressing up to go out and dressing down to stay in. If I’m going out to dinner, I think about what to wear; if I’m at home, I think about what to cook. It’s just practicalities, really. Going upstairs to change for dinner is all very charming in Downton Abbey, but in the absence of downstairs staff, it’s hard to make it work without jeopardising the risotto.
But Christmas Eve deserves star treatment. I’m talking cashmere, velvet, sequins, feathers. I don’t care if your plans involve Nigella’s make-ahead bread sauce and the only outing on the agenda is a last-minute dash to the shops for AA batteries: this is a night to bring the glamour. And I mean the gratifying, pleasurable part of dressing up, not the breathe-in-and-think-of-England party dresses. Fabrics that feel good and look special, in shapes that are easy to wear.
I like the relaxed, cocktail-in-hand-hostess attitude of a pair of wide, loose trousers, which you can wear with a silk T-shirt or over a long-sleeved body. I love a cosy, curvy sweater dress, especially with polka-dot sheer tights. But this year I want a mermaid skirt. We associate sequins with a brazen, short-and-tight mode of dressing, but they come into their own when worn with grandeur. There is something magical about sparkly scales slinking about your ankles, especially when worn with a silky blouse. Tomorrow you can spend in your PJs and slippers, but tonight is when the magic happens.
• Jess wears silk shirt, £265, silkenfavours.com. Skirt, £350, by Iro, from net-a-porter.com. Suede heels, £65, aldoshoes.com.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Laurence Close at Carol Hayes Management
