Allotmentcore: why everyone is dressing like Barbara in The Good Life

Clogs, chore jackets, straw hats and woven baskets are the look of the season. But are the brands and people embracing this aesthetic really doing any gardening? Lately, it feels like you can’t move for clogs. Everywhere you look, it’s straw hats, dungarees, floaty dresses, chore jackets and basket bags – and that’s in city centres, not garden centres.

This is the rise of “ allotmentcore ” – somewhere between the linen-clad luxury of the “ coastal grandmother ” and the whimsical outdoorsiness of “ cottagecore ” – and it’s coming for all of our autumns. “I’d describe it as Little House on the Prairie meets Felicity Kendal in The Good Life, meets Bill and Ben,” says Mal James, professor of fashion design at the University of Edinburgh. “With the overall style of an imaginary love child of Monty Don and Pamela Anderson, the reinvented queen of garden chic. ” It’s true that Anderson – once most famous for sporting a high-leg red swimsuit – has more recently become a pioneer of the…