Was après ski fashion the original stealth wealth style? From Princess Diana and Brigitte Bardot to Gwyneth Paltrow and Mariah Carey, nothing screams quiet luxury like a well-attired winter holiday

Jan 10 , 2024

Retro styles are all the rage on and off the slopes this winter as the après ski scene channels icons and looks of the past, such as these from Snowmass, Colorado, in March 1968. Photo: Getty Images

Slim Aarons’ famous 50 photos helped popularise apres ski fashion – a spirit emulated by icons from Gwen Stefani in her Dior Rasta boots and Gigi Hadid in Chanel

Today brands from Dior and Gucci to Kim Kardashian’s Skims, The Row, Perfect Moment and Erdem are offering slope-ready capes, coats, gloves and boots

Photographer Slim Aarons famously said he made a career out of “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places”. Today his shots from the 1950s and beyond continue to help define après ski chic: Fair Isle jumpers and muffs, the feeling of having earned your fondue and mulled wine after a day of vigorous, wholesome fun on the snow. What could be more alluring?

Diana, Princess of Wales in a Head ski suit during a skiing holiday in Malbun, Liechtenstein, in 1985. Photo: Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images

Certainly plenty of luxury brands think so, many of them dabbling with winter gear for on and off the slopes. In recent years this has included a Miu Miu 2021-22 winter collection unveiled in the Italian Dolomites – “The clothes are not romantic but the spirit is,” designer Miuccia Prada said of her collection – and capsule collections from the likes of Gucci, Dior, Prada and Tory Burch. The ultimate chalet chic though surely came with Karl Lagerfeld’s last autumn/winter 2019-20 collection for Chanel, staged in a mock alpine village of fashion dreams.

Inspiration for après ski style abounds. There’s Slim Aarons photos from Gstaad circa 1970, of course, and Princess Diana in her bright red jumpsuit in the 80s (“the original ski style influencer”, according to British Vogue). Definitely you could include everything Gwyneth Paltrow wore at her civil court trial in Utah for allegedly crashing into a retired optometrist while skiing in Deer Valley in 2016 – she and her The Row chunky turtleneck sweater and coat won the day.

Contemporary labels such as Perfect Moment cross the nostalgia factor of ski style with fashion girl cred with retro-inspired jumpers with slogans such as “piste” and “ski” in block colours. That said, there’s still plenty of appetite for vintage ski fashion, says Johnny Valencia, owner of Los Angeles boutique, Pechuga Vintage where celebrities often pick up après ski pieces.

“ I love apres ski, ironically, living in Los Angeles,” he says. “And I love stocking après ski pieces at Pechuga. My favourite moment in this fashion category has to be Gwen Stefani in the Dior Rasta boots. We actually owned Gwen’s boots for a while until they sold,” he adds.

Magda Butrym Apres Ski collection boots. Photo: Handout

“We stock a lot of Dior by John Galliano. The Dior ski boots are always very popular and we actually facilitated a pull for Kim Kardashian’s Skims après ski-inspired collection. We also love stocking Chanel ski pieces. Mimi Cuttrell (Gigi Hadid’s stylist) purchased a pair of Chanel gloves from us earlier this year for Gigi to wear in Aspen.”