The Investment Dresser: peasant smock tops Investment Dresser, Lisa Armstrong on why not to mock the peasant smock. It's sobering, isn't it, how invasive the collective wisdom of celebrities can be. Years ago Sade shared the difficulties she had spending her money. Maybe she'd been boning up on Chanel, who famously said elegance is refusal. Sade's problem, it transpired, was that she refused practically everything, unable to find items that met her exacting standards. She had amazing taste, so simple you knew it could only be the product of a sophisticated mind. I gave it a whirl, resolving only ever to wear white shirts, men's 501s, a slash of red lipstick and a ponytail, like Sade. But I had no difficulty spotting things that met my standards. My problem was finding the money. READ: The Investment Dresser - slouchy grey trousers Sickened by my un-Sade-like consumption, every so often I'd purge my wardrobe. Afterwards, feeling cleansed and virtuous, I'd congratulate myself on my Sade-like stance on distracting tat and try to blank out the eight bags waiting to go to Oxfam. There is one exception, however, that always escaped the bin-bags: a rust-coloured, cheesecloth peasant top with white embroidery that I bought in a nameless boutique in New York. Year after year somehow I couldn't bring myself to dump it. And - guess what - I'm at peace with this because really every wardrobe, even the most ruthlessly austere one, should have a peasant smock in it. It's not just on fat days or beach holidays that they come into their own as the perfect cover-up, day or night, for they work the rest of the year, too - not only with jeans, but as an eclectic item that stops pared-back outfits from looking boring, and dressy ones from over-formality. Almost crease-proof, too. I recently upgraded to a cream one with burgundy embroidery by Velvet. It's less stark than a white shirt and it's coming to all the shows with me. I'll wear it with leather trousers, with black pencil skirts and lace ones, under tweed jackets - anything I want to pep up, tone down or otherwise rescue from the prison of predictable, up-itself minimalism. From left: Silk-georgette, £465, by Isabel Marant, matchesfashion.com; Embroidered voile, £235, by Antik Batik, net-a-porter.com; Polyester, £32, by Dorothy Perkins, dorothyperkins.com