Kate does Debbie

Intriguing!

I don't think I will be buying any of the Kate stuff though. I've always loved her style [though it has been well-documented that the past few years of rock n roll uniformity have definitely been a drop in form] but I know I'm not alone in noticing that many of the pieces look stunning on Kate and distinctly average on the rest of us. People buying into the idea of looking like Kate will be disappointed unless they already have her hair, cheekbones, stats and general fashion nous. Much like the rest of the collection, that dress will look like A Dress, not The Dress, on most people.

My only Kate piece is a one bell-sleeved, black chiffon pussy-bow blouse from about 6 months ago. It never looks or hangs right, and has been worn once. Overall it's a nice idea and some of the clothes are pretty but several seasons of KM for Topshop have shown that trying to sell her style so bluntly just diminishes its magic, and doesn't produce anything really covetable.

For those still really keen in emulating her style, I think Topshop's other ranges inadvertently do a far better job. Particularly the Tux Delux range at the moment. I nearly cried when I tried on their beige snakeskin tux jacket. It fits exquisitely, but I cannot bring myself to buy it when I just spent £45 and innumerable visits to the tailor getting my old black second-hand men's tux altered to fit me perfectly.

Genius idea of the month

Women! Want to look like like an escaped jailbird on the run? Perhaps you reckon that tough, prison-hardened aesthetic is just the thing to combat this summer of fey florals and revolting ruffles. Maybe you want to look like everyone's favourite smackhead/crackhead/convict/generally distasteful and worrying tabloid hero/villain, Pete Doherty, mere minutes after replacing his Likely Lads suits for crim-wear on his latest visit to one of Her Madge's Pleasurable outposts.

Or maybe you just want to look like The Penguin.

Hurry on down to Topshop now! This superb . . . um . . . I'm not quite sure 'jumpsuit' covers its full glory . . can be yours for fifty of your British sterling.

Regular readers will know it's not often that I write posts of the 'buy this here!' nature, but this one was too good to miss.

Black & white

Once, I was a girl who loved colour. Now I find myself gravitating towards monochrome. I guess in part it's down to the tuxedo obsession that, after a good year and a half, I still haven't gotten over.

I had almost given up on finding a white shirt to suit me. £30 shirts from Zara, or £100 twill shirts from Thomas Pink [one of my illest-advised purchases ever]. They sit wrong on me. The fabric's too stiff, or badly cut, or the white makes my pale skin look pallid.

But the Chloe sample sale the other week yielded the shirt of my dreams. While the other customers hovered over the handbags [sorry, Chloe fans - I can't get my head around paying £300 for a bag, let along their real shop price], I found something curious: the one item in the room without a label. No washing instructions, not even a size label. Nothing to say it was by Chloe, except that if you peer closely at the buttons, the name's engraved on each. And it was the only one. I briefly pondered whether some crafty customer had furtively swapped their own posh shirt for a posher one earlier in the day. It is the finest - nay, the only - white shirt I have ever enjoyed.



Excuse its rumpled-ness - took this photo at the end of a long day.
It sits just right. It feels just right. I think it's some kind of raw silk, or extremely fine cotton. The shoulders . . . oh, the shoulders! I love it. Mostly, I love it because it is unremarkable - it does what I have always wanted and never managed to get a white shirt to do - its job. There now follows a series of self-indulgent photos of it.





The sleeves . . . the collar . . . truly, I love it. And the slightly dulled off-white colour is much easier to wear than white.



With some Topshop khaki shorts I bought recently too. Nice with grey tights and black suede platform sandals.

Such was my joy that my white-shirt goggles then led me to buy this monstrosity:



It seemed like such a good idea. I daresay Kate Moss thought so too, when she approved its inclusion in her collection. [My first time succumbing to it.] I learned two things then: never buy cheap shirts, and never buy two shirts in one day. We will not dwell on the error: it went back the following day in disgrace.



. . . and I bought it in black instead. Curiously the black version is quite lovely. I learned a third thing: when in doubt, always get it in black.



Last, a sweet jersey minidress. Comfy, great with tights of any colour [black, coloured, or white with flat black ankle boots for super-cuteness], good over t-shirts or shirts, simply cut enough to be able to tuck it into a skirt and wear as a top. I won't hear a word against Topshop.



The white detailing is gorgeous - linen and netting, quilled [remember doing this at school with strips of curly paper?] into flowers. Très jolie.

Happy feet

I got these yesterday.



They'll be a good way of wearing all the coloured and patterned tights I have, which don't go so well with closed-toe shoes [as most of mine are]. They remind me of original Biba shoes [incidentally, when are Biba going to take on board the concensus of everyone from regular shoppers to Ossie Clark/Vogue veteran Vanessa Lisle, and realise that Topshop rendered them obsolete long before they relaunched - their transition from daring, inexpensive and inventive everygirl phenomenon to exhorbitant, 70s retro-hash catwalk brand is irrelevant and far from convincing? Only good thing Biba have done since Barbara Hulanicki left is the brief revival of their makeup and nail polishes, 10 years ago or so]. Yesterday I wore them with shocking-fuschia Topshop tights. Today they're paired with red, white and black houndstooth tights from Emilio Cavallini. Their height & platform are leg-lengthening enough to make even the least flattering tights a possibility.

One look I really liked from the shows in Feb was this:


[Photo: fashionista.com]

Tights the same colour as one's shoes are fun and very flattering, and an easy, chic way to wear bright colours. I've been wearing blue tights with blue patent stilettos, and now I want more. [I particularly want more patent. I now know how addictive this stuff is.] I went in search of coloured, round-toed, ultra-high-heeled shoes yesterday, but drew a blank. Best I found were some admirable fuschia suede round-toed stilettos in Schuh but my inbetweeny sized feet scuppered my chances. Everything else was either too low, or leaning towards open toed boot styling. I'm not convinced by this whole open toed boot phenomenon. I shall keep looking though...