fashion rules – are there any?

Fashion is a flippable feast. It offers its avid worshippers a new definition of beautiful more often than the seasons change, such is the moody beast. But in a world where colour can be the new black, are there any absolutes we can rely on? That depends who you listen to. There’s no shortage of experts on what to wear for your body shape, what you can ‘get away with’ at each age, and what colour range will make you look fresh faced or – if you get it wrong, like a corpse dipped in ugly.

It is tempting to prescribe to the rules; and I have at times purchased with a certain nagging voice in the back of my mind. “You have short legs,” she says. “There’s no way you can wear that;” or “that’s a very nice coat/dress/hat, but it will make you look weird.” I imagine that voice belonging to someone’s mum. Not mine, she wears all sorts of crazy stuff. No, it is someone’s mum who wears white button down shirts with beige trench coats, slim leg denim jeans, ballet flats and an oversized beige tote. Just to add a touch of crazy, she might wear a chunky Tiffany bracelet on her wrist. BLERK. Sorry, I just spu-burped in disgust. And that’s what happens when you follow the rules too closely.

If, on the other hand, you look to fashion as a smorgasbord of tasty colourful treats to pick and choose from according to your appetite alone, it can be liberating. Beautiful. Fun. As the next sleek summer of fashion poses on its haunches, ready to pounce, I’ll be looking for it’s freak-faced friend. The one that somebody’s mum wouldn’t take home from the pet shop, but the one that makes me feel alive.