Fall in line as fashion takes a heavy handed beating

If you’re sick of the non-colours that this season promises to throw around then you’ll give a sigh of relief to know that juxtaposing the barely there fleshy neutrals are hard hitting combats. It seems that winter’s military boot trend was testing the water for a full blown explosion of khakis and earthy tones led by the must-have spring coat.

This thing caught my eye yesterday when I was perusing the racks in the Lancaster Topshop and I spent a good 10 minutes working out whether it was worthy of me ‘investing’ £65 of my [loaned] English pounds and weighing up how many of my physiological needs I could get away with sacrificing for a couple of weeks. I settled for a sensible conclusion (for the first time in a while) that splurging on that coat would give me no satisfaction at all and I’d find it more soul-enriching and morally invigorating (yeah I know, but it did take a hell of a lot of internal conflict to get there) searching high and low for a thriftier, more aged replica.

That’s really what this trend’s all about… the more authentic, the better. Stick to the age-old trick and team old with new and vintage with high street, it’s the best way of pulling it off and maintaining the bank balance. And it’s worth it when you put in the searching effort to find the needle in the haystack! But if the idea of donning something that something may have died in sends shivers down your spine then the second feisty trend is centred around warrior-chic.

Ripped, figure-hugging leather is a daunting prospect to even the exhibitionists amongst us, so before you get ahead of yourself and look to Princess Xena as a muse take the trend’s key points into consideration. It’s all about attitude and adventure, with open toed shoe-boots, more masculine lines (shoulder pads are yet to be shunned from the catwalk) and plenty of armour-mimicking metallics set against classic black. One thing I’m definitely going to have to start getting used to is this idea of the leather skirt being a wardrobe staple… apparently owning one will help you in times of fashion crises as it’s versatility is (so I’m led to believe) endless. Although honestly, I think that the only thing it’ll be good for is making the embarrassing wet patch a thing of the past, and quick sit down during an interlude in the April showers that little bit more bearable.