Trends v Classics.

First of all, sorry for the blogging Siberia that I have been in since the 20th (bad blogger). Too much festive food and new toys meant I had total writer's block and couldn't think of anything interesting that you would want to read. It literally would have been me rambling about my Christmas presents and would have had you all going 'Whaaat? Self-indulgent crap AGAIN?' and deleting my out of your lives.

So hooray for Hadley Freeman of The Guardian's fashion desk - who saved me from myself with her Ask Hadley column in which she declares that trends don't really matter much anymore, and that it is somewhat silly and vulgar to be slavishly following what Wintour et al tell us. As Hadley says, if you are really invested in the 'bag lady', 'Princess Anne' or '80s dominatrix' look then you are obviously one of fashion's Serious People and shouldn't be reading satirical fashion pieces online. (disclaimer....I have followed more than a couple of trends before, hence the reason I own jackets with shoulder pads, lace-up brogues and had an ill-advised fashion fling with boho a couple of years back. I am weak.)

So, in honour of 2010 being the year where I spend sensibly and not just to look like Gwyneth/Kate/Mary-Kate etc I have thought of the 5 classics that every sensible woman should own, none of which are particularly 'fashiony' but all of which can be mixed with various mini-trend pieces to stay classic and modern instead of referencing the Eighties/Lady Gaga/Sloanes from head to toe.

1) The white shirt.

It is notoriously hard to find a shirt that fits a woman's figure properly. If you are blessed with waif-like proportions then this may not be a problem - you can wear an oversize men's shirt and still look nonchalant, while the rest of us try it and look like we are hiding a pregnancy. Don't go too cheap for white shirts, as they tend to be a bit see-through and the buttons often gape even on the right size. I have found a couple in Karen Millen that fit rather nicely, or try tailoring people like Thomas Pink. And remember to wear a good-fitting bra, in nude or vintage cream lace, not black or bleached white for goodness sake.

2) Dark denim jeans.

The staple of many a girl's wardrobe are jeans, many of my friends own at least 5 pairs, of which only 2 actually fit. Time to face up to the fact that we can't all fit into skinnies or wear boyfriend jeans unless hipless/very tall. I learnt this fact last year after buying Uniqlo skinnies and triumphantly taking them home before realising that they cut into my stomach, hips and around my calves and make me look shapeless and a little pudgy. I am not pudgy - these jeans just don't suit me. Whatever your style, dark denim is infinitely more flattering than the bleach variety and look good with aforementioned white shirt, t-shirts or evening tops. All jeans look great with platform ankle boots.

3) Good quality t-shirts.

I harped on about finding good quality t-shirts a couple of posts ago so scroll down and take a look... as a post-script, try Warehouse, they have a new range of good cotton basics with a twist, such as slightly sheer black t-shirts with drape detail. I have one - it looks good with leggings or jeans. For the best quality go slightly sheer but heavy, no Lycra. Whistles are good, as are the ones in Spitalfields-based Hurwundeki.

4) Flat boots.

No I do not mean Uggs. Yes I own Uggs and actually love them - a u-turn on my previous disdain for them. But I wear them to the shops on weekends or to work before I change shoes - they are perfect for keeping warm, they are NOT part of an outfit. Flat boots take many shapes and sizes these days, but I think slim-fitting riding boots are classic and can be worn with anything - thick tights and jumper dresses, leggings and blazers and jeans. Gant do some lovely ones for the slim-of-calf. If not, try Duo for great fitting options and good quality leather.

5) Black dress.

Yes it's obvious, yes it's been said before but it works and is useful. Try all the trends you want in coloured tights and jewellery, and you will be saved if your LBD fits you well and can suit all seasons. I'm staying away from Cheryl Cole body-con in the New Year, and now favour draped or tailored styles with visible zips a la Ms Beckham's dresses or those from French Connection (now in the sale if you're quick).

Happy Shopping and Happy New Year from Wardrobe Wisdom.

All images courtesy of ASOS.com - from left, Gap top and skirt, Markus Lupfer jumper and Levis jeans and t-shirt.

Fashion Watch.

I may have spent all my money on Christmas presents and food recently, but it doesn't stop me thinking I have money and therefore metaphorically spending it all in my head. Especially this week, when I have noticed many of the pres-Boxing Day sales starting with a vengeance.

And, much like a public service broadcast about the icy weather (it's December, it's cold, we get it) I thought I would be of service to discerning fashion shoppers and let you know what I have found or seen so far. Now all I'm doing is keeping all fingers and toes crossed that everyone else is as broke as I am, so that I can buy all my finds in my annual post-Christmas shopping day with Hot Fashionable Mother.

1) French Connection.

A bit of a revelation - I tend to forget about FC until it's too late and all the good stuff has gone, but the other day I saw fantastic dresses (keep your mitts of the Gia dress and Sweets dress they're mine) and knitwear, as well as a couple of pairs of platform ankle boots, already 30% and hoping for further markdowns.

2) Whistles.

I love Whistles - home of silky t-shirt and drapy dresses. Their sales have to be approached with caution - you will have to rummage through the bits no-one bought from the collections when they were new, such as leather trousers, high-neck bondage dresses etc, before you find sale gems such as military-style leather jackets, silky dresses and jersey tops that suddenly enter the range of mid-price t-shirt rather than 'ooo that's a bit expensive for a scrap of fabric' territory.

3) Gap.

You know where you stand with Gap - but that doesn't make it boring. The knitwear this season was fantastic, cashmere, jumper dresses and chunky cardigans all good for the next few months and probably all going into the sale. Keep an eye out for the 1969 jeans going in the sale as well, I don't know for sure, but think you might get some denim bargains this year, as the styles were fantastic and Gap ususally likes to put their denim down to temptingly good prices.

3) House of Fraser / John Lewis.

The department stores are all a bit predictable in sale time, and usually to be avoided due to the hordes of middle class mummies bearing down on the home-ware department. But I've noticed that there are two things to get from such places - sportswear and lingerie. Sportswear may not appeal to everybody but I'm planning on attacking the gym with gusto come January, so need some new trainers and general gym/yoga gear. Trainers are always in the sale after Christmas. Lingerie departments are the other good place to find a bargain - but beware the stealth sale on some brands...I found bargain Karen Millen lingerie last year, hidden behind the full price and barely labelled. Elle McPherson at John Lewis always has a few sale sets as well.

4) Kurt Geiger.

Ah, shoes glorious shoes. January sales are the perfect place to find the shoes of your dreams for less than expected. But I have noticed that Geiger have started a few weeks earlier than usual and have most of their winter styles out in sale early. There are a fabulous pair of black suede ankle boots that I have my eye on, as well as platform court shoes and other such delights. For those fans of Ugg boots, there are also some discounts to be had on these giant yetti feet.

Lastly, a word of warning: Topshop. Yes I know you'll all sprint down there as soon as the sale signs go up, in the hope of grabbing discounted Christopher Kane, but I have found one consistent trend in Topshop, the amount of teenibopper crap they put on sale. There may be rows and rails of sale merch, but the great bulk consists of the following: sequin jackets, pleather leggings, tregging, jeggings, crop t-shirts and sheer lace-back tart-fest scraps of fabric. Now I love Topshop, but stick to the full price: no-one wants to see a grown woman walking round like a fashion victim amongst all of the teenage wannabes.

The hunt for a t-shirt....

How can such a simple piece of clothing cause so much trouble? There is nothing massively glamorous or ground-breaking about the humble t-shirt, but finding a good one is like striking gold. I have previously neglected the staples in my wardrobe in favour of the fun stuff - the lace bodies, full skirts, sequins etc, but I have decided that 2010 should be the year of the Grown Up and therefore I want to build a wardrobe of staples behind all the other bits and baubles. The t-shirt is my starting point. I picture a luxurious white one with harem trousers, jeans, pencil skirts- the lot. And all the fashion eds are obviously attuned to me as I opened two different mags this week to be presented with features on finding the classic staples.

Personally I like the Kain tees, available from net-a-porter.com, because they have a soft silky look that will hang well loose or sit nicely when tucked in. The problem with cheapy tees is that they invariably have an element of lycra in them which not only washes unfavourably but also tends to cling in the wrong places. T-shirts should be slightly loose and soft to give a good silhouette, whatever your shape.

Yes, it takes some getting used to, spending £50 on a t-shirt when you can by 20 from Primark for that, but It's worth it. And it might seem a pain, but hand wash to keep the shape and softness for as long as possible.

Other good tees can be found at:

- American Vintage

- Splendid at net-a-porter.com

- Twenty8Twelve for good logo print versions.

NEWGEN winners - go Pilotto, go!

Next season's NEWGEN winners give me the frisson of fashion excitement once reserved for the Kane/Nicholl/Scutt contingent of a couple of years back. Mostly because my two new catwalk favourites, Mary Katrantzou and Peter Pilotto, have both been graced with the sponsorship for the February shows. Pilotto is currently having a star moment after winning both critical acclaim for his ss10 collections and the Swarovski Emerging Talent award for Ready-to-Wear at the British Fashion Awards earlier this week. He also had Claudia Schiffer on the red carpet wearing a stunning red dress from his latest collection.

Other NEWGEN beneficiaries include the attention-grabbing Mark Fast (my attention definitely grabbed -spent the week after his LFW show pondering how I could pull off skin-tight knitwear) and Meadham Kirchhoff, with Holly Fulton, Louise Gray, Maria Francesca Pepe and Skyes winning sponsorship for presentations throughout the next LFW.

On a fashionable note: my in-depth BFA report will be on t5m.com as soon as I finish writing it (ahem, distracted by clothes and wine...) but a few things I wanted to mention off the record, as it were....

1) Disappointed Daisy Lowe didn't win model of year. Georgia Jagger seems very sweet but doesn't seem to have been on the radar for more than a few months? Premature perhaps?

2) Had feeling of deja vu with Victoria Beckham's dress - has she worn something very similar to an event recently? And HOW did she get her hair to do that?!

3) Thought Kate Moss looked very boring and bland indeed...

4) Thought Erin O'Connor looked FABULOUS as usual in Kate Halfpenny.

5) Very pleased for Christopher Bailey, winning Designer of the Year a week after receiving an MBE. Could anyone have turned Burberry back to its British best better than Bailey? WW thinks not. And would like a trench coat. Please.

Nine: the dresses.

I was going to write a post on jewelled hair accessories (it being the season of festive glitz and glamour and all) but even as I write it now it sounds, well, ditzy, so I thought I'd change my mind and go for something infinitely more highbrow: The ladies of Nine - the film out next year which is supposedly the hottest thing out of A-list musical land since Chicago. And it has Daniel Day-Lewis to add clout. (Take that, Richard Gere).

The Nine cast is pretty rocking to say the least - Brit favourite Judi Dench, sultry Penelope Cruz, Californian gal Kate Hudson, and sophisticated Nicole Kidman. That's some serious acting talent cavorting around one film. Now let's see if the dresses were befitting of classy acting...

Judi Dench is a total goddess in this yellow Betty Jackson (Brit design legend for Brit acting legend, check!), I think she upstaged the women half her age on the red carpet - this is how you do colour ladies. We also love that she kept accessories simple to let the dress stand out - Helen Mirren may have a rival for sophisticated elegance in front of the cameras.

Penelope Cruz also lived up to her sultry image expectations in a feathery, chiffony, floaty dress from Ralph Lauren - a surprising choice, firstly because I normally think she pulls of the sexy European designers better and secondly I didn't know Ralph made anything this hot. The one thing I'd pick on though is that Ms Cruz has an enviable hourglass figure and the detail in the middle of the dress gave the impression of an undefined waist which Penelope most certainly does NOT have.

Not pictured here is Kate Hudson, in Versace Atelier, who perhaps normally favours the Ralph Lauren American girl look and has stepped it up with some high-fashion Italian. I have to admit that I'm not a massive fan of the dress, but it was a glamorous 'grown up' look for Kate and, whilst other fashion crits didn't like the loose hair, I think it kept the look from going over into over-done Oscar ceremony territory so well played.

I'm sorry, but I had to save Nicole Kidman for last. Now firstly, I am beyond happy that she has her lovely red hair back, now if she could just let it go curly she would be stunning, a la mid-Nineties Nicole. She may not want to evoke memories of a time with Tom Cruise, but since her face looks ageless and her figure is flawless then if it ain't broke yadda yadda...

So full marks for the hair. And the legs. But Nicole WHAT are you wearing? My first thought was 'simple wedding registry office outfit': the sort that women go, 'oh we didn't want fuss so I'm wearing a simple white skirt suit' (and come to think of it, like Carrie in the SATC film). And then I thought maybe she had some amazing corseted top under that parent-teacher meeting jacket that would complement the delicate skirt and amazing shoes/legs. But since we never got to see what was lurking underneath I can only assume that she misplaced the top half of a fab outfit, panicked and chucked on a chef's jacket while he wasn't looking. This explains it.

Why it's now good to fall in the Gap.

Gap never used to be on my radar. I vaguely remember it selling good plain tees that I used to wear to dance class but other than that I associated it more with utilitarian gender-less clothing - worthy but plain.

But now The Gap (why do we never use the 'the' over here? I like it!) is on every glossy's fashion pages more than once, and the collborations are top-notch: I salivated over the Pierre Hardy for Gap suede boots and was impressed by the chic, clean lines of the Alexander Wang micro-collection.

Back early last year the confident Patrick Robinson was made creative director of Gap, and the European design team (brought in only a couple of years before to keep the Gap over there suitable for a Euro market) was made redundant. Normally I like the idea of a design team that can reflect the general je ne sais quoi of its customers, but the success of Patrick Robinson in North America made the company confident that we could all use a little bit of US preppy fashion chic - and they were right. More than that, it turned out that Gap itself didn't need to rely on US preppy chic to sell clothes: they could take a stronger fashion bent, based around classic pieces, and customers would lap it up.

The Gap I was in yesterday showed this amalgamation perfectly. You could still pick up your plain tees, jeans in various cuts and simple knitwear, or you find cashmere jumper dresses, silky zip dresses (very Whistles) sharp pea coats and funky accessories such as woolly tights and snoods. This season particularly has played the 'classic with a twist' Gap style well: much of the knitwear has that cosy, winter patterned look that can be teamed with grey wool tights and flat boots for a winter walk, or worn with black opaques and huge platforms and worn out to dinner. This is why I decided to write a piece on it, the versatility of the looks is right up my (and fellow recessionistas') street at the moment, and many more women are building then wardrobes around classic fashion pieces that can worn multiple ways, instead of armfuls of throwaway fashion from discount stores.

I will happily be buying up a fair few pieces from the mainline winter collection, especially while I wait for Stella McCartney to be persuaded to design an adult capsule liine - please?

Shopping tip: The Gap in Canary Wharf is fabulous: far less busy than Oxford Street (unless you come at lunchtime) much classier, neatly laid out and more importantly, holds most of the lines. Great for the cashmere collection and accessories particularly.

Note: Not Gap related but who else heard that Stella was teaming up with Morrissey to create a line of non-leather shoes?? If it was April I would be thinking I was a fool but as it is not I am just mildly amused.

Sonia Rykiel for H&M.

I think H&M lingerie is a revelation - don't you agree? I only stumbled across it in the Brompton Road branch a few months back and was amazed by the selection and interesting looks you could get for a complete bargain! Firstly the bustier/corset tops are great - I bought one a whim (it was satin, pink and pretty - what do you want from me?) and it looks great under sheer shirts or over plain fitted tees. The various cute knickers are also fabulous: frilly Forties style, wispy lace and Monroe-esque high-waisted all for literally £3 or £4! What's not to like?

The only annoying thing is that many H&M stores don't stock the lingerie or only a token amount of the plain stuff - not good guys! We all like affordable pretty things, give us more! So hopefully the Sonia Rykiel collaboration will mean the collection is pushed into more stores. I can't wait to see what chiffon pretty things she gives us girls on a budget. Not too sure about the rose detailed one in the image though - think it would be tough to wear under anything fitted without the impression of misshapen breasts. But hey, all in the name of fashion.

The Sonia Rykiel collection will be in H&M stores from Saturday 5th December.