Don't Throw the Baby Out With the Bath Water

Do you ever get the feeling that good taste and a sense of fashion has almost become generic? You know, how anyone can buy a magazine and see a look and then buy every piece and appear, well, decently dressed? It might not be interesting, or unique or stylish per se, but that most people have the tools, even with very little personal flair, to look reasonably ok.

It was almost getting to that stage in London when I thought how depressing it was to see so many teenage girls with a "look" and doing it reasonably well, but with very little effort or thought. I almost felt a flush of nostalgia for when we were younger and most people looked rubbish, and only those who really loved clothes made an effort to stand out from the crowd and look marvellous.

But I have been cured of that. I wondered around Bath yesterday, and boy there were some bad looks happening. One reason was that the sun was shining and there was a lot of flesh on show. All women under 20 seem to have become allergic to any skirt or short that doesn't threaten to reveal a buttock at a moment's notice. Should we blame Gaga? And another seems to be that generic trendiness so evident in the big smoke doesn't seem to have reached the provinces. (Eek, will I be lynched when I step out of my front door?)

When I saw an incredible looking young man (quite possibly a boy half my age) wearing a breton stripe, a rolled up slim fit jean, an ankle boot and one of those haircuts that is very short at the sides but then has acres of loose curls teetering precariously on top, I had to stop myself from running after him, grabbing him by the shirt and weeping with gratitude that style did actually exist, and that everything was going to be ok. Which is just as well as that might have been, well, slightly embarrasing to say the least.