Main image: skull umbrella, £185, Liberty

It's always difficult, stepping into someone else's shoes – especially when you have high arches. And it's even more difficult when those shoes have been worn for so long and with such panache by their previous owner.

Fashion is fuelled by mythology and stories so lovely that one could be forgiven for thinking they are imaginary – or at least heavily embellished, just like the clothes that go with them. The haute couture, however, is the last bastion of such romance and, contrary to all rhyme and reason maybe, it remains very much alive.

What we love, we're not sure about, we're buying and can't wait for...

Blue eyeshadow has cut a friendless figure in the make-up world for some time; after outrageous popularity in the Abigail's Party years, it slipped into disdain for many. The logic of this contempt is fuzzy. Some women will tell you it is horrible because it looks "unnatural". Of course, the same could be said – though rarely is – of flicky black eyeliner or scarlet lips. The difference, then, lies in a belief that make-up should mimic and exaggerate, even to an absurd degree, some existing facial trait or tone.

What we love, we're not sure about, we're buying and can't wait for...

When French Vogue editor Emanuelle Alt lip-synched her way through Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" for the relaunch of the magazine's website last month, she started a bit of a trend. The latest enterteditor (that's editor-turned-entertainer, duh) is Julie Vadnal, one of US Elle's junior staffers, who under her stage-name "Julez" appears in a music video the magazine has made called "My Heels". "I wanna a guy to make me feel the way I feel in my heels," she sings throughout the obligatory Ovidian transformation from office drudge to disco goddess.

Loud, proud and printed with everything from polka dots to flowers, there’s a pair out there for everyone

The headpiece

It's not just our insides that need a reboot after Christmas...These products promise to get our skin glowing too

Model: Polly at Next

Due to financial uncertainty, and in some instances, also just uncertainty, my autumn/winter wardrobe is still at planning stage. These are some of the things, however, that in my dreams I might be buying.

Every week we invite competing companies to give us their best deal for a specific holiday. Today: a beach stay in Mauritius in early March. Prices are per person, based on two travelling together.