THE RUNNING joke in fashion is how often skirt lengths change. The maxi skirt - one that is slightly fitted, full and reaches down to the ground - comes in and out of fashion from time to time and is currently a hot favourite with designers Calvin Klein, Gucci, Narciso Rodriguez and Clements Ribeiro, to name but a few.

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The sarong is wispy, caring and heterosexual. The kilt is hard- nut and overwhelmingly gay

Best of British is replacing Cool Britannia as the catchphrase on everybodys' lips. Not only are home-grown designers riding high on the catwalks, they are making their voices heard on the high street too. Hussein Chalayan and Sherald Lamden are the latest big names to put their talents into creating affordable clothes. So, coming soon to a shop near you ...

5 WAYS TO WEAR: tweed

Traditionally, bright red is what movie stars put on their pouts, but this autumn it's playing a rather more useful role: giving the season's palette of greys and neutrals a lift. Like all strong colours, it's perhaps most effective in small doses - a hat, a pair of shoes, or the brilliant flash of tights worn under an understated grey slit skirt. Let the sparks fly

Miniskirt fans, your days are numbered. Fashion's playing it sophisticated this autumn with the maxi skirt: down to the ankle, split to the knee - and perilously sexy

The Independent Archive; 5 August 1988 City shorts are high fashion this summer and are the modern answer to the rising hemline

Freddie was the one who started it. A few weeks ago, he was in some club on the Kings Road, one of those places that only hardened Sloanes visit deliberately and the rest of us find ourselves in when we're too drunk to remember the ghastly hangover and estate agent we woke up with last time. Anyway, on this particular steamy night the joint was packed - couples were tottering cheek to cheek on the dancefloor whether they liked it or not, and you couldn't even see the bar.

Designers have gone back to the drawing board (the one in school) to update the once dreaded pleated skirt. By Tamsin Blanchard

So you're petite. That doesn't mean you have to wear a long, flowing dress with a waistline that skims your knees

The inside track on becoming a consummate professional

Left: crochet knee-length skirt, pounds 36, from Warehouse, 19-21 Argyll Street, W1, and branches nationwide (enq: 0171 278 3491); sequinned flip- flops, pounds 185, from Gina, 189 Sloane Street, SW1 (enq: 0171 235 2932)

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