5. CHRISTIAN DIOR

How to offset the vulgarity of Kennedy-era America, embodied in John Galliano's autumn/winter Christian Dior collection (boxy jackets, multi-coloured geometric prints and gold-hoop earrings)?

Yikes! But with photographer Craig McDean's exquisite eye for colour, creative director David James's classical restraint and Galliano himself on board for that anarchic twist, Dior has an all-Brit dream team who are more than qualified for the task. Why, then, this campaign resembles a flyer for a provincial beauty parlour is anyone's guess. On the Canadian model Daria Werbowy, the big hair and block colour don't look retro or ironic, they look ageing. And could the message that it's the accessories, and not the clothes, that sell be any clearer? Daria clings to her handbag like a lifebelt, obscuring two-thirds of her outfit.

Christian Dior has a peerless photographic heritage, a heritage that is being besmirched by the pernicious corporate belief that customers desire nothing more than a pretty face and a giant bag.

Verdict: dangerously dated