How to get the look: Silk shirts

This version from online boutique Hush is a wearable, easy classic in neutral cream or black, £140, hush-uk.com

Ooh, slinky!

Yup, I know what you mean – there is definitely something a bit 1980s Jilly Cooper about the idea of a silk shirt – and what's wrong with that, I ask you?

Nothing… but if I don't want to look like a Sloaney bonkbuster heroine?

In reality, the silk shirt has shed its Sloaney, popping-over-to-the-neighbour-to-borrow-a-cup-of-Gold-Blend associations; now it's just a cool, contemporary staple.

Why buy now?

There's a masculine/feminine vibe going on next season that the silk shirt fits nicely into – clean, simple and a little bit buttoned-up, yet fluid and undeniably sensuous on account of the fabric. It also works the smart/casual divide with impressive flexibility.

Suits who?

Well, it will flatter far more than an ordinary shirt in cotton, which, no matter how expensive, will often pull or gape on the bust. Plus, you can wear a silk number tucked or untucked. This version from online boutique Hush (above) is a wearable, easy classic in neutral cream or black (£140, hush-uk.com), while Reiss's Dahlia looks sweetly vintage in duck-egg blue with Deco stitching on the collar (£125, reiss.com).