Fringes of fashion

Does anyone else have a dress they can only stand up in? You know the type: it looks wonderful on the hanger, wonderful in the mirror but absolutely disastrous as soon as you attempt to walk, sit, bend or indeed attempt any sort of movement beyond standing to attention like a soldier.

Cocktail dresses are the worst culprits, as I found to my cost at the Serpentine summer party. With Roberto Cavalli playing host, I figured the event would be even more terrifyingly glamorous than usual, and so I plumped for a black shift dress with silk fringing falling from the bust line.

Sipping (okay, gulping) vodka pomegranate cocktails on the lawn, it soon became apparent that fringing was quite the thing. The model Meredith Ostrom wore a silver-fringed minidress, boutique owner Virginia Bates wore a turquoise-fringed piano shawl, and model Lisa Butcher had tucked a longfringed handbag under her armpit that looked (from a distance and after several cocktails) like an exotic new breed of toy dog.

All was going swimmingly until I sat down. Suddenly, the fringing that had hung so pokerstraight when perpendicular decided to scatter, spilling over my knees and fanning away from my sides until the dress needed a whole bench of its own. Not having a whole bench of its own, a posh bloke in a white suit soon trapped several strands under his buttock, leaving me powerless to steal Jude Law off Sienna Miller until he shifted.

It wasn't just me who was becoming unhinged because of their fringe. Kim Hersov of Harpers & Queen and Elizabeth Saltzman of Vanity Fair turned up wearing the same goldfringed Cavalli dress, which Saltzman tried to disguise by keeping her navy cardie on all night.

Since the fringing for both Cavalli gowns started at crotch level, one can only assume both ladies spent the entire evening standing up - not an easy affair, with the buckets of booze on hand.

Despite its trickiness, I do love a bit of fringing. With the Twenties back in vogue this summer, a fringed dress gives instant Josephine Baker chic, and looks fabulous swishing around on the dancefloor.

If a Dolce & Gabbana dress is too red carpet for you to countenance, then try a fringed bag, scarf or piano shawl instead. Instant flapper chic, without the flap.