Trends: On the fringe

For some time now, I have been trying to curb a creeping desire to adorn myself in fringing. Not so ridiculous as it sounds, really, when you consider that it dwells in the same oh-so-desirable-if-slightly-hippy realm as festival girls, pale denim and the saturated colours of 70s postcards.

What is the point of summer if you can’t momentarily embrace sunlit and inevitably fleeting trends, even if this does involve what are essentially shredded accessories. Alas, from a decidedly un-sunny place I will reach out to fringed accessories to enrich my summer with the bohemian allure of a topless Jane Birkin swaying to a strumming guitar in a field of buttercups and wild horses…

Of course, something like fringing walks a dangerous tightrope of taste; stray too far and you take an ill-advised tumble into a world of rodeos, street corners and tacky leather stores. But then as we know, eccentrically bad taste seems to be a key summer trend and so one could be forgiven for thinking that a fringed bolero jacket might be a welcome addition to a nice little dress (as well as a knowing nod to Winter’s matador trend).

Not one for taking such elaborate risks, however, I think I might stick to my downtrodden hippy roots in little moccasin boots and fringed suede bags that have emerged straight from the Californian desert.