I was approached by a reader in a restaurant the other day. Usually, readers who introduce themselves want either to reaffirm what an idiot I look most weeks or to express disappointment that I'm not wearing a leather T-shirt/ kaftan/safari suit, apparently under the misapprehension that the photographs simply catch me unawares, going about my daily business. But the guy in the restaurant had a complaint: "I'm not interested in fashion. I hate what you do."
He seemed to think I was personally inventing the trends that I write about, knitting the clothes myself. But once we'd got that cleared up, he had a suggestion: "Why don't you write about normal stuff - do a column about black trousers, or something like that?"
As it turns out, restaurant guy's complaint chimes with the times. If you've seen what designers have devised for autumn/winter 2008, you may have noticed our old friends male leggings and the papier-mache, penis-shaped hat are noticeable by their absence. "Something normal" is pretty much the season's theme. It's a result of the credit crunch. Faced with tough times, designers have two options: gear things to the super-rich who aren't affected, or make clothes ordinary people might want to buy. Some have gone for the former: cover that penis-shaped hat in diamonds and flog it to Roman Abramovich seems to be the plan, and best of luck to them. But lots have gone for the latter. Hence the return of distressed and faded jeans, after a couple of years spent insisting denim should be dark, pristine, unwashed and preferably skintight. Worn jeans are more practical, last longer in their original state and have a much wider market: you can wear them with impunity if you're over 25 - not something that could be said for their skinny predecessors.
