In these times of economic, social and tiresomely general doom and gloom, your fearless sartorial correspondent finds her mind turning to the last remaining certainties - the timelessness of a cool black dress; the thrill of a flash of red sole; and to an all-round warming sense of serious style nostalgia. For sure as Faberge eggs is... well, a trifle gaudy, when the chips are down, we frock-fanciers will enter a state of yearning for days gone by - when life was simpler; when summers lasted months; and when nasty terrorists were surely some kind of mispronounced lapdog. When looking forward gets scary, fashion heads backwards - knowing our emulation of days gone by will transport us, wardrobe-wise at least, to somewhat gentler times.