In the worst possible taste

THE fashion world welcomes fabulous eccentrics. Attention is vital for survival, so those who strike a dramatic, individual, colourful presence get media space and transform column inches into lucrative fashion roles.

With the globalisation and homogenisation of fashion, and ‘everywhere’ brands such as Zara, H&M, Gucci and Prada, there has been a creeping sameness about trends and a stifling blandness to contemporary clothes.

In reaction, fashion individualists and eccentrics, such as Anna Dello Russo, Lady Gaga and Daphne Guinness, have become popular. These women celebrate their vision — they don’t follow trends, they deconstruct them, eviscerate them and smash them beneath their fabulously impractical footwear.