How to teach an old frock new tricks

Fashion doesn't just come from a shop you know.

It is possible to get a puffball skirt without having to buy one - if you recycle from seasons past.

And take black - you're bound to have some in your wardrobe already, it doesn't show the dirt, and its slimming properties are legendary.

Incredibly hard to date, even by the trained fashion eye, black clothing is the ultimate season-defying refuge and should be your first defence against an impending fashion shortage.

So dig out all your inky-hued dresses, blouses and skirts, especially any numbers that look notably gothic or ecclesiastical.

Make-doers will be reaching for the Dylon in a bid to give the past two seasons' forest greens, pinks and canary yellows a black makeover.

Fortunately, fashion is clinging to a few old favourites this season - the pussy-bow and Victoriana - so providing you've shopped enthusiastically in the past few seasons, no extra purchases should be necessary.

There are extra points for an upstanding collar, fine lace etc, but really a bit of pin-tucking is all a blouse needs to qualify.

Pin tucks are notoriously difficult to sew, but hey, the nights are drawing in and it's an alternative to watching bad television all through the winter.

Alternatively, try the pussy-bow. Fashion has been flirting with Mrs Thatcher's favourite shirt since 2000, when Miuccia Prada promoted a bourgeois, retro-inspired style she called "sincere chic", so the chances are you've already got one.

This season, your pussy-bow should be white (that ecclesiastical look again), not deliberately ugly shades of purple or mustard, as in past seasons.

Even trusty Dylon cannot help here; try dating a barrister and borrowing his stern-looking collar to clip on to one of your plain shirts.

As for the tiered gypsy skirt. Chuck it.

If you really want to be thrifty, cut it up and turn it into twee curtains for the toilet, by all means, but do not wear it. The new season's far more serious, womanly look requires an altogether more grown-up skirt.

There are two main choices: the pencil skirt, and the bubble/tulip/puffball skirt.

Serious followers of fashion shouldn't have too much trouble dredging up either style from their wardrobes.

With some skilful sewing, you might be able to convert the more common A-line skirt of past seasons into a clingy pencil.

The bubble skirt, however, could defy DIY. Try rummaging through the wardrobes of friends who were living it up enough in the 1980s to have bought one of Christian Lacroix's scandal-making puffballs.

Or put a helium balloon or two under your skirt - after all, isn't the point of a puffball to look slightly silly, and not give a damn?

The retro 1960s are back, again. If you're over the age of 14, you'll have experienced your fair share of swinging sixties revivals in fashion (Marc Jacobs led the last one in autumn 2003), so the current revival hopefully shouldn't necessitate a new purchase.

Who knows - if you're competent with a Bernina and have the imagination, your 1960s Penelope dress could transform into a high-waisted 1790s Josephine dress. One dress, two trends - isn't life unfair?

If you've been generous and given away previous seasons' military and tweed jackets or capes to Oxfam, you'll feel a pang of regret now. Your Chanel tweeds won't cut it this autumn, but any lady-of-the-manor salt-and-pepper tweed jackets or tartans bought during the Bloomsbury revival are acceptable.

Double-breasted military jackets with frogging and brass buttons are the 21st century trend that won't die.

So dust off your drummer-boy jacket, maybe rip off the epaulettes (this season's martial detailing is slightly subtler than before) and hey presto, instant update. -

- INDEPENDENT