DIY: maybe not for me...

Vivienne Westwood does it all the time to perfection, but with novice seamstress skills, turning a shower curtain into a wearable party dress might not be the best idea...

With the credit crunch, DIY fashion is the new craze.

It is true that, to some extent CIY (Craft it Yourself) does work – adding a few feathers and buttons to a plain black cotton t-shirt can sometimes give you a cool Art Student, edgy, Agyness Deyn-like style.

But most of the time DIY looks a little too much... well, DIY.

Also, the style does not particularly fit the party season: it only works for you if you already have that 'I can pull of anything, I could not care less' kind of look.

It is also time consuming: for non-expert hands, giving that dusty LBD a makeover could well take up until Christmas.

At least...

Other options

For those who, like me, prefer well-cut numbers with a DIY touch and a reassuring label. It might be worth considering the high street stores.

I am not talking about poor, sequined, runway-imitations. There are some luxurious party dresses that cost less than £70.

A Zara lace dress, very close to the Prada collection, has a smile-inducing price tag of £49. And you can get a Giambattista Valli-inspired, red ruffled cocktail dress, for only £55 from Next.

If you think about all the five pound notes used to buy textiles, ribbons and buttons, the plain cotton black dress that probably cost £20 and the lost hours fighting a stubborn sewing machine, maybe fighting a crowd in Central London might not be that bad after all.