Scroll back, if you would, to when you were a little girl. Perhaps you were a tomboy or perhaps, like me, you were very definitely not. Pale pink, pale blue, peppermint cream and primrose yellow: these were the colors I dressed my Sindy doll in and, had I been allowed to dress myself, a human macaroon is what I would have looked like. Now, the thought of all those pastel hues, frills and froth makes me think of child beauty pageants. Honestly, wedding cakes aside, what exactly is the purpose of pastels?

But here’s where I give myself a little style ECT because – shudder – ’tis the season of the pastel dress and all things feminine. From Christopher Kane and