Summer fashion disasters

10:15am Tuesday 13th May 2008

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SUMMER'S arrived and we have been blessed with long, hot sunny days.

But are we happy about it?

It seems to be a British trait to moan whatever the weather.

A couple of days of sweltering days and warm nights and we are all wilting.

It's too hot to work, we moan, as we try to cope in non-air-conditioned offices.

And, if you believe what they say on the national news - then many people have used the sunny weather as an excuse to take a sick day to sunbathe.

But most of us will welcome the sun and make the most of it while it lasts.

Our only dilemma, of course, is what to wear.

I'm sorry to say it but the British - or at least the majority - seem to lose all sartorial elegance when the weather is warm.

At the weekend, many men gave their legs the first airing of the year and donned shorts.

But that's where it all went wrong as they committed every fashion faux-pas.

Clearly, there are good and bad shorts - remember Alan Partridge?

The longer, tailored kind can work, but sporty ones - well they should only be seen in the gym or on the football pitch.

Then of course it's the footwear.

Why do men think that ordinary black socks can ever work with shorts? Sorry, they're just plain wrong.

Sandals and socks? It's not even a good look on geography teachers.

Finish it off with a loud Hawaiian shirt and you're guaranteed to get noticed for all the wrong reasons.

Women fare no better.

Unless you've got good legs, preferably tanned ones, then bum-skimming shorts should only be seen on the beach or in your own back garden.

Don't inflict your pasty white legs on the rest of us.

Team shorts with a low cut vest, a brightly coloured bra and a bumbag and you've really lost it.

There's altogether far too much flesh on show. Trust me, it's not a good look.

Other countries get it right - the French are effortlessly elegant whatever the weather and the Italians always look chic.

Men can get away with wearing linen trousers in a variety of bright colours and somehow it just works.

Women, whatever their age, still manage to look stylish.

So what's wrong with us?

I fear we've not moved on much since the age of the knotted hanky as the worst dressed nation!