Pish Posh

I found myself irritated today.

Apparently, Carol Vorderman was snapped wearing a dress that is not only last season (gasp) but appeared on none other than Victoria Beckham. People were outraged at her audacity, not only in wearing such an outdated relic, but copying Posh.

My reason for my irritation is twofold.

Firstly, – and I don’t know about you – your average woman does not, generally ship an outfit off to Save the Children because it’s ‘so last season’. How absurd. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I have a number of dresses, tops and jumpers that last me at least a year. In fact, if they don't I want to know why. Not so much the 50p pants but I’ll live with that.
We’ve all got that piece in our wardrobe. It could be a raggedy old knee length cardigan that you simply can’t part with. Or it could be the sexiest dress you’ll ever own. More often than not, these things are years old and could be from some dreadfully uncool shop or clothing line, like George in Asda. We love it just the same.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t claim to be the most thrifty of females when it comes to my clothes. I’ve stored numerous boxes in the loft with the same hopeful labels as the rest of you: ‘summer’, ‘skirts’… ‘might fit later’. But there has to be a limit to these things. And chucking it out because you’ve worn it before is, I think, careering past it.

Yes, I know, I know, fashion is a trend thing, a refreshingly everchanging and evolving force. I can almost understand a designer not wanting to appear outdated but Carol Vorderman, although famous, is still one of us. She's just better at maths. Who knows, she might even buy her knickers from Debenhams or Marks.

Ms Vorderman wrote in the Daily Mail that she found the kafuffle over her wearing the dress ‘hysterical’. I’m glad she’s keeping her head - as well as the dress - and not entering into such a banal argument.

The other issue which perplexed me is that Carol was slagged off for wearing the admittedly hugging dress and it was even suggested she carry a sign reading ‘Wide Load’.

The woman is a size ten.

Even more ridiculous was that she was pictured alongside Victoria Beckham in the offending gown and I actually thought she looked better. Her curves filled the dress while it looked like it limply hung off Victoria.

If you want to be a size four; fine, if you want to be a 16; fine. But a size ten sure as hell does not need to come with a warning sign.

It would be better if we could all just play nice. A celebrity wearing an out of season garment is not high on my list of things to worry about. Think what we could achieve if we chanelled some of this obsession with fashion and celebrities into things that actually matter.