Fashion often seems keen to depersonalise women, preferring to dress them like robots, machinery or space invaders. Hard, metallic surfaces in industrial shades – steel, aluminium and iron – set a futuristic mood that many people find daunting, if not downright dehumanising.

But modern fashion is about diversity, and women today have a wider choice of looks than ever before. So, if hard metallics are out for you, then go soft. The country-cottage, crocheted-tea-cosy look is a much more accessible alternative for many women.

It doesn’t have to look too “loving hands at home”, either. This is sophisticated patchwork, often in multicoloured prints that are strong and modern – nothing whatsoever to do with little old grannies sitting under ancient apple trees.

The reason patchwork has lasted for so long, albeit frequently on the periphery of fashion, is that, like lace, it is remarkably at ease no matter what the fashion mood is. Also, because it is rarely central to designer fashion, it is never totally unfashionable. Still, it has its minor moments, and one such is happening now. Patchwork’s 2007 manifestation, on the catwalks of Marc Jacobs, Etro and Chloé, has a collage effect that is reminiscent not only of traditional American patchwork quilts, but of the abstract patterns and textures of Russian art between the wars.

For those who think the overall effect of patchwork – which is, in a sense, a form of body camouflage – might be too overwhelming, there is another way to get the look. Put your name down for one of this season’s Louis Vuitton monogrammed denim patchwork handbags, surely the ultimate statement of modern hippie cool.

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