Professionally speaking, I’ve been on grunge watch for months, on the lookout for those special designer touches that show fashion cares. In the early Nineties, Jean Paul Gaultier came up with elaborately laddered knitwear. Prada produced “anti-status” nylon rucksacks and linen dresses the colour of sacks, albeit lovely ones. If they could, they would probably have found a way to market ashes. Perry Ellis had satin Birkenstocks and Seattle-style plaid shirts, inspired by a shirt that an itinerant was selling on the street for $1.25, which Marc Jacobs had made up into a $1,000, four-ply silk version.

Maybe this recession is different from the dog days of ’92. Maybe we’re just too hooked on luxury, but I see no sight of Birkenstocks or sackcloth. Perhaps grunge only starts to blossom once we’re through the worst. Who wants to look poor when they’re genuinely feeling poor? Leave Arte Povera to the rich.

Come to think of it, Perry Ellis’s collection hit the catwalk just as Clinton reached the White House. The buds of optimism were unfurling all around. The difference is, although Obama is adored, we now know the situation is grave. So no satin Birkenstocks.

Or maybe jellies are the 2009 equivalent. You know jellies – the playschool-bright sandals that almost every designer with speedy access to a Chinese production line has introduced to their “offer”.

In purely commercial terms, jellies are a win-win, allowing customers to buy into the Vivenne Westwood/Michael Kors/Tory Burch/Marc Jacobs dream for around £80 – and enabling designers to turn a profit that almost rivals that of the nylon rucksack for daring. How you feel about the price of designer jellies (“All that for £80?” or “£80 for that!”) depends on how you feel about the price of designer fashion in general. You can’t argue with comfort, though – I’m living in my Westwoods. There’s something else: jellies provide that essential dress-under touch. We may not be ready for grunge, but even the WAGs have twigged that overdressing is over. The current aspiration is to look subtly pulled together, and it requires a bit of thought.

Canvassing stylists, designers and otherwise stylish people resulted in the following dress-under suggestions: an ethnic, embroidered piece (but not one that’s been obviously mass-produced) under a tailored jacket; introducing something stripy to a serious-looking suit; working unexpected colour combinations (chartreuse, a flash of neon, khaki and a small amount of red all work wonders when it comes to adding impact without bling); Converse high-tops (especially in metallic) – less predictable with tailored trousers than ballet pumps; jewellery with your children’s names engraved on discreet silver discs as an antidote to the statement cuff. Topshop’s red quilted “Chanel” bags are another good, insider dress-under tip, but only if the rest of your outfit is top quality. This requires judgment, as you can tell. It may not be Povera, but it is art.

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