Sometimes, I'll come clean, I had to fight the cats and the children off.
And obviously I was cautious when mingling with your actual fashion crowd.

In fact, you couldn't see my (stealthily expanding) repertoire of pashies for dust whenever a fashion-y type hove over the horizon. But on airplanes, holidays with non-pashist friends, in over-air-conditioned venues (the US), in the countryside, in the presence of anyone under 15, in the vicinity of mosque, synogogue or other place where head covering is appropriate (ie, the head-rests on any British train) and during all "balmy" summer evenings in northern Europe, I was never without one of those silky little blankets to hand. I like to think Brown Owl would have been proud of my adult preparedness. Unfortunately she wasn't crazy about me and would be even less impressed by my cashmere collection.

Let's not dwell on Brown Owl. The pash is slithering out of the closet. How do I know? It's in my bones. Which is another way of saying that it's early days and I can't reel off a list of celebrities disporting themselves at Bouji's in freebie pashminas just yet. On the other hand, Kate et al are back in Uggs, which, may I remind you, had until six minutes ago been written off in the same dismissive terms, by the same dismissive bunch, as the pashmina. Where comfortable but hideous footwear tread, can such a glory as the lustrous pashmina be far behind? You'll have to take my word. But since I like to think that this is a column for those who don't cravenly hang on the style antics of the A, B or C list (when anyone's looking), I will allow the pashmina pros and cons to speak for themselves.

Pros: warm, light, idiot-proof way to introduce colour into your wardrobe (plus, there are some lovely black ones around, with beaded fringes, see www.doushala.com for reasonably priced ones), compact (a topical consideration viz hand-luggage constrictions).Furthermore, one size fits all. Further, furthermore, you only have to glance at next spring's catwalk trends ­ the relaxed, flowy, soft, unfetteredness of it all ­ to intuit that pashminas fit in beautifully. Also ­- and I know you don't care about this -­ but Sienna wore one earlier this year when she was interviewed by an American glossy magazine writer who got very excited about the sighting.
Lordy have patience -­ I could have told her aeons ago they were OK.
Con: they're out of fashion. But only because on a slow afternoon seven years ago, one of the writers on Vogue decided to make them so. I know because the writer's a friend of mine.

I'm not saying we should all move to Fulham and swathe ourselves in pastel pash again (cooler to wear it round the neck like a scarf in dark, murky colours, or cream). But I urge you to liberate a pashmina soon. You may even find it liberates you. Fenwick has them in every colour from £89 (020-7823 5638). Pickett (020-8785 7819; www.pickett.co.uk) does mail order and the best gift-wrapping in London. There you go: Christmas sorted.

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