Some fashions are like zombies: they just refuse to die. In all good horror films, the zombie will be shot down, battered over the head, and buried six feet under. Then it rises from the dead, ready to make you the next victim.

The runways in Europe and many of our local designers are featuring something back from the grave. No, not a zombie, but models in lace. Lace? The ultimate in fuddy-duddy, "wouldn't be seen dead in", fabric. But it's back with a vengeance, thanks to its ability to look sophisticated and feminine, and when black, give a soft gothic edge which is all the rage.

It will not disappear, says Jo Ellison, features editor at British Vogue, so get used to it. "Lace will never die because its uses are so multifarious," she says. "It's an incredibly versatile fabric. It can look punky, powerful, profane or poetic, depending on how you wear it." And wear it we will, because designer powerhouse Miuccia Prada has decreed it the fabric of the moment.

Leather trousers are all the rage after years in the fashion wilderness, and bootcuts are back - to the delight of women for whom skinny jeans were impossible. Some "new" trends have barely been away - leggings have been poking out under dresses for about two years now - and some were never that fashionable in the first place. Pashminas were a Sloane Ranger staple long before, and after, their moment in the fashion limelight. Is this just fashion's circle turning? Or is the global credit crunch allowing us to dig out style from the back of the wardrobe?

For those old enough to remember leather and lace from last time around (or the time before that), it's time to welcome them back.

Rarely will you see a Sloane Ranger (or a political wife) without her "poshmina". This, despite Vogue saying in 1999 that they were over. "A pashmina is not fashionable," agrees Stefan Lindemann of Grazia. "It's a staple. But a Sloane pashmina has fringes. A cashmere wrap does not. And keep the colours neutral."

Leather

- INDEPENDENT