The Little Black Dress - and tales thereabouts

About six weeks ago I tootled off to a 40th birthday party in a pub in Peckham with my old friend Jo, who now lives in Goring. We'd both thought it would be nice to make a bit of an effort for our great friend Janine's big day and dress up. I went for the old skinny-jeans-and-heels safety net, while Jo plumped for the glamorous classic: the Little Black Dress.

We got to the venue and Jo got into a bit of a panic. Would her LBD show her up to be a parochial old bird who'd lost her cool, urban edge? And why hadn't she too plumped for skinny jeans and heels? Especially as I'd just ditched the heels and kept my trainers on (bad friend, I know).

The thing is, the LBD remains an enduringly cool, classic, urbane and sexy thing. And right now (when 5th Avenue ladies are carrying their designer shopping away in nameless bags), it's about as right as it could get in terms of looking glamorous without looking like you're stuck in a pre-crunch Bling warp. The other thing is (and this hasn't changed, either) you can dress it up or down at will.

So in terms of what you might wear with the LBD - the shoes, the jewels, the scent even - it rather depends on you. For Coco Chanel, its originator, No 5 would have been the ideal olfactory fit. For me, it is something like Chanel's, fresh, tonic, Cristalle. For Jo that night in Peckham, it was Diane Von Furstenberg's sexy, grown-up, Eau de Parfum. For the French vintage fashion expert, Didier Ludot it is a new scent by Guerlain, La Petite Robe Noire. He has designed an LBD to coincide with the launch of this scent. If you're passing, it's on show at Harrods from Sunday - March 15th.

LBD chatter aside. Although Jo has mixed feelings of hilarity and alarm over the notion that her new, family-oriented, ex-London lifestyle has loosened her grip on how to dress up, she was in fact spot on. She'd simply lost sight that her own LBD was exactly the kind Kate Moss might have worn to a 40th bash in a pub. Because it was cute and sexy. Skinny jeans 'n heels go hang.