And the trophy goes to M&S

Do you remember the 2006 World Cup? Course you do. The one with the Wags. It was a seminal British cultural moment (although not, alas, in football). Who could forget the image of Coleen, Alex and co emerging victorious from their hotel each evening, vainglorious in their Cricket-bought splendour and marvellously unperturbed by their menfolk's limp performances? Each of them held a £1,000 handbag at an awkward, elbow-crook height, so ensuring that the Balenciaga Lariat/Chloé Paddington/whatever the It bag was that day stayed in bullseye position for every paparazzo lens in town. If the boys had got their hands on that gold trophy, they couldn't have held it aloft with more pride than the girls did their It bags.

This year's trophy item is the jacket. With jeans making a comeback as a Fashion Item, the right jacket becomes an outfit in its own right, because you can sling it on with denim and a T-shirt. As for what the right jacket is: three classics are vying for supremacy. The mannish boyfriend/tux jacket - black, silk trim, a pushed-up sleeve or a turned-up lapel for that art-school-rock look - is the cool option. The safari jacket is back, although I find safari jackets a bit cheesy, a bit minor-royal-on-holiday. But the slam-dunk, sure-fire winner is the Chanel-alike jacket. Smart and yet slouchy as a cardigan. Plus this one's from Marks & Spencer. And what could be more 2009 than buying trophy fashion from M&S?