How to wear this season's catwalk trends in real life

The bedding bag

Receptacles were huge on the catwalks this season, and served with a dose of irony. At Balenciaga, the new It bag is a £2,300 version of the sort of square-edged plastic cover that comes with a new duvet or electric blanket. If you are committed to getting the look for less, buy some bedding and reuse the case (bonus: you get a new mattress topper). Or just enjoy the knowledge that your look is on point even when you're weighed down with children's PE kits or an Ikea flatpack.

Haute desking

Your work shirt appears to have been caught in the shredder. Disaster, right? Wrong. This season, that's a look. It's called deconstructed shirting and it's part of a wider preoccupation with rejigged workwear. On the catwalk, this means a pinstriped blazer worn backwards and refashioned into a dress. In real life, it's a shirt with a peephole at the shoulder, or a trench with an extra-thick, flattering belt. Basically, these are office clothes, but not the way that Steve in facilities management wears them.

The shy sandal

Big news for feet: toe cleavage is over. From neat kitten heels to sandals with a scoop cut halfway up your instep, toes are fully covered this season. Shoes that show off half a centimetre of squished-together toe feel about as zeitgeisty as drinking a cosmopolitan while discussing whether you are a Carrie or a Miranda. You can dip yours into the trend anywhere on the high street; a low, V-cut court shoe is a good place to start.

Bi-toning

Fashion loves bold colour this season, but how to style it? Monotoning (one hue from top to toe) is now so establishment, it comes with a royal warrant (the Queen is the queen of monotoning). Tri-colouring is a bit too much effort. The middle way is bi-toning, wearing two colours that pop against each other – orange and navy, say, or pink and purple. This allows you to demonstrate your confidence as a fashion colourist while wearing existing items from your wardrobe. Win.

Woke pink

FacebookTwitterPinterestNot so much a colour as a political statement, the prevalence of pink in the collections has already sparked a thousand think pieces. A precis: pink is the embodiment of millennials' progressive values; it is post-gender, post-irony; its starring role at the Women's March (countless pink pussy hats) has helped rehabilitate the shade from its once maligned status as the shade of a Bic For Her. Also: it looks nice.

1980s cocktail

FacebookTwitterPinterestAs any historian will tell you, the best thing about the 80s was the earrings. This season, Jem And The Holograms-style ear accoutrements are back, as are giant ruffles, shiny fabrics, miniskirts and exaggerated shoulders. Clearly, fashion is feeling nostalgic for the days when nightlife meant something more than watching Netflix while refreshing Twitter in your bathrobe. If the catwalk version feels a bit "ta-da", pick one element (a glitzy earring or a mega-ruffle) and dress for the evening you want, not the evening you have.