As well as the wedding, christening and first communion season, one of the most dreaded seasons is Christmas. It’s the busiest time of year and suddenly family reunions coincide with the most important date on the calendar: New Year’s Eve.

Although the last week in December is still a while away, it’s time to start thinking about what you’re going to wear. If you put it off you’re likely to get involved Christmas shopping and leave the most important thing, the dress or outfit you’ve been awaiting for 365 days, till last.

If there’s something Christmas is good for, apart from eating anything you want guilt-free, is that it gives you the perfect excuse to update your party wardrobe.

If we were all celebrities, we wouldn’t need an excuse to buy spectacular dresses, but since we’re not, and it’s not as if our diaries are jam-packed with glamorous parties, we can still get excited at the thought of dressing up for a Christmas dinner or a New Year’s Eve party as if we were going to the Oscars.

In 2009 this is as easy as can be since trends for both day and evening are on our side: they include sparkles, sequins, elegant fabrics like lace, blond lace or brocades, and metallic finishes. You couldn’t ask for more.

However, in order to avoid the biggest style disaster of the year, you should look very carefully at what suits you, what adapts best to your style and what fits in best with what you have in your wardrobe.

There’s a golden rule to make sure you don’t confuse dressing up with fancy dress.

Avoid wearing all trends at once and don’t go over the top.

Take advantage of this to buy that fantastic dress you’ve always wanted or those impossible shoes which you would only ever wear for a special occasion.

This sapphire blue outfit has been the object of my affection ever since I first saw it in MANGO. It’s from the MANGO MOMENTS collection and I can assure you it’s spectacular. It will fly off the rails, if it hasn’t already, so if you like it as much as I do you’d better hurry!

It looks perfect with slouch ankle boots like these which you can then use over and over again.

Now, it’s dresses like this that make it necessary to write about Christmas outfits a month and a half in advance …