As the good weather approaches, sleeves, skirts and dresses are getting shorter. And so are jackets: blazers, cardigans and leather jackets also barely reach your navel.

It was a well-loved famous French designer, sadly now gone, who popularised this design we know so well. Despite the fact that many people find it uncomfortable when jackets don’t reach their waist, cropped jackets are very youthful and are perfect for a time of year when you can really do without excess centimetres on clothes.

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Continuing the theme of key wardrobe investments, now that December is here and we’re thinking about Christmas, let’s just save our energy for the celebrations and our money for the gifts.

You have to be practical, so additions to the autumn selection of your wardrobe should just consist of the bare minimum and stuff you use over and over again: a faux fur coat, musketeer boots, a leather skirt, long gloves and a nice warm sweater.

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Whether it’s animal, gingham, or geometric prints; trenches, jackets, capes or military styles or short, waist or ankle-length… coats are this winter’s star items. They’re worn by celebs and people on the street alike, both day and night, and are casual and dressy. What are you waiting for to get your own?

Fashion doesn’t always mean impractical uncomfortable designs. Coats are as necessary as they are versatile and recyclable, and they adapt well to the trends which drive you mad every year when you’re trying to update your wardrobe.

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The idea that you have to bankrupt yourself when buying clothes for special occasions is now a thing of the past. This season, eveningwear can also be used during the day and the looks we use for celebrating are increasingly versatile, which means you can’t use expense as an excuse not to dress up.

Thanks to MANGO Think Up, you can create exclusive looks for under 100 euros. All you have to do is get a hold of the key items we suggest in our catalogue, and alternate them.

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It’s not only TV series like Sex and the City, Gossip Girl or The Beautiful Life (Mischa Barton’s new TV project), that speak the language of fashion: reality shows have also jumped on the bandwagon of trends, models, stylists and designers.

America’s Next Top Model (with a format which has been exported to European countries like the UK, Holland, Norway, Sweden or France), Project Runway (which also has a British version), The City, or The Rachel Zoe Project are clear examples of the current importance and appeal of this discipline on the small screen.

With only a simple internet connection and some free time, you will be able to find out about all the ins and outs of the fashion industry from all angles and in the comfort of your own home.

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You quite often have the same problem with accessories as you have with clothes: you see something you love on a celebrity and go absolutely mad looking for something similar with no joy. The thing is, unless you know how to make patterns and sew this is almost impossible with clothes, but with accessories it’s a lot easier, all you need is a bit of craftiness and items we all have at home.

Do you love the bows Lauren Conrad (star of The Hills) wears as grips but can’t find them anywhere? Get a hairpin you no longer use, satin ribbon you will find in any haberdashery, some plastic sheets of the sort used to keep men’s shirt collars straight, and some glue.

Cut several bits of ribbon (whatever colour you prefer) and the same number of plastic strips and join them using a few drops of glue on the same side. Once they’ve dried out, put them in the shape of a bow and place them on the hairpin in a fan shape, pressing down hard with your finger so that it doesn’t come apart. Take one of the remaining bits of ribbon and knot it round. Voilà.

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A common habit that will soon be lost in history, if it is not already, is the change of wardrobe. Between climate change that, little by little, is erasing the different seasons, the frenetic speed at which fashion collections are released so that they overlap, and trends that no longer understand the concepts of hot and cold (boots in summer, sandals in winter, etc.), seasonal clothing makes less and less sense.

Careful, though – this does not mean that we won’t update our wardrobe, but more that, especially given the current economic climate, the best possible solution is to buy items that we can wear all year round. The key to saving money lies in shopping with a focus on reusable items and on skilfully reinterpreting the clothes we already have.

Shorts are the best possible example of a garment intended just for summer that also makes total sense when the temperatures drop. All you have to do is exchange the typical cool T-shirt and the flat sandals for a pair of long socks or some opaque tights, along with some calf-length boots, and the result is a pair of shorts that is as useful in winter as in summer.

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Until they lost my luggage a week ago in a bustling international airport the name of which I don’t want to think about (ok, it was Heathrow), I always thought that the idea of lost luggage was an urban legend, or one of those anecdotes that you hear from other people but that you never think will happen to you. Well, I was wrong. It does happen. And it causes all sorts of problems. Because one of the most difficult tasks when going on a trip is organising what you are going to wear and fitting it all into a bag that in most cases is much smaller than you would like, none of which is done haphazardly. So when all of this careful planning comes to nothing and your carefully thought-through style plans go down the toilet, you should always have a plan B.

To make sure that your holiday is not affected by a long list of unexpected expenses (because the most usual course of events is for your bag to be found within a week or never), here is a list of advice for the dreaded occasion when you arrive at your dream destination with literally nothing to wear.

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