How to wear a dress

The calendar has now rolled over from Frocktober to Movember - and I'm rather joyously reunited with my jeans - but after wearing a dress every day for a month they're still very much on my mind.In case that all reads like Klingon to you, I'll explain. Movember is the fund-raising drive in aid of prostate cancer research, where chaps get sponsored to grow moustaches during November.  Frocktober is the girls' version - although some brave and marvellous boys do it, too - where you get sponsored to wear a dress every day in October, raising funds for ovarian cancer research.

I think it's a wizard wheeze and embraced it enthusiastically, raising funds and learning a lot in the process. Such as how many dresses I have accumulated over the years that are still perfectly wearable. Who knew?But once you've worn the same three on rotation for a few days, you do dig deep in the back of your wardrobe looking for inspiration.  I could wear frocks I had always categorised in my head as ''cocktail'', ''party'' and ''best'' any old day, if I played them down with a light cotton cardigan and a daywear shoe.I also found out how good it felt to wear my very best dress - the most divine Paul Smith shift in floral print-scarf silk - just to go to the post office.

I felt super duper and was delighted when I bumped into a very stylish male friend.Usually I'm horrified if anyone I know sees me in my working comfies. Especially if it happens on consecutive days, as it could well be the same jeans and T-shirt as the previous one. The shame - but this is the slut rut you can fall into when you work alone and wearing dresses for a month got me out of it. I'm in jeans now - because it's a novelty - but I'm not going to back slide.Because it's not just that the actual clothing is nicer than a droopy old T-shirt and skanky jeans, you also have to take more care with your hair and make-up when you wear dresses. You must live up to them, or you look like you haven't finished getting dressed. You have to hold yourself properly, too.

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