Fashion Show....701 Whaley

Whether I'm watching models skulk the runways of Milan or a cheery fashion show at the Lexington Women's Club, one truth holds, well, true: the best show is always provided by the audience. And thus it was last week, as University of South Carolina students orchestrated their own fashion week. I arrived early, so that I could watch the show before the show. Here are just a few of my findings....

These two students arrived, not knowing one another. I simply had to have them together for a single colour-coordinated photo, all the while mulling the return of a trend.

The last time neon was big, I was in the middle of my second mid-life crisis. The British health authorities had upped the average life expectancy, leaving me no choice really. I'd celebrated my first midlife crisis too soon. So I purchased a pair of neon green pleather pants and let the silliness begin...again.

Are rumours of a day-glo resurgence worth heeding? Both David and Liz found their bright green at Express. David, indeed, calls the colour neon green. Liz calls it kiwi.

This exotic, angular beauty caught my eye, and I rushed over to meet her. (I am aged, dear reader, not dead!) My delight was doubled when she spoke in a dulcet British accent, then tripled to learn that she is a woman after my own heart: Ishy is an exchange student at the university, studying history no less. Her ruffled top is from Topshop in London, her skirt from Peacocks, "sort of the Target of Great Britain," she says.

Creighton, a student at Dreher High School, proved that a grey palette can conjure magic. Something about this combination strikes me as elfin. Creighton seems to have arrived at a theory of style that eludes many mature women: she prefers just a few items that can work together in innumerable ways, she says. Her skirt is a hand-me-down from a cousin, her boots from Belk.