A New Trend in 60 Seconds

Charlie Dawson helps you navigate the fickle world of fashion

THE BIB NECKLACE

The fashion industry usually comes up with innovative and catchy names for new trends to make us better dressed, more popular and more fanciable, such as the harem pant, the tulip skirt, or the boyfriend blazer. But occasionally someone at fashion central is feeling, well, a little bit lazy, and comes up with a name for a trend that does exactly what it says on the packet. And so we welcome, the “bib necklace” – a necklace you wear like a bib. Only, it’s not made of towelling with a cute illustration of Peter Rabbit on the front, it is generally a piece of material embellished with gems, jewels, studs and sequins that you tie around your neck with ribbon. Divine!

The draw of the bib necklace is that, as opposed to most accessories, it is designed to upstage your outfit and not to be worn as an afterthought. Best used to funk up smart tees, scoop-necked, sculptured party dresses, and on top of voluminous, graphic vest tops, it’s the gaudy Christmas gift you won’t be exchanging in the new year.

A few rules: 1) The top part should be no narrower than the jaw line, or it will make your face look disproportionately wide. 2) Jessica Rabbit busts should go with a short bib that sits above the cleavage. Kate Moss boobs can go for deconstructed pieces that sit lower down the torso. 3) The more colourful, bling and textured, the more on-trend you will be.

Who do we thank for this collarbone couture? Dolce & Gabbana, Marni and Louis Vuitton for killing it on the catwalks; Amy Adams (pictured), for weighing in with a hot Fred Leighton bib necklace at the 2009 Academy Awards, and Mischa Barton and Olivia Palermo for following. With The Twilight Saga: New Moon in cinemas and True Blood, our new obsession, it wasn’t going to be an eternity before some inviting neck candy turned up, just in time for some festive jugular biting. Anyone for nibbles?