Rebecca Taylor

I am not given to silliness and, objectively speaking, a houndstooth suit trimmed in pink rickrack braid with -- God in heaven -- a ruffle on the hem is daft.

But it looks awfully good. It is by Rebecca Taylor, a New Zealand-born designer who makes fairly sober things that startle when you look closer. There are always tiny interesting details. You may be wearing a toned-down version of the dowdy tweed thing everyone is supposed to wear this winter, but the pink shows that, at some level, you're taking it well.

I was planning to wear this suit to meet a seriously posh person to talk about money, but it had to be not just altered by those Stitch It people, but renovated. So I wore a more business-y suit.

Anyway, I realized that this person would rather talk about the triumph of the new Europe than money, so I blathered about whether Turkey was European or Asian and wondered aloud whether there are any wine possibilities in the Baltic states. If so, the EU could only profit from its new members, both culturally and surging-population-wise, I said, picking at the silk flaglets puffing out pointlessly from my scarf.

Had I been wearing the Rebecca Taylor suit, I would have talked about aesthetics and the return of the ruffle. I have a book on statuary drapery (nothing to do with statutory drapery, which is what you wear to court, but rather whatever marble dress the Virgin Mary happens to be wearing). I might have mentioned the popularity of houndstooth suits for working women in 1940s movies.

I might have talked to my posh friend about how women's clothing is becoming humane, joyous and full of pleasure and colour. We will look back on the black years with awe.

Did you wear black all the time, Auntie Heather? Yes, I did. It was a scary time for happy people. But then Rebecca Taylor arrived (at TNT Woman, suit $800 but 40 per cent off) and suddenly we had these little flashes of rickrack laughter.

My point is that men dress to blend. Women dress to suit. And sometimes your conversation must match what you're wearing.

This Rebecca Taylor will take me anywhere. Not anywhere where people talk non-stop about money, but anywhere else.

by Heather Mallick