Whilst luxury brands are buoyant and many people are fast realising that cheapie Primark frocks have their consequences and are moving into a slower and more expensive way of buying into fashion, on the flipside, there seems to be a 'tendance' for the cheap and a bit of tackiness.  I don't mean dresses constructed out of Tesco bags or such ironic 'cheap' statements but I'm talking about things like polyester getting a new lease of life, exemplified by the 100% Italian polyester dresses seen at Lanvin SS08 or the lux-tackiness expounded by Balmain's AW08 collection (I suspect there is one Christophe Decarnin-obsessed stylist dressing the whole world in Balmain but I'm not complaining...).

It's always a hint though, a subtle nod towards tackiness that doesn't veer right into universal bad taste.  When I see Bjork & McElligott's AW08 collection modelled by Ben Grimes (no comments about her 'bigger' size please because I think she's a beaut....), I see that lux-tack vibe coming through.  If I'm honest, some of the clothes do remind me a little of this shop called 'Selene' on my local high street back in North Finchley when I was a teen and I'd see orange lace shirts and black lurex dresses ahoy.  I don't mean that in a derogatory way though because the great thing about lux-tack is that just as you think it's a little bit 'cheap' looking, you touch the fabrics and see the construction and realise that it's not.  There's a certain accessibility about 'lux-tack' that is way less overwhelming than full on lux-lux.  It's that awkward/sexy thing that I'm always attracted to, which springs out to me when looking at the collection...