Take a dirndl like hers

WHEN was the last time your outfit turned heads in the street? Or had traffic screeching to a halt? Or prompted a dreamy Rupert Graves type to comment (when you sashay past in slow motion): "There she was, the loveliest thing I'd ever seen in my life. I made up my mind, there and then, I had to have her."

The moment Jenny Bunn, heroine of the BBC's adaptation of Kingsley Amis's Take A Girl Like You, played by Sienna Guillory, appears on screen, every man whose path she crosses is mad about her. She's pretty enough, but it's her late Fifties outfits that do the trick. Who wouldn't fall for a perfect teaming of broderie anglaise blouse under batwing cardie, a dirndl print skirt and kitten heels - a vision in white and cream?

If you fancy a bit of that action, look no further than the spring collections. Marc Jacobs, Ghost, Prada, Louis Vuitton. Even Gucci and Alexander McQueen were at it.

I'm not suggesting you rush out and buy McQueen's prom-queen dress to wear to work, but a nice little cardie with a wide elasticised belt would do the trick. Or a slinky pencil skirt and sweater-girl polo-neck (very Sophia Loren in The Millionairess, very Dolce and Gabbana).

Miuccia Prada sent it all out too, from the cardigans to sweaters to turtle necks and big, big skirts.

Now I know what you're thinking. It will take more than a TV drama and a bunch of designers to get you into a batwing cardie. But think again. If there was ever a time when fashion conspired to make all women, young and old, look good, it was the Fifties, and you didn't have to be a size eight to pull the look off. The look is not about costume, so try to avoid looking too retro. A dirndl is about as full as you want to go, just on or below the knee (a pencil skirt is spot on too). Leave those full circle skirts with petticoats for fancy dress. Heels are low and pointy.

Go for kitten-heel slingbacks or ballet pumps. You can't go wrong if you think Audrey Hepburn.

So, where to shop? For designer stores head for Steinberg and Tolkien, a gold mine of vintage frocks, on the King's Road. The owners have just opened in Selfridges where you can pick up an original Fifties dress (for 300) or a cardigan for 200.

The key to the look, however, is the simplicity of the sweater and dirndl combo. As an admirer says to Jenny (Sienna): "I never realised how much I adored polo necks until this very instant."

Take A Girl Like You starts on BBC1 this Sunday at 9.05pm.

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