SKIRT FLIRT: An Anita Dongre design

It is the season's surprise trend. While designers push for the churidar trouser as an Indian invention, locally it is the ghagra skirt that has bypassed all silhouettes to become the hottest buy. From hip young things at lounge bars, college girls shopping at streetside stalls to the label happy heading to Rohit Bal, the long, gathered skirt, touted as the "petticoat skirt" is in every wardrobe. And with Preity Zinta's character in Lakshya, modelled on a Delhi reporter, the skirt's place in fashion has been secured. Says designer David Abraham: "It is not the skirt length that is globally in vogue, so it does seem to be a local trend. It shows we are more confident and setting trends, not just following global ones." Its closest cousin globally is the gypsy skirt, flouncy but knee-length, unlike our trailing-at-the-ankles version. Of the skirt's origins, Abraham says, "I have seen it in every Indian fashion show from the time we began showing western clothes." Finally, it can enjoy its mass moment.

Flipping Out

From Left: Designs by Pratap, Finese, Preview

Elsewhere in the world, the flip flop-the simple V shape and the flat sole that your mother would call bathroom chappals-is fashion's concession to practicality, but only just. Mother-of-pearl trimmed from Chanel or surfer chic from Tommy Hilfiger, they are for women who decide to pretend for a while that comfort was the reason why fashion came into being. Come monsoons, however, and flip flops become not a statement, but a necessity in India. Think of the puddles that will form outside your office and the drains that will overflow. If wading to work is a given, may as well enjoy it rather than stress over the dosh that went down the drain. Choose from Bata's flowery patterns, to Finesse's flora base, to Rajesh Pratap's leather flip flops or the Preview store's yellow straps.

THE SNOBOMETER
INs

Smooth operators: Hair challenged sports icons like David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane. Check out what Sachin Tendulkar would look like if he used the razor.

Serial thriller: Make the most of the downpour by staying in for brand new episodes of Sex and the City, featuring a raunchier, male-hungry Sarah Jessica Parker.

Orange splash: There's something about the colour that gets the mood going on a cloudy day.

Close-up season: The rain does something to the hormones. It's the season of cuddling up with acquaintances, like Kim Sharma and Ashmit Patel.

OUTs

White noise: Wearing white when you have an upper-storey like Rakshanda Khan's. Riya Sen gets it right.

Tattoo tales: Any old tattoo is passe. But Beckham's tattoo of Victoria spelt in Hindi gets the thumbs up.

-Compiled by Kanika Gahlaut