Fashion – The future is plastic

Forget leather, wool and natural fibres — good old plastic is the material of choice from head to toe; the catwalk to the High Street.

The jelly shoe — long a saviour for sensitive soles on pebble beaches — has shed its cheap seaside image. Thanks to designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Marc Jacobs and Diane Von Furstenberg, the holiday footwear has been moulded into sandals, pumps and stilettos and elevated to must-have status.

And for those who baulk at paying designer prices for a bit of PVC, Barratts has launched colourful studded jelly gladiator sandals for £15.

But it isn’t only shoes that are enjoying a plastic makeover. So is the humble shopping bag. The eco-conscious may have won the fashion battle with the trendy hessian ‘bags for life’, but could plastic win the war with its new designer incarnation?

Italian label Marni has launched a recycled plastic tote featuring illustrations by French artist Claude Caillol.

Not even headgear has escaped the plastic trend. Milliner Bernstock Speirs has designed two hats made almost entirely of bubble wrap. Wonder how many people will give in to temptation and pop the plastic and ruin the lot.