Fashion used to operate on two seasons a year. Now trends are staying in fashion for years, not months. From now on, fads are out and personal style is in

• Read more from the spring/summer 2018 edition of The Fashion, our biannual fashion supplement

So there I was, perched on my gilt chair at the Paris haute couture shows one evening in January, waiting for the Givenchy show to start, fiddling with the satin ribbons that cinch the wrists of my favourite new Mother of Pearl sweater, idling the time away with a little light screen-shopping. I zoomed in on a new-season Ellery dress whose sleeves, curled and trailing like a lemon zest twist in a cocktail glass, caught my eye, but then I was distracted by the heavenly black Givenchy blouse being worn by the PRs, with frothy tulle sleeves that look like tremendously chic angel wings.

Sleeves are having a moment. But here’s the weird part: sleeves have been having a moment for five years. Towards the end of last year, we were at fashion week swooning over puff-sleeved gothic blouses on Stella McCartney’s catwalk, while wearing Versace knits with POWER or UNITY emblazoned from elbow to wrist. “The Statement Sleeve – STILL!” proclaimed Vogue in its spring trend report, reporting on the poet sleeves and trumpet flares that abounded a year ago. And the year before that, sleeves made headlines both at London fashion week (virago sleeves at Erdem) and during the presidential campaign, when Melania Trump wore bell-sleeved Roksanda. And two years before that, the Alexis Colby statement sleeve was already being championed by Olivier Rousteing, at the height of Balmania.

Six months is a ludicrously short lifespan for a piece of clothing, in five years it is more likely to have worn out

On social media, an immediately recognisable personal brand is all-important

He dressed Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy and forged a timeless style for a golden age

The first and last time I met Hubert de Givenchy, who has died at the age of 91, was at the opening of his eponymous exhibition at the Calais Museum for Lace and Fashion in June. His elegant 6ft 6in frame was even more imposing for the stately pace at which he moved, supported by a wooden cane. He had an impressive head of snow-white hair, and wore a simple dark suit and tie with a white shirt.

Related: Hubert de Givenchy, creator of style icons, dies aged 91

The 90s had shoes, the 00s had handbags and we’re living through the decade of the earring. From studs to chandeliers, multi-drops to mismatches, anything goes

The most important accessory of now says as much about you as the newspaper you read or where you go on holiday. It’s not just what’s between your ears that counts: you need to think about what you wear on them. The five reasons why earrings are where it’s at.

The western aesthetic makes a utilitarian way of dressing romantic

Western styling is one of the trends that teeter on the edge of fancy dress. Take the outfit I am wearing here. In my head it was going to be Sissy Spacek in Badlands, but I fear I may have ended up as Woody from Toy Story.

I’m not giving up on it, though. There is something about the western aesthetic that is very appealing. It makes a very utilitarian way of dressing romantic. A shirt with pointed collars and press-stud front pockets; dark denim layered over rib polo necks; high-waisted jeans with chunky heeled boots: these are clothes you could wear to take the car for an MOT while feeling a little like you were on a different kind of road trip.

Related: What I wore this week: a turtle neck

Frida Kahlo is wearing a long, tiered cotton skirt, teamed with a high-necked, ruffled blouse. The photographer has crouched at ground level to take the shot so that she looms larger than life in the frame, the defiant uptilt of her chin emphasised. She holds a vintage embroidered scarf, but bears it above her head in a way to suggest holding a banner or a flag rather than seeking shade or modesty.

As the designer stands down after 17 years, he explains how he turned an ailing raincoat maker – with a reputation for ‘chav check’ – into one of the world’s biggest luxury brands

• Adwoa Aboah models his final collection here

In fashion, serious players tend to adopt outlandish characters. Karl Lagerfeld is the mischievous time traveller, with his powdered 18th-century pompadour and solid gold Apple watch. Alexander McQueen played the tattooed bad boy. Anna Wintour, with her titanium bob and poker face, is the sphinx of the front row. But Christopher Bailey is the most unsettling fashion luminary I have dealt with. Bailey, who leaves Burberry this month after 17 years, is the most successful British fashion designer of his generation, with a trophy cabinet full of industry awards, an MBE and a salary big enough to make business page headlines.

Bailey’s shtick is that he is normal. Bailey is nice. Not nice as in lethally charming, or nice as in seductively conspiratorial, just nice as in nice. It is hard to explain how disarming this is, when you are used to operatic ego. The week before his final Burberry catwalk show, I arrive at Thomas’s cafe inside the Burberry store in London’s Regent Street 15 minutes before I am due to meet him, but he is already there, tucked in a corner banquette. He spots me, puts away his phone and jumps up to greet me with a Tiggerish bounce. “How are you? Lovely to see you! Have you had a busy day? Did you have lunch? Would you like anything to eat?” Bailey’s wholesomely sandy-haired looks give him an air, even at 46, of having just stepped out of an advert for cornflakes, or Lego, or cocoa. He is unremarkably dressed in a neatly buttoned denim shirt and dark trousers, his only accessory a plain gold wedding band.

When working out what Burberry was about, I wrote down ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ . That's the magic of the trenchcoat

For lots of people, the idea of a designer is this person throwing chiffon into the air and seeing how it falls

A showerproof outfit doesn’t need to relinquish all style

Looking stylish in the rain is advanced-level, letters-after-your-name level chic. Audrey Hepburn manages it in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Humphrey Bogart pulls it off in Casablanca. It is worth noting that these are both essentially divine beings. “Look like Audrey Hepburn” is sadly not a realistic style strategy for most of us.

When it rains in Hollywood, the chic response is all blithe, carefree oblivion. No huddling, no shivering. Instead, it is Fred Astaire singing, Andie MacDowell not-even-noticing. Fashion rain is even less realistic, fairytale, diamond-shaped-droplets kind of rain. In a perfume advert, you might get a girl in a strapless ballgown laughing gaily as her gallant beau holds his tux over her head. Probably on a bridge in Paris at night.

Related: What I wore this week: lilac | Jess Cartner-Morley

Outselling all competition on River Island’s website over a record-breakingly wet Easter bank holiday weekend was a £16.99 T-shirt that reads: “It’s All Good.” Meanwhile, over at J Crew, if you missed out on last season’s “UP BEAT” slogan tee, seen on several New York fashion-week showgoers, you can now buy one that reads “ON THE BRIGHT SIDE”.

At Topshop, the top which reads “You Make Me :)” is sold out in all sizes, and the long-sleeve tee with “Be Happy” written above rainbow stripes is now only available in a size four, but you can cheer yourself up with an alternative that just reads “Good Vibes”.

Sun’s out for a moment! Presenting my #VVBAW18 collection today x VB #DarkButHappyPlace victoriabeckham.com/victoria-victoria-beckham/

It is neat enough to look smart, without being sheepish; it is bold enough to be a fashion statement without looking mad

It is ridiculous for me to even think of buying any more cardigans. I have loads already. There are cardigans hiding under coats on the hooks in the hallway. There is a drawer stuffed full of cardigans squished up like cotton wool balls, from which when opened a heady scent drifts out of anti-moth lavender oil mixed with the woodiness that permeates knitwear worn to watch an entire box set in the cosiest spot on the sofa right next to the fire. There is a cardigan that took up residency on the back of the bathroom door years ago and somehow never budged.

But all of those cardigans are wrong. They fall into two camps of equal and opposing wrongness. Half of them are crew-neck, fine-knit, waist-length cardigans, which I have in endless colours. They have no shape on the hanger, being essentially designed for shapeless arm-and-shoulder coverage over a dress or vest or T-shirt. They are undeniably useful when you are a bit chilly but don’t want to wear a coat. But there is something irritatingly apologetic about them. They are cardigans for a boring woman who puts a boring cardigan on over her boring dress to ward off goosebumps at a boring party. Who wants to be her? Let’s be Rihanna, who if she got chilly at a party would shoulder-robe a massive shiny padded jacket instead.

Related: What I wore this week: a pencil skirt | Jess Cartner-Morley

The designer’s ethical stance made her a style outsider – but now the industry is finally catching up. Ahead of a new V&A show, she talks about reclaiming her name, the joy of nature and the trouble with fast fashion

Stella McCartney is a designer, a businesswoman and an environmental activist, but of the three, she says, fashion will always come first. “It has to, you see. Because the only way for me to start the conversation I want to start is by making a product that you want to buy and that you are going to spend your hard-earned money on. If the product is rubbish, then there is no conversation to be had. If I don’t have a successful business, then I’m an environmentalist who happens to be Paul McCartney’s daughter, and that is a conversation which lasts about three seconds. No one is going to come back for more of that chat.”

Last month, McCartney became one of the most powerful independent voices in fashion. She bought out the 50% share of her company that had been owned by the luxury giant Kering to become sole owner, a move she describes as “a crucial patrimonial decision”. An estimate by a Citigroup analyst put the label’s sales at around €260m (£226m) last year, a figure that, when combined with a lucrative Adidas partnership, makes Stella McCartney a significant brand, but still a minnow compared with Kering’s flagship names, Gucci and Saint Laurent. Instead of being a minor Kering label, Stella McCartney is now a proud indie. When you consider that, for a new generation of millennial consumers, the Beatles are receding from pop culture into the history books, the move means that Stella, at 46, has assumed control not only over the destiny of her brand, but over what the name McCartney stands for in the 21st century. “Owning my name changes my mindset,” she says. “It’s about legacy. My grandfather [Lee Eastman]’s motto was ‘staying power’, and I’ve always been about the long-term.”

Wear it with a heel to stride in one direction, trainers to step out in the other

Whenever I have gone looking for dresses to wear in the daytime in the last year or two, I have found myself choosing between two opposing armfuls.

Piled over the left arm: the daytime TV presenter dress. This is pretty much skintight, but makes itself businesslike by being made of suit-tailoring wool or felted cotton and having sharp angles at the shoulder or an asymmetric hem. In its unadulterated form, it is in a plain, bright colour (best under the cameras), but is also available in monochrome. It claims to be a direct descendent of Roland Mouret’s Galaxy, although this provenance is hazy. It can be sexy in an Ivanka Trump Does Date Night kind of way. Sort of high-class bad taste.

Related: What I wore this week: a western look | Jess Cartner-Morley

Ethical and sustainable are the biggest buzzwords in fashion at the moment. Here are five brands trying to knit social consciousness with style this spring

It would be churlish not to be struck by the Duchess of Cambridge’s serenity so soon after giving birth

The pressure of being royal, and living family life on a public stage, is never shown in more stark relief than it is on the steps of the Lindo Wing.

Whatever your views on the monarchy, it would be churlish not to be impressed by the grit shown, once again, by the Duchess of Cambridge as she smiled beatifically in high heels and freshly washed hair, just seven hours after giving birth.

I am totally intrigued to see what Meghan Markle wears on her wedding day. Go ahead and roll your eyes all you want, you’re not going to make me feel bad about that. I definitely care about the dress and I absolutely believe that what the first self-proclaimed feminist to join the firm wears at the moment she becomes a royal matters. I care about who the designer is, whether it has long sleeves, whether there is a second look for the evening. Sorry not sorry.

With less than a month to go until the royal wedding, speculation is mounting, with Stella McCartney, Erdem and Christopher Bailey among the runners and riders

Many of us are obsessive about earrings: they are one of modern life’s great talking points

I can’t function if I’m not wearing earrings. This sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not, and while I don’t have a scientific explanation I swear it is the case. The way I feel about earrings is the way some women feel about lipstick. One morning at the last Paris fashion week, I was up early to write so I left my earrings (brass, enormous) to one side, intending to put them on just before I set off for the first show. And then, of course, I was in a rush and ran out of the room, and was halfway to the Chloé show before I realised I was bare-lobed and when I did, I felt my blood run cold. I sat tugging my hair down over cheeks to hide that I wasn’t wearing earrings. Which sounds pretty bizarre, now I write it down.

So I am both the best and the worst person to tell you about earrings. The best because there is not a lot I haven’t considered; the worst because I probably overthink them. Still, I am definitely not alone in earring obsession. They are one of modern life’s great talking points. When you tell a woman that you like her dress or her hair – especially in front of other people – she is likely to get flustered and bat the compliment awkwardly away. But an earring compliment is cordial, rather than either intimate or fawning, and therefore easier to receive in a gracious fashion. Also, it marks out the person asking as someone observant, who notices the detail, not just the dress. Plus, she probably bought her earrings somewhere that she wants to tell you about, whether it’s the perfect market stall by the harbour on a Greek island last year (to make you jealous) or Tu by Sainsbury’s. It’s all good.

Related: What I wore this week: a waterproof

The sheet mask selfie, as sported by Lady Gaga and Bella Hadid, is the hottest look on Instagram. But there is something of the Hannibal Lecter about this must-have skincare product

Hot Dog Legs was five years ago. Oh, you remember. The sun lounger selfie, thighs held at a flattering angle, cocktail in one corner of the frame, slice of swimming pool in the other. Five years is ancient history, in social media terms, and every summer since has had its signature selfie. Last year was a score-draw between the faux-candid back-to-camera shot and that thing where you pretend to balance the setting sun on the palm of your hand. But this year’s look is the strangest yet. The hottest look on Instagram right now is a selfie taken while sporting a piece of serum-soaked cellulose stuck to your face, with holes cut out for your eyes, mouth and nostrils. The more you resemble Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, the more likes you will get. Sheet mask selfies are where it is at, my friend. Go figure.

Bella Hadid signed off the most recent month of fashion shows with a snap taken lounging on the cream leather seat of a private jet, wearing a sheet mask teamed with a Dior beret. Bella’s sister Gigi, describing her beauty regime recently, said: “Today I used a SK II Facial Treatment Mask - I looked like a murderer. It was so cute. I took a selfie and sent it to my friend.” Chinese actor Fan Bingbing has been known to wear a sheet mask while signing autographs and posing for photos with fans.

Ummm hi

Replica ship in Grand Palais is striking backdrop for catwalk show that reflects bold new confidence of French fashion

Docking a 148-metre-long ship with on-board piano bar, swimming pool and a passenger list of Hollywood stars in the centre of Paris is a bold statement of ambition, luxury and elegance. It is indicative of Karl Lagerfeld’s world view that the setting for his latest Chanel catwalk show was, in fact, plan B.

“We wanted to set sail, to take you on an actual cruise,” shrugged Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion, before the show on Thursday night. “We worked on a plan for two years, but to find the perfect boat proved impossible.”

Related: The Trump-Macron minibreak makes for some fantastique photographs | Hannah Jane Parkinson

Move over, pleats. The midi skirt’s now all about the angles

I hope below-the-knee skirts stay in fashion for ever. It won’t happen, but I can dream. I love these skirts with a passion, because they make life easier. A below-the-knee hemline minimises the need for depilation and tanning-related leg admin, saving precious time, money and headspace. Also – and it is hard to overstate the importance of this – a longer skirt hemline works with flat shoes. If you are wearing a knee-length skirt, changing from a high-heeled sandal to a flat loafer can take you from Carine Roitfeld to Mrs Doubtfire with alarming speed, but a shoe change is a breeze in a longer skirt.

I’m going to assume that you have mastered the midi-length skirt by now. The default skirt length has been well below the knee for a good three years now, so there is no excuse for not having grasped that this once frumpy look is the height of chic. Fashion years are a bit like dog years, so this is a reign of Ming dynasty longevity. Anyway, the point is that it’s no longer enough to be, like, I’m wearing a long skirt, check out how on-trend I am, job done. Just getting the length right isn’t impressing anyone in summer 2018. You need to add some detail.

Related: What I wore this week: the best cardigan on the high street | Jess Cartner-Morley

This year’s theme of Catholicism in fashion was a challenge that required a leap of faith. But from Rihanna’s pope to Lena Waithe’s rainbow-flag cape, the opening night ball was a triumph

It took curator Andrew Bolton several years to convince the Vatican to give its blessing to Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, the blockbuster show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York that explores divine inspiration in fashion. One imagines Rome’s reluctance stemmed from concern that the exhibition – and particularly the opening night gala, which has become known for its outrageous outfits – would trivialise religious imagery.