The Horrors of the Neon Trend

Any British fashion addict worth her stilettos will have noticed this rather disturbing trend cropping up all over the high street. Does this look familiar to you?


Most of this is from New Look, apart from the Rebecca Minkoff clutch and Debenhams green flats. I picked up the blue top hat image from Polyvore and I have no idea where the jeans are from but Primark have similar ones (also in yellow, orange and green).

Now, I am not against neons. I don't wear them generally because they wash me out awfully (having very dark hair and very pale skin) - but I love bright colours. I think that neon items can make outfits really eye-catching and edgy.

What I object to, however, is a scary side effect of the neon fashion trend - there are people on my local high street who think the idea is to wear ONLY neon colours, and go out looking like walking glo-sticks! It's so cheap and tacky and looks awful on everyone, regardless of shape, size or colouring; and the culprits always seem to be girls who have no sense of modesty, which only adds to the 'cheap' look. Here's a good example of how totally NOT to wear neon, provided by the Peacocks website (she also has neon pink glads on her feet - who thought this was a good idea?), compared with an outfit idea using bright colours more tastefully:

Dress and necklace from New Look; sandals and bag from Topshop.

These outfits are both easily accessible from any high street - the only difference is that one has some class and looks cute, and the other doesn't. Using neon colours to add interest to a colourless outfit is a good thing; going all-out fluorescent just makes people look cheap and plastic. I know which I'd choose!