The skirt that launched a thousand shops

Jump on a bus, go to the supermarket or just walk down the street and one of the top trends of this season will almost certainly be near, right now being stars, ombré, florals and frills. They don't sound too inventive but the stars have to be white on navy in blouses and light dresses, ombré is a fancy word for dip-dying or tie-dye, the florals are strictly Liberty print, and frills are on mini skirts across the land. To use this as the casing point, the original skirt on the Luella runway has spawned a million copies and, unlike their tie-dyed friends, don't look like they'll end up in the sale bins.

Clockwise from top: Topshop x3, Warehouse, River Island, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Oasis.

To give an example, the tiered skirt at the top right has at least five sisters in each store, but the ditsy florals as seen on the Luella catwalk are just as popular as it's cousin.

In some ways, carbon catwalk copies are the fast way to pay less to achieve what is fashionable. It's easy to wait until a trend is popular and accepted before you dabble and you don't have to search very far.

Then again, once a trend appears everywhere it is cheapened and looses it's edge. You can't desire something if it's presented on a plate. There's also a fine line to cross when a trend becomes 'so over' because it was so hot before. I know that I'm so sick of stars now that my Topshop star print Chanel rip-off dress makes me feel slightly queasy. It may be cheaper to buy high-street rather than designer but it's not cheap when you have to buy into a whole new set of trends next season as yours go out of style.

These copies may be disposable, but they sure are addictive! Little hits of fashion are what gives us the shopping buzz and these cute ruffled skirts are perfect Summer staples. Although if I was Luella Bartley, I'm not sure whether I'd be glad so many people like my designes or annoyed that shops have ripped them off and are making the money.