The Style Maven: cotton shirts

I tend to go through wardrobe phases where suddenly I only want to wear a variation of the same thing every day. At the moment I'm going through a jeans-and-a-shirt period. I'm calling the shirts "day shirts", a category that I've made up for the purposes of looking like a fashion ponce and only means a shirt that isn't posh.

It's not silk for a start. Silk shirts are high-maintenance creatures that require thought before wearing - mostly impossible thoughts about whether your body might choose to perspire at any point during the day.

The shirts that I have on rotate right now are easier fabrics to wear, soft love-worn fabrics in some kind of print. I don't mean the graphic- or paisley-print shirts I was probably urging you to wear with matching trousers only a matter of months ago. No, these are a bit more - dare I bring back this word again? - boho. More romantic. A little bit Love Story.

It was Inès de la Fressange's collection for Uniqlo that started me off. I've got the cotton collarless one and spotted navy (see below - I'm still marvelling that it's less than £20). Then a friend gave me one from Chinti & Parker that is the sweetest thing ever: a star-print white voile, with rounded collar, as soft as your most well-loved pyjamas. It's sugary enough to appear at a children's tea party, so I scruff it up with my battered old market-trader's sheepskin gilet.

My Coolest Friend has declared that she's all about denim shirts right now and will be wearing one with black trousers for her birthday this week, so take note. I'm also keen on wearing blue denim and chambray with a grey jacket.

The other way to go is tropical. Both Stella Jean and Emma Cook (above) turned their hands to Hawaiian-style shirts in their summer collections. Stella Jean styled hers with feminine skirts in clash-y fabrics, but I'll be wearing my Gap men's tropical shirt with turned-up Levi's . Right up until I move into my next phase.

^{Left to right: Orange cotton, £56, by 0039 Italy, from Atterley Road , Polka-dot cotton, £19.90, by Uniqlo , Hawaiian-print cotton, £175, by Stella Jean, from matchesfashion.com}

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