The absolute look to emerge from the round of catwalk shows last October was this one

The absolute look to emerge from the round of catwalk shows last October was this one. Elegant, poised, slightly sassy, but more moneypenny than vamp, this two-piece summed up the mood. Except this isn’t the actual garment that created the absolute look It is a copy – and not a bad one at that. There is also raw silk, so raw that it still has mulberry wood fibres inside, and silk wool mixes that are perfect for the fine lacy knits that are cropping up in knitting patterns as well as in the shops.

And for anyone who has never managed to get beyond knit one, pearl one, Liberty has weekly workshops and knitting classes.Whether you buy your spring silky (as opposed to woolly) off the peg or invest in some needles and knit your own, you will need to find the perfect little top to wear underneath. Knickerbox or Marks & Spencer’s underwear department will have just the thing.Right: eau de nil viscose knit wide-sleeve cardigan, £155, and matchingcropped vest top, £91,by John Rocha, from Liberty, Regent Street, W1.Below: Merino/silk cable-knit halter-neck dress, £318, by Amanda Wakeley, 80 Fulham Road, SW3; ring 0171-584 4009 for further informationAbove: lace knit long-sleeve top, £19, by Benetton, from branches nationwide, inquires on 0171-731 4564Right: pale pink loose knit viscose/acrylic vest top,with matching pleated skirt, £340 by MaxMara,from 32 Sloane Street SW1 and 153 New Bond W1Photographs: Gavin BondStylist: Jo AdamsHair: Bryant for Toni & GuyMake-up: Sharon DowsettModel: Diana Henning at Storm. At Liberty’s knitting department, plain old-fashioned 100 per cent wool is being overtaken in popularity by unusual mixes and special yarns.Lurex has made a big comeback, but in a softer, less scratchy form than in the Seventies. At Benetton, cobweb-fine mesh tops are skinny and cool enough to be worn under a jacket or over a shoestring body for evening.The new interest in textural knitwear is reflected in home knitting too. For those less confident about their bodies, the simple answer is to slip on a finely knitted cardigan over the top, or cheat by tying it round your waist to hide any unwanted bulges.For interesting textures and fine knits that will not break the bank, the mainstream high-street stores have been experimenting with lacy knitting as well. The Dublin- based designer John Rocha makes textural knitwear using viscose or cotton and silk which is cool enough to wear right into summer.

And MaxMara has used a rayon/acrylic blend to make easy separates that make a dressier change to jersey.The only problem is that it clings to every lump and bump, which only the bravest of women can carry off. Her trademark is a cashmere tunic with satin cuffs, one of those wardrobe luxuries that will give years of wear. For this spring, Ms Wakeley has used a blend of merino wool and silk, dyed it a delicate shade of lavender and knitted it into a fine cable-knit halter neck evening dress, edged in satin. And for those who do not want to bare so much flesh, there is a T-shirt dress.
Amanda Wakeley’s designs are knitwear at its pinnacle (and its most expensive) But she is not alone in designing luxurious knitted clothes. She takes away all the homeliness we associate with woollens and makes knitwear as elegant and refined as one of her satin evening dresses. Give her a few balls of silk, merino or cashmere (only the best will do), and the designer will come up with the finest, lightest dream of a tunic, the sort of thing that you wear once and then never want to take off.

No wonder their ads are now so often bound up with a sentimental nostalgia. Ironically, the hi-tech designer Thatcherite BT, which replaced grim old red phone boxes with tractor cab-style booths and sprightly corporate logos, now looks more than a little scared of the future.There are smiles, but if you look closely at the faces of BT executives, you’ll see that some of them are sad.. Amanda Wakeley’s knitwear is wool at its most luxurious and elegant. Call me a hopeless romantic, but you can’t be all these things and humanity personified.Real competition is coming, and meeting it will require massive investment on the part of BT. That is precisely why our consciences are being mugged in our living-rooms so mercilessly right now From BT’s point of view, these are the last golden days. It emerged this week that 12,000 will be lost in the next 18 months, leaving BT with about half the staff it had in 1989. Its profits have risen £800m since the “It’s Good to Talk” campaign began, taking profits last year to £2.75bn.

Perhaps it is not completely pedantic to point out that the only party for whom it is unequivocally “good to talk” is BT – a vast, hugely profitable corporation that is about to embark on its next round of job cuts. The Eighties Beattie ads starring Maureen Lipman as the clingy Jewish mother played on the guilt of sons everywhere, but in a comical and self-parodic way which now seems wistfully gentle next to Big Bob’s collar-feeling.But, alas, BT’s new in-yer-face approach works. And, as is always the case with those who think love is on their side, it feels it can afford to be a bit of a bully.Of course, the exploitative sentimentality was always there. BT, you see, doesn’t just have a monopoly on domestic telephone calls, but on love itself; just as VE Day became national nostalgia for a lost national connectedness, so BT would like you to think it hooks you up to humanity, that it is the soul in a soulless world. This is no actor – this is Bob Hoskins, forcing his round, slightly menacing (are those eyes twinkling or staring?) face up inside your TV screen telling you to call your Nan.If its recent advertising campaigns are anything to go by, it would appear that BT has decided that, as the main provider of domestic telephone services, it is actually selling the milk of human kindness. That’s £100,000 of yours and my telephone bills spent every day to tell us that every time we don’t use the telephone there is an outbreak of unhappiness somewhere and someone’s granny dies of loneliness.What makes these ads so breathtakingly awful is that they don’t seem to care whether they are caught twisting your arm or not. The “It’s Good to Talk” campaign portrays Bob Hoskins (like Waite, an avuncular “trustworthy” figure) walking uninvited into people’s houses, listening in on their telephone conversations and offering us unwanted advice that is little more than emotional blackmail And, like BT’s campaign itself, Hoskins comes too close.