Shiny, happy people

Sequined shoes from Runway. Photo / Babiche Martens

Wear sequins, especially at this time of year, and you run the risk of looking like a walking, talking Christmas decoration. Oh yes, they're incredibly festive, and that little sequinned dress may seem like the perfect fit as you head into the party season - but all that sparkle and bling can sometimes just look, well, gaudy. A little bit Michael Jackson, a tiny bit futuristic and a bit too disco.

So how do you get it right? What makes one sequinned outfit tacky and the other one tasteful?

Like many things in life and in fashion, the trick is a whole lot of restraint - and irony. The best and most wearable rhinestone outfits are those that take something sparkly and dress it down with something streamlined. Like Max's sequinned jacket with a casual skirt. Or Stolen Girlfriends Club's sequinned cardigan with jeans (SGC have also done sequinned riding pants and a sequinned bustier). Or take something with subtle sequin embellishments - like Sass and Bide's grey snake T-shirt or Kate Sylvester's tee with puff sleeves - and dress it up. Vintage stores are usually a great source for sequin pieces; those with slight imperfections have a certain charm about them.

It's all about contrasting the glamour of the sequins with something casual and almost rock 'n' roll. It's been done to death, but if you're hell-bent on sequins, this is the way to do it. Alexander Wang told Style.com that the appeal in little sequin dresses is that "you slip them on like T-shirts, but still get this hard-edged kind of glamour". It's easy glamour you see.

Like many other trends of the season - big shoulders, trophy jackets, distressed denim - the penchant for sparkle can be traced back to Christophe Decarnin at Balmain, who has made much use of sequins in his past few collections.

His little sequin dresses featuring padded shoulders or slashed fabric have appeared on Kate Moss, Rhianna, Sienna Miller, Blake Lively and Beyonce.

He's even done sequinned harem pants, if you want to add something especially disgusting to your wardrobe.

Of course, he's not the only one doing sequins: Gucci did gowns with oversized sequin accents, Chloe did a gold skirt, Louis Goldin offered a beautiful black dress, Phillip Lim had faded floral sequins and even Marni, a label that's seemingly the antithesis of shine and bling, sent sequins down the runway. Barbara Bui did a liquid-like gold shift dress and Sienna Miller's line, Twenty8Twelve, sent a green mini dress down the runway.

Coloured sequins are hard to pull off, so proceed with much caution there... A far more subtle way of doing shiny is with accessories; like sequinned shoes from Emilio Pucci or the very limited edition sequin cocktail bag from Mont Blanc (so limited that there is only one in the country).

And keep an eye out for Kathryn Wilson's winter collection of shoes, featuring ankle boots with accents of glomesh - the new sequin, perhaps?