My recent purchase of a little black dress from Wall set me thinking about the place of the LBD in a girl's wardrobe. 

The basic idea of an LBD is that it's multipurpose. You should be able to wear it to work, then out to dinner; or to meet your partner's parents; or to a funeral; or to a cocktail party. It should go from day to night and from reasonably casual to reasonably formal with just a change of accessories. In this, it differs from a spectacular black dress such as the Versace number that Angelina Jolie (and her leg) wore to the Oscars recently.  

I now have four LBDs - five if you count summer weight.

Perhaps the most versatile of them is this cool wool, lined shift from M&S. It took me a little while to track this down, because I had very specific requirements:  a scoop neck - high enough to give coverage but low enough not to look frumpy or make my boobs look enormous; lined but lightweight; knee length; matt fabric and either princess line (the one I found) or with a waist seam. Last week I wore it with fleece-lined tights, suedette stiletto-heeled boots and a cashmere poloneck underneath, but it's just as useful over a white shirt or under a cardigan or leather blouson, or teamed with loafers or kitten heels for summer. If you can only buy one LBD, this is the type to have. Make sure it's lined, so that it slips nicely over underlayers. 

Another of my faves is very much a winter dress. A long sleeveless column in stretch velvet, it has a v-neck with a twist and a split at the back, and is very bog-standard, from Dorothy Perkins, but the simplicity of the cut makes it look very expensive. It's very glam on its own or with a sparkly shrug or stole, but I often dress it right down with a poloneck sweater so that it looks like a skirt (but is much more comfortable to wear out to dinner, as it has no constriction on the waist). 

A good dress for mid-season or for cool evenings is, again, one that I'd wanted for a long time - a knee-length wrap viscose dress from Boden. The trick with wrap dresses - those with 5 per cent or more elasthane - is to get them a size bigger than usual. I like the Boden version of the modern wrap dress because it has very long ties and little details at the collar and cuff that add a touch of femininity. This dress looks great over a vest of the same or contrasting colour - I'm past the age of revealing the cleavage it's designed for (a fault with many current wrap dresses, which create way too much exposure at the front). And the fabric is completely matt, which is forgiving to lumps and bumps. 

My latest LBD is the pima cotton jersey one from Wall (see earlier post), but a much older garment is a linen sundress from Hobbs, which I must have owned for 15 years or more. This is a simple tank, but in two layers, so the straightforward heavy linen tank underlayer is topped with a double layer of very thin chiffon-like linen that crosses over a little in front. Kind of hard to describe, but it's a lovely dress that just floats around the body in a hot summer. I tend to team it with a transparent black kimono in a silk called 'sha', which is something like an elastic organza.  

Much as I like my dresses in other colours - in blues and pinks and green and yellows - they are not as versatile as black dresses, especially if you live a city life, and even here in the countryside they get a massive amount of wear. One or two good LBDs in your wardrobe and you'll always have something to wear.  

As aforementioned, once you hit 40, summer dressing can turn into a total nightmare. While most of us look pretty OK swathed in sweaters, manufacturers desert the average woman entirely come summer and produce a plethora of skimpy, low-cut, short bits of nothing that only look good on a 16-year-old.

There's also the tricky issue of colour. Most women's go-to colour is black and black clothing accounts for 76 per cent of all women's clothing sold in the UK, but in the harsh light of summer, it looks a bit dreary to say the least and not everyone wants to dress in screaming shades of pink, blue and yellow as an alternative. Meanwhile, the manufacturers churn out black shift dresses all summer as if we all worked in law firms.

The freshest colour for summer is undoubtedly white, but it takes a brave soul to dress in white from head to foot and it's hardly the most practical colour if you're climbing in and out of cars or public transport or pelting along the UK's crowded, dusty streets.

Monochrome schemes, however - mixing black and white - look as good in town as at the seaside, so if you stick to black and white for your beachwear this winter, when you get back you can continue to wear the clothes throughout the British summer, if it ever arrives. 

The combination of black and white always looks crisp, which is important when you're wilting like limp celery. You can go for the more formal combinations of block colour and trad patterns like stripes and spots, or alternatively choose florals - or even both: as long as the colour scheme remains monochrome, all the patterns will tie together. Once you've pulled together your basic wardrobe, you can add accessories in any colour you like to make things ever-more summery.

Flicking through the Damart catalogue recently, I noticed how quickly you can build a wardrobe from their offerings of black and white clothes this year, and the prices are very reasonable. Therefore all the pix shown are Damart, but you can probably get this look from any high street store. 

I was very taken with the two-pack of dresses above, and the matching two pack of skirts (left), each with one plain black and one monochrome floral. They are all in pull-on cotton jersey for maximum ease of use (and no ironing) and the floral pattern will hide a bit of salt and sand as easily as city dirt. Add in both the black and white versions of this little cotton jersey shrug (above) with its cute fluted sleeve and that gives you many interchangeable outfits. It's good to see a shrug that's suited for daytime use and not just evening.  

Cleverly, Damart have also produced a matching swimdress, which means you can simply pull on the floral skirt over the swimdress to be covered for the walk back to the hotel. Or you could try this swimsuit instead, which is toning rather than an exact match. It offers slightly less coverage but a different neckline. 

This reversible skirt is also worth looking at - floral one side, diagonal striped on the other. I love reversible clothes when I'm packing and can't take much and although this skirt design doesn't exactly set the world alight, it looks very wearable with a simple tee or short blouse. 

This bias-cut floral dress (below) is very simple and flattering, with a skimming cut that feels comfy in the heat and the diagonal pattern making you look slimmer. Again, it can be dressed up with cardis and shrugs for a different look.  And for evening or lounging around, this colour-blocked maxi dress is fabulous, if you have the height to carry it off.  

Add in a couple of pairs of jeans or trousers in white and black, and that's your summer wardrobe pretty much taken care of, and if you want a bit of colour, add in some accessories in red, blue, aqua, gold or whatever other colour takes your fancy.

Have fun on the beach.

Can't let the day go by without mention of the Golden Globes frocks.

Looking out for best-dressed women over 40, Susan Sarandon did us proud, as ever, this year in a luxurious black velvet 'le smoking' trousersuit. A tuxedo trousersuit like this should be in every woman's wardrobe once she hits 40. Paired with a camisole, a halter-neck top, a vest, a blouse, a waistcoat, you can endlessly ring the changes with it, and it's perfect for evenings when you're not quite sure of the level of formality, or whether the venue will be warm or cold.

Gowns were generally very elegant and understated this year, which was nice to see - Hollywood often equating allure with being drop-dead obvious. Many of the gowns were strapless but there was no strong trend emerging, though Sandra Bullock wore the 'in' colour of the night - purple, with a slightly sheer skirt.

I really like this look, as it is one that can be reproduced fairly easily at a lower price point, and it is beautiful without being in any way trashy. Most women retain pretty necks and shoulders well into later life and a strapless dress, properly fitted, can showcase them to perfection. The key for many of us is the tricky armpit area, where the upper breast meets the arm - correct fitting here is crucial to avoid nasty skin pucker.

When women opted for black they often did so with sequins, such as Glenn Close's strapless number from Oscar de la Renta, and Helen Mirren's fishtail gown - note the sleeves, which Mirren almost always wears - one of the advantages of having clothes made to order. It is an easy enough fix for any competent dressmaker, if you ever find a strapless dress that you like, which would be just perfect if it only had sleeves. Separate sleeves can be made from organza, tulle or chiffon, and you could even have several sets made to ring the changes. 

A bit of colour never comes amiss on the red carpet, where every man is wearing black. Laura Linney looked soft and pretty in an unusually coloured dress - almost a mustard creamy yellow, and this, along with Bullock's, was my favourite of the night.

Kyra Sedgwick's red gown (a satin with just the right amount of sheen) and Demi Moore's nude-colour boudoir chiffon (top left) were also lovely. 

A little late, but I thought I'd do it anyway and mention the Oscar frocks.

Sadly, I was too knackered to stay up to watch - the whole thing doesn't even start until half past midnight my time.

Choosing a frock for the Oscars is always a difficult decision. The gown has to look good in photos in thumbnail, at a distance, in close-up and in half-length (witness this uber-perfect example worn by Anne Hathaway, which perfectly frames her face and shoulders).

An Oscar gown needs a good silhouette and should preferably be in a colour that stands out agains the red carpet and against the ubiquitous black tuxes worn by the men. And it should be as glamorous as hell. 

Overall this year the frocks were surprisingly ladylike for Hollywood - far more grown-up than usual, with a lot less flesh on show, which is always a relief. Sex appeal does NOT lie is showing as much of yourself as humanly possible and these 1930s-1950s inspired gowns with their draping and pleating have far more elegance. This red example is worn by Amanda Seyfried. 

There was also a lot less bling - presumably Hollywood's nod to the recession - and instead of tons of diamond jewellery, most women opted for glittery frocks instead (again, Hathaway was a perfect example). 

In contrast to last year, when red was the order of the day, the most popular colours this year were white, ivory, champagne and nude, as seen here on Rachel Evans Wood, though there was the usual sprinkling of black (not a good colour for the red carpet) and some zingingly bright colours such as this pink worn by Alicia Keys.

There was lots of straplessness and structure (a bit more structure might have been in order in Sarah Jessica Parker's case, as her boobs looked like they were about to make a quick exit) but the most successful dresses were those with some skirt silhouette, such as Penelope Cruz's vintage gown by Balmain, and perhaps most notably Marisa Tomei's fantastic grey dress by Versace, which besides its wonderful pleating was bang up to date with its fishtail skirt and one-shoulder detail. 

The one-shoulder look didn't always come off, though. Freda Pinto's dress by Galliano looked frankly bizarre to me and is a colour that wears her rather than her it. And poor Kate Winslet looks positively hefty in her shiny YSL jobby - but then this beautiful woman is often poorly served by her clothes. 

Speaking of poorly served, Sophia Loren's stylist should be looking for a new job for stuffing her into the frilly monstrosity below (though the net sleeves - almost invisible in this photo - are a great solution for ageing skin). Meryl Streep's choice does nothing for her either - far too nun-like and would have benefited from a bit of bling. 

However, the biggest disaster is probably Beyonce's black and gold number - really, what WAS she thinking with this? It makes her look vast. And Heidi Klum equally missed the zeitgest - very unusual for a model - in an oversexy, overglitzy red number with fetish high heels - more 1980s than 2009. 

The most beautiful gown was probably Tomei's but personally, my favourite was that worn by Miley Cyrus, in which she looks as cute as a 16-year-old ought to - it also had all the right elements: waist detail, nude colouring, sequin decoration. And for once I'll give a nod to Tilda Swinton. Swinton, who has a very distinctive style, usually makes very intellectual choices with her gowns and they are too understated to come off on camera, but this so-demure-it's-hardly-there nude blouse and black skirt by Lanvin are so 1930s chic that I think she got away with it this time. The red lips make all the difference.   

For a gallery of 66 celebs on the red carpet, visit the Daily Telegraph.