Fashion Forward: Steal vs Splurge, style advice and Chung for M&S

STEAL V SPLURGE: You'll be seeing a lot of florals on black this coming season. This dress from H&M (above right) will get you the look for €34.99 but if you really want to shine, the Ada Poppy Print Dress from Stella McCartney (above left) for €845 will be the version for you.

ALEXA JOINS M&S: Alexa Chung's collaboration with Marks & Spencer is another feather in the cap of the endlessly photographed British style star who has cast her stardust on brands on both sides of the Atlantic including AG Jeans in Los Angeles, Longchamp in France and has even had a Mulberry bag called after her. For M&S she has trawled the company archives in Leeds with the design team to create "a contemporary women's collection with a heritage sensibility" selecting vintage items to revamp in modern fabrics and updated colour palettes. The 31 piece collection will debut next month in selected stores.

ON YER BIKE WITH IRISH LABEL: Cycling enthusiast Dubliner Joyce Brereton is a mechanical engineer whose first job was a visual effects artist for a film company in Soho. Back in Ireland, most of her cycling gear was bought online because she couldn't find what she wanted here, so one day she started to make her own prototypes. The result is the launch of her own label called asboldas in waterproof and breathable fabrics with high-end finishes.

“It is designed in Ireland and made in Portugal with fabrics from Taiwan which is the centre of excellence for innovative fabrics,” she says. The items, mainly for women, can be bought online at asboldas.com and in Skulpt in the Blackrock Shopping Centre, Co Dublin.

THE STYLIST SAYS – LORNA WEIGHTMAN (STYLE ISLE):  "I can't live without a pair of nude shoes. They are probably the most versatile accessory I own, as they match everything. I have them in two styles; stilettos for winter and sandals for summer." See Lorna's blog at styleisle.ie

THE HALF TUCK: A trend we've been noticing around town is the rather controversial half tuck. A style choice for those who want the best of both worlds; the half tuck involves wearing only half of your shirt tucked in. Go on, let half of it hang out.

SOCKS APPEAL: If you've ever worn compression socks on a long- haul flight to avoid DVT, you know how tight and constricted they feel. Medi, a German company, has created legwear with the same type of pressure yarn for items that not only include socks and tights but briefs and shorts. Said to boost circulation, they were introduced in Germany in 2011 and sales doubled between 2013 and 2014. Some testers compared the feeling of the tights to Spanx and say that, like compression socks, they take longer to put on, but that there are benefits. Called Item M6 after a Chinese acupuncture pressure point above the ankle, they can be found in the Arnotts hosiery department. The colourwave socks cost €19.90.