Annalisa Barbieri edits the fashion pages of the Independent on Sunday, and in the guise of her alter-ego, "dear Annie", is the fashion fairy godmother every rag-bag Cinderella has been waiting for. 

          She started to wave her magic wand in her weekly column in the IoS Real Life Section in 1995, catering not just to the whims of the slavishly labelled size eights in search of the latest kitten heel or slouch trousers, but also to those amongst us who have dodgy bits and bobs that bulge, bend, bounce and beleaguer. Worries about dyeing, shortening, lengthening, stretching, washing, drying or simply getting value for money are laid to rest by Annie’s no-nonsense approach to the sartorial dilemmas of Mr and Mrs Norm. Huge feet, southbound boobs, too tall, too short? Problem solved. Puffa lost its puff, lipstick on your collar, gum in your hair? No sweat.

         Delivered with a wry sense of the ridiculous and complete with an awfully useful directory, this is not only a jolly good read but a rather handy little reference book that offers hope to those of us whose lives are in tatters because we simply haven’t got a thing to wear.