Canine Couture

By Ffion Llwyd-Jones

From Tinkerbell's Simple Life Wardrobe to NY Pet Fashion Week, canine couture is challenging runway displays from Los Angeles to Paris. Human fashion pales in comparison with the riotous colour, vivid styling, and total fantasy of the fashions offered for our dogs.

But is your pooch's fashion style up to scratch or is there a sniff of "last year" about her couture? Would Fifi's to-die-for New York fashion style be a bit, well-not to be dogmatic about it- boring in glitzy, glamorous L.A.? Can the "shop-til-your-pawshurt" doggie diva really find wearable satisfaction in North America or does the London hound's classic look still lead the pack?

Your own Private Ear 'Tective (PET) investigates the trends in Canada and the U.S., looks at European style, takes a Peke-oops, sorry-peek preview at autumn '06, and has a quick sniff at the Japanese exotics (Memoirs of a Geisha, anyone?). The "mutt's have" looks for autumn '06. Knowing how to dress your dog in the latest style means looking first to the general fashion trends for humans, say several designers.