Bardot tops SS16: Chloe, Gap, Miss Selfridge, Zara, Peter Pilotto, Whistles, Tibi, Chloe

The Bardot top was big news on the SS16 runways and crept into the high street offer as early as party season 2015. It’s set to hit big for warm weather deliveries over the next few months as part of a general trend for shoulder-baring tops.

Come sunnier weather and you won’t be able to move for blouses and long-sleeve T-shirts with cutout shoulders, for 50s-style off-shoulder fitted tops and for these, more airy, Bardot blouses.

The best come from Chloé but at £1,000-plus they probably won’t be on most shopping lists!

Slide a little further down the price scale and you have some striking but not too frou-frou tops from Tibi (£295 at Net-a-Porter) or Peter Pilotto (£480 at Selfridges) or at Harvey Nichols. But, again, I suspect that’s out of most price ranges (they’re certainly out of mine).

Yet this is one trend that gets more abundant as the prices fall. Whistles has a strong contender at £85, while Gap is tracking the trend (in Tencel) at £34.99. Zara comes in at £25.99 and Miss Selfridge at £28.

But before anyone dives head-first into this trend – think about it carefully, very carefully. If the cut is too low down on the shoulder it can add an overall droopy edge to your look, while a full bust can disrupt the line somewhat.

Me, I’ll be avoiding it simply because I don’t think my shoulders could stand the chill, even in mild weather. But for the contemporary and juniors-age consumer it’s a versatile and attractive choice for occasion, casual and holiday dressing this summer.