Celebrity wardrobe classics

By Danielle Radojcin 

There are clothes which are trendy but low on the flattery-o-metre (leggings); there are clothes which flatter (bootcut jeans, say), but which are way off our fashion radar right now; there are clothes which are comfortable (er, Crocs ). Then there are the pieces which are all three: practical, flattering and sexy, and which never go out of style: these are your \'classics\', your wardrobe mainstays, which are worth investing in in ways that a metallic silver smock dress never will be.

Here, we give a nod to the stylish stars who know how to work a classic to their advantage, starting with French actress Lou Doillon (left), who adds sparkle to her classic black tux with a jewelled brooch.

Trenchcoat

Justin Timberlake\'s new paramour Jessica Biel takes a stroll in a classic Burberry trench, Marc Jacobs bag and Roger Vivier flats.

Oversized shades

Jessica Alba may have one of the best bodies around, but when it comes to a day out and about in Paris, she knows how to look chic while staying covered up, in a fail-safe combination of white shirt, blue jeans and large black sunglasses, accessorized with a scarf from Tod\'s and a pendant necklace from Kenneth Jay Lane.

Hermès handbag

When Lindsay Lohan famously lost her Hermès Birkin bag at Heathrow airport last summer, we all understood her pain (happily, it was returned to her, none the worse for having gone momentarily AWOL).

White shirt

Super-cool chanteuse and actress (and face of Gérard Darel) Charlotte Gainsbourg is most often to be seen sporting Balenciaga, her favorite designer. Here she extols the virtues of a crisp white shirt teamed with blue denim strides.

Jeans

Angelina Jolie built a wardrobe consisting of nearly nothing but classics, suiting perfectly her international lifestyle. Here, her endless pins are encased in a pair of classic Levi\'s 501s.

Black pumps

Kate Moss always knows how to stand out in a crowd, and the attendees at the 2006 Met Ball were a harder-to-impress crowd than most. Her black Christian Louboutin heels gave her rock \'n\' roll-inspired leather trousers and classic black tux some French polish.

Ballet slippers

Every girl needs a pair of flats to dash around town in, whether by Repetto, Chanel, or, like Amy Winehouse, Freed of London.

Breton stripes

The Breton stripe has outgrown its northeastern French roots to become a bona fide classic. Here, Sienna Miller has her own take on the look, customising a stripey dress in her trademark exuberant manner.

The LBD

The little black dress, or LBD as it is now commonly known, is perhaps the most famous classic of them all. Conceived of by Coco Chanel in the 1920s, these days there isn\'t a girl worth her fashion salt who doesn\'t own one. Here, Mischa Barton illustrates the LBD\'s alluring potential.