Navy: the season's hottest hue Lisa Armstrong: 'Why navy ever fell from grace is beyond me, given that it suits everyone and has all the power of black to shrink one's bum.' Plus, the exodus of French luxury houses from Paris. In the week that the Duchess of Cambridge's Rebecca Taylor blue tweed suit (see above) has been re-issued, I can't let navy pass unlauded. Because it has been, and for far too long. In fact, for years it's been considered beyond the pale - pale royal blue that is, which is also currently enjoying a blossoming of popularity. Why navy ever fell from grace is beyond me, given that it suits everyone, has all the power of black to shrink one's bum, but none of its tendencies to make one's face look as though it belongs to a corpse. Actually, it's not beyond me. Fashion can be very wayward and it was at its most wayward in the Eighties, when black first became mandatory and then decided to cling, like an ageing and unwelcome Mugabe, to power ever since. READ: Ain't nothing but the blues this summer Inevitably, having been so infra dig, navy is now whatever the opposite of that is. Cool, probably. Not that we should trouble ourselves with such ephemeral considerations where such a marvellous blue is concerned. The good thing about fashionability, however, is how much more abundant it makes navy. Thanks to recent appearances on the catwalks of Louis Vuitton, Armani, Victoria Beckham, Paul Smith and Roland Mouret, inter alia, the navy drought is now a healthy stream. First buy, I suggest, is a dark navy jacket - much more flattering and just as practical as black. White is the obvious partner, but if you're looking to go off piste, navy looks wonderful with chartreuse, Kelly green, mustard, camel, silver and orange. Skip the navy tights, though, unless you're young and wearing them with a very short skirt. The rest of us should opt for grey tights, and once it's warm, bare legs. So," I asked the vice-president of a large French luxury group last week, "what happens if François Hollande and his 75 per cent tax proposals are victorious on Sunday?" The reply shot back. We're moving HQ to London. It was the same story with other Parisians. They're all talking about shifting offshore. It's not unknown for such threats to come to nothing, but in today's global market, where even luxury goods are often manufactured in the Far East, designers come from all over and the Made-in-France tag is increasingly notional, even the most Parisian house could, in theory, be based anywhere. Good news for the UK. But Chanel, Ashford doesn't have the same ring, does it?