Our excuse to photograph a confection of gorgeous hats is that it is Pesach in a couple of weeks, when Jewish women traditionally think about acquiring a new spring hat.

We have been looking at the prettiest and most stylish hats, some appropriate for synagogue, some for weddings or other special occasions.

If the pictures have a slightly vintage feel, it is because hats — the decorative kind, as opposed to the practical kind we wear for cold weather, skiing or sun protection — are, sadly, an anachronism in 2010.

It started, appropriately enough, with the Greek-born designer Sophia Kokosalaki. Then a slew of stellar designers, including Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, Jill Sander, Dries van Noten, Christopher Bailey at Burberry Prorsum and Donna Karan, were captivated by the way draped fabric flowed around the body, flattering curves, lengthening the torso and endowing androgynous bodies with the curves nature had neglected to give them. And so draping began to pop up on catwalks in New York, Paris, Milan and London.

It is a rare accomplishment when a designer produces a spectacular runway show that has the flash bulbs popping like strobes, while also creating clothes that real women will desperately covet. Nicole Farhi achieved just that on Monday with a near note-perfect autumn/winter 2010 collection, which dexterously merged a ladylike, polished sensibility with, ahem, bondage overtones. She did it by using staid tweed and camel and transforming them into something utterly fresh and deliciously subversive with lashings of shiny black PVC.

They used to be associated with barely-alive majors in St James’s gentleman’s clubs and appeared as a fashion item throughout the latter half of the last century. In 1971, Bianca Pérez Morena de Macías famously married Mick Jagger wearing a white one with wide lapels; in the 1980s, they acquired vast shoulder pads courtesy of American designer Nolan Miller.

But this spring, the blazer is back, arriving just when we have all become bored with the whole grungy knitwear vibe — the boyfriend cardi thrown over a dress, wrap/tulip/mini skirt or skinny trousers.

If the New Nudes — clothing and accessories in that sensuous spectrum of barely-there shades of palest pink, gentle peach, milky latte, creamy toffee, an almost lemony shade reminiscent of unsalted French butter, and something one might uncharitably call “beige” –– are genuinely having a moment for spring/summer 2010, it really isn’t a second too soon.

In fact, they have been predicted as a key look for so long, we ought really to be calling them the “Old Nudes”.

As we pull on our fur-lined Uggs and zip up our Moncler padded coat against the Arctic chills we must, nevertheless, turn our minds to our key spring fashion needs or risk missing out on the most desirable and essential pieces. You can bet your bottle of Chanel jade nail polish that if you don’t grab them now they will be gone forever, because in this credit-crunched climate, brands and retailers are not prepared to risk over-producing.

It really is possible to look fabulous when you are an expectant mum, even though you may feel elephantine and uncomfortable. And it isn’t necessary to spend the earth either, which is good news because if you are about to give up work or have already given up, you won’t want to splash vast amounts of cash on clothes which are strictly for maternity.

This time of year is the calendar equivalent of that 1960s song lyric, “Too old for toys, too young for boys” — we are profoundly over winter clothes, but it is way too soon to get into spring ones.

It is the time of year when fashion-savvy females experience a sense of deep ennui at the cold-weather wardrobe they have worn, more or less continually, since October — but tougher still, they know they will probably have to keep wearing it until at least late March if they don’t want to suffer acute hypothermia.

Today, thanks to the regular arrival of technically advanced fabrics, looking gorgeous on the slopes doesn’t preclude comfort and warmth. Which is fortunate because there is nothing especially glamorous about focusing on fashion at the expense of practicality and ending up looking more like a drowned (or frozen) rabbit than yummy bunny.