International fashion is a funny thing. Coming to Oxford last year, I prepared myself for a different way of dressing. My imagination conjured up images of Harry Potter, of smoking jackets and cravats, and of Donegal sweaters and thick woolly scarves. It took only a day in my new home for these romanticised notions to fall by the wayside.

Clearly, though, there was a different look' to the Oxford denizens which I couldn't immediately put my finger on. It was only with a stroll down Cornmarket Street one day last autumn, when I started having the distinct sensation that I was gazing into a three-way mirror, reflecting the same image ad infinitum, that the pattern became abruptly clear.

Oxford, I concluded, had an unspoken dress code. Apparently, every woman from the age of three to 63 is contractually obligated to wear the following apparel: loose, gauzy top; denim mini skirt; chunky belt; black tights; and for footwear, either ballet flats or eskimo boots. All of which is topped off with the flourish of a rakishly draped pashmina.

Of course, the nature of fashion trends makes it inevitable that individuals' styles of dressing conform to a certain degree. But I had never seen anything like this. It was as if every woman had recently gone into Top Shop, taken note of window mannequins' attire, and automatically purchased the same outfit.

My curiosity piqued, I made a trip to Top Shop. Stepping across the threshold was like taking a trip back in time. I went into the dressing room and tried on what seemed to be the standard fare - short skirt, boots, tights. It only took one glimpse in the mirror to confirm my suspicions.

I made a solemn vow to myself - I will never be caught dead in this outfit. In fact, I'll go further. I will never tuck my jeans into my boots. I will never wear leggings. I will never wear a capelet. The list goes on. . .

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for fashion forwardness. And British women certainly embrace more adventurous apparel than back home in the States. But, then, how risqu is it, really, when everyone and their mom sport flamboyant, but identical styles?

And this is where I must take a stand, a stand against being a slave to trends. Ladies, there are times when we must just say no' to the fashion industry . . .

Take skinny jeans. There is a reason they are known by this moniker. They are for skinny people. The average woman who wears them resembles an inverted pear.

It's not like any of this is particularly new or avant-garde, either. We women blindly follow some particularly hideous fashion trend (think shoulder pads), only to view pictures of ourselves five years later and wonder, "what were we thinking?!" But sure enough, another five years down the line, the same trend reappears. What we rightly dispensed as a fashion faux-pas suddenly becomes hip. We convince ourselves that what didn't look good 10 years ago will suddenly look good now. Well, I am here to dispel that myth.

British women, assert your independence! Don't just buy whatever Sienna Miller was wearing in the latest issue of Grazia. Develop your own individual style. And if you weigh more than eight stone, avoid those skinny jeans!