It's back! The cardigan is hot, hot, hot! For trendies, it's the season's must-have piece of kit, the garment of the moment. Or so fashion pundits keep saying.

Only it's never gone away. At least to me it hasn't. My cardigans have been the butt of many a joke over the years. I can hear my friends now: "Oh Helen, when are you going to abandon those woolly tights and cardigans?"

And on a recent shopping trip, when I spied a long, grey wool-mix affair with leather buttons, my best friend chirped: "But I thought you wanted to look younger!"

Like anoraks, cardigans have not had a good press. To put it bluntly, they are seen as boring. I'll never forget being likened to a librarian by a former boss, as I breezed about the office in my calf-length brown checked skirt, bottle-green jumper and black button-to-the-neck cardi. "Why?" I asked, my voice full of concern. "They all wear cardigans like that," came the reply.

But the insult (sorry librarians, but you do have an image problem) didn't stop me. I stayed loyal to the garment. I mean how can you not love something so versatile? A cardigan helps you to stay cool but not cold in summer and warm but not sweaty in winter.

It's one of life's great inventions - a jumper you can open when you get too hot. It's not only that - you can change the look of an outfit simply by unbuttoning. And it's so easy to carry around - far less bulky than a sweater.

But the cardigan has always had an image problem. I blame men. That's where the bad press stems from, I'm convinced of it. Men have given cardigans a dull image, one of retirement homes, pipes and slippers and favourite chairs. It's ironic, because the garment was named after a man - the 7th Earl of Cardigan, who was the first wearer, back in the 18th century.

Of course, that's not to say he looked good in it. If he was anything like a typical male wearer, he won't have done it any favours.

Take Leonard Rossiter's character Rigsby in the TV comedy Rising Damp. He wears a cardigan in its worst form - dark coloured, out-of-shape, just plain awful. Ronnie Corbett used to wear one as the middle-aged mummy's boy Timothy in Sorry. And I'm sure I've spotted Alan Bennett slouching around in a hideous Sunday driver-type creation, in one of his Thora Hird collaborations. In fact, he probably wears a chunky knit with pockets at home, while sitting in his favourite chair thinking up anecdotes about life up north.

Unfortunately, old blokes like cardigans. Now if more younger men were to latch on to its marvellous qualities, we might get somewhere. But, if I'm honest, men under 50 don't cut a dash in them.

But in cardigan appreciation circles, there is no longer any need to worry about how we are seen in this seemingly safe, homely item of clothing. The cardigan will almost certainly be worn on the catwalks this year and will no doubt be hailed as a fantastic new creation by top designers.

My loyalty - I wore my first cardigan at birth and have never abandoned it - has paid off. This year will be the year of the cardi. This will be the year I lose the librarian label and emerge as the super-trendy, ultra-stylish, incredibly risque chick I really am.

Updated: 10:12 Monday, February 04, 2002