BE prepared to dazzle this Christmas - glamour is back. Fashion has turned the clock back to the Eighties, bringing gold, sequins and bold patterns back into the limelight.

Girls will definitely be golden over the party season, as 24-carat chic leaves its hallmark on festive fashions. Gold dresses, skirts, elaborate sequinned tops, handbags, scarves and jewellery - it's everywhere.

Even makeup has been touched by the gold rush, with shimmering powders and glitter nail varnishes in the shops to help create the gilded glamour look.

Not everyone will have the occasion - or the bravado - to wear a gold dress over the party season, but gold accessories are the key to creating an up-to-the-minute look.

To make a more subtle statement, opt for outfits with just a hint of gold: a hem on a skirt or cuff, gold sequins or beads on a soft-wool cardigan.

And gold accessories - jewellery, handbags and party shoes - are an easy and inexpensive way to update that wardrobe staple: the little black dress.

But all that glitters need not just be gold this year.

Sequins are a key look in fashions this season: whether on dresses, tops, or cardigans. Look out too for sequins on handbags, shoes, and even accessories like chokers and bracelets.

Sequins are truly a girl's best friend over the festive period: guaranteeing that you will catch the light - and who knows, perhaps the attention of Mr Right.

Christmas and New Year 2000 is no time to be a shy girl. Sparkling, shimmering styles will make you as noticeable as the fairy lights on the Christmas tree.

But if you want to create a more subdued look go for softer colours: silvers, pewters and ivories. Diamonds (real preferred but costume will do nicely too) are in demand and will lift these wintry shades into winter wonderland territory.

An invitation to a formal dance or ball is the perfect excuse to indulge in your fairytale fantasies. Choose a full skirt - made of shimmering satin - and team it with a pretty, beaded or sequinned bodice. Think Scarlet O'Hara and remember that the bigger the skirt the better.

You'll easily find the festive fashions you are looking for on the High Street. For full-length skirts, visit Browns, Fenwick and Monsoon. Hobbs in Davygate has some fantastic figure hugging sequinned dresses in candy colours.

For gold sequins, Fenwick in Coppergate has a super-sexy sleeveless dress - just make sure you don't stand next to some children who might think your dress is made of chocolate coins.

Fenwick and Accessorize, in Davygate, have excellent selections of gold-effect fashion jewellery and handbags.

For value, it's hard to beat C&A, which has a range of party dresses starting at £35.

M&S too has some good-priced party wear and accessories.

If you prefer separates to a dress, a safe bet is to buy a beaded or sequinned cardigan, widely available on the High Street. Monsoon, Fenwick and M&S are good places to look. This item is brilliantly adaptable. For casual chic, jazz up some jeans by teaming your Levis with a pretty cardi. Or wear it with a simple dress, pencil skirt or plain trousers for a more formal, festive, occasion.

And don't forget the most important thing to wear over Christmas - a smile.

The perfect setting

Where better to show off these sumptuous clothes than in the Georgian splendour of Fairfax House in York, one of the finest 18th century townhouses in England? Its annual exhibition, The Keeping of Christmas, where an 18th-century Christmas is recreated in the grand rooms of the house, is now open and will run through to January 6, 2001 (closed December 24, 25, 26, December 31 and January 1). For more details, call 01904 655543. Visit the website: www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk

Many thanks

A big thank you to our models, York students Charlotte Drakeley and Lucy Bunyan, and also to cosmetic consultant Andi James, of Mattese at Browns, Davygate, York, for doing the girls' make-up.

Models wanted

The Evening Press is looking for more men and women and children, of all ages and sizes, who would like to model for future Evening Press fashion articles for fun. Please write with your name, address, age, and daytime telephone number. Include your dress size, bust or chest size and shoe size. Men should provide their height, waist, trouser leg measurements, collar size and shoe size. Please send a recent photograph too, which is not returnable. Please note models must be available during office hours. No payment will be made. Write to Maxine Gordon, 'Models', Features department, Evening Press, PO Box 35, 76/86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN. We shall keep all entries on file and contact models as and when they are needed.