The game's the same

Alexis Petridis in a roll-neck jumper
Alexis Petridis: 'This season's woolly alternative is apparently the roll-neck jumper.' Photograph: David Newby

Looking back over the history of this column, you're regularly assailed by what Morrissey once called "the stolid stench of death". All around are the corpses of fashion ideas that didn't make it. Hyped as must-have items in the style press, and dutifully reported here, the public left them to die a lonely death while they went to Next or M&S to buy something less likely to occasion verbal abuse in the street.

Leopard-print cardigans. Socks and sandals. Transparent trousers. Balaclavas were meant to be in for winter 06, but other than muggins, I saw one other person wearing a balaclava during winter 06. He was on the telly, and Fiona Bruce was appealing for information as to his whereabouts.

Usually, when the public declines to play ball, designers give up on their big idea. But occasionally they don't allow mass indifference to put them off. Such is the case with the Really Big Cardigan. These were supposed to be a must-have in 2006, but didn't take off, perhaps because they combined 70s retro with slight femininity: ie they looked a bit like something your mother might have worn circa the winter of discontent.

They're trying them again this year. Full marks for persistence, but the spectre of Mum wrapping up warm during a power cut still lurks. Luckily, this season's woolly alternative is apparently the roll-neck jumper. It's not boring - there's a dash of Milk Tray man glamour about it - but it's eminently sensible in so far as it's both practical (unlike the Really Big Cardie, you can get a coat over it) and adaptable: you can make it look casual or you can wear it under a suit. Indeed, it may be something this column rarely uncovers amid the fashion ideas that keel over and die: an item of clothing with which you can't go wrong.