Camilla and Marc ‘Savannah’ dress, Oxford blazer, Chloé ‘Margaret’ hobo bag, Sportsgirl wedges and ‘Mr Jones’ felt Panama, Rumour bracelets. Shot in Paddington.

With all this talk of fall layers and neutral and mustard tones rife on the blogosphere, we Southern Hemipshereans are equally, if not more, excited about the arrival of spring which for us, translates very happily into permanent sunshine and all the bright, vibrant colours one could ever want. Well and truly bitten by the colour bug, we’ve seen our Northern counterparts sport every pigment under the sun a little too casually in the last six months in images that have brought on an onset of Bitter Colour Envy. But now it’s our turn – take out those shades, baby.

The thing that I love most about seasons is how quickly they change. When I lived in Asia, seasons transitioned from hot to hotter with the occasional splash of monsoon. Fortunately, this is not so in the West where our climate’s constantly evolving state of play gives us the best reason of all to shop – under the guise of necessity. As we anticipate the temperatures rising and falling, we feel ever so fervently, the “need” to stock up on weather appropriate attire, happily ignoring the large sums of money already spent in this enterprise the year before. After all, variety is the spice of life and lots of it makes for great fashion masala so why else would I need twenty different scarves and six swimsuits (despite my inability to swim)? I’m living life and buying things, one ‘just in case’ at a time.

The calendar year Down Under generally starts with barbeques, bikinis and beaches (with the obligatory dose of sunburn). Clothing is kept to a minimal and each year, skirt lengths appear to get suspiciously shorter and shorter, with some offenders getting a little too cheeky in their gravity defying exercises (pun definitely intended – girls, think about the children!). I personally find the summer climate a little excessive though for many, particularly the male species, the blistering heat is easily counteracted by abundant watermelons on display.

The weather then starts to turn a little with the arrival of cooler winds, longer sleeves and perhaps even a back up cardigan in the bag. Autumn charms and calms, as if playing itself out in sepia tones, lovely and nostalgic. And even if it never gets scenically Canadian, we do manage to take comfort in the absence of Maple Leaf Romance with our own version of Trench Coat Fever.

Winter in Sydney is a bit of a conundrum because it often feels like different seasons in different cities. Comparable to Autumn in New York (sad film, happy hats), spring in Chicago (Bravoe Runway would attest to this) or even summer in England, it never quite gets cold enough to satisfy my European Coat Envy. It also happens to be the fattest time of the year and the natural inclination to eat to stay warm soon starts to feel much like “training” for an Olympic sport.

And thus we arrive, or perhaps we roll (see previous fat comment), back to where we started, in the glory of spring, my favourite time of the year. Somehow life feels more wonderful in spring. It could be the pretty floaty dresses, the September birthday presents or just the relaxed comfort of enjoying life, carefree and (literally) no sweat, or all of the above that make spring a happy flower child dream.

As you can tell, I experience many seasonal symptoms throughout the year, all of which are actually stronger and more peculiar than my rampant hay fever which plays havoc on me most months of the year. And despite possessing a sneeze loud and powerful enough to measure 2.0 on the Richter scale, I know that it’s just my nose’s way of celebrating the fact that spring is really in the air.