Whether you opt for Peter Pan, embellished or plain it's all about the collar this year, says Emma Harrowing.

There is an equally stylish alternative to necklines adorned by jewels this year as the collar goes independently chic for the next two seasons.

As reported on the fashion pages in your Norwich Evening News a few weeks ago, exaggerated and embellished collars are not only a summer trend they are tipped to be high in the fashion stakes come autumn with international designers such as Viktor and Rolf and Philip Lim all going big on the collar in their new collections.

At Norwich Fashion Week in March collars were big news in the first collection by City College Norwich fashion label Cocoon (watch out for the young designers' second collection at the next Norwich Fashion Week in March) and Norwich designers are producing detachable collars such as the faux fur ones by Sugar and Hatter last winter and the summer collection of leather and suede embellished ones from Dusty Does.

Collar chic is quickly becoming the must-have accessory of the year so if you want to get ahead in the collar department there are two ways to get this look.

The first is to buy tops and dresses with a collar. You can probably pick one up in the summer sale and take it through to winter or buy into the new season's trends which are coming into the shops now. The new collections on the high street all feature at least one blouse, dress or jumper with an embellished collar.

The second is to buy one of the many detachable collar necklaces or decorative collars currently available from Norfolk accessory designers and the high street and revamp your jumpers, high neck dresses and blouses.

In fact depending on the collar you could take a dress from day to night just by adding a pearl, sequin or velvet collar – it's collar-tastic!