Fickle fashion New Year's resolutions – easier than the gym

New Year's resolutions. The number of people who sneer at the mere mention of that phrase always surprises me. Personally, I like the clear delineation, the idea of transforming yourself at a given point: this is the moment my life/health/wardrobe gets better.

Admittedly, the failure rate stands at roughly 75 per cent – most resolutions don't last the month, apparently. "Fail Friday" is the name given to the date, about three weeks into each New Year, when resolutions generally fall by the wayside. In 2016, it falls on Friday 22 January.

I suspect the notion of New Year's resolutions is more applicable to fashion than to most industries. For better or worse, fashion is built on shaky terrain, upheaval not only promised but guaranteed in the constant search for the new. Which doesn't just mean shoes and handbags, but often yourself.

Fashion's fickleness is exacerbated by the fact that January sees a veritable pile-up of seasons – not just fashion weeks, but entirely different climatic proposals. By which I mean, you get autumn/winter menswear, pre-autumn womenswear and the spring/summer haute couture collections, all crammed into three breathless weeks. The spring/summer ready-to-wear starts to drop in stores, too. So it's the perfect time to make a resolution to change your wardrobe, and yourself.

I tend to make fashion-focussed New Year's resolutions – mostly because my constant cajoling mantras to eat less, spend less and take more exercise haven't worked over the past decade or so. Fashion stuff is also, frankly, something superficial and easy to stick to. Resolve to buy a coat? Done! Resolve to actually wear the nine-tenths of my wardrobe that hitherto hasn't seen the light of day? Easy to give that a go. Much easier than actually getting off my backside and joining a gym. And possibly cheaper, in the long term. At least you end up with material goods at the end.

What are my fashion resolutions this year? I'd like to stop the slob – wear trousers rather than jeans, buttoned-up shirts as opposed to T-shirts. Generally make more of an effort. How about using some of the half-dozen manbags I acquired over the past year, rather than toting my hitherto ubiquitous scruffy, torn nylon backpack? Prada in nothing but name, thanks to my manhandling.

Overall, I'd like to try to look a bit more polished, preened and put-together – which is actually contrary to fashion's current thrust, to the spring/summer collections by Prada or Raf Simons with their rumpled knits and general dishevelment. I think I'm dishevelled enough already, thanks. It's time to smarten up. At least through until Paris menswear, which, coincidentally, ends just after Friday 22 January.