Aha. Note the "almost" in that sentence. The nostalgic, retro-look tree is in fact as much a style statement as a minimalist Galliano masterpiece: Baillie adorns hers with vintage baubles that she sources on eBay, but notes that good ones are harder to find than they used to be, because ",hockey jerseys for sale;everyone's after them."
Not many of us may go as far as Coleen Rooney, who last year hired an interior decorator to design and decorate several trees in various colour schemes for her Cheshire mansion, but among the smart set, having your tree professionally "done" is par for the course. Hoodless has designed fabulous trees this year for private clients in Holland Park, west London ("it's not about having help decorating your house every five years, any more. These days we're continually involved with our clients"). In my own lo-fi way, I suppose I'm guilty too: I do my tree while the kids are at school, supposedly as a "ta-da" moment for them but really because small children have the tackiest taste in baubles and zero understanding of design symmetry.
When pressed, the interiors gurus admit that the Christmas tree is, these days, as subject to the whims of fashion as the shopfloor of Topshop. Baillie tips paperchains as this year's It accessory (she suggest buying prettily aged sheet music from vintage shops to cut them from. I am not making this up). She has noticed an abundance of bird decorations this year, and what she dubs the "German Christmas market" style of bauble – "woodland animals, a bit kitsch". Two months ago the Paris catwalks were abuzz with Planet Earth chic, from kitten prints at Miu Miu to armadillo shoes at Alexander McQueen – and lo and behold, department stores are now selling glass squirrels and owls, while Hoodless is waxing lyrical about Sainsbury's glittery reindeer.