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Fashion and utility aren't particularly good team players. Each instinctively loathes the other: From utility's point of view, fashion is ridiculous and unnecessary; from fashion's perspective, practical utility is just a big wet blanket on their parade. Which is why it's worth asking from a style perspective, in the current race, which one is ahead?

Judging from the sudden revival of what the Brits call the "all-in-one" - the utility-styled one-piece unitard, coverall, or jumpsuit, it's looking increasingly like practicality is taking the lead. As notably sported by none other than Meryl Streep (whose last Oscar-winning turn, it must be noted, was as a dominatrix fashion editor), in a capri-cut version in this summer's smash hit, Mamma Mia!, even that dreaded seventies staple, the denim overall, is making a comeback.

On my recent jaunt through the Aegean (and the delicious indulgence in trashy Euro fashion magazines that comes with said opportunity), it quickly became obvious that all the adorable, lithe and tan 17-year-olds in beach towns across the EU suddenly want to dress like Streep. Whether or not thanks is due to Abba-mania, I saw cute young things leaping off mopeds and lounging in cafés in every possible variation of the all-in-one, from cut-off denim coveralls and pouffy bloomer playsuits with suspenders to hippy jersey unitards with droopy harem-style crotches. Add to this the reappearance of designer fanny packs and zippered pouch armlets as hot accessories, and right now the score is Utility 1, Fashion 0.

Having lived through, and barely survived, the original era of the jumpsuit, as well as its eventual and well-deserved descent into the bin of bad fashion history (in the company of negative-heel shoes and the dickey), I must admit that I have never found the all-in-one concept particularly attractive - or all that practical (the obvious point being that when dressed shoulder-to-shin like a swaddled infant, even those well out of diapers yearn for Depends).

Yet fashion is not with me. For her appearance on the red carpet at the recent London premiere of The Dark Knight, Maggie Gyllenhaal received a big thumbs up in the fashion blogosphere for working a slinky black Stella McCartney jumpsuit. Indeed, the fashionista's bible British Vogue has declared that if you haven't yet purchased such an item for your fall wardrobe, you are so 2007. And the latest New York Times Style supplement features a strikingly similar all-in-one, this time in a vivid orange paisley, from none other than the venerable fashion house Hermès. Thus the score, Fashion 1, Good Taste 0.

Perhaps the biggest splash made for utility, however, was that made by the much-decorated U.S. Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps, whose futuristic, all-in-one LZR racer is not only the fastest swimsuit in the world, but has, in an all-in-one fell swoop, given swimming a makeover. According to reports, the glove-like suit, which is made from a fabric designed after sharkskin, and CAD-ed to reduce drag and vibration through futuristic, aerodynamic compression, is now so in demand that it is creating rifts between the athletes and their sportswear endorsers. So desperate are they to shave milliseconds off their finishing time with the latest cool outfit, swimmers are simply refusing to wear anything else.

In the end, it was the style coda of the sprinters in Beijing that I found most telling. Like every Olympic competitor, each has rigorously trained, adhered to a rigid discipline and searched deep within themselves for the will to triumph at this one opportunity. Each is clearly prepared to do whatever it takes for the possibility of gracing the podium. And yet, in the way that the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, can't resist strutting his stuff even as he crosses the finish line, all of the runners chose to run the race of their lifetimes wearing a heavy gold chain looped around their neck. So much for practicality. Fashion takes the Gold.