The cover girls

Back in the day, or so my mum used to tell me, my great-grandmother would insist on a family outing to the January sales, where each family member, or certainly all of the female members, would be treated to a new coat.

One year, or so legend has it, they all hung their new coats on the post at the bottom of the stairs, and the dog ripped them to shreds, which can’t have gone down well. But this story has always puzzled me. I mean, how many coats did they have? Did they throw away last year’s coats and, if so, why, when all I ever hear is that “you just don’t get the quality these days that you used to get”?

Anyway, back to the present day, and this is most certainly the time of the year for coats, when they all drop, fresh and new, into the High Street stores and pop up online, teamed with new season must-have bags and boots.

What strikes me most about this season’s offering of outerwear is how superbly glamorous it all is. Even the urban style wear is glamorous, with fitted cuts, nipped in waists, sleek padding and lovely detailing.

Tweeds and checks are major fashion stories for new season outerwear and here again, there’s a new sleekness becoming prominent, with styles tailored cleverly to look feminine and also subtle, well made and traditional in flavour, but with a striking contemporary edge. It’s so easy to pair the new tweeds and checks with block colour, whether it’s in accessories or in what you wear under (for example, a cold burnt orange silky dress, or perhaps something in teal or emerald green). Actually, many of the tweeds and checks do contain an element of seasonally bright colour within them, perhaps a line on one of the warps or wefts, but, whatever you do, don’t get too caught up in trying to pick the colour out and match it up, or it will all look far too matchy-matchy and “trying too hard”.

Capes are another major trend for the season, in the aforementioned tweeds and checks, but also in block black and camel, and in some lovely knitted yarns, from cashmere cable-knit to Aztec and Inca style striped patterns in gorgeous September sunset colours.

Colour become very important on coats for this season, with all the teal blues, purples and tomato reds on offer, and these are a great way of keying into the autumn colour block trend although it is worth bearing in mind that no-one will miss you coming in a tomato red coat – and if that is your intention, so be it.

Even with a fairly inexpensive coat or cape, the look can be made to look far more luxe and designer if you choose well-made accessories in quality materials – brown leather, black patent, excellent faux fur trim and collars.

So don’t wait for the January sales; the time to invest in your winter coat is now (but keep it away from the dog).