The impending arrival of the cooler weather presents us with the perfect excuse to indulge in some stylish layers with a new season’s worth of winter warmers readily available. Among them are old standbys including the black boot and curve-ball takes on the classics like the distinctive knit that will actually make you want to welcome the chill.
As always when it comes to winter wear, a no-brainer place to start is with a coat, or two. Your outerwear will be the most viewed so needs to be handsome enough to be the star of your layering show as well as weatherproofing your wardrobe. With autumnal days ahead bound to bring changeable weather, you need to equip yourself accordingly. Robust outerwear made with technical fabrics and functional styling will help defeat all winter weathers.
According to Brown Thomas buying manager Stephen Burnett, in particular the parka is the snappy layer of choice for this season: “Stone Island design have a heavy duty quilted parka that will take you through the worst of the winter weather with ease.”
The Gallagher brothers staple also showcased its style potential on the men’s fashion week runways, revealing a less-Mancunian-band-member, more-smarter inflection, particularly when paired with tailoring at Berluti, Givenchy and Dunhill and has made it’s way to the high-street too.
Wet-weather option sorted, when those days when the utility jacket just won’t cut it, every man should have a smart option in their wardrobe arsenal that you definitely won’t mind pairing with your suit. But the styling options don’t just end there. The season offers fresh, ways of combining your outerwear.
Just as the parka can be smartened up, the smart coat can be dressed down: “Our grey classic check coat is the hero for the season and in pulling together the range we wanted to offer a variety of styles and fabrications the can be dressed up or thrown on with a hoodie and a pair of trainers,” says Matt Roberts, buying controller of menswear at Penneys.
Also running the gamut from down-time to dressed up is the clever roll neck with it’s warming and instant outfit-upgrading abilities. Want to take your suit from day to night? Add a roll neck. Want to smarten up your bomber jacket? Add a roll neck. Arnotts buyer Colette O’Boyle believes it’s a way of braving low temperatures but in high style, presenting more of the styling opportunities of the not-so-basic layer: “Try it classic and refined layered under a suit or formal coat, or chunky and cosy layered under a parka or leather jacket.”
While a roll neck will look polished, the distinctive knit is a more youthful and runway-inspired piece for the season. Logo-mania sees no signs of abating and the illustrated, personality-led jumper is the wintered version of the graphic T-shirt that has reigned supreme for seasons. Verging on novelty, there were comic book illustrations and characterful weaved prints at Dior Homme and graphic bold branding and slogans at Iceberg; all allowing you to add all the texture, colour and fun to your winter wardrobe.
On the other end of the spectrum when it comes to tailoring it’s a return to classics with sombre-hued suiting hijacking the runways. There were thick-wool suits at Prada, classic single breasted tailoring at Valentino and Dries Van Noten, and tuxedos at Dolce and Gabbana, all in back-to-basic black. But Celine, No 21 and Saint Laurent provided easy-to-achieve styling notes, each showcasing the dark-shaded suits paired with white shirts, ultra-skinny ties and black bovver boots.
And if there’s one shoe switch up to make for the new season – it’s heavy duty black boots. Whether it’s chunky stomper style or a sleeker Chelsea boot, a black boot is easy to absorb into your existing wardrobe. Take your inspiration from the AW19 runways and pair them with tailoring or keep it casual and cool with faded denim.
1. Parka
2. Check coat
3. Roll neck
4 Jumper
5 Graphic jumper
6. Wool suit
7. Chelsea Boot
