Any man worthy of the name knows that the onset of cold weather is not a cause for complaint but an opportunity to savour. While there's only so much you can do with the cut or outline of the basic male wardrobe — trousers, jacket, shirt — without them looking ridiculous, the winter coat is a sartorial playground of shapes. Small wonder, then, that this season's autumn/winter menswear collections embrace variety as enthusiastically as one would embrace a centrally heated chalet girl after a long, cold spell on the slopes.
Actually, I've never got the point of skiing and always believed that skiwear makes a man look like a giant toddler. So if you're of the same mind, you may wish to steer clear of Prada's puffy number with its fussy double collar, blocky pockets and colours seemingly inspired by a hornet. Skinny youths would prefer the clean lines of Vuitton's version of the leather bomber jacket, the colour of chocolate and with a texture almost certainly as soft as butter.
Me, I like a longer coat, the sort which doesn't leave your suit jacket sticking out of the bottom. Pringle's version of the parka hangs beautifully and is a nice compromise between the formal, the practical and the outré, the camel fabric and structured shape contrasting with the pompom collar and cuffs. Duffel coats tend to make a man look as if he is channelling Paddington bear or a wartime evacuee, but Dries Van Noten's has an almost monkish, ascetic look. You could just see it on an architect or graphic designer.
Even though, like most men in their forties, I don't actually have a waist any more, I retain a fondness for belted coats. Hermès's mid-length charcoal mackintosh is simple and very, very stylish. The knife-edged collar is a joy to behold, like the ruff of a bird of prey. But my favourite of this season's looks is Burberry Prorsum's shearling coat. This takes elements of the parka, the duffel, the overcoat and even the double-collar and makes them work in a way that is both dramatic and practical. You could wear this, one feels, to a board meeting, on the ice rink at Somerset House, or while hacking up the Eiger. Shearling is huge in womenswear at the moment but why should the girls have all the fun of the fleece?
