Capes can be tricky but are great for making a spectacular entrance – an approach that, as party season brews, you may wish to consider. Before you partake, though, you’ll need to look in the mirror and check you’re not veering into pantomime-villain territory. Let Olivia Wilde be your guide. Her look is a bit 60s, which is on-trend, has gold buttons, which are fun, but she has kept everything else restrained. White collar, black tights, black ankle boots all retire to the background to let the cape talk. (NB: this classic-shape Gucci is a practical handbag-cape solution.) Photograph: PPNY / GSNY / Splash News/PPNY / GSNY / Splash News
For a moment, if you can bear it, forget channelling next season and just focus, because without even having to wear any new trends, you can be so next year right now. Enter the Margaret Howell 2012 calendar. As per, it’s rather lovely, and makes a stellar gift for any arty friend with expensive taste. This year, the theme is the sea and coastline, as imagined by British print-makers. Sales go to charity. £20, margarethowell.co.uk Photograph: PR company handout
Models no longer wear the clothes, they design them. Step forward the GapBody and Sasha Pivovarova capsule range of lounge and underwear. Pivovarova is a keen sketcher – apparently she’s collaborating on a book with Karl Lagerfeld. Naturally, to affect the model-wears-knickers look, you’d wear this pretty set with a grey marl sweatshirt. Handily, they also sell those at Gap too. Shorts, £12,95, bra, £25.95, gap.eu Photograph: PR company handout
Jaeger’s latest move is proof that one is never too old to experiment. At 127, the brand has opened its first standalone menswear store in London’s Canary Wharf. Setting up here means a focus on suiting – more than 60% of their tailoring is woven in British mills. It also does a good coat: this season a modern duffle, a burgundy pea coat or this car coat, all of which are pretty good value. £360, jaeger.co.uk Photograph: PR company handout
My-wardrobe.com has set up an online Christmas Room, which features gift ideas for fashionables broken down into jolly categories. This D&G Love T-shirt for example is from the Urban Fox department. They’ve commissioned designers Alice Temperley and YMC to create wrapping paper – leopard and Fair Isle prints respectively – as the fancy finishing touch. £110, my-wardrobe.com Photograph: PR company handout
