Grab your coat

We have arrived again at that surreal junction of hot/cold, summer/winter clashing fashion seasons. To shop for clothing, at some levels, is to suspend disbelief. The weather says "summer", but those who thrill to The New are already fawning over, and squirrelling away, tailored hip jackets, micro-mini and ballerina coats, sweater dresses, broom-handle knits, flagged trousers and perky little rara frocks to wear with turtle tops and opaque tights for winter. In department stores, summer's clearance racks have been pecked to dregs and shoved to the back or wheeled out of sight altogether.

In boutiques, even the "Final!" "Absolutely!!" "Last Days!!!" are dwindling. Or over.

It's time.

Never mind the mercury, the new season is here and - fall, transeasonal, mid-weight, nonseasonal- specific - call it what you like; it's winter. W-I-N-TE- R, and that spells coat. Since the dawn of frocks, the winter wardrobe of every clevererthan- average dresser has begun with a coat or three. As key items go, they are the mothers of all winter fashion and should be picked to "go" with myriad outfits. In winter's bitterest depths, they will be grabbed for warmth and worn like an embracing outer skin. In the hot/warm/coolish/cold days of late summer and autumn, they will become your wardrobe's on/off yo-yo items, best worn lightweight and pale coloured, unbuttoned or unzipped and flapping open like a running cartoon behind you.

Already racked in stores now, are boxy little micro-mini coats like Tim O'Connor's (02 9516 3066) that segue from platform heels or ankle boots and opaque tights, into a lollipop silhouette that accentuates and optically "lengthens" the legs. There are more elegant tailored wrap styles too, such as Thurley's ($330, 9347 8888) and Nicholson's "Film Noir" cashmere knee coat with three-quarter sleeves ($629, 9824 4311), that are so chic and shapely on their own, they do for a dress. Bella B Wear's lean, finely knit wool black jacket with grey lapels, also works like a thin, slimming outer layer over a simple frock or skirt and top combo, and is best worn for its flattery than warmth ($149.95, (08) 9529 4711 and bellabwear.com). Pictured here too, is a selection of the crisper, lighter weights of coat in shops now or soon, that will freshen a summer wardrobe and lay the groundwork for winter, including several key versions of the trench.

After half a dozen solid seasons and a classic history tracking back to army greatcoats of World War I and gumshoe detectives of '40s and '50s film noir, the trench coat is still high priority in current fashion.

For autumn/winter 2008, it was revamped by dozens of designers and its popularity - particularly as an adaptable light-to-mid-weight transeasonal item that can be worn blithely, with its front panels open and flapping on summer's cooler days, then closely buttoned over layers of fine knits and warm frocks and thick tights for winter, shows no sign of waning.