The autumn/winter 2023 season’s biggest trend? Not clothes, but a pose – or a clutch, to be precise. At Giorgio Armani, the models clutched powder compacts; at Ann Demeulemeester, they clutched their breasts. From the model clasping her crimson edge-to-edge coat at The Row, to the girls illuminated by the glow of the iPhones clamped in their palms at Courrèges, to the woman grasping her ivory liquid-silk dress round her shoulders like she’d just stepped out the shower at Loewe, the meaningful gesture was everywhere. All conspired to make the autumn catwalks feel a little more human.

Those real-life gestures chimed with the season’s biggest look: pared-back, everyday clothes, executed in best-in-class fabrics. The runways at Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu and Loewe were all filled with outfits one could easily imagine throwing on before heading out to take on the day. And if you’re rolling your eyes at a publication extolling the merits of clothes you can actually wear, the difference came in the details that elevated them from mundane to magazine-worthy: a pair of socks rendered in peachy-soft leather at Bottega Veneta, say, or a chain attaching the hem of an oversized white shirt to a shoulder at Loewe, lending its silhouette an artful ripple.

Read more: Shop The 10 Key Spring/Summer 2023 Trends To Know Now

If we thought the post-Covid 2020s were set to mirror the Roaring Twenties, with Champagne for breakfast and sequins for the supermarket run, well, we were wrong. One year on from the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the autumn collections found fashion wringing its hands a little less energetically. It was business as usual – and big, ballsy 1,000-capacity-fashion-show business at that. But a sense of anxiety still hung in the air.

Perhaps that’s why strict black coats made their sober presence felt, along with classic white shirts styled in myriad ingenious ways (good news if you have one in your wardrobe already). Ditto corporate-infused looks blending shoulders that could fill trading floors with pinstriped suits and ties – if a financial crisis is on the cards, you may as well dress for promotion.

There were moments of levity. Shimmering metallics prevailed, with draped liquid lamé a welcome addition to sequins. Then there was the defiant, punkish energy that knowingly or subconsciously paid tribute to the late, great, Dame Vivienne Westwood, who passed away in December. Florals took on a faintly gothic tinge (make the Wednesday Addams connection if you wish – it’s undeniable the Netflix series has been on multiple designers’ watch lists) while sheer, lingerie-style fabrics and knickers worn with tights lent a “woke up like this” nonchalance.

From nonchalance to insouciance, and the best way to ease into autumn when the mercury starts to drop: throw on a dramatic scarf. Drape a tartan blanket across your blazer and secure it with a gold pin, à la Saint Laurent; invest in a brooch in the shape of a miniature trumpet, like those at Louis Vuitton, the better to accessorise the long, woollen scarf you already have hanging in your closet. You could knit one yourself, if you like. After all, we should all be following Westwood’s maxim: “Buy less, choose well, make it last.”

Real talk

There’s a plain-speaking chic about the season’s most wearable looks that at first glance appears formulaic. Take one grey hoodie and pair it with a strong-shouldered camel coat and leggings, like the Miu Miu girl and her doppelgängers on the way to spin class in Notting Hill; pair your baggy blue jeans with a striped shirt and a trench, like the Gucci woman and her counterparts buying a coffee in Brooklyn. But such insouciant luxury boasts superior specifics: those blue jeans at Bottega Veneta are crafted from wafer-thin leather, that Fendi trench coat is lined with beige sequins.

NEXT TREND