This season’s outdoors-inspired looks take a stylish yet sensible approach to the demands of winter.

The fashion world isn’t always celebrated for its commitment to the practical demands of life, or, to be more specific, the weather. In fact, it can often seem from the general hoo-ha of runway shows and designer collections that the industry likes to revel in its own anarchic irrelevance when it comes to offering up the right clothes for the right time of year. Shorts for winter? Sure, why not? Suede and cashmere for spring? Well, how hot can it really get, eh?

What a relief – and surprise – then, that one of the overriding themes of the AW18 season is a rather sensible one: that is, a fascination with the aesthetics of outdoor gear. Yes, that’s right, it might sound completely ridiculous, but instead of urging you to invest in lacy shirts and backless loafers this September to February, designers are proposing things like anoraks, zip-up tops, and waterproof trousers. Has a concerned mother picked up the phone, and somehow got through to them all? Or is this just a happy continuation of the streetwear aesthetic that seems to be setting the style world alight at the moment?

Of course, you should feel entirely free to draw your own conclusions – we at MR PORTER are never didactic, after all, are we? – but while you do, let us put some of the relevant evidence in front of you. Take, for example, the Japanese designer Mr Junya Watanabe, who filled his AW18 show with the kind of tough, reflective-striped outerwear that you might normally see on a building site, and collaborated with technical adventure brands including The North Face, Karrimor and Canada Goose. Or consider this season’s offerings from Mr Lucas Ossendrijver at Lanvin – which combined blanket coats with a Pacific Northwestern feel with popover parkas reimagined in tailoring fabrics and retro fleece tops with campsite-appropriate geometric prints.

Not every development in fashion occurs on the runway – but if you needed any further evidence of how much the outdoor thing is taking off, you could do worse than observe how many stylish men are currently stomping about with Patagonia tote bags, T-shirts and shell jackets in thoroughly urban locations across the globe.

So, in short, if there’s one piece of general style advice we can give you this winter, it’s to dress like you’re about to scale Everest, even if, in reality, you’re just popping across the road to get some hummus and crisps. If you’re looking for more granular directions though, please read on, and discover our notes on this season’s most compelling additional trends.