Tweed and tartan everywhere this season, from Gucci to Penney’s

Tweed and tartan have always been team mates and they are back in fashion again this winter. Today’s tweeds are not worn the conventional way in the hands of international designers where they take on a challenging sometimes dystopian new look.

Post-punk tartans are not ripped, torn or safety pinned now, a look that is already dated while full blown heritage tweeds remain the mainstay at Chanel. For his tweedy winter collection Erdem looked to Ireland and Adele Astaire at Lismore Castle when the glamorous American stage celebrity forsook current fashions of the time for the country styles of the aristocracy.

The vogue for oversize, sloping shouldered tweed coats and jackets is not for the fainthearted, but it was shown in many collections – Calvin Klein softened the blow tossing a mannish coat over the most diaphanous chiffon gown accessorised with a knitted balaclava for an offbeat prairie girl look. Dolce & Gabbana’s Prince of Wales check coat was a stylish black and white cocoon while Miu Miu’s brown tweed bombers had a boss girl vibe. Marc Jacobs revisited the ’70s with a dash of ’80s baseball shoulders, a daring but defying combo.

Clashing patterns spread into accessories too, Gucci suggesting bags that looked like replicas of their wearer’s heads got widespread attention. His bizarre collection mixed tweeds and plaids with showy satins, Renaissance robes, headscarves and floral jackets. You don’t have to go there, but it generates notice all around the world. When it comes to headgear, safety lies in chunky woollen beanies rather than glamorous new takes on Rubber Bandits-style face masks shown at Gucci.

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Back on the high street Primark is giving us a heady dose of tweeds and plaid this winter choc-a-bloc with colour contrasts, but allowing for a tamer way with textures and shapes with no balaclavas or pagoda hats to frighten onlookers.

A tartan blazer is a simple way of freshening up a winter wardrobe as is a tweed skirt with a black bomber. The contrast between high and low could not be sharper and mixing leopard print with tweed, for example, is an unlikely but workable combination.