Go nautical with the maritime look

Kick-start your autumn wardrobe with Breton stripes, an easy to wear transitional trend, writes Lee Holmes

Cary Grant in "To Catch A Thief"

The weather may be teetering on the very cusp of autumn, but there’s still a chance that a grey, cold morning could morph into a sunny and bright afternoon. Nothing to complain about there, even if you are perhaps left with a sartorial dilemma of sorts; what to wear when you leave for work in the morning?

A simple way to tackle this is to opt for the tried-and-tested maritime look. A trend made up primarily of nautical-striped T-shirts – both long and short sleeved – and lightweight and chunky knits, it means that layers can be peeled off as the temperature dictates.

And having a membership to an exclusive yacht club is not a prerequisite, either; there’s an impressive roll call of landlocked urban sailors past and present to namecheck. The artist Pablo Picasso wore nautical stripes with aplomb. And the designer Jean Paul Gaultier is so enamoured of nautical stripes – which he wore as a child – that they have become part of his fashion vocabulary; his clothing, furniture and fragrance lines would look incomplete without them.

However, the key to pulling off this look with any degree of success is to never take it too literally. So, if you want to smarten up your Breton knit by wearing it under a navy woollen blazer, be mindful that said blazer isn’t embellished with brass buttons – Captain Birdseye you are not.

On the other hand, if you’re in the market for something more informal, then a tailored jacket can be swapped for a brightly coloured Scandinavian-style raincoat instead. Paired with salt-wash denim jeans, grey sweatshirts and beanie hats, it only goes to prove that, come rain or shine, these foolproof favourites are hard not to love.