FASHION / The British man now

The shapes may be familiar, the pieces classically masculine, but menswear for autumn takes a new direction that calls into question old rules and restraints. Textures, colours, patterns and proportions are mixed for effect. Traditional forms, like the functional reefer appear in sensual aching-to-be-touched velvet, while tailoring is given the rough treatment with soft washed corduroy. Colours are mellow and earthy, lifted by the occasional, naturally bright fleck.

Antique MacMillan tartan single-breasted, three-button jacket with long side vents, pounds 335; wool Fairisle slipover, pounds 110; button-down soft denim shirt, pounds 59; polka-dot silk scarf, pounds 105, and felt cap, pounds 45, all by Mulberry, from 12 Gees Court, W1; Exile, Waverley Centre, Edinburgh

Velvet reefer jacket with leather buttons, pounds 308, by John Rocha, from Liberty, Regent, W1; Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge, SW1; Zap, Buckhurst Hill, Essex; Kafka, Aberdeen; ribbed funnel-neck sweater in cotton/wool mix, pounds 121, by Katharine Hamnett Denim for Men, from 20 Sloane Street, SW1; Princes Square, Glasgow; Autograph Men, Birmingham; striped velvet jeans, pounds 169, by Nicole Farhi, from 158 New Bond Street, W1; 27 Hampstead High Street, NW3; Princes Square, Buchanan Street, Glasgow; Sarah Coggles, York

(Photographs omitted)