Mid-length semi-fitted shorts are key, although denim hot-pants are cool teamed with chunky tights.  Looser cuts are key for chequered pattern-ways and this autumn/winters trend for traditional fabrications. 

Shorts are most directional layered over leggings or tights and worn with mid-length boots or flat pumps.  Detailing such as brass buttons and turned-up hems create interest, while chunky belts prove an essential outfit accessory.  Watch for high-waistbands updating winter shorts referencing oxford bags-style trousers and giving the illusion of longer legs.

Knickerbockers bridge the gap between shorts and trousers and look set to become a future style staple for those in the know.  Chanel showed plus-four-style knickerbockers this season in wintry palettes teamed with textural accessories.  Gaucho trousers provide an alternative and slightly less extreme option to knickerbockers, existing somewhere between shorts and trousers offering cropped proportions but a longer line, especially when combined with heeled boots.

Fluid, swishy shorts looked hot at Betty Jackson teamed with 60’s-style patent shoes and white tights.  Paul Smith showed shorts for winter teamed with vivid tangerine tights, while Karen Walker opted for masculine-styled shorts combined with plaid printed knee socks.

Jo Carey