How to get the look: Cape coats

Sharp, smart and a little bit Sherlock: Red Valentino cape, £589, my-wardrobe.com

Capes! I'll be swooshing around as if I'm on stage at the Globe all winter then.

Depends on what kind you go for. A little while back, opting for a cape as your cold-weather cover-up was considered eccentric. Now that it's as normal as a pac-a-mac (well, actually, way more normal than that), there are all sorts on offer.

Not sure I want one, now they're so mainstream an'all.

Capes haven't got boring – they've just become easier to wear. So less of the long blanket-y global-traveller stuff and more contemporary numbers and coat hybrids such as this one from Red Valentino (£589, my-wardrobe.com, above). Sharp, smart and a little bit Sherlock.

Hmm, bit city chic for me – how about something a little more casual?

If you want something that you can just fling on – and the best thing about capes is that you can quite literally do that, which is great for huffy, post-argument exits – Sessun has a lovely one on asos.com for £195. It's nice and slouchy in cosy wool and comes in a lovely rusty shade that feels perfectly autumnal. It also has a hood, which is, let's face it, even more seasonal.