Shopping for clothes in-between seasons is tricky to master, because when all four seasons can legitimately happen in one day, you’re near guaranteed to get some undesirable mash-up of weather. Don’t make the schoolboy error of dividing your wardrobe neatly by season because the forecast is pretty much guaranteed to go way off piste. The good news: every season is jacket season.

Jackets are the middleweight prizefighters of your wardrobe. Not only will you get more wear from them than thicker or thinner layers, but they also encourage you to better mix and match items you’d previously pigeonholed as ‘seasonal’. We’ve tracked down 10 versatile jacket styles that you barely have to justify the purchase for. You’ll wear them all year.

The Varsity Jacket

Loved by preps, jocks and – more recently – menswear dons, the varsity jacket is a versatile, youthful style which segues between smart-casual and elevated sportswear.

You don’t have to be an inducted Ivy Leaguer with a bulging trust fund to put your spin on this preppy classic, though. There are plenty of options that’ll get you extra style credits, without the need to set foot on campus, all of which will add a healthy dose of collegiate cool to your weekend wardrobe.

Key Style

The varsity jacket works best when the core shape goes grown up, says menswear stylist Paul Higgins, whose CV name-checks the likes of Hardy Amies, Diesel and Kilgour. “A simple, clean version of the varsity jacket without too much fuss going on will let you keep wearing this vintage-inspired style for years to come,” he says.

How to look more high end than high school? “Look for premium fabrics such as suede, pebbled leather and boiled wool which give the style a sophisticated reboot.” Or, if you’re working with a student’s budget, look for darker colours such as black, navy and grey which invariably look pricier than colourful counterparts in a similar price bracket.