Winter is coming...

Top 10 Fashion Trends for Winter 2018/2019

As the leaves begin to fall, the weather cools down, and we begin to bundle up in blankets on top of blankets. As we sit, drink hot cocoa, and look outside, the sad realization hits us. Winter is coming. Some people love it, others despise it. If you're anything like myself, you try to look at the bright side of it all.

New season, new trends.

This year has been a rollercoaster ride for the mass majority of us. From the shift of the attitude post-Trump, post-Times Up, and post-My Job Should Not Include Abuse, designers reflected on the popular sentiment of empowerment with their very seams, sleeves, buttons and hemlines. The trends for the Winter 2018 season only continues to show us what great fashion has always been about: Making women feel good.

1. Animal Print

Yes, animal print is back. Forget any trashy preconceptions you had about this print because it's back in a big way for Winter 2018. From leopard to ocelot, zebra to tiger, wild stripes and spots covered the catwalks, exuding power and independence and shameless self-promotion in equal measure. Either go bold and wear it head-to-toe or keep the rest of your outfit pared-down and team with flats. Either way, you will make a statement.

2. Leather

Silk and velvet is all very well, but what to wear when you mean business? Increasingly, the answer from the catwalks is a leather dress. The most dominant of all fabrics this season was leather which came by way of skirts, trousers and trench coats. It doesn't have to be in black either - Givenchy served up coats in petrol green. A midi black leather skirt as seen as Hermes will serve you well this winter, as will a pair of Saint Laurent's leather trousers.

3. Tweed

Add an air of heritage chic to your wardrobe by nodding to the tweed trend. Marc Jacobs played with textures, styling oversized tweed coats with leather skirts. Louis Vuitton dressed numerous models in tweed skirts that most women will want..no need. Then there's Miu Miu's bold, 80s-inspired tweed coats as fashioned on the catwalk by Elle fanning. Tweed has a shapeshifting swagger for the new season, and the best part is, you can wear it with anything.

4. Silk

Just when you were tiring of the Princess Diana throwbacks, the Queen popped up at London Fashion Week, and with her came a whole stack of signature retro silk scarves. At Gucci, Oscar De La Renta and Moschino, grandma's scarf was blown up and recut in sinuous, slinky shapes. Make like HM and wear yours with a matching headscarf knotted at the throat, preferably with giant "talk to the hand" sunglasses.

5. Capes

You can't blame designers for taking the empowerment brief literally: with a renewed focus on crusading women in politics, film and fashion comes a fresh love affair with the cape. Beloved of superheroes, opera-goers and Capuchin monks, it's the elegant update on the puffer your wardrobe never knew it needed. Take it sharp and structured, as seen at Loewe and Saint Laurent, or go cozy with Isabel Marant and Missoni's blanket-like iterations.

6. Futuristic

Future-proofing your wardrobe is as simple as investing in a slash of silver, if Olivier Rousteing's theory is anything to go by: his biannual Babe Machine of a catwalk collection was on a Sci-Fi streak for autumn, as he imagined what women might be wearing in 2050. Get there first! Buy it now!

7. Rust

Halston met Houston, Anjelica, that is, for autumn as numerous Janus-faced designers advanced via the past, referencing the Seventies and its various penchants for shearling, brown and crochet. Don't fret: you have permission to make it sexy. Those chestnut Chloé dresses, for instance, all come slashed to the waist.

8. Pleats

From the chorus line to center stage, here come the knife-pleats, high-kicking their way into your new season shopping basket with uncompromising attitude. Wear them with trousers (à la Valentino); wear them with chunky-soled creepers (Sacai); or wear them with a fluffy jumper and a bike chain of a necklace (Balenciaga), just don't wear them with a delicate blouse. These pleats have bite.

9. Logos

Declare allegiance. Whether it's on your chest, waistband, or feet there is no escaping fashion's blaring logos come winter. Rock your favorite brand name shirt with colored skirt, or rock that oversized hoodie as a dress. Spice things up and try new looks, don't stick to the usual shirt/hoodie with leggings, be different!

10. Layers

Since we've been on the continuous cycle of going back in time with fashion, why not get inspiration from the hit TV show, Friends? One character in particular too, Joey Tribbiani, where he wears all of Chandler's clothes at once, because let's face it, one is never enough. Step up your layering game this winter, try two coats on for size, and think of the money you will save on the heating bill.