There’s a huge trend for big, fluffy teddy-bear coats and faux-furs, this season. And I must say that although big, furry coats are very attention-grabbing, (something I’m usually not too comfortable with, believe it or not), there’s something almost protective in their massiveness and fluffy bulk. They make you feel strong and confident rather than self-conscious or embarrassed. I suppose that they increase your size, somewhat – just like a peacock spreading it’s feathers or a cat making its fur stand on end – and so make you feel a bit more bolshy and puffed-up. This is one eye-catching trend that I can deal with – it’s not revealing or totally outlandish, but a big fluffy coat definitely pulls an outfit together and makes it look as though you’ve made far more effort than you really have.

I love this teddy-bear/furry trend so much that I collected together the best coats of the season and drove out to the seaside, car-boot crammed with samples, to film a fashion lookbook. The video will be up later on this week, but I couldn’t resist giving you a little preview! The coats on this page are both made by Unreal Fur, an Australian brand who make beautiful faux-fur jackets. The Fire & Ice style, shown above and at the bottom of the page, is really unusual and has a definite Kate-Moss-Rock-Chick vibe about it…

…and the De-Fur coat (above) is huge and shaggy and so very warm and comfortable that it’s almost as though you haven’t left your bed! It’s really striking and is possibly my favourite of all of the coats that I shot over the course of the day. It’s lined in grey jersey (nice touch) and the finishing is perfect. You’ll see it in full beach-walking action when the video goes live, but if you can’t wait then there are more details on ASOS.com here.

I definitely think that teddy coats and faux-furs are going to be my staple outer-garments of the winter months; warm, cheerful, supremely comfortable and as fashionable worn with jeans and a pair of battered Converse as they are slung over the top of an evening dress. You can find the Fire & Ice jacket at Hush – it’s £180. If you’re looking for this year’s “investment” jacket then these are absolutely worth a good look; amazing quality but not prohibitively expensive – the De-Fur is perhaps more of a trend buy, but the Fire & Ice wouldn’t date too fast as it already looks quite retro…

(Sizing notes: the De-Fur is roomy and a size “small” was perfect for me (I’m a solid UK10), the Fire & Ice was also “small” but a tad too little for me, but only because of my frontage. I probably could do with a “medium”.)