Fashion: Puff piece

Nina Ricci Pre-Fall 2017.

The humble puffer goes chic.

Sportswear brands have long known the benefits of a decent puffer jacket, come winter. What better than being ensconced in padded layers of insulation like a comfortable duvet blanket when you're out battling the elements?

For fashion obsessives, the puffer jacket's chic reincarnation can be widely attributed to the red and blue versions that made their way down the runways more than a year ago, the effects of Demna Gvasalia's debut at Balenciaga well and truly felt today as high street brands have highlighted their own take on the humble outerwear.

Like the leather jacket, outerwear taken from sport and street has taken on a life of its own.

3.1 Phillip Lim Fall 2017.

From puffer gilets, to shirts and bomber jackets, it's a cosy way to add some volume, whether thrown over a winter dress, skew-whiff at the shoulder; or rugged up on the sidelines at Saturday sports.

A puffer jacket is an investment piece, and prices vary depending in the technology used to create a durable, long-lasting puffer; and if a fashion interpretation isn't your thing, you can't look past tried and true outdoor specialists for the real McCoy. The ranges from Kathmandu and Macpac, for example, provide plenty of style and warmth, like Macpac's wet-look goose down jacket, working as well on the street as it does coping with Mother Nature.

French Connection vest $179.90. Seed Heritage vest $169.90. Mm6 jacket by Maison Margiela, $997, from The Shelter.

Cotton On bomber jacket $60. Vetements x Alpha Industries reversible bomber, (POA), from Opening Ceremony.

Moncler jacket, about $1365, from Net-a-Porter. Kathmandu coat $300. Macpac coat $260.

Lebek jacket, $375, from Smith & Caughey’s. Huffer jacket $349. Macpac jacket $700.

Carhartt jacket, $299, from Area 51. Topshop jacket $190.