Purls of wisdom: wrap up warm in this season's cosiest knits

Chunky knits, slim cardigans — and bright, cheery colours

Striped jumper, iClothing €54.95

Back in Spring, when Michael Kors sent models down the runway in oversized sweaters and knit dresses, Gabriela Hearst in fringed ponchos and knitted coatigans and Oscar de la Renta in glamorous appliquéd turtlenecks, designers could not have envisioned that the world would be turned on its head before Autumn actually came around — or that fashion consumers would come to greatly value tactility, comfort and warmth in the face of loss, distress and absence.

In this pre-Covid fashion world, groups of diverse models were joyfully linked together by conjoined sweaters during the AW20 fashion show of Japanese designer Issey Miyake in what now seems a cruel antithesis to our fractured, separated lives.