Edition at Debenhams

Black spot-print mini dress, £45, Jonathan Saunders/Edition at Debenhams

Debenhams gives its image a right old dust-off this week as a shower of young British talent bursts into its stores. Edition is their just-launched collaboration with the brightest of fashion names, including Preen, Jonathan Saunders and Jonathan Kelsey (with Roksanda Ilincic, her best-selling Whistles line already under her belt, joining in the autumn). The collection is available instore, online and, for a limited time, at a pop-up shop in London's Newburgh Street (just behind Liberty).

High fashion/high street collaborations are so common now, and although surely reached a peak with Lanvin for H&M, are still hugely welcome. H&M's coups are certainly hard to beat – as well as Lanvin, big guns have included Stella and Jimmy Choo – but Debenhams have been bold and streetwise poaching Saunders and the rest to pep up their spring offering. Kelsey's shoes, from flats to sexy courts and wedges, look more catwalk than high-street, but it's Saunders' range that really stands out, particularly the bold floral maxi dress at £85 and the sassy 1960s-style print minis.

Edition is well worth keeping an eye on over the following months, as the designers are involved for a minimum four seasons. What a welcome change from the rather tired Matthew Williamson range and its endless butterflies and peacocks. In Debenhams' home range, the Lisa Stickley homeware is worth a look; her cups and plates have a retro, Orla Kiely-type appeal and quirkiness, at a fair price.

You can get 20% off on fashion until tomorrow (although the downside is that you have to buy a copy of the Daily Mail. On second thoughts, it's really not worth it).

Dark grey skinny jeans, £38, Preen/Edition at Debenhams

Shoes by Jonathan Kelsey/Edition at Debenhams

Jumper dresses

Chanel spring/summer 2011. Photo by Giovanni Giannoni on wwd.com

Wool/cashmere jumper dress, £475, Stella McCartney

In the Sunday Times Style this weekend, Agent Provocateur founder Joe Corre was sounding off about jeans: ‘I can’t stand jeans…. I wear them for what they should be used for: painting and decorating, or digging in the garden. But … everybody wears jeans; they look like a robotic army.’ This season there so many options for relaxed daywear that denims can be left on the shelf. More of us are considering ditching jeans, thanks the popularity of cool and casual jersey skirts and dresses on offer, with leggings and skinny trousers on hand to go with them.

For winter – and beyond into next spring, according to Chanel's (madly beautiful) s/s 2011 catwalk – the jersey dress gives way to the knitted dress. Yes, the classic 1980s jumper dress is well and truly back, bringing with it (for many of us) memories of burgundy Topshop numbers paired with matching suede pixie boots. Looking back at photos, you'd never guess that the rather frumpy, itchy, woolly dresses would become a fashion statement here in 2010. But these modern versions are somewhat more sophisticated, in fine cashmere blends to make them more elegant and easy to wear. Everywhere from Net-a-porter to Warehouse has stripey, chunky, ribbed or woolly jumper dresses on their rails right now. Get the length right and they look great with boots or pumps. Here's a round-up of some of the best:

At the top end, there's APC's cute navy and white striped version, Sonia Rykiel's school uniform-style jumper with skirt (£270) and Stella McCartney's stripey jumper dress in wool/cashmere (£475). Vanessa Bruno’s sweater dress is reduced at theoutnet.com (£138 down from £230); or you could wear a black jersey top underneath Bella Freud's Last Poets top, reduced from £215 to £88, for a jumper-dress effect. French brand American Vintage (stocked in Fenwick, Selfridges and online) does a great round-neck sweater dress, £85.

On the high street, Warehouse is doing knitted dresses in maxi, mini and midi lengths, from £45, in greys and black, while Topshop has a more jazzy cotton Love Heart sweater dress at £35. I also really like Hush’s Amy dress (£40), and Toast/Hush-inspired catalogue Wrap has an embroidered merino-wool version for £99 in elegant colours such as washed blue and – oh yes – deep burgundy.

Sweater dress, £138 (down from £230), Vanessa Bruno at theoutnet.com

Grey midi jumper dress, £45, Warehouse

Round-neck sweater dress, £85, American Vintage at Matches.com

Knits for now

Knitted fisherman rib cardigan, £45, Topshop

Knits are big news for autumn/winter, as seen on the catwalks of Michael Kors, Stella McCartney and Marc Jacobs. From chunky sweaters to cashmere cardis, there's a great range of cosy, classy woolies around. It's Val Doonican all the way, with Stella's cardi dress and McQueen's sweater dresses, plus romantic takes like Dior's soft chunky-knit cardigan threaded through with silky blue ribbon. Pair them with silk skirts to great effect, as seen at Louis Vuitton, Dries Van Noten, Marc Jacobs and Richard Nicoll – another take on cosy glam.

This season lots of designers have also come up with 'cardigowns' – a term coined, I think, by Hush, the masters of fine pyjamas and comfortable lounge wear. A cross between a cardigan and a dressing gown, and even a coat if it's fine, these are the home-worker’s ideal piece of clothing – chuck it over pyjamas and it looks like you got dressed. It's warm yet looks good, especially when spun from the softest of cashmere.

Designers like Nicole Farhi and Pringle always do this look especially well. Farhi’s wool/cashmere tops are an elegant and versatile wardrobe staple, useful with both jeans and dresses. This season, the best versions are ruinously expensive: Rick Owens’ black chunky alpaca cardi (£580) is wonderfully decadent, as is Diane von Furstenberg’s long Chung cardigan in 100% cashmere (£367), an investment piece that will last well for years. Also check out Burberry’s chunky cashmere-blend cardigan and Vivienne Westwood's black version (£412), and the rather more reasonable grey open cardigan by Day Birger and Mikkelson (£139). I like Paul & Joe Sister's cable-knit (£145), too. The ultimate throw-ons are the feather-soft cashmere versions by Irish knitwear designer Lainey Keogh – but, yikes, when we say 'investment piece', we're talking life savings/pension/hefty percentage of salary-type investment.

Turning to the high street, look at Topshop’s fisherman rib cardigan (see top, £45) in very of-the-season camel, or black. The jumper version in blue (£42) would look fantastic with a satin skirt, as would the Vuitton-esque cropped cable jumper. I still think camel's a tough colour to wear, though – it's really just a shade of brown, after all, and for me black wins every time. A classic camel coat's all very well, but unless it's by Celine (see Garance Doré's great blog for proof) it's hard to hanker after something that looks like it's been languishing in your granny's wardrobe for the last few decades, whatever the September issues tell us.

Day Birger and Mikkelson, £139, my-wardrobe.com

Maxi skirts

Maxi skirt, £97, Alexander Wang

Long skirts and dresses are starting to sweep across the pavements for spring/summer. At last – a trend that doesn’t appeal to just one per cent of the population. It’s not often that the whims of designers appeal this naturally to anyone aged over 18, but the maxi does not call for good legs/toned arms/tiny waists – or, indeed, anything at all really. And anything to get away from these ‘jeggings’ – the leggings pretending they're jeans. Seriously, what is everyone thinking? Whatever Grazia says, they are appalling. Hideous. There is not a single person that actually looks good in them. They make your legs look like sausages, whatever your shape. Surely in years to come they will be THE item that people are truly mortified to have worn in the belief that they were fashionable.

Maxi dress, £615, Balenciaga

Anyway, back to skirts. While a tiny percentage of the population have the legs to pull off a mini or teeny denim shorts the minute the sun comes out, many more of us, aware of what our legs actually look like in the light of day, look for something less bare, but cooler and low-key.

So it's good news that the maxi's having a moment. Designers from Cavalli to Lanvin, Erdem to Diane von Furstenberg has gone long and luxurious with their skirts this season; check out Balenciaga's silk racer-back maxi dress in black and white print (see above). In the spirit of laidback luxe, all the best labels have done a great maxi skirt or dress this season, including Rick Owens and Acne, Vanessa Bruno and L’Agence (check out their jersey maxi, £169 and dresses online and at Selfridges) and Vanessa Bruno – they've all done a great maxi skirt. Also on this bandwagon are The Row (designed by the Olsen twins), with a gorgeous fitted jersey dress. And one of the best buys has to be the T by Alexander Wang split jersey skirt (see top), a sexy twist on the look. All the best maxi skirts seem to be black, though H&M’s leopard-print maxi (14.99) and Topshop’s 18 quid jersey number in khaki are fun.

I still have a floor-length silk Dries van Noten skirt in black I found at Whistles many years ago (remember when their main stores stocked the odd gem by designers too?). Silky and light as a feather, it can work with everything from a neat leather biker jacket and boots to dressier tops and heels for evening. Versatile, wearable – this trend’s got legs.

There’s another side to it, though. Stella McCartney’s billowing satin floral-print version has inspired a rash of followers and every high-street store seems to have wafty floral halterneck maxidresses in their windows just now. Which is fine if you have a holiday home in Hawaii or spend most of the year drifting around Ibiza, but acres of synthetic fabric is not going to do anyone any favours on the dirty rainy pavements of London/Dublin/Manchester…. It’s one thing to channel Jade Jagger or Talitha Getty, but quite another to end up looking like Nana Mouskouri. And many of these dresses are tiered, which makes things worse. While in Stella McCartney's hands this might look fabulous, in others it can move towards the meringue. And, rather than mask imperfections, a billowing dress will generally make the wearer look at least two dress sizes bigger. So go steady around those floral numbers.