London’s Frieze art fair in October was not only a showcase for contemporary art but also a barometer of the hottest fashion trends of the season. On the VIP evening you could hardly move for chic artists, buyers and dealers in oversized outerwear. “The oversized coat is the only coat to own this season,” says Kate Phelan, former Vogue fashion director-turned-Topshop’s creative director. While there were other styles on the catwalks this season – from puffas and crazy fun furs to military and equestrian – there was a rare consensus among designers about the key coat statement: supersize me.

Not that fashion is offering a total respite from decision-making. Within the trend there are multiple looks. There’s sporty (Chloé, Stella McCartney), the oversized boyfriend (3.1 Phillip Lim, Céline, Chalayan), the 1950s, couture-inspired cocoon (Raf Simons’s last season for Jil Sander, Erdem), the luxe dressing gown (Daks, Chloé) and the biggest and, if you like your clothing conceptual, the best: the 2D felt sandwich board-effect courtesy of Comme des Gar?ons.

Céline’s pumped-up crombie-cocoons might come in bright turquoise and a soft dusky pink (￡2,160) but the borrowed-from-your-boyfriend shape – assuming your boyfriend has the build of an American footballer – is decidedly masculine. So too is Phillip Lim’s dark, herringbone style with asymmetric zip (￡934). Lim says: “A woman in a man’s silhouette provides both protection and power – a perfect solution for the neo-noir heroine that lives within all of us.” Hussein Chalayan, who has always included an oversized coat in his collections, is also taken with androgyny, saying: “I think a roomy coat is beautifully boyish and timeless on a woman ... I like a woman who can be slightly boyish during the day and more feminine at night.” This mannish silhouette feels effortlessly cool. Call it a backlash against the Duchess of Cambridge’s parade of fit and flare, matched to her hat, Trooping the Colour-appropriate coats.