Though it's easy to find thin knits in a multi- tude of colours these days, it's decidedly harder to find a nice thick knit in a colour that goes beyond the classic mail-order- catalogue spectrum of browns, neutrals and blues. So when Prada sent out post- modern, Pop Art-coloured waffle knits at its especially cerebral autumn/winter show in Milan in January, it was a potent message. On a screen behind the models, Marshall McLuhan-like aphorisms came and went, suggesting this was Prada's take on design in a digital world: Have material and visual culture become evolved or convoluted, revolutionary or revolting? Who are we, and who is the Prada customer?

"I can buy any expensive material I want, but I am also always attracted to trashy touches," explained Miuccia Prada backstage. There were '70s inflections to her idiosyncratic offerings for chaps who don't fear bright ideas. This covetable sweater, our pick of the lot, is made of pure merino wool in a cablè lana canestro - "basket-style" - knit. And Prada's futurist-but-retro take on menswear was echoed by other style-setters. Coloured chunky knits were the order of the day at Adam Kimmel, Gucci and Hermès, who all sent out blue incarnations of the cable sweater. YSL, Jil Sander and Lanvin played safer with grey versions of slouchy chunky knitwear.

While bright colour undoubtedly looks better on some shades of skin than others, red's power is surprisingly universal. Don't be afraid of it (unless you find yourself knee- deep in mud in a bull's field of course); face the winter with a defiant splash of colour.

Style-conscious contemporary urbanite seeking a portable entertainment unit in the modern metropolis? Don't reach for that touch-screen so fast; there's more to mobile lifestyle-enhancement than iPhones, you know. The aptly named hip flask is enjoying a revival in the most unusual places. Perhaps fashion designers read the winds and sensed an especially icy winter when they created their new collections; maybe it's another phase of their sporadic love of field sports. Whatever the motivation, flasks appear to be swinging alongside the most discerning gentlemen this season.

Kim Jones, who sent his models down the catwalk with hip flasks dangling from their belts, instigated the resurgence. Now, in the middle of the hunting season, William & Son - the shooting and luxury goods label established a decade ago by William Asprey, seventh generation member of the famous family that established its own luxury brand in 1781 - has produced this elegant example.

Since the 18th century, people have been producing slim, ergonomic flasks for carrying distilled, usually alcoholic, drinks without drawing attention to themselves - at the rugger or the races, it remains the ex-public schoolboy's more presentable alternative to the brown-bagged bottle. But it would be an injustice to a noble tradition of heroes and adventurers to dismiss it as a drunkard's accessory: the intention was always for the contents to be shared, making it possible to toast success wherever it came.

Chunky knits, long johns, shearling jackets, knapsacks and hiking boots all add to a practical, outdoors mood this season. When they first sent their autumn/winter collections onto the London and Paris catwalks back in January, Dunhill, Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, Hermès, Dior and Paul Smith all riffed on the sturdy boot, and Milan's big menswear names trod the same path.

Boots are being offered with thicker soles in a lug pattern, and in variants that veer more or less towards hiking boots or casual dress boots. They can be high or low, leather or suede, laced or slip-on; it is the sole that is the defining fashion statement. Skinny fashion boys around town like to wear them with an Artful Dodgerish, Victorian dandy air, while British menswear's designer-of the-moment Aitor Throup is rarely seen without trousers tucked into the long socks that rise above his.

Dunhill's new hiking boots come in three colours of nature: navy oiled wool, brown vegetable-tanned calfskin and, most luxurious of all, rich and waxy green alligator skin. These are paired with gunmetal hardware, bright yellow laces and welted Vibram soles - first invented by Vitale Bramani in the 1930s, after an Alpine mountaineering disaster that was blamed on inadequate footwear, and later worn by the Italian team that first conquered K2. Not only are these boots on trend, they could even be a lifesaver - a perfect fit for the safety-conscious, stylish gent.