Be it camel or corduroy, this fall is all about elegant reboots of boyhood favourites.

There was a moment a few years back when gastro-pubs were opening on every corner, offering sophisticated spins on our boyhood favourites – macaroni-n-Manchego or free-range bangers with heirloom mash. Surveying the autumn trends, it is clear that a similar moment in menswear has arrived: not only can you dine out on comfort food, but now you can tuck into some comfort dressing.

Seeing a corduroy suit, a herringbone topcoat or a military green bomber jacket casts my memory back to autumn term at the New England boarding school where I misspent my youth. If you aspired to be one of the “blue couch-ers” (what we called the cool kids who sat on a blue sofa after dinner smoking Marlboros and drinking coffee), you wore a certain uniform: a topcoat, stolen from your grandfather’s wardrobe, over a down vest (which my British friends call a “gilet”). Trousers were Army surplus. Duck boots from L.L.Bean completed the look. It took a lot of legwork to source the goods back then.

Looking over the new product at MR PORTER, there’s a bottle green corduroy blazer from Sacai, an oversized topcoat from Bottega Veneta and duck boots from Yuketen that should provide an elegant refresh of my boyhood aesthetic. How about you? No need to raid grandpa’s attic or scour the thrift stores to make it happen. Today being one of the in-crowd is simpler – as simple as a few clicks on your laptop or swipes on your smartphone.

After a decade during which clothes have become ever slimmer, there are signs that fashion’s restless pendulum may be swinging back the other way. Skilfully cut, the draped fabric of oversized clothes can accentuate rather than hide the masculine physique, and few garments lend themselves so well to this style as a belted overcoat. Simultaneously comfortable and smart they work with a suit, or with casual trousers.

The contemporary appetite for relaxed sports-inspired designs has seen men wearing sweatpants with tailored jackets, but trousers with elasticated cuffs are a better answer if you’re mixing formal and informal styles. At best cuffed trousers combine the comfort of sweatpants with the formality of tailored trousers. The result is that they can be worn with leather shoes and a shirt, but crucially they look just as good worn with a T-shirt and sneakers.

The taste for formal but non-matching tailored clothes reflects the facts that there are fewer and fewer places where suits are required, and that as men become more confident when it comes to style they’re increasingly interested in exercising their own taste in such matters. Dress in coordinated dark colours, as here, for a business meeting or a fine dinner, or mismatching colours for less formal occasions. But either way, relax and enjoy it.

Did we mention that the cut of overcoats is starting to change? So it is with the shape of some trousers. Style experts have started to talk about a wholesale shift away from the lean silhouette that currently dominates fashion, and that shift is starting now. Note that it’s vital to have the trousers hemmed so that they just kiss the top of the shoes – an inch longer and the effect would be entirely different because the shape would be distorted.

While the hair of camels finds its way into a small quantity of knitwear each season the animals’ colour is far more influential in fashion. This season camel is being deployed across entire outfits, rather than simply as a coat, or a blazer. Whether a man dives in with a full outfit, or dips a (camel) toe in the water with a piece of knitwear, may be affected by the way he likes his tea. One hump, or two?

While military inspired designs are never far from the minds of menswear designers the popularity of this very particular shade of green waxes and wanes. This fall military green is back, and has been adopted by brands with distinctly artistic leanings, such as Stockholm’s consistently creative Acne Studios. This bomber jacket gives the classic MA-1 form a powerful fashion edge.

Style-conscious men are often reluctant to weigh down their clothes with the pocket-filling detritus of life. Between them the weight of a man’s mobile phone, wallet, keys and sunglasses can ruin the line of a well-considered outfit. If you’re not carrying so much that you require a bag then a small pouch will do the trick, as well as display your sense of style. The one question that remains is, do you tuck it neatly under your arm, or let it dangle from the carry strap?

Loved by the revered film director Mr Wes Anderson, and by the French composer Monsieur Erik Satie, corduroy is a material that we associate with autumn sunshine and falling leaves. Tailored into a casual-looking jacket, the soft fabric retains all of its charm, while retaining a fresh, youthful appeal. In the autumn corduroy jackets are the ultimate expression of smart-casual style. We’ll be wearing them with button-down shirts, jeans and brown loafers.

Men who dress casually have few opportunities, beyond their watch and perhaps a bracelet or two, to express their appreciation for finely crafted items. However, the best of the new retro-inspired sunglasses offer just such an opportunity, because the quality of their craftsmanship is clear for all to see. Luckily the elegance of the frames is just as obvious.