A handy guide to what we’ll all be wearing this new season.

The zeitgeist is hard to touch and even harder to wear. Often, the spirit of the age is revealed only in hindsight, long after this ephemeral force has disappeared in a puff of smoke. Who foresaw the rise of ugly sneakers or the elevation of the humble fleece that we’ve witnessed over the past year or so? And, more pertinently, what will come next? Below, one reader asks the near impossible, for us to predict the future. And while there can be no guarantees, we’re going to do our darndest.

**What are the must-have fashion pieces for 2019?

@fabulous_red, via Instagram **

This might sound like a straightforward request, but of all the questions we’ve been asked, you’ve set us possibly the trickiest riddle yet, @fabulous_red. We’re barely two months in and, without apparatus allowing for time travel, we cannot be sure of our hot takes of 2019 until the end of the year. Even if we could somehow peer through four-dimensional space-time for a taste of what is to come, observable effect theory dictates that by recording data, you actively change the results. And much as Mr Neil Young claims that “you lose your love when you say the word ‘mine’”, by presenting an abstract theme as a trend, thereby introducing ownership, risks crushing it before it can properly take off.

Nevertheless, in a bid to cover just this kind of query, you will find a section of the MR PORTER website known as The Trends. Here, the futurologists on our buying team have given us a glimpse at their own equivalent of Back To The Future: Part II’s Grays Sports Almanac and compiled the nine directions they expect menswear to pull in this season. This was recently explored further by The Journal, where we took a dip into those trends, with a demonstration of how you might work each into a wearable look.

If you were paying attention in 2018, elements of the SS19 package might not come as a complete surprise. Where the belt bag has gained ground in recent months, our crystal ball shows a plethora of compact luggage options taking hold, each less cumbersome than a backpack, but better suited to carrying around the personal effects of the 21st century than your pockets. Likewise, winter’s dalliance with bright colours has morphed into this spring’s full-blown flirtation with fluoro hues, high-vis details and neon pops. And what became the talking point of 2018’s fashion folklore, the ugly sneaker, has begat the trail sneaker, a piece of footwear made for the runway, but seemly forged for fell running.

What might blindside you is the arrival of summer knitwear, as in fine-gauge sweaters specifically designed to be worn in the hotter months, but also to provide an extra layer when there’s still a nip in the air. Get in there early to bookend either side of the season rather than wear one just to see it out.

Perhaps less of a risk, the trench coat is – and with a nod to Casablanca, the film that’s done much to ensure its place in the style hall of fame – something to play with again, for old time’s sake. If you don’t already own one, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

We won’t be going as far as suggesting that, come 2020, all shoes will be self-lacing and we’ll be wearing our jeans with the pockets turned inside out, but, if pressed, we will put the following pieces forward as items to stick on your Wish List for 2019.

Keep up to date with The Daily by signing up to our weekly email roundup. Click here to update your email preferences