Gallery: Lighten up with the best spring jackets

It’s that time-old dilemma. As Buddy Holly (nearly) sang: the sun is out, the sky is blue, there’s not a cloud to spoil the view, but it’s Britain… and it might turn crap.

It’s quite a momentous decision, every year, the first time you leave the big winter coat at home and venture out unprotected. Will the heavens suddenly open? Will everybody look at you in the street with admiration, you the poster girl for carefree summer style, or will they be thinking “you’re not in Florida love, put a jumper on”?

Then there’s the confidence issue. Many women confess to hating our upper arms (the day designers learn to recognise that little pocket of armpit flab that oozes out of strappy dresses will be a day to celebrate), and with few spring/summer clothes giving us that sacred gift, the sleeve, we end up forced into myriad of cardigans and cover-ups that make us feel like Lorraine Kelly at a wedding.

No more. This season, the spring jacket has really come into its own, with a variety of gorgeous fabrics, shapes and colours that say “fashion statement” rather than “I’m hiding my visible bra straps”. There’s last year’s biker jacket, revamped from traditional black into soft pinks and creamy ice cream shades. Then there’s a continuation of the underwear-as-outerwear trend with lacy, silky, bed jackety affairs (aim for 30s boudoir rather than Sybill Fawlty’s sickbed), and some fantastic floral pieces to team with plain separates and let do all the talking.

Keep the shape cropped, the colours breezy and the fit trim. Oh, and don’t forget an umbrella… there’s not a cagoule in sight.