Winter is the best time of year for fashion enthusiasts as the weather enables experimentation with different looks and layering.

The complexity of adding outerwear to your outfits offers both a challenge and an opportunity.

Selecting the right outerwear can be a challenge for many college students. When choosing a coat, it’s best to select one that is  stylish, warm and functional at the same time.

Simply choosing a North Face is definitely a surefire way to stay warm but they also lack style. The body’s shape is lost under the straight parallel seams the jacket has and makes the body appear boxy and unflattering.

Last season, floor-grazing overcoats were major at Rodarte, Hermés and Giorgio Armani. The tailored lean style is more fashionable and makes the eye travel from head to toe as the dramatic cape flaps in the wind.

Another option for those daring fashionistas is a cape. The cape is a classic garment often revisited by designers. Either hooded or unhooded, it definitely blurs the line between fashion and falls a little into the costume category if executed in the right material: wool.

Another trend for the season is layering.

“The goal of layering is to give the illusion that the body is slimmer,” Cameron Wiggins, a fashion major at ISU, said.
  

Vivianne Velazquez / Daily Vidette Staff Photographer: Junior design graphics arts major Rachel Allen models a pattern trench coat with a vibrant red colored scarf, along with the fashionable brown chunky boots to compliment her black skinny jeans.

 
 Layering is definitely tricky to master and requires experimentation with different textiles and patterns.

A rule for layering is to place the lightest weight fabrics closest to the body — e.g., cotton T-shirt under a wool sweater.

The most common example of layering is a scarf. This season, oversized scarves draped over outerwear has been a trend. The scarf can really be any size ranging from a blanket size to a thinner, summer scarf.

Keep in mind when shopping for scarves, it can tie everything together through color. Pairing a colorful scarf, solid colored boots and a solid colored jacket would be a perfect fit.

As the snow falls, people just desperately run to black. Local department stores in the mall are monochromatic with black and grey. Black is always a very sophisticated color, but definitely not among the millions of black pea coats you see repeatedly season after season.

Burberry, America’s leading outerwear designer, has definitely embraced color this winter in their Ready-to-Wear winter 2012 collection. Classic totes and neutrals were displayed as well as light navy blue, cranberry and even a metallic motif.

Burberry Prorsum in their Spring 2012 Ready-to-Wear, had metallic mania: metallic in cyan, magenta, fuchsia and even canary.

Metallics are hugely popular and will definitely transition from this winter into spring. It is suggested to pair a single metallic with a neutral color.

Lastly, for shoes, of course everyone in college will be eyeing those pairs of sheepskin UGGs. Little know this trend started in 2003 when Anna Nicole mistakenly wore the shoes on vacation and sent waves across America that last even to this day.

Well, it is time to put those to rest and be original, and no, the rhinestone ones should also be exiled. Instead, chunky is definitely more eye-catching this season. Chunky boots leaning on the verge of gothic like Dr. Martens are all the rave now.