Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: to nail this year’s British heritage look, just study Rivals

Thanks to Jilly Cooper, tartan and tweed, waxed jackets and wellies are a style vibe right now

British heritage, in fashion terms, is a country where it is permanently October. A conker-brown and pleasant land, if you will. Brand Britain in the style sense comes into its own in autumn: roaring fires, muddy lanes, damp dogs. Waxed jackets and chunky knits, tartan and tweed, jaunty scarves to banish draughts. Clothes for going on a hearty walk, but with a hip flask in your pocket. Fashion has been mining this seam since long before Brideshead Revisited made battered evening dresses and Oxford bags look romantic, and it keeps returning, because trad British style is satisfyingly utilitarian while also being loaded with enough backstory (class, history, eccentricity) to be intriguing and reinventable.

Also: Rivals. It has taken considerable restraint for me not to mention Rivals in the whole of the first paragraph, because it is now a matter of mere weeks until we get our next Jilly Cooper fix and I, for one, cannot wait. Cannot wait for Cameron stalking the corridors in her foxy power suits, for Taggie in her cute jeans and jumpers, for Valerie in head-to-toe tweed and an aggressive amount of blusher. The success of Rivals has done for old-school British dressing what Emily in Paris did for the beret, only with better jokes and more adultery. Jolly hockey sticks style is the new French girl chic. This fantasy is homegrown, which makes it both more embarrassing and harder to resist. Just as Emily and her friends and frenemies are a camp send-up of fashionable Paris, Rivals is a fond, nostalgic semi-parody of the British wardrobe. The show’s costume designer, Ray Holman, has drawn on original 1980s pieces from Dunhill and Mulberry for inspiration. With Liberty fabrics, nods to polo uniforms and sturdy waxed coats, he has brought the Sloane ranger back into the fashion conversation for the first time in years.

British heritage is a style vibe right now. Barbour and Mulberry joined Burberry in stepping up to the style plate and taking part in London fashion week this season. Kate Moss is in her wellies for Hunter’s latest advertising campaign, while Sienna Miller and Idris Elba star in Barbour’s. Barbour also features a cameo from some sheep, which says something about how countryside-coded the British heritage look is at heart. Fair Isle knits and Argyle diamond-pattern sweaters are worn draped over the shoulders, shown off as trophies. Waxed or tweedy jackets are taking over from urban puffer jackets. The neutral of the season is brown (mud) rather than black (asphalt).

There is plenty of glamour, too. Pearls, silk scarves, jewel-toned velvets. Polka dots, which have broken out of the village fete and are now in their baddie era. The key is to let the fancy stuff rub up against the practical stuff. A waxed jacket over a party dress is a core British look, whether you are going to a rave, a festival or a hunt ball. There is something deeply British in the irreverence of putting a battered coat over a hot dress. A silk scarf is a retro touch that works equally well in a gale and a paparazzi shot. Tweed is surprisingly versatile, because it looks great out of context: with baggy jeans, or over a band T-shirt.

One of the best things about British heritage style is that – unlike the high maintenance of Emily in Paris – it is only improved by looking a little lived-in. A waxed jacket benefits from the creases it develops after a few adventures. Cashmere has more soul when the neckline is a little looser. Wellies are nothing without mud. It’s a style that often looks more appealing when you find it in a charity shop than when it’s box-fresh off the catwalk.

The twist? One element of metropolitan polish. An urban girlie, slicked-back bun and a gold hoop. A pointy shoe, or trousers with a crease down the front. That way it works whether you have a labrador at your heel or a laptop on your knee.

Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Model: Imogen May at Milk. Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Sam McKnight and Makeup by Mario. Blazer, £65, and trousers £40, both Marks & Spencer. Trench, £269, and top, £75, both Aligne. Shirt, £125, Me+Em. Heels, £99, Dune. Rings, model’s own. Earrings, £34.99, Pilgrim