It's True - You Don't Need To Overhaul Your Entire Wardrobe For Autumn, You Just Need These Trousers

If I had to choose the pair most likely to make your existing wardrobe feel current again, I'd start with a barrel leg. It changes the shape of an outfit immediately, even when everything above the waist is something you've owned for years. Your old navy jumper suddenly looks deliberate again. The white shirt you've worn to death has a new proportion underneath it. Trainers still work, loafers work, ankle boots work. Uniqlo's Jersey Barrel Leg Trousers are especially useful for the summer-to-autumn handover because the cotton-blend jersey has enough structure to hold the shape while still feeling easy to wear. But don't sleep on the jeans - a barrel leg is the quickest way to make your boring jumper and jeans uniform decidedly less boring. This isn't a niche fashion-person trouser any more, either. Editors have been obsessed with the barrel shape all year, and it's established enough that I'd now treat it as an everyday option rather than something to ponder.

Every autumn wardrobe benefits from one pair of black trousers that can rescue everything else. I mean the sort you put on with a white tee and immediately look more pulled together, then wear with a blazer for work without having to conduct a full outfit meeting in front of the mirror. Uniqlo's black Pleated Wide Trousers are good at that job because the silhouette is roomy through the leg but still clean at the waist. The two-way stretch fabric is brushed for warmth, making them a much more useful autumn proposition than carrying your lightest summer trousers into October and hoping for the best. The useful bit is how little else has to change. Keep wearing the shirts and tees you already own, add a proper black trouser underneath and the outfit shifts season almost by itself. Cream knit, grey cardigan, striped shirt, denim jacket, all sorted.

Khaki is one of my favourite seasonal shortcuts because it behaves almost like a neutral while making an outfit look distinctly more autumnal. Take the white tee you've been wearing since May, add khaki trousers and a cardigan and suddenly nobody needs to know the top half has been on duty all summer. Uniqlo's khaki linen easy trousers make a particularly easy anchor because they're cut wide through the leg with a drawstring waist (another micro trend for autumn), which puts them in that useful middle ground between proper trousers and something you can happily spend an entire Saturday in. I'd wear these with all the obvious things you already have: white and blue shirts, grey marl, navy, cream, black. Fancy a bit more structure? The khaki barrel trousers are perfection.

Calling it now: these are the trousers I think could do for Uniqlo this autumn what its viral barrel pair did earlier in the year. The Volume Trousers have that immediate, where-did-you-get-those shape about them. They're high-waisted, cut with two tucks at the front and properly full through the leg, so they make even the most basic thing on top look instantly a bit smarter. A plain fitted knit? Good. Your slightly boring white shirt? Transformed. A slouchy raglan long sleep top? Honestly, give it a go. The fabric has two-way stretch and a warm feel, and they currently come in dark grey, black and brown, with shorter and longer versions available too.

There will, inevitably, be mornings when all this talk of silhouettes and seasonal anchors goes out of the window and you want jeans. Fair enough. A straight leg is the useful one here because it doesn't ask you to rethink the rest of your wardrobe. It works with the loafers you bought in spring, the trainers you wore all summer and the boots you're about to retrieve from whichever cupboard they've been hiding in. Uniqlo's Straight Jeans use 100% cotton denim through the main body and have a classic straight cut with a mid-rise waist. They're the timeless end of this edit, and the pair I'd choose when I want denim that can sit underneath almost anything without bossing the rest of the outfit around. On the mornings when you can't be bothered to think about any of it, straight-leg jeans are the autumn reset button.