This season’s sartorial mysticism is all about earthy delights

Clambering over moss-hugged rocks and heather-dappled mountain sides is this season’s sartorial dryad. She embraces nature and effuses an earthy spirituality, tethered to tree barks and jagged rock faces. But hers is not the diaphanous breed of mystic dressing. This forest faerie is dressed for all of the elements.

Related: Au naturel: Go back to basics, with fashion inspired by nature

If you’re going to be frolicking around the Icelandic wilderness, you’ll need some exemplary knitwear. Thankfully, this season is replete with stellar examples, like Molly Goddard's handmade with Icelandic wool, and No21’s candy floss soft white wool sweater.

It is also the return of that chic staple the sweater dress, which sashayed beautifully down the Chanel runway for AW22. Pair with leather heeled boots for city wear, or team Sportmax’s mint-green mohair dress with Chloé’s haute hiking boots, for an elevated outdoorsy aesthetic.

Layering is key to this trend. It relies heavily on that hybrid between high and low dressing seen on the catwalks this season. Just take the blending of sweaters and silk skirts at Louis Vuitton, or the knitwear and full-length tulip skirts at Bottega Veneta.

Go all the way and take your cues from Off White’s note-perfect clashing of voluminous ballgown proportions with band tees or Simone Rochas’ woollen balaclavas with translucent, figure-hugging dresses.

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To inhabit this look, take Molly Goddard’s voluptuous lemon-yellow tulle and throw a traditional knitted sweater over it, or do the same with The Row’s sleek silk and wool dress if you prefer a more streamlined silhouette.

The less-hardy elements of this look should, in fact, be joyously impractical. The ballgown was back this season, from classic styles at Dior and frothy modern tulles at Cecile Bahnsen and Carolina Herrera to the dramatic sexiness of Harris Reed and the ultimate punk princess aesthetic at Marc Jacobs.

Embody this look by experimenting with luxurious proportions and fabrics. Rochas’ white silk, bishop-sleeved top makes an excellent partner to the brand’s crinkled black silk full skirt and the extravagant fringed cuffs of Khaite’s cream silk blouse are beautifully paired with Calceterra’s wool trousers.

Material clashes are as encouraged as contrasting genres. Rochas’ ensemble is tempered with Ganni’s leather boots, while Chloé’s hiking boots make an astute addition to any frothy-meets-grounded look. In this way, you can blend luxury silk or satin pieces, like Jil Sander by Lucie and Luke Meier’s silver ruched dress, with hardy outdoor wear. Vintage Icelandic rain boots would do the job nicely.

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Whilst bounding through nature, you can also, quite literally, wear it on your sleeve. Floral appliques were huge this season, seen scattered across hemlines at Prada or Erdem’s ambitious white rose bouquet of a gown. Pajonk Studio’s daisy top is a brilliant take on the trend, its embroidered shirt creating the impression that you are, in fact, your own summer meadow.

Nature-based patterns are a nuanced way to approach dressing as, not only for, the elements. Why not turn to graphic patterns and illustrations, like the bold designs at Coach AW22 and combine with this season’s preoccupation with homespun knits by becoming a manifestation of a bucolic wintery landscape and donning Chloés recycled cashmere sweater and matching skirt.

This season’s dryad is a confectionary flourish of tulle, silk and froth, but she is grounded in hiking boots and waterproofs, homemade knitwear and hardy accessories. This is haute hiking – a spiritual, pastoral awakening that comes with a refreshing injection of practicality.

Go wild this winter, but wrap up warm.