Get the Look: Stripes

There'll be no escaping stripes come spring - they're one of the most ubiquitous trends of the season in menswear.

They often reappear during warmer months because of the nautical themes they call to mind, especially in blue and white. At Gucci, canvas satchels came in an array of colourful stripes and, at Dior Homme, sweaters were adorned with thin horizontal lines.

Stripes were also the major design element of Tommy Hilfiger's menswear collection for spring, which saw a cross between nautical, prep and pyjamas. Country club-style sport jackets, espadrilles, trousers and varsity jackets were all adorned with them. Hilfiger even offers a full suit in stripes, with the jacket featuring horizontal stripes and the trousers going the other direction, creating an optical illusion (above; inquiries 2525 8848). For a twist on the classic striped Breton shirt, Hilfiger showed it in white leather with thin black leather inserts.

At 3.1 Phillip Lim, stripes were given a street edge. Distressed jeans were painted with black stripes of different shapes, as though they were run over by sets of muddied tyres. H&M used panels of varying shades of green for a military-inspired jacket. A grey silk jacket from Qasimi Homme at the Swank was given another dimension by painting blue stripes directly on the fabric.

Tod's takes the motif to a luxurious new level with its Double Stripe bags, a nine-piece collection featuring totes (left; HK$9,200), satchels, briefcases and document holders, which can be customised by choosing different colour combinations for the two stripes found on the centre of each bag.

Club Monaco has sweaters with horizontal stripes (right; HK$890), which work in between seasons because you can wear them on their own or layered over button-down shirts.

How could we not mention Paul Smith, who made thin multicoloured stripes his design trademark? Reach for his iPad case in his signature stripe print to get in on the action (leftt; HK$3,550).