With the summer weather this unpredictable do you put on a T-shirt or a jumper in the morning? The answer is simple. You keep warm yet cool by wearing this autumn's must have fashion item, the waistcoat.

While already the clothing of choice for snooker players and waiters, the waistcoat has also become popular on the catwalk and high street.

This understated garment can be worn easily over dresses, shirts or T-shirts to give their wearer that carefree modern look.

Many celebrities and style icons are already being snapped out and about wearing their waistcoats according to Lucy Rosseter, a style consultant from Talbot Woods: "Ever since Kate Moss was photographed in a waistcoat at Glastonbury last year, she gave it a resurgence and made it cool again. People are a lot more open-minded about them now. When Kate touches something it's like gold."

This look is not just for the ladies, as the man about town can also seriously smarten up their image by wearing a waistcoat "For men they're fashionable at the moment as they're generally quite slimming and pull you in at the waist. You've also got the whole Brideshead Revisited influence coming in for the new season. This traditional look involves lots of tweed and check that works quite well with waistcoats," adds Lucy.

One gentleman who has been getting away with the waistcoat look for well over half a century is 80-year-old local author Bob Kear.

Bob has amassed an impressive collection of waistcoats that include velvet, suede, denim, embroidery and 1950s tailor-made examples.

"My clothes rail hangs down in the middle I've got so many waistcoats. Anytime, any place you can wear a waistcoat. Fashion always comes full circle and now they are back again," believes Bob Kear.

And did you know that the humble waistcoat is one of the few pieces of clothing whose origin historians can date precisely?

King Charles II introduced the waistcoat as a part of correct dress during the Restoration of the British monarchy.

Samuel Pepys, the diarist and civil servant even scribbled down the momentous event in October 1666 that "the King hath yesterday in council declared his resolution of setting a fashion for clothes which he will never alter. It will be a vest, I know not well how".

With such a rich history, why not deck yourself out in a timeless classic and enjoy the great British weather, whatever it may throw at us this autumn?