While big sister line showed yesterday and offered a fully focused collection of coats you’ll want to buy next season, this morning’s Sportmax collection showed the clothes you might like to wear underneath.

Concentrating on cut, construction and texture, the Sportmax team served up a collection that, while not exploding with new ideas, offered clothes that looked right for the here and now.

Texture came in the form of beaver coats and jackets that had a kind of cuboid-stamped effect, giving them a three-dimensional texture; there were fuzzy mohair sweaters, stripes of patent eel-leather on skirt suits, checked teased mohair striped coats and quilted black leather came in minimalist top and skirt. Silhouettes were clean and strictly tailored, any stiffness offset with movement in those slouchy trousers and kick-pleat skirts.

For evening, they introduced fine mesh sleeves under a textured charcoal jumpsuit or as the neckline on a simple shift dress. But it was the colour that lifted this nice but not particularly exciting collection – China blue, ultraviolet and turquoise gave a fresh, graphic zing.