Do shop at the Sydney or Melbourne Topshop, Zara stores or any of your favourite overseas online-only stores? It’s a tricky thing to be able to shop winter trends in Australian summer and summer in winter. How do you trend forecast so that you get it right?

The bonus to having the new mega stores stock European winter in Aussie summer is that we get to look so fashion-forward in clothes that’ll be on-trend next season. Plus, we get more bang for our buck as we can wear the pieces for longer, especially if there are rainy days in summer or a heat wave in winter.

The trick is to pick key colour, style or fabric trends and incorporate them into your summer wardrobe. So for winter 2013, the top trends are: brocade and opulence, leather, burgundy, cute motif sweaters, the printed suit combo, western, luxe embellishment and sequin detailing, the bow belt, boxy shaped coats and 70s looking geometric prints. Here’s my pick of some pieces that would work well right now:

Trend: Burgundy and leather. Team with your fave tee. Skirt is by Story by Tang and tee by Volcom.

Trend: Embellishment and Brocade. Wear a short skirt or shorts out a night with a sexy cami. Skirt by Lulu & Rose at Glue Store and shorts by Nookie.