Whether this winter in Pittsburgh is unseasonably mild or bitter cold, one thing's for sure: Most days will be cold enough to warrant an overcoat.

And that's not a bad thing. Aside from the vital function of keeping the wearer comfortably warm, an overcoat is one more opportunity to make a fashion statement.

Based on what's already arrived in stores, designers seemed to take extra measures to make sure that any woman who goes coat shopping this fall will discover a tempting range of styles, fabric mixes, colors and patterns.

The most noticeable trends include tweed and texture mixing. Faux and real fur trim is more abundant than last year, while colors that normally belong to warm weather -- pinks, purples, whites -- are brightening everything from car coats and walking coats to embellished leathers and shearlings, such as those featured at Roberta Weissburg Leathers in Shadyside.

"Last year's coats had that rough-edged and earthy look more than we see now, more cavewoman," said Weissburg. "And this year's are more body-conscious and feminine and feature beautiful textures and detailing."

Tweed has ruled for several seasons in suits, dresses and jackets, and now tweed fever has overtaken outerwear. Talbots, for example, has a simple nubby tweed walking coat in pink and United Colors of Benetton offers a charcoal gray boucle style with black fabric detailing.

Coats in bold patterns and rich brocades reappear, this season with more couture-like cuts and tailoring. Some are jazzed up with contrast stitching and whip-stitching, while others feature leather or patent-leather trim, bell sleeves, unusual collars and novelty buttons.

It's skins central in many stores. At Weissburg Leathers, Sylvain Jekel, a French line new to the store, designed a spectacular belted leopard print shearling and a sleek black lambskin leather coat with zipper pockets and silver grommets, sort of "Matrix" meets Prada.

White comes on strong this season. There's a stunning long white rabbit coat with raccoon trim that reverses to blinding white leather by Rizal, another new line at Roberta Weissburg.

On the brighter side of color, there's a gorgeous periwinkle (think lavender) hidden-belt angora coat with sheared mink collar and cuffs by Cole Haan and a range of shearlings by Bellissimo in red, blue, green and orange with options such as whipstitching and hoods.

Inspired by the classic trench coat, many single- and double-breasted long coats accentuate the waist with buckle or tie belts.

"Another trend we're seeing are old coats with a new element," said Lazarus-Macy's spokeswoman Heather Hannan. "You can easily make an old coat look new by adding a jeweled brooch. Brooches are very of the moment right now, so it's a great and inexpensive way to update your look."