The Style Maven: luxury sweatshirts Kate Finnigan on the rise of this season's souped up sweatshirt. There can be no less attractively named garment, but the Olympic year is proving to be a big one for the sweatshirt. I was thinking about the evolution of this all-American casual essential, which first appeared in the 1920s as a piece of kit for athletes to wear trackside, while watching the series finale of the Channel 4 drama Homeland. In a climactic scene the two main characters both appeared wearing sweatshirts - Damian Lewis's Sergeant Nicholas Brody in military green, Clare Danes' Carrie Mathison in a marl-grey hoodie. This was no coincidence. Brody, a US Marine and an is-he-isn't-he terrorist, and Carrie, a bipolar CIA spook, were neither trackside nor in the gym. I'm afraid I can't go into details as my editor has asked me to be sensitive to the box-set viewers out there but suffice to say these people were having the kind of bad days when only a sweatshirt will do. Even if your problems aren't on a par with securing the future of the western world, no one should deprive themselves of the comfort and joy of a classic sweatshirt. However, if staying in step with the fashion pack is a concern then the common-or-garden variety will NOT DO this season and you really need to think about upgrading to a premium model. These designer sweatshirts are still recognisably sweatshirts - ribbed, round collars, wrists and waistbands, fleecy on the inside, warm - but they come with added knobs and knockers. Or at least with PVC sleeves or silk inserts or wild prints. My favourites are the sequinned, hand-embroidered floral designs by the London designer Ashish, although stocks of these are now running low and even if you find one you'll pay more than £300 for it. APC's leopard print is about £90, but shop around because there seems to be a price difference of £20 between some stockists. If such prices seem high for a garment that's now less associated with athletic effort and more with kicking back on the sofa, you're absolutely right. You really don't want to be breaking a sweat in these things. From left: Printed cotton, £45; Cos (cosstores.com), Cotton and PVC, £115; Karl (net-a-porter.com), Cotton-mix, £90; APC (my-wardrobe.com)