parka avenue; Respun with ultraluxe threads, the old-school anorak graduates from geek to street chic-a supersmart shortcut to achieving volume without looking studied.

Byline: Lynn Yaeger

Trainspotters! OK, how is this? The boys who work in our computer department are all such . . . anoraks."

In England at least, I'm beginning to see, an anorak isn't just a jacket. It also functions as a nickname, not all that flattering, for the type of fellow who in the States was at one time famous for his plastic pen pocket protector, the doofus who is obsessed with something the rest of the world finds incomprehensible-say, the internal logic of train schedules-and pursues his all-consuming hobby clad in a zip-front jacket with a drawstring at the hem. Stranger still, this geeky guy's sartorial peccadilloes are shared by British boys far hipper than he: Oasis's Gallagher brothers and Aphex Twin have all, at one time or another, favored the parka, as if wearing it conferred a solidarity with their straggly-haired, similarly garbed young fans.

But mysterious are the ways of fashion: This season the hooded affairs (if not their wearers) are serving as inspiration for any number of eminent runway collections. And why not? Strip away the nerd connotations, chuck the accompanying saggy khakis, add a glam ball skirt, and suddenly a couture-esque shape emerges, a geometry worthy of Balenciaga, if a winking, ironic Balenciaga. (Cristobal Balenciaga, let it quickly be noted, and not M. Ghesquiere-though the latter is no doubt more than capable of riffing on the anorak, he didn't choose to do so for spring '07.)

This peculiar development-the wedding of sport and volume-is not as odd as it may seem. Remember those legions of UGG boots with chiffon tea gowns a few seasons back? Notice how all the really stylish girls are currently pulling skinny jeans under their Margiela dresses? Same syndrome. Throwing on an anorak (or something anorak-ish, as we'll see in a minute) is a way of adding an unexpectedly fizzy jolt to an otherwise prosaic outfit-a means of creating volume without looking precious.

But before you decide you can just go to the local sporting-goods store and attempt to make magic with a nylon anorak, please bear in mind: This reclamation of the zip-front parka takes a little planning. With all due respect to the many ladies who called ...