Sparkly? Boozy? Quirky? Whatever your shopping tipple, our all-star line-up of fashion and lifestyle insiders has selected chic gifts to impress even the most discerning recipient. Socks designed by superband R.E.M? Only menswear legend Paul Smith could have come up with that. Pottery classes at Crown Works Pottery? Young London-based Korean designer Rejina Pyo loves an arty, experiential gift. The sequin-sporting, globe-trotting super-stylist Giovanna Battaglia is wrapping “happy” palm tree-patterned sweaters, while the Russian tech entrepreneur Miroslava Duma is picking presents that might help save the planet. There’s even some fashionable food — from an aromatic white truffle, suggested by artist Luke Hall, to Paul Smith’s favourite Good Ordinary Claret (for only £10). If it’s a stylish surprise you’re after, our experts have got it wrapped.

The designer Paul Smith is standing behind the counter of his Albemarle Street store in Mayfair, London, demonstrating the best technique for wrapping a suit. “First you need to stuff the shoulders,” he says as he deftly bulks out the jacket with scrunches of tissue paper. “Then, you take the arms, like so, place them across the body. And fold.” Jacket folded, he takes the trousers and with an equally dexterous flourish, envelops them in another layer of tissue paper, before placing both in a shiny-green gift box.

It’s clear the 71-year-old designer and founder of the fashion brand that has borne his name since 1970, has had a little pre-match practice in the run up to the wrapping challenge presented to him by the Financial Times. No slouch is he. He’s even got the sales pitch down pat. The suit in question is one of his own-brand bestsellers, designed specifically for travel. “You see,” he says, wringing the sleeve in his hands before letting it spring back into shape. “It’s made of an extremely tight worsted yarn so that you can throw it into a suitcase and it will look as fresh when it comes out again.”

The travel suit is one of the gifts Smith has selected on a list that also features many of his brand collaborations; among them a tin of Caran d’Ache pencils and an Anglepoise lamp painted in three colours. Arguably, it’s these collaborations that have in some way earned him a reputation as a purveyor of exceedingly tasty presents. His stores have become a key destination for clueless types in search of ideas and unexpected pleasures.

That Paul Smith shops have become synonymous with Christmas is more accident than intention, says the designer. “Right from the beginning, my first ever shop was 12ft square,” he explains. “I had no windows and it was only open on Fridays and Saturdays, so when you walked in it was already crowded.” From the outset, he filled the shop with ephemera and things that caught his eye besides his own wares. He was the first person to stock Braun calculators, designed by Dieter Rams, because he loved the simple design. He brought matt-black accessories back from Japan. The curiosities helped pique other people’s interest, and so he curated the store with little items that would get more people talking. His approach provided inspiration for the multi-brand store Colette, in Paris.

Everything in stores is something with which Smith has a personal connection. Most recently, he worked with R.E.M. on a capsule range to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Automatic for the People. It features, among other thing, a pair of “Man on the Moon” stripey socks. “I have been involved with bands since I was about 18,” says Smith of his long association with rock’n’roll’s hall of fame. “I made pants for Jimmy Page when he was a 24” waist. And now I know all the younger bands. I always liked music... It goes back to when I was living in Nottingham. I would come down to London and go to see a really good band above a pub. Often, you would talk to bands after the gig as there was no changing room…” Thus were friendships forged. “I’m not quite sure why R.E.M. approached us,” he says of his latest partnership, “but I know that Michael Stipe is quite a fan of Patti Smith, and I know Patti Smith…” The collection also includes pocket handkerchiefs printed with original artwork, T-shirts and totes.

As for his own present giving, Smith is more of the “thought that counts” kind of guy. “I’m a big man on effort,” he says of the hundreds of presents he has to conjure each year for family and staff around the world. “With gifts, I think it’s more important to focus on what someone would really like.” Thirty years of marriage, to Pauline, have furnished him with enough Leica cameras and watches for one lifetime, he continues. And certainly, Paul Smith will never want for socks. So, the challenge each year is to come up with something special.

“Pauline went to Slade School of Fine Art so, sometimes, she’ll do a little painting or drawing. And she’s learned to petit point, so she’s sometimes made me things. Recently she found a young sculptor to do a ceramic tape measure and then made the box and covered it in Prince of Wales fabric and hand-stitched a pattern on the top.” It sounds like a monumental endeavour. “It’s to do with effort and time rather than cash,” he replies.

There are some shortcuts though. For those with less time on their hands, Smith recommends food - and red wine. “I’ve been drinking claret for around 40 years and I’ve been drinking the Berry Bros’s Good Ordinary Claret for ages,” he says. “It’s the house red, and it’s only £10.” He also recommends the Wolseley for an afternoon tea. “I was thinking of something that would be nice to do in London,” he says. “There’s also Brown’s Hotel, Claridge’s and possibly the Ritz. But I think the Wolseley is more exciting.”

He also has some cultural tips. A fan of the 18-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason since seeing him win the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016, he suggests concert tickets to his next performance. The cellist, like Smith, is one of Nottingham’s native sons, and he was the first black artist to win the competition. “You should check out his family,” urges Smith. “There are five of them and all are musicians.” Likewise, with photography. He’s especially taken with Wim Wenders’ book of Polaroid images, which offers a visual diary of the film director’s life.

Meanwhile, back at the counter, the suit is boxed up and tied with a ribbon. A flawless performance, Smith completes the task with a big grin and a distinct air of pride. He may oversee an empire of more than 200 stores worldwide, and a turnover of about £200m, but he can still package a pretty good-looking parcel. As he says himself: these things just require a bit of effort.

Sequin-clad, glossy-limbed, and as gently effervescent as a flute of chilled champagne, the stylist and fashion editor Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert embodies the festive spirit. The Italian former model and stylist occupies a realm of fashion fantasy most of us can only dream of: a life of jet-set travel, otherwordly fashion shoots, gala balls and parties, parties parties, all joyfully curated on her Instagram feed under the handle @batgio.

Right now, she is sitting in the Windsor Suite of the Ritz, Paris, of course, where she is making a brief pit stop on an international tour to promote her new book “Gio_graphy: Fun in the Wild World of Fashion”, a semi-serious guide to style, avoiding sartorial catastrophe, and how to visit the bathroom when wearing Giambattista Valli couture. Like its author, the books is chic, a little bit silly and ever so pretty to look at.

Battaglia Engelbert associates the holiday season with “chaos, lots of food, sequins and mess – at our house it’s always Christ-mess – with a big focus on fun.” Naturally, it should be an opportunity to dress up. She waves over to a wardrobe bursting with party dress – a green, tiered metallic “dance dress” by Molly Goddard, a vintage gown with golden beaded fringing, and a rainbow sequin disco dress by her sister Sara Battaglia. She is wearing another shiny dress by the new star of evening diva-wear Michael Halpern. “Of course, it should be sparkly,” she laughs. “Christmas is a sparkly moment.”

Although Battaglia Englebert acknowledges that giving people “fashion” presents can be fraught with tension, she still likes to take risks when buying things for others. “I tend to give people things they wouldn’t buy themselves,” she says. “Especially, if it’s someone who wouldn’t ordinarily spend money on themselves. I think Christmas presents should be about treats. And I like to give people something that might push their boundaries a little bit. To make them try something a bit unusual.” Top of the list is a sweater by The Elder Statesman, who make incredibly indulgent cashmeres in bright colours and tie-dye. “They’re just happy,” she says of the jumpers. “And they’re the softest things on the planet.”

Jewellery is another favourite. The Antifer heart ring, by Repossi, is good “because it usually fits quite easily, and it’s a sweet gesture.” And hoop earrings are Battagalia Engelbert staple: “I’m a Latina woman, and a gold hoop is a good thing to have in your life.”

Beauty queens will like the Diana Vreeland scents, “because the bottles are so pretty – like a rainbow in your bathroom” – while the Andy Warhol-themed fragrance “You’re In”, by Comme des Garçons, has the thrilling allure of the new.

Naturally, as a stylist, presentation is everything. How a gift is packaged being almost as important as what’s inside. “My sister and I have big arguments about who is the better wrapper in our family,” she says. “Obviously I think I’m genius. I go for a lot of ribbon and bow, and decoration, and she likes to keep it more simple”.

Born in Italy, Battaglia Engelbert worked as a model and then stylist for Vogue Italia, before moving to New York where she is now a Contributing Fashion Editor at W Magazine. She is still based in the US, but her marriage, in 2016, to the Swedish real-estate mogul Oscar Engelbert, means she now splits her time between homes in Stockholm and New York. Today, the holidays have become a hodge podge of different cultural and family traditions.

In early December, around the Swedish festival of Santa Lucia, she joins her in-laws for a family get-together at her husband’s family home. The table usually seats around 200 guests, but rather than each give a gift: “We do a lottery,” she explains. “Everyone gets a little something. It’s very cute, and very civilised. You might win something important, or you might walk away with something little and fun. It’s very democratic.” And she still celebrates an Italian Christmas with her family on the 24 December. “We have fish, and lobsters and pasta vongole and lots and lots of fried food,” she says. “We have to eat it all, and then we only eat a beany soup the next day.”

As someone at the centre of the fashion industry with one of the most enviable wardrobes on earth, buying Battaglia Englebert a gift must be something of a challenge. “It’s true. People are scared of buying me things,” she says. “But I’m not difficult at all.” On her list this year: “books – picture books, rare books, first editions – technologies, and, of course, fashion.”

A bottle of “a good 1942 tequila” wouldn’t go amiss either: it’s one the five top pick-me-up tipples – including red bull and vodka, and an espresso - she recommends for people in need of an extra festive gear. And, for the really adventurous, she recommends a trip to Deyrolles, the legendary taxidermy and curiosity shop in Paris where you can pick out a butterfly to be mounted for your nearest and dearest from a million different specimens. “Or beetles, that look like the most beautiful jewels”.

Even the most fashionable women, however, crave a few home comforts. “I always ask my mother for house stuff,” admits Battaglia Englebert. “Last year, I asked my mum for a pot to cook broth in. It was was the most Italian mamma gift ever.”

Perhaps that will persuade her to spend more time at home. “Oh God. I hope so,” she says of this year’s hectic schedule. She’s determined to slow the pace of life in 2018. “The next book will be Gio at home”, she insists. “It’s going to be all about making the journey from your bedroom to the kitchen more stylish...”

Korean-born, London-based designer Rejina Pyo considers Christmas “the time of year I look forward to the most. For once, I don’t feel like I have to check my emails. It’s like the world has actually stopped,” she explains.

The desire to hit the pause button must be especially strong for Pyo. This year she gave birth to a baby boy and staged her first catwalk show at London Fashion Week where she caught the attention of the fashion world for her colourful palette and wearable take on volume.
Sitting at home in Wood Green, north London, where she lives with her son and Irish husband Jordan Bourke, she is a picture of calm in wide, white trousers of her own design and a puffed-sleeve black blouse. When it comes to Christmas prep, she says, “normally I would plan ahead but recently I have been forgetting what day it is, thanks to my son, so I haven’t been so planned”.

Pyo’s creative and personal lives are closely interwoven – a fact reflected in her gift list. As well as shoes and sunglasses she includes suggestions such as art, pottery lessons and cookies which convey her rich and domestic life beyond fashion. While developing her eponymous fashion line, which she started in 2014, she and her husband, a food writer, collaborated on a cookery book, Our Korean Kitchen.

It features recipes such as “Almost Instant Cucumber Kimchi”, as well as photos taken by Pyo. “Recipe books make great presents because during the holidays you have the time to try making new things,” she says. “I also love Laura Jackson and Alice Levine’s new cookery book, Round To Ours [which focuses on menus for entertaining], Gather by Gill Meller [about British seasonal cooking], and anything by Ottolenghi.”

Other presents are also suited to a time of year when everything slows down and can be properly appreciated, like flowers from Grace & Thorn. She recommends Liz Earle’s Hot Cloth Cleanser because it “works so well immediately, and it feels luxurious — like a spa treatment. It’s a much safer bet than buying colour cosmetics.”

Mood-enhancing, colourful gifts rate highly. She suggests a book about Milton Avery, the American abstract painter whose electric blues and irises inspired her SS18 collection. “Some people are scared of colour, and so many of us just wear black, navy, khaki… But Milton Avery’s paintings mix colour so unexpectedly. It’s a great visual book which cheers you up.”

She also loves jaunty socks because “they might not be something you would spend a lot of money on for yourself but when you have special ones it just makes you feel really nice”. She likes colour-blocked styles by Hansel from Basel, an LA-based label by artist-turned-designer Hannah Byun whom Pyo “really connected with”.

She also clicked with New York-based Conie Vallese, an artist known for her Matisse-like paintings with their naive shapes and colours, whose work also features on her list. Pyo cast Vallese in her SS18 show as one of a cross-section of artists and women representing different ages and backgrounds. “I am trying to support the artists I know and collect their work.”

Pyo’s approach to gift-giving — picking individual pieces with a story and a personality behind them — chimes with her take on fashion design. “I want to be an inclusive brand,” she says. “Before, fashion used to be elitist, with editors telling people what to buy, and I feel these days everyone is very aware of what they like. And what suits them.”

Perhaps that makes buying presents for the fashion-conscious harder, but Pyo enjoys the challenge. “I like to be surprised by a gift, which is why I also like to try and surprise other people.”

A third child, the launch of her new company Fashion Tech Labs (FTL Ventures) and the opening of new offices around the world haven’t left Miroslava Duma with a huge amount of time to contemplate Christmas lists. “2017 was a very eventful year for me, both personally and professionally,” she explains from Dubai, where she is in the midst of opening a new headquarters.

The 33-year-old entrepreneur founded FTL Ventures in May, a private company working with technologies, investors and luxury brands to explore new sustainable manufacturing techniques. She hopes that in time the labs will help reduce fashion’s record as a global polluter and change attitudes towards manufacturing, and the response so far has been quick and positive. “I have many more projects in the pipeline, making it hard to take a long break,” she says of the holiday season. “However, spending Christmas and New Year’s Eve with my family is sacred for me so I’m hoping to have a couple of weeks off with my husband and kids!”

Born in Mongolia, Duma grew up in Russia and still observes many of the traditions she grew up with. “New Year’s Eve is the biggest family holiday in Russia,” she says. “We even call the Christmas tree ‘New Year’s tree’. And you give and receive gifts on New Year’s Eve. We usually open the presents in the evening, just after midnight, because waiting till the morning is too long! Christmas, meanwhile, is traditionally celebrated on January 7, when families attend church services and return home for a traditional dinner.” No matter where she is in the world for the holidays, she says: “We always ring in New Year’s Eve on Moscow time and have traditional Russian festive food.”

Given her world is filled already with the products of the future – lab-grown diamonds, orange-peel silks and water-resistant cottons – it’s no surprise to discover her Christmas list has a similarly ethical, ecological bent. “All the gifts here are responsible, better for the environment and our planet,” she tells me. “I believe that gifts with a meaning behind them are the best gifts.”

Osom socks, for example “are made of up to 95 per cent upcycled textiles, soft, comfortable, breathable and perfect for non-stop travel”, while each pair of Reformation jeans “cleans a thousand gallons of water”.

For new parents, she recommends the Greentom stroller, which is “safe and sustainable, as well as being made from recycled drinking bottles and other natural and recycled sources”.

For fashion die-hards, she favours LemLem beachwear, “a brand set up and run by my friend Liya Kebede whose core collection is handwoven in Liya’s native Ethiopia from natural cotton by local female artisans”. Kahina Giving Beauty “uses the purest Moroccan argan oil to create high-quality skincare, while providing economic independence to the women in the south-west of Morocco. I love that Kahina pays fair wages and donates a percentage of its revenue to programmes that support these women and their families.”

Other gifts are more personal. The Diana bag, for example, was made by her friend, the designer Gabriela Hearst, and named after her daughter (who is Hearst’s god-child). “Gabriela’s brand is very unique,” says Duma. “She respects tradition and, through a slower pace, process and attention to detail, she gives a purpose to every piece.

Moreover, this year she pledged $600,000 to Save the Children – by donating all the money netted from a flash sale of her bags through Net-a-Porter and Bergdorf Goodman – to help 20m people at risk of drought-related starvation in East Africa.” She likes Stella McCartney knitwear because it’s “warm, cosy, beautiful – and vegan.”

Of her own gift list, she’ll take “anything” from the outdoor clothing brand Patagonia. “I am a huge fan of its work and mindset as a company,” she says. “Patagonia is maintaining a strict commitment to sustainability in its products and supply chain – whether it’s using 100 per cent organic cotton and creating neoprene-free surfing wetsuits, to a marketing campaign encouraging people to buy less of its products. And everything it does is based on the love of nature and wilderness. I really respect the fact that its brand’s growth and popularity hasn’t changed its original philosophy.” What’s more it looks pretty good, too.

The best gift she ever received, however, was a hand-me-down from her mother. “A few years ago my mother gave me a vintage Chanel 2.55 bag,” she explains. “My mother has always been my role model since childhood and I adore her style. So receiving a bag she has had for over 25 years is incredibly special and a reminder of my childhood.” Whoever thought regifting could be so chic?

We’re talking Christmas in artist Luke Edward Hall’s delightfully decorated flat. Outside it’s a frosty day in a Camden square so quiet you could hear a pine needle drop, but inside it’s an uplifting fiesta of pattern, intriguing objets d’art and festive chat.

Hall, an artist, ceramicist and occasional interior designer, is known for his bright, slightly Fauvist style, which chimes perfectly with the current enthusiasm for maximalism in interiors; his apartment, in a large Victorian building, is the kind of place where you just want to gawp before rushing home to chuck brightly coloured paint on any plain white walls. His living room is a sugared-almond shade of pink rather than the ubiquitous millennial tone. It was the second attempt at the colour after the first overly bubblegum version left Hall feeling “like I was living inside a highlighter pen”.

His approach to Christmas is appropriately creative, too. Each December, Hall and his partner Duncan, with whom he has lived for seven years, go to Venice to pick up gifts ahead of the holidays. “See that little silver oyster,” he says, pointing to a curved, bivalve-shaped box placed on a side table next to a yellow china lamp, “I found that for Duncan in the cutest little antique shop in the city. Venice is our favourite place to visit in winter – I love it. I love waking up early when there’s mist on the canal, having a pistachio croissant, then walking around for the whole day. Last year we found this little Christmas market and bought these Murano glass baubles from the 1950s.”

Hall’s festive modus operandi is specific and methodical: Sunbury Antiques market in Kempton is another favourite pre-Christmas hunting ground. He makes the panic-fuelled dash around a department store, or the Amazon binge, sound particularly soulless, although he does admit to a bit of a “last-minute scramble”. He’s also a fan of The Conran Shop and Liberty in London, for whom he has designed some ceramic trays.

His approach is to focus on beautifully designed objects that make a statement, with plenty of personality. The 28-year-old studied fashion at Central Saint Martins before moving into ceramics and interiors, and has worked with the architect and interior designer Ben Pentreath, created artwork for Burberry, and designed labels for the wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd. His illustrations of classical busts, snakes and cocktails have been embroidered on to velvet slippers by Stubbs & Wootton.

As he prepares coffee in an eclectic selection of mugs, he describes himself as “a massive ceramics fan”. His cupboards are stacked with fish and crab-shaped crockery – “I love anything shaped like an animal” – and he collects old porcelain trays from hotels. There are numerous trays placed around, offering stylish storage for keys, sunglasses and other clutter: he once bought someone a vintage Fornasetti tray, but there are plenty of new labels offering bold, imaginative design. Hall suggests a Gucci tray with a writhing serpent image. He says: “I like things that are a bit special, and that’s what the Gucci tray and the Buly matches have in common, although they are different prices.”

He concedes that decorative gifts are harder to buy unless you know the recipient very well, but he also has some failsafe alternatives. He says: “I’m always on the lookout for old art books. I particularly love the era of Cecil Beaton and Rex Whistler. And you can’t go wrong with something food-related, such as these really special chocolates from Turin.” With a flourish, he offers up a box of individually wrapped hazelnut chocolates in traditional packaging, adding that “anything food-related that is beautifully wrapped is good, or champagne, say a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.”

The best gift he’s ever given was a foodie one: a white truffle. “There is a ritual where you have to buy it the day before to make sure it’s at maximum freshness,” he says. “I bought one for Duncan and gave it to him in a tiny gold box. He opened it with his family up in Edinburgh and we all had it shaved over scrambled eggs for breakfast. Unfortunately we then went for a walk in the Highlands on Boxing Day, realised we had thrown the rest of the truffle out, and then had to ask his mum to find it in the bin.”

Does he have any other gift-giving no-nos, aside from throwing the present away by mistake? “I’d avoid chasing trends. I have a pineapple decanter and a china cactus, but it’s a coincidence that they are fashionable. Just buy things because you love them.”