Gilets used to mean one of two things: a padded thing for standing at the side of a football pitch, or a waxed thing for standing at the side of a field. Somewhere in the last few years they quietly became a proper layer rather than a costume, cut closer to the body and shorter in the hem, and I think that's an improvement. The old boxy shape did nothing for anyone's proportions, it just added bulk at the exact width you didn't need it. A gilet that actually follows your shape through the ribcage and stops at or just above the hip bone looks like clothing, not outerwear for an emergency.
Stick to colours that behave themselves. Stone, a proper mid grey, navy and black all sit quietly under or over whatever you already own, and a quilted finish in one of those reads as considered rather than functional. Khaki is lovely too, but it's a colour that shows every shade of green you own underneath it, so try it on with what you'd actually wear it with. Bright colours and shiny finishes have their place but they ask the rest of the outfit to go along with them, which is more negotiating than most mornings have time for.
If you own none, start with a quilted gilet in navy or stone, mid weight, no fur trim, no logo. That one piece will go over a jumper in October and under a coat in January, which is more range than most things in your coats and jackets section are honestly going to give you. Try it zipped up and done up before you decide anything, because unzipped it tells you nothing about how it actually sits. In the shop, do this with your hands: zip it fully, then raise both arms as if reaching for something on a shelf. If the hem rides up past your hip bone or the armholes pull across the front of your shoulder, that's the size talking, not the style, go up one. A gilet that's too big across the body just looks like a sleeping bag with a zip, and one that's too tight sits like a life jacket, neither is the look.
Worn well, a gilet is the layer that quietly solves the problem of a jacket being too warm indoors and a jumper being not quite enough outside. It sits happily over a shirt with jeans, over a fine knit with a midi skirt, under a mac on a day that can't make its mind up. If I were buying one to start, I'd go for stone. It does the navy job without the navy heaviness, and it has stopped me reaching for the same grey jumper on more cold mornings than I expected.
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