Shorts are one of summer’s great dividers. Their harshest critics cite the garment’s potential to infantilise the wearer, transforming even the most distinguished businessman into an overgrown schoolboy. Others are apprehensive about their appropriateness for specific occasions. Can you, for example, wear shorts to work? Are they acceptable on a date? What are the best shoes to wear with shorts? Can you wear shorts with a blazer? Figuring out the answers to these queries will largely depend on your individual circumstances and, it should be noted, your confidence levels. But, as those who fall firmly in the pro-shorts camp will tell you, there’s no denying their usefulness at this time of year, when beating the heat becomes something of a sport. So, whether you’re strictly a shorts-on-holiday-and-holiday-alone sort of chap or a long-time supporter, here is our pick of the best pairs of 2019.

If you’re nostalgic about the shorts of your youth, this pair from J.Crew is an excellent choice. The functional merits alone should be enough to convert even the most strident detractor. Modelled on climbing attire, they’re made from lightweight but hard-wearing ripstop fabric and are fitted with a hiking-inspired drawstring waistband. This latter detail is especially handy when it comes to action-packed summertime activities. Or after a long lunch.

The reappearance of cargo shorts, a mainstay of the 1990s, is not a huge surprise given our current preoccupation with the decade’s sartorial output. Most of the new options stay true to the sporty spirit of the era, but if anyone can transform a strictly casual garment into something more refined, it’s Mr Brunello Cucinelli. The Italian designer’s take is made from summer-appropriate linen and a cotton-blend that is detailed with two streamlined pockets through the front, which keeps the silhouette nice and trim.

As the maker of some of the world’s best loved chino trousers, it follows that Incotex’s chino shorts will be equally up to scratch. It’s debatable whether you could get away with this stone pair in your place of business, but when a weekend occasion calls for something a little smarter, this cotton-gabardine example should be your first port of call. The neutral colour and neat fit make them the perfect match for everything from a simple button-down or a printed camp-collar shirt.

There’s a lot to like about these Wacko Maria shorts, but let’s start with the most obvious aspect: the print. Tigers are not native to Japan, where the brand is based, so these stylised cats are a reference to China’s influence on the country’s artistic tradition. This pair is made from black voile, a silk-like fabric that’ll keep things breezy in warmer weather. Hidden details, such as the internal drawstring, shouldn’t be overlooked, either.

How short is too short? For Prada, the brand that’s been championing diminutive pairs for quite some time, it seems the upper thigh’s the limit. If you are going to try this at home, we’d advise taking direction from the label itself. At the Milan show, short shorts were worn with polo shirts, sports socks and running shoes, as if one were heading to the world’s most sartorially clued-up country club for doubles. Only for the brave? Perhaps. But in a heatwave, your courage will most certainly be rewarded.

If attention to detail, great quality and considered design are what you look for when shopping for clothes (anyone reading this, then), you’re probably already familiar with De Bonne Facture. Founded by Ms Déborah Neuberg (formerly of Hermès), the Gallic brand seeks out some of the best local producers in France to make its wares. These pleated Bermuda shorts, for example, are the work of Hervier, a family-run atelier in the Indre department. It’s very much a collaborative effort, though. The brushed-cotton cloth, a lightweight yet sophisticated choice for balmy days, is sourced from further afield, in Japan, while the horn buttons are products of the Jura Mountains.

The line where streetwear ends and luxury begins is increasingly blurred these days, thanks in considerable measure to labels such as Gucci. One consequence of this development is that terms such as “tech-jersey” have become part of our everyday vernacular. (In the MR PORTER office, at least. We doubt it’s come up on your conference calls.) If you’re not familiar, all you need to know is that it has sportswear connotations, which makes its application here – on Gucci’s tracksuit-inspired shorts – especially apt. Double your street cred and team them with the matching bowling shirt.