I have always been enormously stressed and freaked out by the purchase of a winter coat – especially in recent years. There’s always an “IT” coat – usually with giant checks or fondant pink or some huge teddy bear belted thing. But the financial commitment always scares me; a winter coat is the fashion equivalent of buying a sofa. What if I get sick of it?
But in recent years, with the discovery of all things capsule, I have realised that you only need 5 jackets and coats in winter, most of which you probably already have.
1 A smart town coat in grey, navy, black or camel. Mine is this exact one – it was £99 when I bought it – their new version is £109 and very warm.
2 A leather jacket. We have discussed this subject at length in previous posts, but most people go to All Saints for a leather jacket. I would always say, go for as few zips and buckles and crazy shit as you can but lay off the shawl collars or anything “waterfall”.
This one looks nice to me:
It’s a bestseller for a reason. Get it in black, do not muck about with khaki or brown or anything.
3 A raincoat (see previous post on this subject)
4 A slim puffa from Uniqlo, that you can layer under any of the coats above on really cold days to add protection. This will really change your life as it transforms any coat you’ve got into something extra warm and cosy.
There are loads of colour options available so you can match the puffa liner to the colour or your coat. If you need to be super-smart, you can buy this Uniqlo puffa-liner without a collar, so it doesn’t show above the collar of the coat you’re wearing.
5 VERY warm playground coat. This is any giant, very warm parka you like the look of. I treated myself at massive expense to a Canada Goose Kensington parka a few years ago and I love it beyond all reason. PLEASE do not lecture me about the fur trim, I’ve been lectured about it at length by others and I don’t know what to say… I’m not going to take it back, am I?
For something less stupidly expensive, Superdry has good ones, like this one.
(Optional) 6 I have a black dress coat, by which I mean it’s sort of flared and belted with a fake fur trim, which I wear about twice a year to smart parties. It’s almost identical to this one:
By all means, if you want a giant squashy teddy coat in fondant pink or windowpane check or leopard print, get it. If you love it, you will look fab. This and ALL capsule posts are not about trying to squash your innate style, I’m trying to say if it’s not a Hell Yeah then keep it simple and you can’t go wrong.
Which reminds me, I also have a lot of time for classic pea coats – there is a nice one here.
So if you’re looking at all the winter coat options in dismay and are starting to panic slightly that you ought to be walking around in fun fur like a Sesame Street extra because all newspapers and magazines and shops are telling you to BUY YOUR CRAZY WINTER COAT NOW!!!!! then I refer you to the above list.
Of course, do not be a massive weirdo about this – you ought to know by now what sort of coat suits you, if you suit a belted thing, or double breasted or a cocoon coat or whatever. All I’m saying is: you do not have to buy a crazy coat in order to be chic and look lovely. We are not Olivia Palermo at New York Fashion Week, we are just trying to get from one end of the day to the other.
Does anyone have a view on when one becomes too old for a leather jacket?
never
God I miss London where you can wear a chic camel coat!! Mine is 5 years old and starting to look a bit old now bought it from the Outnet for a good bargain at the time as an investment and it truely was. I am not likely to need it now living in Cairo, Egypt but just the sight of one makes me really sigh. I look so much better in winter clothes I don’t do any othe season that well.
Love, Rain (ironic sounding name in a rainless country lol)
Rain, I felt the same when we spent a few years in Thailand. All of my lovely winter things went unworn and then looked strangely dated when we moved to Michigan in the middle of a dreadful winter. I much prefer winter clothes over summer ones. 🙂
I feel you Kristy! Thank you for sharing this 🙂 xo really what I am going through right now. Thailand sounds incredible – though I have never been, I know it has the same hot humid climate we have here in Cairo! I would much prefer Michigan gimme cold anytime! I love winter that even when I took the Kettlewell clothing Co ‘What season are you?’ quizz, and it’s really not an obvious one to guess results for, well, guess what? I was winter! Ha! Have you tried it? A really nice company was recommended by Esther a while back.
I’ve got a cherry red peacoat, so I’ve managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I got it for under thirty quid in a sale though so who cares? I can sling it on a puddle for the queen and not bat an eyelid.
I have been craving one of those uniqlo puffas for some time, they seem like the gateway to a new, cosier, life. What size do you go for?
Cindy I am a 10-12 with a 34 C chest and take an M
Thank you, I think that would be what I would need, but they are very out of stock at the moment – can’t you keep a secret?!!!
One whiff of Autumn and everyone immediately goes potty over jackets. (It’s always everyone else, you understand)
wtaf? no this is madness
Think it’s back now. Do you go all jittery with power when things like that happen?
ha ha! no, it’s never me xxx
Yay I do indeed have all of these already, if you let me swap leather jacket (think busty barmaid on me) for navy pea coat. I think ‘dress coat’ is really important – though far from essential – but it’s so depressing to sling a casual coat on over an outfit that has taken hours to put together. Luckily for me I had both a long black smart London coat AND a camel mid-length London coat from my working days. At my age sadly Dress Coat is beginning to double as Funeral Coat. Also important to not look like a slob at funerals.
My raincoat is a men’s one from Timberland, bought rather in desperation, and I can confirm that it is totally, utterly waterproof but sadly is cut very badly, even for a man. However as my coat collection is excessive even by a shopaholic’s standard (all non-capsule coats v. satisfactory and impractical/many, many versions of practical/capsule coats available, most of them wanting in one way or another) I shall have to leave that for a year or two. Unless that Community Clothing raincoat *happens* to turn up on my doorstep.
Can people please tell me what they do when it rains? Do you all carry umbrellas or wear hats? I’m genuinely interested, I live up in the Pennines, have to walk a kilometre to the kids’ school and back twice a day plus all the other outdoor stuff, it rains a lot and practical coats with hoods get dull after a while. Any ideas or is it only a choice of parkas and outdoor hiking wear?
I have a hat as I can’t bear wearing hoods, especially when walking children anywhere as you can’t see them if they are crossing the road beside you. it’s a felt fedora from H&M and was practically pennies. It’s totally waterproof and is brilliant for the school run etc. x
What a good idea. I shall peruse H & M. I have been semi-seriously considering a Woody Allen-esque bucket hat but fear my teenager would die laughing.
fuck your teenager cindy, wear what you like
I’ve got a wax hat (wax jacket material) in dead cow brown with a tartan lining that I bought at some teeny shop in the highlands of Scotland. It’s squishy and has a brim all around that you can roll up and it sort of holds the rain in – which is great until you bend over and it’s a bloody deluge – I love it. For dog walking I have a long Joules raincoat with mad giant peonies around the bottom, quite sturdy fabric – but not heavy – and it’s got a brilliant hood that sticks out a bit over your face, negating the need for another hat.
A wax hat is certainly a solution
What size is your Unqlo town-coat Esther? I hate all this S, M, L, XL nonsense! I’m a 10-12, so think will be similar size to you?
Yes you will be the same as me, I will check
I have ordered the uniqlo puffa but got the very thin collarless one with poppers that you can fold back. I have the vest in the same style which is very useful and to be honest I have been looking for an excuse to get a black jacket style too. They are incredibly light. I ordered a large as I want to wear a jumper under it. The black ultra fine merino polo neck which is coming with it. I shall wear these with black leggings and my new Nike air max PALE PINK trainers. I know. But they soooo yummy. All other coats are covered. I am now on a spending ban as just forked out for a chiropractor to deal with my back.
Really happy with your “capsule coat” list, Esther, as I already have everything on the list so am feeling pretty smug right now. Only problem is they are all very very worn ….. so that makes me an old fuddy-duddy really …..
Jacky all that means is that you might need to update some of the styles that you have, no harm in buying an updated version of something you love
I love that first coat Esther – I think you wore it with a checked shirt and polo neck and posted it on here last year – have I remembered that right? (Or was it a million years ago and a totally different outfit?) Such a strong look. I was just about to buy it and thought all my prayers had been answered for a simple, classic coat. Then i saw that it’s got cashmere in it and I’m massively allergic – serious money saver, fucking annoying when it comes to purchases like this! So back to the drawing board on the classic winter coat…I’ve got a double breasted camel coat from jaegar I got a few years ago but I’ve never loved it and I think I bought it because there was NOTHING else (possible a daft reason but, whateves)
I’ve got a woolrich parka from fucking years ago – seriously about 15 years and it’s still going strong. I remember really debating the £300 odd it cost me at the time – think they’re about £600 now so money well spent but I’m very bored of it now and I’m very tempted by the Canadian goose shizniz. It looks more streamline and flattering but fuck it’s expensive – is this £300 just 15 years later? Could it be the best spend ever?
Also, as I may have mentioned before (snore) I’m trying to lose weight and an ill fitting coat is frankly, a shit coat, how long do you think I can wait to buy a coat before they all bloody go? Also does the skinny puffa under another coat really work? Don’t you look like Michelin man?!
Sorry for ridiculously long post x
“We are not Olivia Palermo at New York Fashion Week, we are just trying to get from one end of the day to the other.” = my new motto
I’ve just looked at my coats. I have a more ‘country bumpkin’ version of capsule.
1) Massive tweed coat (coat, not jacket) with enormous pockets for manky tissues.
2) Full on ramblers society style Berghaus complete with hood that makes light drizzle sound like the blitz.
3) short length Barbour wax jacket that looks surprisingly smart and stylish and will probably become an heirloom.
4) 18 gilets of various colours and materials, all with their own niche but most of them very ‘young fogey’.
5) One smart black long length coat purchased at age 20 when I had my first wedding invite as an adult and couldn’t rely on my parents to clothe me.
I’m not sure even a smart camel coat can save me.
I’ve went through all your capsule wardrobe posts again, out of boredom and shopping lust, and it got me wondering if you might be able to do something similar for Christmas presents? (please don’t think I’m mad, I know it’s only September and nowhere NEAR Christmas but it’s a question for future posts on the Spike so…)
and I don’t mean super specific things like many magazines will do, i.e. ‘twenty things for your book-loving friend, all of which she will probably already own because she loves books and thus buys herself things that are associated with books’
but more like… ‘best present options for a partner / a close family member or really good friend / someone new to the family or a friend who definitely needs to get something but you don’t know well enough to really get a personal present for yet’
because I somehow feel, with your capsule series posts, you’ve managed to do a really good job of doing a One Size Fits All thing where you recommend basics that are really appealing but can be mixed and matched and adjusted to everyone’s taste – and I imagine you’d do just as well with presents…
What am I missing that makes people suddenly need a massive Bear Grylls coat as soon as they have kids?
I buy an interesting wool coat in a neutral-ish colour every year or two and I’ve never experienced a day in this country where that was not warm enough, maybe with an Acne Canada and a massive jumper underneath. And I do have a kid who I occasionally take to the park! It’s just…the gulf stream. It’s sub zero like two days a year and you can use them to go to the cinema.
Last year I got a navy kimono-sleeve one from & Other Stories, the year before a cream Isabel Marant, the year before a 1960s vintage mohair cape. Never too cold. Literally never.
You’re never more than 100m from a Pret?!?!?
So confuuuuuuused. Is everyone pretending to be colder than they are?
Tess I genuinely think some people feel the cold more than others – I don’t think they’re pretending…
Having just turned 30 and had a baby I am desperately trying to find a coat which is warm and will keep me dry, while not looking like someone’s mum (nothing wrong with being a mum obviously, I’d just rather not throw in the towel quite yet…) – I am seriously considering one from Superdry like the one you’ve linked to- but a bit concerned that they’re not waterproof? I’ve heard that there’s a known thing whereby Superdry stuff is ironically nothing of the sort. Can you confirm/deny? I’m not expecting miracles, just would like to survive rainfall without getting soaked through. Xx
Ps thank you SO SO much for doing this series, such an enjoyable read and I’m intending to use it to rebuild my neglected shambles of a wardrobe once I’ve shifted this baby weight…cue jokes about my neglected shambles of a waistline…
Louise there’s rain and there’s rain. As many people have pointed out here, it doesn’t rain THAT much in England (I’m assuming you’re in England, sorry – you may be in the rainiest part of Ireland for all I know) so you can buy that with confidence but then ALSO get a very good super waterproof raincoat for major downpour days xx
Oh absolutely, I’m actually in the part of England which receives the lowest average rainfall each year (Southend…it’s got to have something going for it) – but growing up with ethnically challenged hair (Jewish, huge, frizzy) I have had a hate-hate relationship with rain and it feels like it’s always raining come autumn/winter. But you are of course right, off to Westfield I go then… xxx