We wouldn’t dare compare this jacket to the Stella McCartney feather-free wadded one, all burnt toffee in colour and mega in proportion, but they do form the crux of the whole anti-style, difficult-colour padded jacket thing that’s happening right now. They are just at different price points, and the Uniqlo one is a little more like a quilt. It’s from their new range designed under Christophe Lemaire, the former artistic director of womenswear at Hermès, who has taken over as artistic director at Uniqlo Paris’s R&D centre where his new collection – U – is about basics and simplicity, and looking like a Parisian for not much money. What a coup for Uniqlo and what a coat for us.
