A coat that you love is the best fashion investment you can make. Your coat is what you put on as you leave the house on a cold morning. It is what stands between you and the outside world when the outside world is at its least friendly. A great party dress for a fun night out is the icing on a cake – but cake is delicious anyway. A great coat, on the other hand, is a cup of tea and a jaffa cake when you are cold and tired and hungry.
It goes without saying that practicality is paramount. But a great coat isn’t just a coat that keeps you warm, it’s a coat that makes you feel great. It is this that differentiates a great coat from a perfectly serviceable coat. The days when life feels a bit as though you are walking uphill into the wind are the days when you most need a reminder of the poetry to be found in a slice of blue sky, a free Pret coffee, or the comfort of a soft collar flipped up against the elements.
Much of this is sensory, but it is also about style. With this winter’s most of-the-moment coats, the two go hand in hand. This year’s coat is soft and unstructured and oversized. A big, easy coat. It is not the formal, Crombie-line tailored type very popular with both men and women a few years ago, which looks a bit like a supercharged suit jacket. The Crombie style is useful because it instantly makes you look smart, but having suit-styled lapels doesn’t keep you warm in the crucial décolleté area (this is why Emmanuel Macron, who favours this style, is such a dab hand with a scarf).
The big easy is also distinct from the utility family of coats, of parkas and cagoules with disproportionately prominent hoods. Mega-hoodie coats are cosy in horrible weather, but make you feel like a cave-dweller when you wear them every day.
A big easy is both practical and civilised. It could be an unstructured trench, a blanket coat, or just a big soft hug of a woollen coat, like this one. It works best when the supersized volume is offset by minimal styling: a neutral colour, minimal detailing, not too many zips or storm flaps or sleeve detailings. Just a forgivingly sized, easy-to-shrug-on coat that envelopes you in warmth and pulls your look together even when you are wearing two pairs of socks and an extra cardi.
Find a coat that you love. They give the best hugs.
• Coat, £470, essentiel-antwerp.com. Heels, £129, kurtgeiger.com. Dress, Jess’s own. Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Lucy Ridley using Kevin Murphy and Smashbox.
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