I always thought you had to be tall, dark and handsome to pull off a long coat. Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club, knee-tremblingly moody in that enormous grey coat, dark hair falling in his face. Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock. That sort of thing.
Being neither tall nor dark nor handsome, I have always favoured coats which finish at the knee, or just above, feeling I lack the requisite swagger for anything longer. But I’ve changed my mind, for skirt-related reasons. For the first time ever, you see, I’ve got properly into midi-length skirts. These fitted into my wardrobe surprisingly seamlessly – they work with ankle boots or trainers; they look good with a fitted shirt or a neat jumper – until the weather got cold and I put my coat on. A knee-length coat over a longer skirt does not work at all. I looked like Downton’s Mrs Patmore. It was time for a longer coat.
I’m never going back. Coats need a touch of drama to offset their practicality. That drama could be all-over DayGlo fake fur or neat little shoulder epaulettes, depending on how turned-up you want the volume, but it needs to be there. Adding a few inches to the hem turns out to be a handy new way of doing that. An almost ankle-length coat is the red-carpet gown to the knee-length coat’s cocktail dress.
How to make it work without being tall or dark or handsome? Make the coat long, but not big, that’s the key. When the hem gets longer the shoulders should, if anything, get neater. If the coat doesn’t have a belt it needs a waisted shape to narrow it in the middle so it doesn’t swamp you. Avoid oversized sleeves which look romantic in a Humphrey-Bogart-in-a-trench way on the peg, but turn scruffy and unkempt on an actual person. And this is definitely not the time to go for rainbow faux-fur, or high-shine patent. High-impact colours and fabrics should be kept to the cropped-to-the-waist little jacket you wear over a party dress; with a long coat, go for classic camel or black wool. A few simple rules, and it works. My skirts might get shorter again next year, but I’m with this coat for the long haul.
• Jess wears coat, £95, missselfridge.com. Dress, £65, finerylondon.com. Shoes, £275, lkbennett.com.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Laurence Close at Carol Hayes Management.
