Having turned away from wool coats as being impractical – living in the country – rain – dogs etc and not willing to carry the load of a full-on shearling however glamorous, I’ve become a firm advocate of of the padded coat and/or jacket.
Personally I look for three things for any new addition to my down collection. Firstly no belt; many of this season’s coats are belted and I’m sure they look great on anyone with the right figure. They just make me look shorter and wider. I like a slightly fitted waist to avoid looking like Michelin Man but that’s it.
Then if my new down coat is down to my knees (or just above), I look for a double fastening so that I don’t just have to use the zip but can quickly fasten with studs. Having bought a knee length down coat a while back with just a zip fastening and had ridiculous looking struggles on various occasions, usually whilst out and about, to get the zip to start somewhere down by my knees, I’ve decided that that’s not a good look for me. I want to be able to fully fasten quickly and easily anywhere, anytime.
So any new addition, coat length, will have both a zip and stud fastening. Jackets can be zip only, they tend to be far easier to zip up for obvious reasons.
Then there’s the issue of a hood. to me this is obvious but then I never carry a brolly. I have to have a hood so that the minute it starts to rain/snow, or if it’s cold outside, I can be fully insulated in a second. Many hoods are removable, and also have removable faux fur trims. Up to you.
The best factor about the new season’s quilted coats and jackets is that they’re lighter than ever, from lightweight down to fully ‘packaway’. So if you order or try on a down coat and it seems to weigh a lot put it down. There will be a lighter weight jacket just around the corner. This makes these winter coats and jackets perfect for everything, from days out, walks and particularly for travel.
