A coat is the piece people see first and the one you wear most. Between the end of October and the middle of March it goes over almost everything you own, which makes it the single item in the wardrobe where buying carefully pays off the most.
The trouble is that coats are usually bought in a hurry, on the first properly cold morning of the year. This guide is the opposite of that. Four decisions, in the order that matters: length, shape, colour, fit.
Start with the length
Length does more for how a coat looks than any other feature, and it is the thing most people decide last.
Cropped and hip-length suits anyone who spends the day getting in and out of cars, trains and chairs. It reads as casual, it works over jeans and trousers, and it leaves the leg line visible, which is useful if you are shorter. Our jackets sit here.
Knee-length is the default for a reason. It covers a skirt or a dress, it works over tailoring, and it is long enough to feel like a proper winter coat without becoming a statement. The Celestine, belted with a plush collar and lapels, is the version of this we sell most.
Ankle-length is warmer than it looks, because it closes the gap that a shorter coat leaves at the knee. It also changes your silhouette completely, so it is worth trying before deciding it is not for you. The Anastasia and the Rosamund trench are both cut at this length.
Then the shape
Four shapes cover nearly everything, and each one does a different job.
The belted coat. A belt gives you a waist whenever you want one and lets you drop the coat open when you do not. It is the most adaptable shape we make, which is why it runs through most of the coat collection. If you are unsure what suits you, start here.
The double-breasted coat. Structured, slightly formal, and the warmest of the four because the front crosses over twice. The Octavia in herringbone is the most traditional cut we carry; the Eleanor softens the same idea with a detachable plush collar.
The oversized coat. Cut wide on purpose, made to go over a heavy jumper without pulling anywhere. The Margot is double-faced, which means the fabric is finished on both sides and has no lining to wear through.
The knit coat. The one people reach for most in practice, because it is light, it does not need a scarf, and it is comfortable on a train. The Clara is the softest thing we make and the easiest coat to live with day to day.
Where the trench fits
A trench coat is not a winter coat in the strict sense. It is a rain coat with good manners, and in Britain that makes it the most-worn coat of the year, because our cold is wet far more often than it is freezing.
Two things make a trench work in November rather than only in April. The first is length: an ankle-length cut like the Rosamund keeps the rain off your legs, which is the actual complaint people have about shorter trenches. The second is what goes under it. A trench has no padding, so it is only as warm as your knitwear. Over a funnel-neck jumper it carries you comfortably to about five degrees.
If you only buy one coat this year and you live anywhere between Bristol and Edinburgh, a long trench will get more wear than a heavy wool coat. If you buy two, make the second one wool.
Colour, honestly
Black is the safe answer and it is a perfectly good one. But black is also the colour in which every cheap coat is made, so it is the hardest shade in which to look expensive.
The shades that flatter most people and make a coat look costlier than it is are the warm neutrals: oat, sand, camel, chestnut, cocoa. They sit well against grey British light, they go with navy and black underneath, and they photograph well, which matters more than anyone admits.
If you want a coat that is not a neutral, burgundy is the one to try. It behaves like a neutral in winter and looks like a decision rather than an accident.
The fit test that actually matters
Try the coat on over the thickest jumper you own. Not over a shirt, not over a t-shirt in a warm shop. If you cannot cross your arms in front of you without the back pulling, the coat is too small, whatever the label says.
Then check the shoulder seam. It should sit at the edge of your shoulder or slightly beyond it on an oversized cut, never inside it. A shoulder seam that sits inside the shoulder is the one alteration a tailor cannot fix cheaply.
Sleeve length should cover the wrist bone with your arms down. Slightly long is correct on a coat; slightly short is not.
Looking after it
Three habits will add years to a wool coat. Hang it on a broad hanger, never a wire one, because the shoulders are what fail first. Brush it down rather than dry-cleaning it every month, since dry cleaning strips the natural oils out of wool. And let it dry fully at room temperature before it goes back in the wardrobe, away from a radiator.
Our coats carry a composition label in the side seam with the care symbols on it. It is worth two minutes of reading the first time you wear the coat.
Buying this month
Until 26 November, our Pre-Black Friday offer applies across the Autumn Winter edit, coats and trench coats included. It works on quantity: 10% off one piece, 20% off two, 30% off three or more. The discount applies automatically in your bag, with no code to remember, and delivery across the UK is free and tracked.
If a coat has been on your list for a while, this is the sensible month to pair it with the jumper that goes underneath it.