Each week Esquire's Fashion Director, Catherine Hayward, solves one reader's most pressing style conundrums. This week, the perfect investment coat.
I need a new coat, but now feels like a slightly odd time to buy one. What's the best choice for something that I can wear while it's still chilly, but won't look dated when I get it back out after summer? – Peter, Sheffield
Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s good to fly under the radar. In an era of loud, shouty, red carpet peacocking, the quiet purchase of a classic – in this case, a camel coat – will ease you through chilly spring months and beyond, and still provide instant wardrobe kudos. Surely a sound and sustainable sartorial choice, and one that's an undeniable investment. But let me explain why.
Take Gucci; fashion's juggernaut of the last five years has conquered its audience with a smorgasbord of Double-G'd Seventies flamboyance. Yet interspersed amongst the noisy Spring/Summer 2020 runway looks came a simple camel coat. Tailored, leather trimmed, gold buttoned, patch pocketed, oversized; a low-key overcoat roomy enough to throw over a formal office suit as well as chunkier casual garms at the weekend.
Burberry too – famous, of course, for trench coats – is camel coat-ready with an archetypal slim fit single-breasted style in a wool and cashmere mix that works equally well with a suit as it does a weekend uniform of sweatshirts and trainers.
So what is it that makes the camel coat quite so appealing? Versatility. Over the years, it hit the big screen on the likes of De Niro and Pacino as mob bosses Al Capone and Michael Corleone respectively; soft and belted on Richard Gere’s American Gigolo; sharp-shouldered on Christian Bale’s American Psycho; kooky on Luke Wilson’s Richie Tenenbaum; and the mighty Kanye West wears his over the humble sweatshirt and hoody. Hell, even Virgil Abloh got in on the action for a Louis Vuitton show with hybrid camel duffles and trenches. So who to recommend? And which camel coats press the affordability button?
Alexandre Mattiussi's cult Parisian label, Ami, has created an affordably chic niche and ticks all the current trend boxes for coats – oversized silhouette, dropped shoulders, enormous flap packets and double-faced wool construction that’s built to last.
Fellow French label Sandro has a slightly more affordable version in a wool, cashmere and polyester blend – the reliable single breasted 3 button version that looks great with white jeans.
And if you’re really looking for a bargain, Uniqlo’s shorter Sixties style coat will have you channelling the effortlessly cheeky Michael Caine in Alfie – a timeless, versatile coat that even has a removable padded lining for added layering.
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