Layering is a crucial skill of style, especially during these winter seasons. Colder climes are as good a motivation as any for you to make your fashions cozier and more weather-proof. Topcoats become an essential fashion piece in winter not just because it gives you added insulation, but because it does so without interrupting your office wardrobe. If you don't have one of your own or want to replace it, here's what you should be looking for.
Trim Topcoats Rule
It's true that the topcoat is the final layer in your business outfit, so it's also true that it has to be able to accommodate all the other layers you wear under it. What's not true, however, is that you have to get a size bigger than the one you usually get for the coat to fit over all your layers. Coat makers already take your extra clothes into account when they cut the fabric; an ill fit just means that you have a unique body type and need a tailor.
A great topcoat fits much like a great suit. The shoulders are contoured to your own - in this case to the shoulders of your suit. There's a full chest and a slight cinching at the waist and it falls straight down instead of billowing out from there. See to it that the coat itself ends just above your knees so you don't end up masquerading as some noir PI.
When in doubt, remember the principles of minimalist men's fashion: minimize excess fabric on your pieces. Not only does extra cloth mean a size too big (or a trip to the tailor for you), b women's jackets ut it makes even the priciest coat or most luxurious fabric unsightly.
Camel Cool
There are two kinds of camel topcoats in men's fashion: there's the camel hair variety, which has all the wrong associations with upholstery, and then there's the camel colored kind. Look for the latter if you're the guy in the office who likes his style to stand out. In a sea of blacks and navy, few things stand out yet remain so understated like a coat in a camel color.
You've done it with your canvas bags. You've probably done it with your leather lace-ups. This season, it's time to do it with your topcoat. Pick up a camel colored topcoat using the rules of fit above and then pair it with any dark suit like one in charcoal gray or dark blue. It gives your outfit some fashion magazine-worthy contrast, while at the same time ensuring that you catch everyone's eye at the office lobby.
If you haven't noticed yet, camel hair and camel colored coats are very, very different. The latter - the variety you should get - is being made today with a variety of fabrics. Although there are some camel hair blends available, you could also get yours in more traditional wool or luxurious cashmere so that it feels better to the skin.
Do the DB
Men's fashion has lately been shaken up by the resurgence of the double breasted style of suit jacket. Now that numerous labels have gotten on the bandwagon, you can even get a double breasted topcoat that boasts more attitude than its single breasted brethren.
Double breasted topcoats place a much greater premium on a trim cut because there's a big possibility that there's too much fabric in there. That's why you may want to look in the boutiques of more well-known fashion labels to find better fits. And to add a more imposing look to those double rows of buttons, find a coat with an exaggerated lapel and collar. It heightens that strong yet rebellious appeal of the double breasted style.
If you know how to find a suit, then you're familiar with most of the process of finding a topcoat. The basic rules are the same, only you'll be looking in a different department of the men's section, that, and the fact that you could be paying up to three times more than the average suit. But then again, quality never came cheap to begin with.
No comments:
Post a Comment