November 16, 2009

Dressing the Part: Over Coats

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Well I`m going to start with covering the outer garment first. For the most people this garment should be bought last. You are only seen wearing this into and out of the office. Possibly at lunch time and when off to meetings. If you work quiet a bit on the road well you will get a lot of wear out of your coat and it becomes even more important to stay stylish and sophisticated.


When buying a piece of clothing always figure out how long your investment will last. The longer it will be in your wardrobe the more you should be willing to spend on it. But that is not the only aspect you should be concerned with. You want to ensure you buy from a reputable company, the fabric is top notch and it fits absolutely perfectly. Most clothing coming from China these days making some of these points moot, but still.

So fit, fabric, $$ and brand in that order of importance.

What kind of coats are we looking forÉ Well I suggest two overcoats that are very classic. A trench coat and a pea coat. The difference here being the length and the fact that trench coats are made big enough to fit when wearing a sport coat or suit underneath.

Image 1 contains a typical trench coat and Image 2 contains a typical pea coat I would recommend

Now I don`t recommend trench coats down to your knees (see image below). I personally associate the longer trench coats with very formal attire. You can get shorter versions that let you wear them with more business casual clothing. Notice every image I have picked out is of a black coat. Buy black or dark grey for your first piece. You can go funky later but this is the basics.







Now the fit of course needs to be bang on. You do not want something too baggy, to be honest it should be on the tighter side if anything. This is where a tailor comes in very handy to put the final touches on it. This is one piece of clothing I recommend you take to a tailor and ensure it looks nice. You will be wearing this quite a bit.

I also recommend buying a high quality pure wool trench coat and pea coat. Not a blend of wool, not a polyester, and definitely not a cotton coat.  This is where it looks much sharper and gives you a classic look.

Remember we are keeping it simple. Everything is to look very simple and plain. The funky trendy fashionable clothing can wait. You need to round out the basics. You need to learn how to crawl before you walk so to speak.


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