The Coat with the Faux Fur Collar: A Story in Black and Red
The Coat with the Faux Fur Collar: A Story in Black and Red
A black wool coat with a faux fur collar is the coat a woman wears when she wants to be remembered for her ease. It arrives before she does, it is seen for the 11 seconds she spends in the coat check line, and then it disappears until the photograph on the steps. This is the story of the Lucy wool coat in black and in red, the Selina coat with the collar and the belt, and the Paula, whose collar and cuffs make it the outfit.
She is 44. There are four evenings in her December that matter, and she has stopped pretending a puffer over a dress is a plan. She wants a dressy winter coat that is warm on the walk from the car, photographs cleanly, and does not make her look like she tried harder than anyone else in the room.
Shop the pieces in this story: Winter Coats and Light Coats. Complete size runs are listed first.
7:10 p.m., the coat check line
The line moves slowly and everyone in it is looking at everyone else. She stands with the collar up, and the black faux fur sits high against her jaw, so the cold from the door never reaches her neck. When her turn comes she unbuttons, lets the coat slide from her shoulders, and hands it over. Underneath, the dress is uncreased, because nothing pressed on it. That is what a well-cut arrival coat does: it is warm on the sidewalk, and it leaves no trace.
The Lucy wool coat with the fur collar in black is long-fiber wool at 460 grams per square meter, fully lined in Bemberg, fitted through the waist, double-breasted, knee length, and flared so it moves over a dress instead of against it. The faux fur collar is large, tonal black, and detachable with concealed snaps, with pompom ties on a fine chain at the throat. It is made in small runs in our atelier in Pozarevac, a few of each size and no reorders mid-season.
A coat loses most of its warmth at the neck, and a generous collar closes that gap without a scarf that will be lost by the second party. On the Lucy it frames the face at the photograph point and turns a plain black coat into the one people look at twice in the line.
Monday, the collar comes off
The same coat goes to the office on Monday without the collar. Two snaps, and what remains is a plain double-breasted wool coat, fitted, knee length, in the black she wears to every meeting. Her Lucy has been two coats since the first week. At 460 grams the wool holds a tailored line across a week of commutes and then a Saturday evening, and the black is dyed to hold its tone across more than 400 wearings.
The December she decided to be seen
Some years a woman wants the coat to be the decision. The Lucy in red is the same coat, the same 460 gram wool and the same fitted, flared cut, with a tonal red faux fur collar. Red with a red collar is what keeps it from reading as costume. On the steps of the museum in December, over a black dress, it is the photograph she keeps. Choose it if the black coat is already in your closet; it is the second dressy coat, not the first.
The November wedding, with a belt
A November wedding asks something different of a coat: it has to be photographed outdoors over a long dress, and it has to sit at the waist without flattening the bodice. That is a belt’s job. The Selina wool coat in red with the faux-fur collar is double-breasted with a self-tie belt at the natural waist, a large removable red shawl collar, tonal buttons, sleeve tabs, and a hem below the knee that covers most of a midi dress for the walk from the car to the church door.
The Selina is 70 percent wool with 30 percent polyester for shape recovery, which is why the belt can be tied and untied all evening and the coat still hangs straight at the end of it. Collar off, it is a red belted coat for a February Tuesday. Collar on, it is the coat the bride’s mother asks about.
New Year’s Eve, the coat that is the outfit
There is one evening a year she does not take the coat off. The dinner is at a table by the window, the restaurant is cold, and the coat has to look like it was meant to stay on. The Paula textured coat with the faux fur collar and cuffs is that coat: a black cloth with a curled, astrakhan-like texture that catches restaurant light, a faux fur shawl collar and matching cuffs, a single button at the chest over a hidden placket, two welt pockets, and a knee-length flared skirt.
The cuffs are what make it an outfit: wrists framed in fur read as finished under a table. The Paula is a textured viscose rather than wool, fully lined in Bemberg, and built for 40 to 55 degrees with short exposure, the walk in and the table by the window. It is not the coat for the sidewalk in January; that is what the Lucy is for.
The collar that goes to work in the rain
The last coat in this story wears its collar to the office. The Clara wool trench in navy is a long, double-breasted trench in 87 percent long-fiber wool and 13 percent nylon, water-resistant through moderate rain, with a storm flap, raglan sleeves, a tie belt, and a black faux fur collar over the navy. It is the coat for the week of client meetings in a wet city, when she wants the collar’s warmth at 8 a.m. and nobody to think she dressed for the evening.
Sizing, and what the price buys
All of these coats are cut true to size to wear over a blazer or a knit: measure your bust at the fullest point, add four to six inches for layering, and compare with the chart on each product page. The Lucy in black is in sizes 4 to 14, the Lucy in red in 6, 8, and 10, the Selina coat in 6, 8, and 10, the Paula in 4 to 14, and the Clara in 6, 8, and 10. Shipping from California is free, and you have 30 days to return, no questions asked. Try the coat on over the dress you will wear it with, collar on and collar off.
What $910 buys in the Lucy is long-fiber wool at 460 grams, a full Bemberg lining, a detachable collar that turns one coat into two, and a construction cut in small runs by the same atelier since 1990. Worn to four evenings and 40 office days a winter for ten winters, it is a coat you can explain in one sentence.
Frequently asked questions
Is a black wool coat with a faux fur collar warm enough for a winter evening?
Yes. The Lucy is long-fiber wool at 460 grams per square meter with a full Bemberg lining, and we recommend it for 20 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit with a dress or a knit underneath. The collar closes the gap at the neck where a coat loses most of its warmth. It is a coat for the walk from the car and the photograph on the steps, not for an hour in the snow.
Can I take the faux fur collar off and wear the coat to work?
Yes, on the Lucy in black, the Lucy in red, and the Selina coat in red. The collar fastens with concealed snaps and lifts off in a few seconds, and what remains is a plain tailored wool coat: double-breasted, fitted through the waist, knee length. Many clients wear the collar on for evenings from December to February and off for the office.
Red wool coat with faux fur collar or black: which one for a holiday party?
Black if you want to be remembered for your ease, red if you want to be remembered for the coat. Both are the same Lucy cut in the same 460 gram wool. Black goes over everything in your closet and photographs cleanly under any light. If this is your only dressy winter coat, choose black; if you already own a black coat, choose red.
Is faux fur on a coat dated or does it look cheap?
It depends on whether the collar matches the coat and whether it comes off. A contrast collar in a different color dates quickly. The Lucy, Selina, and Paula collars are tonal, black on black or red on red, and cut generously so they frame the face. Luna does not use animal fur. On the Lucy and the Selina the collar is removable, so the coat is never stuck in one register.
Which coat with a faux fur collar works for a winter wedding guest?
The Selina wool coat in red with the faux-fur collar, because it is belted. A tie belt at the natural waist lets the coat sit over a long dress without flattening the bodice, and the hem falls below the knee to cover most of a midi dress for the walk in. For a floor-length gown, the Selina cape does the same job without sleeves.
What to do next
Count the evenings in your December that matter. If it is the coat check line and the photograph on the steps, choose the Lucy in black, in the size you wear over a blazer, and take the collar off on Monday. If the black coat is already yours, the Lucy in red is the second. All five coats in this story are in the winter coats collection, and what to wear over an evening gown and our warmth guide by temperature answer the questions that come next.
