The Trench Coat Reconsidered: Navy Wool, Beige, and Jacquard
The Trench Coat Reconsidered: Navy Wool, Beige, and Jacquard
A wool trench coat is the trench reconsidered: the storm flap, the belt, and the long line everyone recognizes, cut in cloth that is warm and sheds rain, so the coat she reaches for in a wet city is the same one she is photographed in. This is the story of the Clara wool trench in navy, the Kim long belted coat in beige, and the Rea trench in cream jacquard, and of the woman who walks her son to daycare and then walks into the office, dry.
She is 36. She moved to a city where it rains from October to April, she is the founder and the mother in the same 12 minutes each morning, and the beige cotton trench she brought with her is cold by Halloween. She wants the trench she already believes in, made warm, and made for the woman she has become.
Shop the pieces in this story: Winter Coats and Light Coats. Complete size runs are listed first.
8:05 a.m., the walk from daycare to the office
It is 42 degrees and raining the way it rains in Seattle, which is to say all morning and not hard. She has the collar up, the belt tied, and the black faux fur at her neck where the wind would otherwise get in. Six blocks later she shakes the water from the storm flap in the lobby, and the wool underneath is dry. The blazer under it is uncreased, because a raglan sleeve moves with the arm that was holding a small hand and then a coffee.
The Clara wool trench coat in navy is 87 percent long-fiber wool and 13 percent nylon at 420 grams per square meter, water-resistant through moderate rain, with a storm flap, a gun flap, raglan sleeves, a double-breasted front, a tie belt, a black faux fur collar, an inverted back pleat, and a full Bemberg lining. It is the trench architecture of 1879 preserved in full, cut long, and made in small runs in our atelier in Pozarevac, a few of each size and no reorders mid-season.
Why navy and not black. Navy reads softer in daylight and warmer in a photograph, it goes with black shoes and brown ones, and over a charcoal suit it says senior without saying severe. Navy or black for evening makes the same case after dark. On a trench the navy also hides what rain leaves on beige cotton.
Her Clara is warm from 35 to 50 degrees with a knit or a blazer under it, which is most of her year. The belt she ties at the waist for the street and knots at the back for the desk. By November she has stopped checking the forecast before she chooses a coat.
The day the light comes back, in beige
There is a week in March when the rain stops and the light comes back, and the navy is suddenly heavy. That week belongs to the Kim long belted coat in beige: a long, tailored coat with a zip and buttons under a storm flap, epaulettes at the shoulder, a self-fabric tie belt, two welt pockets, and a skirt that flares toward the hem. The cloth is a soft-touch technical polyester with a hand close to cashmere, chosen over wool because beige wool sheds and discolors with city wear and this does not, and it is fully lined in Bemberg.
She wears it to the client lunch on the first warm Thursday, belt tied, over a cream knit and black trousers, and it does for beige what the Clara does for navy: it reads as decided. It is the coat she packs for the business trip where the forecast says 55 and the meetings say tailored.
The ceremony in April, in cream jacquard
A trench can go to a wedding, if the cloth says so. The Rea jacquard trench coat in cream is the trench construction again, storm flaps, a tie belt, snap buttons, an inverted back pleat, cut to the knee in a woven jacquard at 340 grams per square meter with a tonal cream-on-cream pattern made at the loom rather than printed, so it is still there after the tenth cleaning. In April, over a printed midi dress on the way to a garden ceremony, it is the coat the photographer asks her to keep on.
The Rea is knee length, which is the length that suits the most heights, and light enough for a 60-degree afternoon. It is a spring and fall coat, not one for rain beyond a shower.
The ivory that has to travel
When the wedding is a flight away, the coat comes out of a carry-on. The Linea belted midi coat in ivory is the belted long coat built for that: a notch collar, three buttons, a belt with a black buckle, flap pockets, and a long midi hem, in a technical cloth that recovers from the suitcase in under 30 minutes of hanging and keeps its ivory clean where wool would not. Fully lined in Bemberg, in sizes 6 to 12.
When the trench is not enough
There is a January in every wet city when it is 25 degrees and dry, and a trench, however good, is not the coat. That morning belongs to the Nicole wool wrap coat in black: long-fiber wool at 480 grams per square meter, a wide collar, a belt with a buckle, and a midi skirt that flares from the waist, the coat we recommend first for a winter that goes below freezing. The Clara hands off to it in January and takes over again in March.
Sizing, and what the price buys
All of these coats are cut true to size to wear over a blazer: measure your bust at the fullest point, add four to six inches for layering, and compare with the chart on the product page. The Clara is in sizes 6, 8, and 10, the Kim in 6, 8, and 10, the Rea in sizes 2 to 10, and the Linea in 6 to 12. Shipping from California is free and you have 30 days to return, no questions asked. Try the Clara on over the blazer and walk to the mailbox in it.
What $910 buys in the Clara is long-fiber wool with nylon for the rain, a full Bemberg lining, the complete trench construction rather than the two details most makers keep, and a coat cut in small runs by the same atelier since 1990. Worn five mornings a week from October to April for ten years, it costs less per wet morning than the coffee in her other hand.
Frequently asked questions
Is a wool trench coat warm enough for winter?
For the months either side of it, yes. The Clara is 87 percent long-fiber wool and 13 percent nylon at 420 grams per square meter with a full Bemberg lining, and we recommend it for 35 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit with a knit or a blazer underneath. Below that, a heavier coat is the honest answer: the Nicole wrap coat at 480 grams is the one we hand her for January.
Can you wear a navy wool trench coat in the rain?
Yes, in moderate rain. The 13 percent nylon in the Clara gives the cloth water resistance without changing the hand of the wool, and the storm flap over the shoulders sheds the water that lands there. Brush the coat after rain and hang it on a wide hanger to dry away from a radiator. It is not a coat for a storm; nothing in wool is.
What do you wear with a navy wool trench coat?
Everything you already own in black, gray, camel, and cream. Navy goes with both black shoes and brown ones, which black cannot do, and it reads softer than black in daylight and warmer in photographs. Over a charcoal suit it is the executive coat; over jeans and a cream knit it is Saturday. Tie the belt at the waist for the street, or knot it at the back for the desk.
Navy or beige for a trench coat if I am only buying one?
Navy if you walk to work and your winter is wet; beige if your weeks are spring and fall and your closet leans warm. The Clara in navy is the heavier, water-resistant wool trench for the commute. The Kim in beige is the softer, long, belted coat for the weeks between seasons, and the Rea in cream jacquard is the one for a ceremony.
Will a trench coat be too long if I am petite?
Choose the knee-length Rea rather than the long Clara or Kim if you are under 5 feet 4 inches, and tie the belt an inch above your natural waist to lengthen the leg. A trench that ends at mid-calf on a taller woman ends at the ankle on a petite one and swallows the frame. If the sleeve reaches the knuckle, a sleeve hem is a standard alteration.
What to do next
If your winter is wet and you walk, the Clara in navy is the coat; order the size you wear over a blazer and tie the belt at the waist the first morning. If your weeks are spring and fall, start with the Kim in beige, and if there is a ceremony in April, the Rea. The Clara is in the winter coats collection and the Kim, the Rea, and the Linea are in light coats; wool coat versus trench coat settles the question for anyone still weighing it.
