The Overcoat Is the Whole Outfit

Men agonise over suits and then throw a thin, short, badly cut coat over the top for the walk from the car. It is the wrong way round. The coat is seen by everyone in the street, in the restaurant doorway, at the school gate. The suit is seen by the people you sit with. If the budget is limited, put it in the coat.

The three coats

A man in a temperate climate needs three: a wool overcoat for cold and dry, a raincoat for mild and wet, and a casual coat for weekends. In that order of purchase.

• The wool overcoat. Navy or charcoal, single-breasted, knee length, in a 600 to 800 gram wool or wool and cashmere. Cut with enough room to wear over a jacket without pulling at the button. This is the coat for the suit, the dinner and the funeral. €600 to €1,500 buys a very good one.
• The raincoat. A trench in cotton gabardine or a bonded cotton mac in stone or navy. For the six months when it is not cold but it is wet. Belt optional, length to the knee. €400 to €1,200.
• The weekend coat. A waxed jacket, a field jacket, a duffle or a peacoat, depending on where you live and what you do at weekends. Built to be rained on and thrown in the boot. €300 to €800, and it will outlast the other two.

Between October and March a man is his coat. The suit underneath is a rumour.

Fit over a jacket

Try the overcoat on over the thickest jacket you will wear under it. The shoulder should sit a touch wider than the jacket shoulder, the sleeve should cover the jacket cuff by a centimetre, and you should be able to fasten every button and still raise your arms. Length: to the knee, or a hand’s width above it if you are short. Anything shorter is a car coat and stops working the moment you walk anywhere.

Double-breasted?

A double-breasted overcoat is the more elegant garment and the warmer one, since it doubles the cloth over the chest. It suits taller men and men who wear it fastened. If you tend to walk around with your coat open, single-breasted looks better.

Keeping it

A wide wooden hanger, a brush after each wear, and a cover in summer against moths. A good overcoat is relined once in its life and worn for twenty-five years. It is the only garment in most wardrobes for which that sentence is true.