THE JOURNAL
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The Gallery: Five Massive Coats To Get You Through Bleak Midwinter
19 January 2021
We live on a warming planet, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still get very cold indeed. Climate change isn’t just leading to higher average temperatures around the globe. As residents of Madrid found out to their surprise last week, the disruption of weather patterns can also bring intense wintry conditions to places where they are least expected. In light of recent meteorological reports that the dreaded polar vortex, a pattern of cold air encircling the North Pole, has begun to collapse – and we all remember what happened last time it did that – now might be a good time to ask yourself whether your winter coat is up to the task ahead. If the answer is no, then read on. We’ve got just the thing for you.
01.
The king of coats
If you’re a sucker for fine fabrics, then we recommend that you check out Loro Piana, a historic Italian textile company turned purveyor of some of the world’s most impeccable menswear. Known primarily for the unrivalled quality of its cashmere, the brand does a fine line in technical fabrics, too. Its Storm System® treatment is a wind- and waterproof barrier that can be applied to even the most delicate of textiles without sacrificing any of their softness, and is put to good use on this majestic quilted cashmere coat. Yes, we did just say quilted cashmere coat.
02.
The high-altitude coat
The North Face’s two-tone puffer jackets have become something of an urban winter staple since the 1990s, but it’s the mountains where this brand feels most at home. Its Expedition System capsule, released late last year, recalls the brand’s director of equipment Ms Sally McCoy’s 1987 attempt to become the first American woman to summit Mount Everest, an expedition which inspired a range of specialist mountaineering jackets named after peaks, glaciers and national parks in the area. This, the Sagarmatha jacket, is our pick of the capsule, delivering serious insulation in a retro-cool package.
03.
The wear-everywhere ski coat
The absolute bare minimum requirement of a ski jacket is that it keeps you warm and dry, so they’re never a bad choice in extreme wintry conditions. The problem is, they’re often too garish or bulky to be practical when you’re not at a ski resort. This one, from Bogner, is a notable exception. Packed with all the technical features you’d expect of a jacket made by one of the most respected names in winter sports, it’s a rather sleek little number, to boot, with a greyscale camo print that’ll look just as good in the city or on the slopes.
04.
The out-of-this-world coat
With a hard-earned reputation as the world’s leading down-filled jacket brand, Moncler could easily have rested on its laurels. Instead, a few years ago, it decided to embark on a series of wild collaborations with fashion’s most forward-thinking designers. This Bacofoil-silver wearable duvet of a down jacket is a highlight of one of the brand’s most recent collaborations with fashion’s dark overlord, Mr Rick Owens, and unlike the sleeveless coats seen elsewhere in the collection, this one’s actually appropriate for winter.
05.
The franken-coat
Hailing from the same collaboration that brought us one of the most feverishly anticipated sneaker drops of recent years, the LDWaffle, this coat from Nike and Sacai takes the same “spliced” design approach that made the shoe such a hit. In this case, it’s the collision of heritage and technical fabrics – in the former case, a pale grey flannel, and in the latter, a white nylon shell – that immediately grabs the eye, and the eccentric details, such as the extra-long sleeves and button cuffs, that add the finishing flourish.
