Covert coat over a suit

[kolecho]

I was at Cordings looking through some casual trousers, and tried on some of their covert coats. I like the fawn coloured ones. Is that acceptable to go over a city suit?

[jpontin]

Of course.

[Raglan]

Kolecho,

I was thinking of buying a Covert coat when I was at Cordings a few weeks ago too. I too like the fawn colored ones - but be careful which collar you buy (they have a brown and a burgundy collar). I find the burgundy collar a bit more formal and dressy than the brown.

I think the Covert coat goes very well with a city suit. I believe it is a city coat anyway.

Good luck!

[Percy.Trimmer]

The covert coat was originally a country coat and in the UK remains so. Its typical habitat is the racecourse. It was also popular with works foremen and others employed out of doors in a supervisory (standing and watching) capacity.

The brown ones were not really seen in the city until a decade or so ago and then only in the autumn. In the past few years they have become much more readily available and in lighter (not really 'covert') fabrics. The Cordings coat is (or is claimed to be) the original and still comes in the heavier material.

If it is the City of London you are talking about, I would be cautious about wearing one as my only overcoat.

[Leonard Logsdail]

Sorry to disagree, but the covert coat has been around for more than a decade. In the late '60's and early '70's we were making a lot of them. All with the traditional stitching around the cuff and bottom of the coat. And people wore them with bowler's, too.

Leonard

[ER]

If you like the cut and style of a covert coat, but feel unhappy about wearing brown in town, covert coats are also available in charcoal covert cloth (and are usually trimmed with a black collar).

[bry2000]

It is common to see fawn colored covert coats in the City. Despite its country roots, I think it looks fine with City wear.

[Percy.Trimmer]

Sorry to disagree, but the covert coat has been around for more than a decade. In the late '60's and early '70's we were making a lot of them. All with the traditional stitching around the cuff and bottom of the coat. And people wore them with bowler's, too.

Leonard

You are right, of course. I am so ancient I find myself saying a 'decade' ago when I probably mean the 1960s.

[couch]

As so often, Tutee's posts from AA provide documentation in support of Leonard and Bry. Here from 1936 is a fawn covert coat with self collar but traditional edge stitching, observed over a navy town suit and homburg outside St. James's Palace (looks like corner of St. James's St and Cleveland Row). St. James's isn't the City, but hardly the country either. So you have 70 years of precedent:

[alden]

The fawn covert coat is listed on the Minimum wardrobe and as such is considered a wardrobe staple for country and city wear.

From my last inspection of the Cordings coats, I would not agree that they are made from the good heavy covert cloth of the past.

If you choose a covert cloth, color is as important as finish. Prefer a true fawn and nothing that is too light greenish. If you can find a covert with a bit more brown than the normal fawn, buy it and make a coat forthwith. Also choose a heavy covert cloth that has a bit of a wooly finish as opposed to the very smooth finished cloth normally seen on RTW variants.

I prefer the self facing collar as depicted in the AA illustration. As a matter of fact the illustration is just about perfect.

M Alden

[smoothjazzone]

Agree completely with Alden

There are three covert fabrics in the Harrisons overcoating book. There is a light version that is close to the one pictured in the illustration above, a darker brown that I like a lot (suits my skin tone much better) and a blue(?). These are 18 oz. fabrics with a wooly finish that Alden referred to. They seem plenty warm for their intended use (not a true dead of winter coat). Most other covert fabrics I have seen are not quite as nice as the Harrisons version.

The fawn covert coat is listed on the Minimum wardrobe and as such is considered a wardrobe staple for country and city wear.

From my last inspection of the Cordings coats, I would not agree that they are made from the good heavy covert cloth of the past.

If you choose a covert cloth, color is as important as finish. Prefer a true fawn and nothing that is too light greenish. If you can find a covert with a bit more brown than the normal fawn, buy it and make a coat forthwith. Also choose a heavy covert cloth that has a bit of a wooly finish as opposed to the very smooth finished cloth normally seen on RTW variants.

I prefer the self facing collar as depicted in the AA illustration. As a matter of fact the illustration is just about perfect.

M Alden

[jpontin]

I think the point is that the covert coat, which was originally associated with the country, and then subsequently with the racetrack, became an acceptable style of informal wear in the City by the 1930s. (Indeed, see Tutee's wonderful illustrations.) It is still a racy, somewhat rakish look--and not something that one would wear, even now, in a formal setting. But it is absolutely City wear: one sees it all the time in London.

A velvet collar can make it seem more citified, at least to my eye.

[couch]

Someone in another thread asked about Poole. Here's their current version of the fawn covert coat, in a heavy, textured cloth softened by 10% (if I recall correctly) cashmere. Their view is that the self-collar version sans edge stitching is less commonly seen (now that Lewin and many other firms besides Cordings offer readymade coverts) and thus more distinctive, but they will make up any traditional variation you prefer.

[Percy.Trimmer]

I think the point is that the covert coat, which was originally associated with the country, and then subsequently with the racetrack, became an acceptable style of informal wear in the City by the 1930s. (Indeed, see Tutee's wonderful illustrations.) It is still a racy, somewhat rakish look--and not something that one would wear, even now, in a formal setting. But it is absolutely City wear: one sees it all the time in London.

A velvet collar can make it seem more citified, at least to my eye.

Agreed. But I think that illustration warrants further discussion. That fellow outside St James's Palace is wearing brown shoes. I doubt he is going to work in the City. I suggest it is a Sunday and he has just come out of the Chapel Royal (open to the public) and is equpping himself for a walk in the park.

[Algernon]

But one must bear in mind that that was quite a while ago in terms of what is considered smart in mens' clothing. Nowadays the covert coat rarely looks out of place.

I agree that that AA illustration seems to depict the paradigm of covert coats.