The London Lounge

Gentlemen:

If you were to have only one overcoat other than a rain coat, what would it be?

Why?

Probably the one, and only, I have now: camel.

A civilian SB version of the guard's coat or an SB Raglan in navy medium cashmere for mild zero degree Centigrade Winter use.

It's best to start with the classics. I would recommend a charcoal gray herringbone, set-in sleeve, fly-front wool chesterfield. It's a very elegant and simple overcoat. The set-in sleeve better defines the shoulder line, and looks more formal than the raglan sleeve, which originated in sportswear. I bought one as my first overcoat years ago from Brooks Brothers, and it's still my favorite coat. You can wear it with everything from a blue blazer to a dinner jacket.

Here's an example: http://www.eddiejacobsltd.com/images/co ... at_02b.jpg

It's best to start with the classics. I would recommend a charcoal gray herringbone, set-in sleeve, fly-front wool chesterfield. It's a very elegant and simple overcoat.

Very good advice.

Minh, its nice to see you here. What would you say to the same Chesterfield with a peak lapel?

Cheers

Michael

To Carl, Cary and Happy:

You can't make it through life with just one overcoat or just one raincoat, not if you want to keep warm and dry, and you don't need an extensive collection of them. A handful should suffice.

To Minh and Alden:

To start with a charcoal grey herringbone single-breasted Chesterfield makes a great deal of sense--good for business, good for evening wear--and Michael's suggestion of peak lapels lends a certain elegance to the coat. Now, in no particular order, you might want to eventually add a dark tan camelhair, a navy blue wool-and-cashmere blend, a handsome tweed or two, and a rich black camelhair-and-cashmere blend for formal affairs. Toss in a single-breasted belted raincoat with set-in sleeves, which looks better over a suit or odd jacket than a raglan-sleeve trenchcoat, and pick up a beautiful silk raincoat on your next trip to Milan or Florence for travel needs. Some gorgeous fedoras wouldn't hurt, either.

JMB

Dark tan I'm probably getting this week. A nice ink-blue is on my short list- same color in a fedora as well, and a gray fedora come to think of it.

Looking back on my life, there are one thing or the other I would make the other way if I had to start all over again.
But my first overcoat for cold days again would be a long, nice falling and draping City SlipOn, camel coloured and camel haired.
It's good to be sure at least about one thing in ones life, that it was not the false decision...

Servus,
Camlot

Camlot

Do you mean a Polo in camelhair like this one?



Michael Alden

Actually, my own next OC project (if we are able to make the tweed overcoating in the clothclub) is this model:



I am also looking for a dark camelhair to make a proper Polo coat but the weightiest cloth I can find is 650 gms and that is fine for a jacket but a wee bit light for a Polo.

Cheers

M Alden

Camlot wrote:But my first overcoat for cold days again would be a long, nice falling and draping City SlipOn, camel coloured and camel haired.

Hi - what would that look like? SB, DB, peak or notch lapel? I apologize but I am not sure what a city slipon might look like (and I am also considering a first coat).

JDelage wrote:

Camlot wrote:But my first overcoat for cold days again would be a long, nice falling and draping City SlipOn, camel coloured and camel haired.

Hi - what would that look like? SB, DB, peak or notch lapel? I apologize but I am not sure what a city slipon might look like (and I am also considering a first coat).

Back in those days when BURBERRY was still "Burberrys" and Haymarket was a very, very British address, not just the "Flagship Store" of an Italian Outfitter, who purchased a world-wide known English brand's name of the highest pedigree, their classic single-breasted-city-raglan "Commander" was listed as a "City SlipOn"-Coat on their order forms. It was available in all kind of materials, from herringbone tweeds to black/white houndstooth-cashmeres, from olive whipcoard to navy "Burella" ( a rainproof garment in pure wool ),
and also in a variety of solid coloured camelhairs, cashmeres, merinos and blends of them. And of course in all their famous weatherproof gabardines and popelines.
Quality AND Cut were much different from today's. The Cut was something like we on the continent called "Princess-Cut" ( I know, sounds womanish ) , looking slim around the shoulders and wide around the knees, somehow an inverted V -shape. The original raglan sleeve, to my knowledge available until the late 1960ies, was cut from one piece and had no seam on the outside, therefore the shoulder was very clean, round and seamless.
Back then, I was about 17 or 18 years old , I had not found "my" style, but i was a good "spectator": after I had seen then admired stars of the screen like Louis Jourdan, Helmut Berger, Rod Taylor and Lino Ventura appear in films wearing a camelhair City-SlipOn it happened that I was in the "Red Saloon", the bar room of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, when Richard Burton walked in, wearing an unbuttoned camelhaired/camelcoloured City-SlipOn over his Tuxedo. And man, was that looking great!
I had to have such an overcoat!
The winter of the following year I had it. Custom made by my familiy's tailor. Not because I was that "rich", but because custom tailoring in those days was less expensive than today , a single stock-order for a Burberrys Commander in camelhair to be imported from England to Austria would have cost at least the same as my bespoke one, made after a Commander Raincoat I already had as a template.
Nothing to regret - it was a perfect decision. For many years it was my one and only overcoat for colder days and as I said, if I had to start again, the nature coloured Camelhair CitySlipOn again would be my choice.

Servus,
CAMLOT

I've been using a black overcoat (the style Roetzel refers to as the 'Crombie', though it's not made by that brand) for a few years now, and it's been a good and faithful servant (though it needs replacing by now). I think it's a useful style - I tend to use it for smart casual nights out as well as wearing it to court, and it does both well in my opinion. A Chesterfield might be a bit formal for the latter, so I suspect that I'll buy a new Chesterfield in charcoal grey for work and use the Crombie for other things. I've been able to get by perfectly well with just the Crombie, though, so I think it'd be my choice if I had to have just one.

There are others that I hanker for, though - my head was turned by a navy-blue Marines/Civil Defence style double-breasted overcoat only the other day, and I've seen a rather dashing dark grey covert coat with peak lapels around recently too. I also liked David Morrissey's frock coat in the Christmas episode of Dr Who - in a slightly less conspicuous colour, I feel it'd be a worthwhile addition for those occasions where a little flamboyance is warranted.



What do you think? A little dandyish, possibly?

"Ricky, I am shocked, SHOCKED" . . .
Not about the gambling in Rick's Cafe Americain discovered by Captain Renault but by the absence of a traditional British Warm in the suggestions. I totally agree a proper Chesterfield should be the starter, preferably with a velvet collar, but the next acquisition should be a camel colored British Warm. Nipped in a bit at the waist and with the epaulettes, it is smartly cut and presents a serious business image. Got mine at Number One Saville Row in 1998, loved it ever since.

And, Sir, don't forget the velvet collar (remember not to add the velvet to the lapel). Make sure it's detachable, probably either with hooks or stud buttons to the inner side of the collar.

Also, a good tailor should use darts and side seams to bring about the effects of a suppressed waist without the use of a waist seam, as the Chesterfield was developed partly to replace the frock overcoat. Otherwise one may be mistaken for an overprosperous-looking businessman instead of being a well-dressed gentleman.

alden wrote:

It's best to start with the classics. I would recommend a charcoal gray herringbone, set-in sleeve, fly-front wool chesterfield. It's a very elegant and simple overcoat.

Very good advice.

Minh, its nice to see you here. What would you say to the same Chesterfield with a peak lapel?

Cheers

Michael