The Underappreciated Overcoat
I always think of a men's overcoat as a particularly grown-up item of clothing. I remember when I was 15 I went to Antique Boutique on Fifty-ninth Street in New York to buy a vintage men's black overcoat for myself. Even the smallest size was too big on me, but I didn't care--I just desperately wanted to look like Molly Ringwald at the end of The Breakfast Club with Judd Nelson's overcoat draped over her shoulders. I grew up at least two years in an instant just by walking around in that coat. I also remember my father telling me that when he was 14, he would put on his father's overcoat, perch himself on top of two firm pillows in the driver's seat of his father's car, and illegally drive around Palm Beach at night when his parents were out at cocktail parties.
Regardless of the mature, upstanding image of the tailored overcoat, there are many new versions today, or just new ways of wearing them, that make me look at them in a different context. I've noticed more than a few men wearing sporty outerwear--such as a down vest or windbreaker--under their overcoats. I happen to really like this look. There is an Italian outerwear company called Fay (sold at Barneys) that stitches a cashmere cardigan or down vest "dickey" inside the lapel of the overcoat so it's actually all one piece. Clever. I've also seen pea coats and duffle coats that have been morphed into longer, more structured version of themselves. But perhaps the most inventive overcoat design I've seen is the Inverness cape made by Harris Tweed (an old-school English tailor) in 1947--it was a belted tweed overcoat with sleeves that could be unzipped up the side to turn the coat into a cape. Sounds suspect I know--but it looks cool to me. See for yourself below.
I like the shorter length of my friend Stewart Shining's overcoat. I also love his chunky cardigan worn underneath--it's a great contrast to the formality of the coat. Bleecker Street, NYC, December 2007.
Wearing many layers always has a younger, more casual effect. Christopher Walken, 1975. (Credit:Getty)
The toggles and trench-coat details (shoulder yoke, wrist strap) give this coat two extra doses of personality. Prince Street, NYC, December 2007.
American theatrical producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. wore a traditional overcoat with his signature white flower (a gardenia?) in the lapel. I LOVE it! 1925. (Credit: Getty)
This gentleman groovified his classic overcoat with no less than two scarves, a fedora, and sunglasses. Greene Street, NYC, December 2007.
The Inverness tweed cape made by Harris Tweed. The man wearing it was on his way to the International Wool Secretariat exhibition called "A Day in the Life of a Man." The IWS was a company that promoted the use and export of Australian wool, working with textile companies, designers, and retailers. London, 1947. (Credit: Getty)
A New York City man wears a more "street" version of an overcoat-cum-cape. He looks fantastic, but it's hard to imagine many men pulling off this look. 1975. (Credit: Getty)
This guy looks almost too run-of-the-mill for my taste, however his turned-up collar gets me just interested enough. Madison Avenue, NYC, December 2007.
Cary Grant, the original George Clooney, looks dapper to say the least in his strictly tailored overcoat. London (on his way home to visit his mother in Bristol), 1946. (Credit: Corbis)
In veering from my usual taste for seventies pics of the British Royal Family, here's one of Prince Charles on a farming tour in 1999. I like his coat, but if my guy were to wear it, I'd want to see it worn with a bit more irony (see photo below). But I've gotta give it up to him for the long-stemmed flower tucked into his lapel.
I ADORE this man. He wears a double-breasted tweed overcoat much like Prince Charles's one above, but in a far more casual, inventive way. In the sixties, no less! 1965. (Credit: Getty)
Even though this guy's look does not immediately appeal to me--too straightforward, too manufactured, and what's with the hair?--I feel he has a strong sense of his own style, and it's important to acknowledge that. And I do love a classic camel overcoat. East 60th Street, NYC, December 2007.
It's hard to look great standing beside Marlene Dietrich. But her husband, Rudy Sieber, does his best in a flecked-tweed coat worn over a chalk-striped suit. Paris, 1938. (Credit: Getty)
Here's an example of outerwear (in this case a down vest) under the overcoat that I was talking about in my text above. East Sixty-first Street, NYC, December 2007.
I put this picture of Sam Buffa in my best-dressed blog last week, but I've included it again here in the context of coats because I love his half-peacoat/half-overcoat so much. I was tired of seeing Sam in the context of the Freemans store backdrop where I normally photograph him, so I asked him to walk with me around the corner to the New Museum on Bowery to take his picture--he and his clothes look completely different in the new context! December 2007.
Its a bit hard to wear a down vest under an overcoat especially for those of us who follow the fashion rule that overcoats should be the same size as suits.