My mum has a great coat. It's massive. It's cashmere. It's camel. It's long. It's warm. It looks like it's fresh out of a 90s thriller like Patriot Games. She wore it on her Grand tour of Europe with her best friend, and then later when she took me when I was a little thing. As with everything good in her wardrobe, it now belongs to me, but I wear it to far less glamorous places, like the Beresford hotel and Mickey's Cafe. But I don't wear it that much because the size has always been off-putting. I do love an oversized cut an extra-wide silhouette but, like most people I find it difficult to work out just how to make it work. I never know quite how to play with proportion, especially with something that big - do you try a big/small thing with cropped trousers and a fitted sweater? Or do you just embrace the thing for what it is and wear all your favourite cosy pieces that truly embody the description "tent-like"? These are the pressing issues of keenly felt sartorial urgency that dominate my waking hours.
Once again, as always, Phoebe Philo points us in the right direction. Her new winter collection for Celine is replete with slacks with swagger, out-sized toppers and wide, almost cowl-like turtlenecks. The pants and the tops were nice, of course, and there was something quite sporty about the structured zip necklines and the graphic racing stripes that were slicked, paint-like down side-seams. But it was the coats that really made an impact. They had swagger and movement and, with the collar turned up and hands thrust deep into the pockets they were mysterious yet casual all at the same time. One spectacular number had a glossy burgundy fur collar against a navy blue wool outer. They had a touch of the 80s technicolour to them, and quite a large dash of 90s XXL minimalism. And then there was something else. That nonchalant, getting-shit-done, deep pockets, rolled up sleeves, nice-and-warm-to-keep-you-from-catching-a-cold kind of sensibility that Philo has in spades. It might be because she doesn't really care too much about "fashion" such as it is, or it might just be that she has other things on her mind. But no matter what, hail or shine, pregnancy or none, Philo always gets the coats dead right. Massive. Cashmere. Long. Warm. Fresh out of a 90s thriller. Practically perfect in every way.
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