I spent about three years convinced blue coats were a “safe” choice, the sort of thing you buy when you can’t decide on anything braver. I was wrong, and I’d like to apologise to blue, properly, because it took a coat the colour of a school swimming pool to show me that this is one of the least boring decisions you can make in outerwear. Navy behaves like a neutral but photographs like a colour, which is the whole trick. It sits next to black without an argument, but next to camel or grey it suddenly looks like you tried, even on days you very much did not.
The best ones earn their keep through the shape as much as the shade. A proper wool or wool blend with a bit of structure through the shoulder will do more for an outfit than anything cropped and flimsy, because a blue coat lives or dies on how it holds itself when you’re not thinking about it, on a platform, in a doorway, walking into a room ten minutes late.
Look for a collar that stands up to wind, buttons that feel like they’ll survive more than one winter, and a length that clears the ankle so it can go over boots without looking like you’re wading through it.
Styling it is the easy part once you stop treating blue as a colour that needs matching. Wear it over black and it looks sharp. Wear it over cream or grey and it looks considered without trying. Chuck it over denim and trainers for the school run or the office, and swap in a knife pleat trouser and boots when you actually want people to notice you walked in. It’s the one coat that will go from a Tuesday supermarket run to a proper dinner without you having to think twice, which is more than I can say for the burgundy one currently sulking at the back of my cupboard.
Occasion wise, this is your reliable one. Interviews, weddings you’re not in, the school gates, a work do you can’t get out of, all of it. It reads as put together rather than trying too hard, which, frankly, is the entire point of getting dressed most days.
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