Coat Crazy

I live in a state where we only really need coats for two and a half months each year. For the other nine and a half months, a light jacket, cardigan, three-quarter sleeved sweater or (most often) an air conditioning unit will suffice.

Nevertheless, when I feel the first shiver of fall, I am overjoyed to start shopping for coats. That's right, coats plural. In entirely impractical colors and over-feminized shapes. This year I'm dying for an eggplant purple coat - and since it hit fifty degrees for about an hour last night, I feel totally justified in my quest.

If I were granted an entire wardrobe of coats, I think it'd include the following:

For football games and strolling through Fall for Greenville next month. (Target)

See above. Go Tigers! (Boden)

A trench for the mid-fall chill...this is the Bow Shoulder version by Juicy.

A dijon-colored corduroy jacket for chilly cubicles and boring jeans and white shirt days. (Gap)

Add in black flats and a scarf, then move to England to reside inside Boden's catalogs forever. They're so happy there!

To be clear, this gorgeous bow-neck coat is red - not garnet. (Red Valentino)

You know I love the purple, if not the price. (Sonia Rykiel)

Imagine this mustard yellow on someone wearing more clothes than this model (wow, cleave) but sporting less of a jaundiced hue than, say, myself. Love the tie belt. (VS. Really!)

An evergreen bargain from Old Navy.

A classic red Ralph Lauren peacoat

Boden offers this in red and purple, too, but I'm loving the contrast of brass buttons on black.

I love a chocolate brown coat, especially this belted one with fuller sleeves. (Mackage)

I know, I know - you're tired of purple already. Last one, I promise. (Boden)

A pretty camel coat with bell sleeves - and a smaller-than-your-mortgage-payment (ahem, Saks) price.
Steal! (Old Navy)

If Old Navy's camel coat is too basic for you, skip the scarf and go with Milly's Darling coat. (Saks, via PIPM)

J. Crew rarely goes wrong with ruffles.


I love this jacket for holiday parties and dull work days alike. (Boden. Yes, again.)

Not Quite an Honorable Mention:

Does anyone really need a silk faille trench coat, Oscar de la Renta? Not to question your judgment, but I envision a trench coat being worn on a cloudy (if not rainy) day. Perhaps I'd just sport your silk faille version indoors??