A good coat asks very little of you, but it does ask two things: that you choose the right length, and that you let it be the loudest thing you are wearing. Get those right and everything under it can be quiet. Here is the house's plain advice — no rules you cannot break, but a starting point for the Alderfen and the coats around it.
First, the length
We cut the weathercoat in three lengths for a reason: they are three different lives.
- Short ends at the top of the thigh. It is the city length — good over tailoring, good on a bike, good when you sit down a lot. It reads modern and moves fast.
- Mid ends just above the knee. This is the one most people want and rarely regret. It covers a suit, flatters almost every height, and is the length the model wears in the campaign.
- Long falls to mid-calf. It is the dramatic, weather-serious length — the one for the open platform and the real downpour. It wants a flat shoe and a straight back.
When in doubt, Mid. The Short is a choice; the Long is a statement; the Mid is a coat you will wear for a decade without thinking about it.
Then, the throat
Most of a coat's character lives in the top two inches. Worn open, the Alderfen is relaxed, a little tailored, the Fen Weave lining just visible at the collar. Fastened to the storm-throat, it is all business — the line goes unbroken from chin to hem and you look like you have somewhere to be. Learn both. The same coat does a school run and a black-tie arrival depending only on those top buttons.
Underneath, go quiet
The coat is the event. Under it, we would put a Fen Roll-Neck in ink or the Fisher Cable Knit in ecru, a straight trouser, and a flat, honest shoe. One point of the house's own colour — a Fen Weave scarf at the throat, say — is plenty. Two accessories fighting for attention under a great coat is the most common way to spoil it.
Finally, look after it
A weathercoat is a ten-year proposition, not a season's. Shake it out and hang it wide-shouldered when it is wet; never tumble it dry. When it stops beading rain — every couple of years for a coat in real use — send it back to us. Reproofing is complimentary for the life of the coat. A coat that is cared for looks better at five years than at five weeks, which is rather the whole idea.
Choose your length on the Alderfen Weathercoat, or book a fitting and let an advisor help.