Why are all winter coats black?

[macherie]

Surely on a miserable grey morning in the middle of November, leaving home in the dark it would do your heart good to put on a lovely deep red coat to cheer your day?

Well that's what I want, or maybe purple or even navy, surely that's not outrageous is it?

I have looked EVERYWHERE in RL and online.

95% of coats I have seen have been black, or a nice pooey shade of brown - who does that suit

it's a rubbish picture, but if i didn't already have a winter coat i'd be saving for one of these but in the blue fabric on the left of this picture

deep sigh...

I agree.
Why do we all have to dress like Albanian turnip gatherers?

this is a better picture of the coat but i don't like the purple.

btw the coat i already have is several shades of pooey brown and it suits me perfectly

Millenium, that's the first coloured/patterned coat I've seen!

I'm convinced that if someone set up in business making stylish colourful raincoats for spring and warm coats for winter they would be millionaires.

I found a lovely style of coat the other day, but black, the SA said that lots of people were looking for the same one in colours.

What's your budget for your winter coat?

Paul Smith usually does fab colourful winter coats. I bought a beautiful magenta coat from there 3 years ago and I absolutely love wearing it. So if you calculate cost per wear.....tis a bargain .

Last year I bought a dark grey reefer style coat to wear with jeans & converse and felt so miserable whenever I wore it. Am ebaying it this year.

any of these any good?

I don't think black is a practical colour at all - particularly if you have a coat in a particularly dust-magnet-ish fabric.

I don't want to get all "colour me beautiful" on yo' ass ( ) but many people shouldn't wear black anyway as it is so draining. Thus making most people look even more pale & drawn than they naturally would at that time of year anyway.

Agree with tulpe about black, as stylish as it is, it's very unflattering to those with a fair complexion, and that's definately me - in mid-winter I'm so pale I'm almost transparent. I have an array of scaves to detract from the black, but this year I'd really love to get away from it altogether.

I saw this and this today in Coast, they are both lovely but not quite what I want.

I'd be willing to go up to 500 for my dream coat, as I would wear it for years and them the cost per wear would be very reasonable

any of the middle 4 any good?

I just got a purple Edina Ronay coat in t k maxx... they had a great selection of coats, all different colours, styles etc.. worth a look if you've not tried there

red

purple

pink

love the coats in millenium's link

I like the Sonia Rykiel one, I have a navy peacoat by her for autumn and spring and it is tres chic!

The thing is I have a coat I love - it's down filled so toasty warm, but it's beautifully shaped so I don't look like the Michelin man, nipped in at the waist, a line skirt and a shawl collar that forms a hood. It's perfect, but it's black.

Searching thr web for down coats usually ends up with those landsend type ones with no style or shape. surely someone makes stylish ones with colour?

Sorry, I am fussy

I couldn't wear the red or the pink as my neck would be too cold ( again)

But I do like the purple anglomania one in the second link.

thanks for looking

I'm always afraid to go into TK maxx because I always come home with a pile of stuff I don't need but couldn't resist, last time was egyptian cotton sheets and metal drinking bottles, silicone baking moulds and leather photo albums, etc.

about 7 years ago, when money was tight(er) I got a redwinter coat from (wait for it) Dorothy Perkins!!! and it actually lasted very well.

And 2 winters ago, when I'd just had dc2 and didn't want to spending ££££ on a coat, I bought a black and white houndstooth-y, funnel-necked one by Red Herring at Debenhams. Was about £80 and I had no end of compliments on it including from one of my snootier fashionista editors

I love this.

I really love it.

The price is rather eyewatering though.

BUT, I usually wear a heavy coat from mid oct to mid april, so 6 months a year, 26 weeks, for say 3 years, 78 weeks, say 5 days a week, that's nearly 400 wears so 1.50 a wear - that's great value, right?

I need a coat enablers thread

Look at the pink - swoon

that's not so expensive. You don't need an enabler - your fashion maths is spot-on. £1.50 is less expensive that the second Starbucks that you'd be drinking to warm you up if you bought a second-rate coat from elsewhere.

Thank you Lucy! That's exactly the sort of thing I want to hear, because there is a tiny, little voice in my head telling me it's a profligate waste of money (funnily the voice sounds strangely like my MIL - not that I would dream of telling her how much I spend on clothes)

if my MiL was in my head telling me that something was a waste of money, I'd need no other excuse to buy it. I delight in going against her grain, even if only in secret.

I could tell you about a bad, bad thing I did to that end just recently ... but here's not the place.

I'll sleep on it, hate these schoolnights, bed at 10.