a waterproof coat that's above the knee, doesn't look like a quilt and doesn't make me look like I need a rucksack and walking boots?

[navyeyelasH]

I need a warm, waterproof, hooded coat that doesn't make me look like a twat. Is that too much to ask

I have this and it is very nice. Needs a hat.

this patagonia coat looks warm, shame about the price.

I don't get it Navy do you mean you wear them for work or your bosses have one??

I was a nanny btw and have the rainyday mac from last year...must have turned frumpy!!

princessmel I just mean my bosses are very boden-esque; I have nothing against boden I like some of their stuff so don't take it as an insult! All the women I work for (5 of them) have the same boden raincoat! And in the autumn/spring they all ahve the same velvet red one.

francaghostohollywood that coat does look snug and has a nice shape too; but my eyes sting at the cost! I'll be saving for a few years before I can get that one!

Romanarama that is a good one, my boobs are too big I think. Plus a hood is a must as I ahve long hair so a hat wont cut it.

Has anyone ever seen a winter coat in electric blue or purple? Everything is black/brown/white. It's at time like this I wish I knew something about makign clothes!

somebody linked this one as well before:
North face

;)

hehe!

I am very tempted by the aigle coats that people keep linking to - has anyone actually got one/tried one on irl that can tell me how they come up size -wise.
I am a short-arse size 8 with small shoulders - hate it when the shoulders of my coat are too big but also dislike it when they are cut to tight under arms/ can't wear a thck jumper underneath. Should I go for a french 36 or 38 - a 36 in Zara is usually too small but I tried on a puffa coat in Maxmara the other day and was coming up as an italian 36/UK 6.
All the Aigle stockists are in deepest Derbyshire/Cumbria so nowhere near me to try and really can't be faffed with all this posting backwards and forwards lark - having really bad run of disappointing internet purchases needing to be returned.

I have ordered

this one

but I have already gone off it and it's not due to arrive till tomorrow
I think I'm going to send it straight back and get one of the Aigle ones instead - although am rather torn between the Aigle puffa and the Aigle waterproof trench......

I have the Merrell Haven , I bought it on Friday, came yesterday, I am very happy with it, have written about it on here before. here

It does what it says on the tin, imho.

North Face Grace
It is waterproof, not so unstylish that it'll make people gasp in horror, and the hood is actually useful.
I have had compliments on mine.
My only quibble is that I am 5'8" and it is probably a better fit on someone of around 5'4" or 5'5", judging by where the waist sits on me.

Now please don't ask me to find it online, I haven't had my tea yet, but anyway, it is called North Face Grace. If you are lucky you can find it in fleece-lined or unlined, three or four colours.

I did write to the company when I got my version (I have the unlined one and wore it all spring/summer in the rain ) to say if they did it in good colours and perhaps with a patterned lining, they'd clean up, but I was too chicken to link to the many MN threads on the subject and got a polite reply from someone who seems to think we are a nation of women who are happy in shapeless hillwalker-lilac jobbies. But I did try.

KristinaM is right
"you can be any two of

warm, stylish, waterproof

but not all three "

and you know it REALLY winds me up!

This country is WET, often
COLD, in winter and spring too
and nobody really wants those 3-in-one things from Berghaus.
Any jacket with a bit of style (like that page of North Face ones linked to earlier) stop at the hipbone for me - what is the point of that in winter? Yes if you are going from the car to school in the south of England, but what if you live anywhere with serious weather - you can't have a wet, cold arse all day!

So why is there this gap in the market? Anyone reading these threads, every autumn and every spring, could in theory clean up, if they just filled that gap...why don't they?

I agree about it being ridiculous that a good, warm, waterproof coat seems such a difficult thing to find, my coat is close, just a pity about the colours (they are okay), and I would have liked it to be knee length.

Prunerz - I have thought about writing to the company and saying how much I love the coat, but couldn't they do a longer version, with more colours.

I got a lovely waterproof hooded raincoat in MaxMara a couple of weeks ago. It is not warm, however - I cannot abide those padded/duvet jackets. But sort of cape-like and roomy enough for thick sweaters.

i rest my case anna . stylish and waterproof but not warm

Sure, but because it is cape-like it enables me to put warm things under it - unlike a fitted mac.

Someone linked to here on another thread - they are not exactly stylish but they are at least warm and waterproof. Available here but still very much walking/sport/outdoors type coats.

Here's the North Face Grace that Prunerz mentioned...

That's the unlined version that I have. DH had to get it from the US.

They do a version with a fleece lining too.

I agree with Prunerz, I found it incredibly difficult to buy warm clothes/jackets/coats in the little town I used to live in the UK. It was impossible, for instance, to buy wool jumpers. Why?

There are coats out there, it just requires more effort than it should to find them. I have given up on the high street when it comes to clothes that keep me warm and dry.

I agree with Franca, and it's really difficult to get wool clothes for kids too, whereas in Italy where it's miles warmer it's easier. I have a stock of cotton-on-the-inside, wool-on-the-outside vests from Prenatal to insulate my children. I highly recommend them.