The Lust for Heat

As the lust for heat has grown more and more intense since the cold weather has begun here in New York City so has the desire for beautiful jackets and coats. There are three coats that are must-haves and that once you have them you can pair them with nearly any old sweatshirt.

The three essentials are as follows:

1) The toggle coat.

2) A wool or tweed jacket/peacoat.

3) And vintage leather jackets.

There certain guidelines that should be followed when shopping for each of these essentials, sizing must be perfect, here's how to achieve perfection.

With the toggle coat you're going to want to get something long that stops right above the knees. Black is typically a very good color for coats, but in this case you're going to want to go with navy, navy will work with almost anything. The great thing about the toggle coat is that the buttons are easily accessible and there's enough room in it that you're able to layer sweatshirts, button-downs, cardigans, sweaters, etc. underneath it. For pants and shoes the toggle coat works nicely with a pair of John Varvatos or Sperry Topsiders.

The wool or tweed is simple and elegant. There are many variations of it but a personal favorite and highly popular one at the moment is the double breasted. The double breasted tweed looks similar to a blazer which makes it great for anywhere at anytime (indoors and outdoors). It's good to compliment the jacket, which is typically gray, with a striped-pattern shirt underneath. It's basically the same thing here as the toggle coat for shoes, but for pants you don't want to "DTM" (or death to match). If you have gray on-gray, on-gray, it appears to be too matched and then breaks the simplicity you should be going for. With any look you want to look good, but you don't want to look like you tried too hard, everything should blend and feel natural, if something doesn't seem right with an outfit, change, because you're telling yourself unknowingly that the outfit doesn't work.

Vintage leather jackets are a staggering piece this season. When trying-on a jacket you're going to continue going down a size until you can't get the jacket on, then buy the next size up. Leather is meant to feel snug, and will actually mold itself to your body. The traditional bomber is a must-have and looks excellent on anyone so long as the size is correct. For more info and pictures on how to get a leather jacket that fits perfectly check-out GQ's article "The Seven Mistakes We've All Made".

That's all for now, stay-tuned, later this week I'll be posting an article about shoes as well as matching clothing as well as this Spring and Summer's color trends.