In defense of a HUGE coat wardrobe....... - YouLookFab Forum

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Dressing

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In defense of a HUGE coat wardrobe.......

dustt

Veteran

So Winter in the Upper Midwest keeps rearing it's head here and DH recently asked why oh why I need that closet full of coats. I tried last night to purge but came away only able to cull 3 of them. They all have their place depending on the weather - from the gianormous ivory knee length down puffer to the olive green quilted fall jacket - to the hot pink swing rain coat - to name just a few. As coats are not an inexpensive wardrobe addition, I have difficulty getting rid of well made, well fitting , not worn out coats even if they don't get weekly or even monthly wear in my long seasons of coating wearing. I'm interested in everyone's opinions on maintaining a substantial coat wardrobe, especially from those of you who share an incredibly long coat season. My runs from October to early May - thanks for your thoughts!!

Dressing

52 replies

Latest reply was from Dee

catgirl

Veteran

Yes. I could have a coat for every day of the year here. Dry cold, wet cold and every permutation in between. Temps from -30 to 80.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I have lots of coats too. An assortment of styles, colours, and levels of warmth. I have the climate and wear my coats a lot from Sept through to May. I love coats. More than jackets actually.

Gaylene

Veteran

You caught me on this one. I like to think I have a reasonably small wardrobe but I have a hard time maintaining that vision when I stare into our front hall closet and our downstairs "sports gear" closet! ( What? Doesn't everyone have a huge walk-in, sportswear/gear closet?)

Winter dress coat, pea coat, duffle coat, long puffer, short puffer, light-weight down sweater, two ski jackets--one older downhill (newest one is in aforementioned gear cupboard!) and one cross country-- heavy duty Canada Goose for really cold weather, fleece jacket and shell for layering weather, fall/winter cycling jacket, leather jacket ... OK, going to stop now because I'm typing on my iPad.

Seriously this just covers what is in the upstairs closet. Seasonal wear for spring and early fall, rainwear, golf jackets, and other gear wear is in that walk-in sports closet. In my defense, it all gets worn, and several items have been there for 8-10 years--good gear takes a long time to wear out. And I usually upgrade, or swap out, for technical, rather than fashion, reasons--or so I tell myself

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I forgot to mention dustt, that you have my coat support. And what Gaylene says makes sense. Why not. If you love coats and can wear them in your climate - milk it.

qfbrenda

Veteran

I don't have a huge coat closet but I'm thankful for each one. My climate is similar to Angie's, though with more rain, and I use my coats for so many months that some variety is a great thing. If I lived where we had serious winter, I would want plenty of coats.

Laurinda

Veteran

Furthermore, for several months on the tundra many people see ONLY your coat or parka. (I even have a wool scarf wardrobe).

karymk

Veteran

I have waaaay too many coats for a person who lives in southern Cal.

Day Vies

Veteran

I am all for having different types of coats. I have different colors, lengths, and fabrications. When I wear them all depends on the temperature and the dressiness of my outfit. You shouldn't have to wear an item every single day just to feel as if you're using it. The mere fact that it's ready to go when you need it and it looks great after more than 2-3 seasons is a wonderful perk of having several coats (no one coat get worn completely out in a short amount of time). I have no intention of getting rid of any coats anytime soon.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I only have two rain coats and three winter coats (in Canada) and I am firmly convinced this is nowhere near enough and I need to add to this immediately. Coats are crucial in our climate and wearing the same one day in and day out is a major pain. You have my complete support.

Anonymous

I have:
6 long wool coats, 3 short wool coats, 2 puffers and several lighter jackets on rotation. I also have 4 trench coats and other jackets for different temperatures / weather conditions. I have many more though!
I have a lot of coats and I prefer it that way. Is the thing people notice on the streets and what most of the world see me wearing in winter. I'm team multiple coats!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Guilty! I sometimes can't discern between coat and jacket but between the two I have a good twenty.

Diana

Veteran

I don't have as many coats as pairs of boots. And since I wear one of each pretty much every day in winter I think there's still room for more coats.

rachylou

Veteran

Thank you for your defense of the huge coat wardrobe I live in coats personally. I didn't even put away my puffer in the summer!

dustt

Veteran

I'm feeling much better - and awfully glad of my options this afternoon - the wind chill unexpectedly sent the feels like temp - down to 11 this afternoon!! - Hey it's only November - I am embracing the coat collection!!

Caro in Oz

Veteran

It never gets really cold here but I love ALL my coats

Makrame

Veteran

I am struggling with the same question (even as I am looking out the window as the snow swirling around in the backyard ). Like Gaylene, I think that since coats last a long time, it is not such a bad idea to keep them around. I have a jacket I use for downhill skiing (like Gaylene's, it is in our "gear" closet) that I bought 10 years ago, and I still use it once or twice a year when we go skiing. I also have a cross-country jacket that I hope will last for 5-7 years. I bought a navy peacoat this year and am contemplating adding a brightly colored peacoat as well.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

How huge is HUGE? I have 2 trenches, one leather jacket, 2 short wool coats, one long wool coat, one wool cape and one puffer. I don't consider it even on the BIG scale, leave alone HUGE. I live in Canada so my coat season lasts for 7-8 month of the year and a girl has to have her variety, no?
I shudder to think of the time not long ago when I had one winter coat and one fall coat and thought it is enough...silly me!

deb

Veteran

Even though it gets cold here in northern California I only have three coats, A knee length, a pea coat and a rain coat.

Carla

Veteran

I have a small coat wardrobe: grey menswear style at the knee for most days going to work in cold and snow (-10 to -40 deg. C). Black 'tapestry' to the knee length, but not as warm, but easier to move in for running around doing errands, and 5 to -15 deg C. Gear style puffy coat (for snowboarding, shovelling snow, the coldest days...and usually paired with 'puffy pants' on the coldest of days.)

2 trench coats: tan and black. 2 leather jackets: cognac and eggplant. These are spring, summer, fall coats.

(FWI worth, this am I wore my gear coat to the Sportsplex for my am swim. Later I switched to my tapestry coat for the grocery run. It is -15deg C and feels like -20 with the windchill. I'm staying in as much as possible!)

dustt

Veteran

ok - Sveta - here's the count.... this is embarrassing...
grey herringbone tweed long wool
pale blue classic single breasted knee length dress coat
camel cashmere swing coat
burnt orange above the knee wool cashmere classic button up
long ivory down puffer
brown down over the bum parka
ivory short down ski coat
olive green quilted fall zip jacket
orange quilted fall zip jacket
short Kelly green trench style rain jacket
mid thigh hot pink hooded rain coat
classic burberry trench with lining (had it since 1983!!)
2 throw on Patagonia down sweater jackets - brown & aqua
black North Face windblock heavy fleece (for use with down vests)
black single breasted trench with zip in liner
mustard gold double breasted mid thigh trench
pink flannel lined barn coat
4 down vests
Navy Barbour Bedale - it's at least 20 years old but a work horse for dog walking, yard and boat stuff - if not exactly fashionable!!
4 foul weather jackets for various conditions

Ok so how weird is it that only one of these coats is black....

K. Period.

Veteran

Not weird at all! It sounds to me like you have reason to and do treat your coats as your outfit completer pieces. That's perfectly logical. It also explains why you don't have many black pieces. I have a large coat collection too and am perfectly happy to keep it that way, even though I have been culling much of my day-to-day wardrobe.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

ppppssssstttttt....ladies. Leather jackets are not coats.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

dusst, I want to come and play in you coat wardrobe: it sounds amazing!
Angie, I count my leather jacket as a coat because it is strictly an outerwear: too warm and thick leather to wear indoors. My other 3 leather jackets which I wear indoors are on the blazer / jacket roster

Carla

Veteran

What Sveta said. My leather jackets are warm! And worn strictly as outerwear. How should they be classified, if not as 'coats'?

Lucy

Veteran

I think you can easily justify you live in a cold climate.
But can I??? I live in Sydney! So not very cold at all!
My defence is firstly that I do feel the cold, so I need more warm items, and second, that when I am on campus, I tend to keep my coat on all day, as nothing is very well heated. So if I had only two coats, there would be two or three months a year when I would wear the same toppers all day everyday.
But really, I think I just love coats.

Mia

Veteran

Women usually need way more coats and shoes than men in my experience.

I have a (large) closet full of coats. Luckily my husband does too and he probably has more clothes than I do but that is another story. We actually asked the builder to put in large coat closets in our "mud room" when we built our house and I have never regretted it.

In my defence I live in climate suitable for coats, I am out and about a lot and I have accumulated them over 10-12 years. I purge the "fashion moment" stuff but a lot of mine are classics like trench, peacoat, parka etc and were expensive so they have longevity relative to other wardrobe items.

Echo

Veteran

I'd be afraid to count. I have countless coats and if we add jackets into the mix and count outerwear as a whole, then it really gets ridiculous. However, in my defense, our jacket/coat season lasts better than half the year, and all people see while I am out most of the time is my coat and scarf and boots. I put major emphasis on coats and scarves for winter, as those are things I wear every.single. day.

unfrumped

Veteran

My climate is milder and coat capsule not huge but gets comments from DH , too.
Lightweight coats can be more useful to me than blazers and are easier to style with outfits ( tops and bottoms) because the proportion, color and fabric issues are more forgiving than jackets.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

More coat support. I have a short and mild winter and still cannot stop collecting coats.

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