I've decided to look for one or two new winter "dress" coats. This is long, but describes my thought process. I'm ok with my gear and puffer coat/jacket collections, but my "wool" dress coat collection needs some sprucing up. Would love to hear any and all inputs/suggestions/comments.
Practicality
I live in cold snowy New England so coats are a must, and I long ago realized that a collection of coats is a must.
I'm not making budget a major factor here, I've spent under my usual budget this year and am not all that strict about it in general. I know good coats are pricey but I'd prefer not to go much over $300 unless it's really perfect.
What I Have Now
I have three coats bought in the last year or two, that are only good for late fall and early spring. Nutmeg, medium brown w/fur collar, and a short pea coat in a grey leopard pattern. (First 3 finds). Really like them all but not good for winter.
For winter coats, I have two thigh-length ones (red and black), and three knee length ones (black, royal blue, red). These are mostly several years old. The black one I only wear for funerals or very dressy events. The knee length black one is the one I wear the most. I also have a thrifted pendelton plaid one where I need to move the buttons so it has not proven itself yet. So, other than black I have NONE in neutral colors, or light colors in general. I'm a little tired of all of them.
Sizing
This is one garment where I MUST go with petite sizing to get the waist, pockets, etc in the right place. So it's online shopping all the way, which is a pain because coats are bulky and heavy.
What Styles & Colors?
I'm generally ok with classic styles, but have to be careful about ones that are too boxy. Would also like something that looks more modern, but not full-blown trendy. I have wanted a dress coat in a camel color for as long as I can remember. I think of them as classy and luxurious and the color would work well for me.
Why I don't have one is a mystery to me. Lately I've been wanting one in light grey too, in part because I wear so much light and medium grey and love it. The nutmeg fall coat is a great color too and a winter coat in that color would work well. Maybe a print/texture like herringbone would be good. Prefer lighter neutrals, no brights.
What I want
I'm thinking I'd like a knee length (or slightly longer) camel one (or a nutmeg color) and a slightly shorter grey one. Maybe a print like herringbone. No faux fur, might consider that as a wild card but not as part of this search. Of course I'm seeing some limited sections already, should have started two months ago!
So what am I going to do?
I'll continue trying them on in stores in regular sizes and any petites I see but I don't have high expectations.
Online, Nordstrom has very few of what I want (surprisingly), and Lord& Taylor has NONE so I'm going to start with Macys. I'll check back on Nord and L&T from time to time. I recently tried Macys' ship-to-store feature and it's great, I'll use that. It's just like the Nordstrom service, but unlike Nordstrom, at Macys you can do it with all items, where Nordstrom only allows it for a small number of their items (at least that's how it works near me). Other places I might try include Ann Taylor (they have some fun styles) , Talbots, JCrew (although their petites are mostly too small for me), LLBean/Lands End (finding their styles a bit too classic for me these days). Maybe I should check out Neiman Marcus for sales, they do carry petites and have sales sometimes. And I guess I should look at Bloomindales online although the closest one to me is an hour away and I never think of them. Plus Nordstrom Rack.
