Cover-ups for April showers
Man Friday
While the world preoccupies itself with chatter over cover-ups with greater implications, permit us to keep this section currentaffairs-free and blissfully devoid of the latest circus at the not-so-whiter-than-white House. So in the hopeful supposition that you will, in fact, require a spring wardrobe in the coming weeks instead of a hazmat suit to stave off the nuclear Armageddon, it’s time to think about your jacket now that a shift in seasons is tentatively upon us. It’s been a winter of discontent (in so many ways), and one that’s dragged on endlessly. Which has resulted in cumbersome coats and swaddling jackets even as the cherry blossoms make a timid appearance.
Suede may be a tricky number for April showers, but it’s a winner for spring – just wait until the sky is a merry shade of blue. It’s supple and lightweight, but sturdy and substantial for transient weather and brings with it a richness and depth. It carries connotations of Davy Crockett-rustic Americana, but in varieties like the Harrington jacket or the bomber it looks sleek and dynamic, plus it’s highly strokeable.
The notion of utility workwear might seem best confined to the penny farthing-going hipsters of east London and Brooklyn, a breezy cotton jacket – one that might labour under the banner of “workwear” (that is clothes that were initially worn for blue collar work) – is an easy slip-on-and-go item for spring; the pared-back simplicity of it and lack of extraneous detail (bar patch pockets) make it a fluid, transitional item.
Which brings us neatly to a hybrid that’s been in the sartorial works for a while now; the “shacket”. That is, a halfway house between a shirt and a jacket, a garment that’s of a heavier bulk than a shirt but not as weighty as a jacket. It’s a category that’s grown to such a degree that e-tailer Mr P has an entire category devoted to the “shirt jacket”. And while a trench coat should always have a place in your wardrobe – it’s a classic linchpin alongside sharp jeans and a pristine white shirt – it’s also worth investigating the duster coat as a spring investment.
It might sound a tad industrial, but the duster coat evolved as a lightweight, sweeping item for 19th century pioneers to don as they rode horseback across the great plains to protect their clothes. And that unstructured silhouette and fluidity has followed suit in today’s interpretations, with rounded shoulders and raglan sleeves that are easily yanked. They also afford a pleasing degree of “swishing” as you make your way amongst the daffodils, but that might just be me.
Duster coats and workwear; outerwear got the shift in seasons, says Stephen Doig