Oh, thank God, it’s March, when even I can start believing that winter might one day end. ’Tis also the season when we can consider adding trans-seasonal jackets to our wardrobes, for those days when it’s too warm for the full winter coat, but too cold for coatless. (I never thought I’d type “trans-seasonal jacket”. I’m not entirely sure it’s a great leap forward in my development as a rounded human being, but I should probably get over it. Realistically, I haven’t developed in any meaningful way for years.)
So. Jackets. Joseph always does beauties, if you can get over the price tag. It takes a deep breath, but you can do it. I have. Twice. And the cost-per-wear ratio is excellent. Then again, Balenciaga has a blinding tweed jacket on matchesfashion.com for £1,195 and Chanel’s classic bouclé numbers might make you hyperventilate, but are worth every penny. So expensive is a relative term, and “Relatively cheap” is a marvellous enabling strategy. Many is the purchase I’ve justified on the grounds that, yes, £400 is a lot of money, but how much worse would it have been if I’d accidentally gone to Lanvin? I end such personal pep talks by concluding that I am almost wilfully frugal, verging on penny-pinching. (See what I mean about meaningful personal development?)
This year, I’m keen on the Joseph white Emanuelle double-breasted twill jacket with pleasing round gold buttons (£485; net-a-porter.com) and the white stretch-cotton twill peacoat (£545; also net-a-porter.com). At the other end of the scale, Next has a terrific white linen jacket for £40 (next.co.uk; don’t be put off by the styling in the catalogue – on the hanger, it looks great) and a navy and white stripe jersey blazer (£45). Marisota’s bright green military style up to a size 32 works the block-colour trend (£30; marisota.co.uk). Crumpet has a bijou cashmere biker jacket cardigan (£338, above; matchesfashion.com) and Hobbs the NW3 Goodison blazer (£169; hobbs.co.uk).
Jaeger’s knitted grey jacket trimmed in black is neat (£199; jaeger.co.uk) and I rather like the raspberry version, though I can’t for the life of me think what you’d wear it with. Topshop’s olive-coloured Ponte Brownie jacket is sweetly chic (£50; topshop.com) and it has a very Bianca Jagger ivory Seventies blazer for £65.
If you’ve been paying attention so far – and who could blame you if you haven’t? – you may have noticed I make no mention of either denim or leather. That’s because I think they’re a whole other story, which we will investigate together at some point in the future. This translates roughly as “when I’ve got off my arse and trawled the shops looking at them”. But we could usefully spend the time till then giving ourselves a talking-to about how little money we spend on our clothes relative to Carla Bruni, say, and urging ourselves to do better. By the end of today, I expect you to be convinced that 1,200 quid is a worryingly small amount to spend on a jacket, and considering doing the decent thing and upgrading to couture.