Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Unseasonably Cold

Shortly after reading about New York City's coldest August day, I was riding on the Avenues near San Francisco's Great Highway where I noticed people wearing heavy sweaters and parkas to keep warm. The weather made a reader's question about overcoats seem timely; he asked what might fall between the formality of a city coat, such as a polo or a covert, and an informal coat, like a Barbour or a shearling jacket. To me, that would be a country coat for wear over a jacket.



My own country coat is a light tweed topcoat with Raglan sleeves like the one worn by the man carrying the oar, above, but then I live in a place where the temperature might get down to freezing once every five years.

In colder climates the answer is something like the Ulster in the illustration above, made from 22 ounce or heavier (if it can be found) tweed. Brown or tan is the classic.


Gray or blue cloth makes for an in-between version that can be worn on informal occasions in the city.

Much as I like tweed, I'm not really ready for cold weather. Fortunately, in the Bay area, summer doesn't really begin until after Labor Day.


2 comments:

lorenzo said...

What about a loden fabric? It is relatively common in central Europe, not only fon hunting jackets, but also for city coats.

Will said...

I had a duffel coat made from loden cloth once upon a time, and I've seen some very nice hunting coats but nothing to wear over a jacket.

Send a photo if you have one.

 
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