With so much attention paid to the suit and what goes under it, it's easy to give short shrift to the final piece of the equation. But the overcoat shouldn't be something you just sling on as you head for the door; it is one of the most important, and often one of the most costly, items of clothing most of us will ever purchase.
Luxurious statement overcoats dominated the men's shows for winter, with some of the best seen at Burberry, YSL, Armani, Dior, Kenzo and Gucci. In the prescribed autumnal palette of greys, browns and khakis, the heavy-duty coat is cut to perfection and constructed from the finest fabrics.
Savile Row tailor Richard James (who, by way of alternatives for the price-conscious, has also just designed a new ready-to-wear collection for John Lewis) sought out the finest material for his snug version of the overcoat. His textural take on the concept is made from alpaca, the glossy yarn which is not entirely unlike human hair, and for which the llama-like animals of the same name have been domesticated in Peru for thousands of years. But that doesn't mean you have to wear it like some Andean mountain warrior - high-end teddy bears are sometimes made of lesser-grade variants of the very same stuff.
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