Men's overcoats come in seven classic styles, and each arrives with a history, a cloth and a particular kind of weather in mind. This guide takes you from the Chesterfield to the duffle coat, with advice on colour, weight and what to wear underneath, so the first thing anybody sees of you is worth seeing.

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The outer layer

Why Your Overcoat Is the First Thing People Notice

Before anyone sees your suit, your tie or the sports jacket you chose with such care, they see your overcoat. It goes with you into the interview, onto the train and past the person you half recognise on the pavement. A beautiful suit under a tired coat is a story with a disappointing first chapter.

The overcoat is also the garment that gives you the most room to play. It does a great deal of what Americans call the heavy lifting, which means it can carry an outfit that is otherwise relaxed. Wear it over a jacket and chinos, or over jeans and a sweater, and the whole arrangement reads as an effort made. Overcoats are cut from some of the most interesting cloths in tailoring, from herringbone and melton to tweed and felted loden, so they also give you texture you rarely meet in a suit. Choose well and a single coat will see you through many winters.

That matters wherever the weather turns cool and damp. If you live in a temperate climate, the colder and wetter months call for something between you and the elements, and that something may as well be good.

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Seven classics

What Are the Main Types of Men's Overcoat?

Several overcoats are named after the cloth they are cut from, a trick of language known as a metonym. Others are named for earls, field marshals, sports and navies. Seven styles cover almost everything you are likely to meet.

• Chesterfield: the city classic, cut below the knee to go over a suit.
• Covert coat: the original country coat, in a hard wearing twill with rows of tramline stitching.
• Loden coat: an Alpine coat in felted wool, generous in cut.
• Raglan overcoat: defined by a sleeve that runs to the collar, and wonderful in Donegal tweed.
• British warm: a military greatcoat in a heavyweight melton.
• Polo coat: double breasted, with swagger, and traditionally in camel.
• Duffle coat: the naval original, with toggles and a hood.

Each is worth knowing, and a few are worth owning.

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The city classic

What Is a Chesterfield Overcoat?

The Chesterfield takes its name from a nineteenth century Earl of Chesterfield, who wanted a coat to wear over his frock coat that was easier and less fitted than the tailoring underneath. Tailoring of that period was cut with a waist seam and a good deal of shaping, so a longer, more comfortable layer on top was a kindness. The Chesterfield is still a shaped garment, only a more relaxed version, and it remains the coat to choose if you wear a suit every day and want a classic city overcoat.

The classic single breasted version has a fly front, where a strip of cloth covers the buttons and leaves the front clean. Add a notch lapel, flapped pockets, a button cuff and a deep centre vent like a suit jacket, and cut it to fall below the knee. The traditional cloths are navy melton, heavy lambswool and herringbone, in navy, charcoal and black.

Some of the old details are worth looking for. An overwrap sets the single breasted front further back, which gives you extra cover when the wind finds you. Hand pockets with a welt along the top are now seen as quite special, since many modern coats skip it, and on a vintage coat the detail reads as a mark of fine tailoring. The Chesterfield Chris Modoo shows in the video is an English made, pure wool coat from the mid 1980s in black and cream herringbone, lent by a customer who bought it vintage. It has two hand warmer pockets and a single inside pocket, which makes sense when you remember that it was designed to go over a suit that already carried everything you needed.

Our camel wool overcoat and navy wool overcoat take the Chesterfield and tidy it up for modern life. Both share a European cut with some shaping at the waist, lightly padded shoulders and a smooth prunelle weave at 520g, which is roughly 17oz in the old measure. The front buttons through like a blazer, the hand pockets are welted and angled so your hands settle into them, and there is a buttonhole in the lapel and four buttons on the cuff, with the chest pocket left off. Inside, each coat is fully lined in silk, with your choice of fine art lining from our fine art silk jacket linings, so the most colourful part of the coat is the part only you see.

Over a charcoal suit the camel looks lovely. On the tie, Chris's view is that matching the tone of the coat is optional and worth doing anyway. At the weekend the same coat sits happily over jeans and a sweater, or over chinos and a jacket for business casual, which is how a single overcoat earns its keep.

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Contrast with your suits

What Colour Overcoat Should You Buy?

Choose an overcoat that contrasts with the suit you wear most. If your wardrobe leans on greys and browns, navy is the natural answer. If you wear a great deal of navy, go grey. Matching tones invite trouble, because navy cloths vary in shade, and a navy coat over a navy suit can end up looking like a four piece suit, which nobody has ever asked for.

Camel is popular for good reason. It sits over Prince of Wales checks, grey flannel and navy chalk stripes, and it relaxes the moment the suit comes off. A camel overcoat with grey flannels, a chunky sweater and suede shoes makes a smart weekend look without any further effort, and our guide to grey flannel suit combinations shows how well grey and camel get on. Choose camel and winter weekends take care of themselves.

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The country coat

What Is a Covert Coat and Why Is It Called a "Cover Coat"?

The covert coat began in the nineteenth century as a riding coat, and a Piccadilly outfitter has long claimed to have invented it. Anyone who knows the coat is happy to believe the claim. It is cut in covert cloth, a hard wearing twill developed by a West of England mill, and in the trade the coat is traditionally a "cover coat", with a silent T, while the cloth keeps its T and is called covert. A garment built for hacking across country was never going to fuss about spelling.

The colour is a practical country brown, far more forgiving than charcoal or navy if you find yourself near horses or mud.

What Details Define a Covert Coat?

Start with the stitching. The edges of the lapels and pockets carry a swelled edge, a more robust finish than a simple prick stitch, and the hem and cuffs carry tramline stitching, four rows on a properly made coat, sewn all the way through. The rows stop a tear spreading if an edge gets ripped, and on older coats you sometimes find extra lines added to hold back further fraying.

Then come the pockets. An outside ticket pocket on the right was where you kept loose change for the tolls or a train ticket, and the inside carries a chest pocket and sometimes a poacher's pocket, a large concealed pocket that is purely a country detail. The shoulder is classic, the lapel is notched, the sleeve is slightly roped and the front is a fly front.

Is a Covert Coat Right for the City?

It is, and the combination is among its charms. A country garment with full urban acceptance, the covert coat went over charcoal and navy suits in the City, usually with a bowler hat, a tightly furled umbrella and polished shoes, the whole English archetype. It sits a little shorter and sharper in the waist than a Chesterfield. John Steed in The Avengers made a caricature of the look, velvet collar included.

Covert coat and bowler hat, Jean Moral, Centre Pompidou

Then a London designer took the classic covert design and cut it in unexpected cloths, and suddenly it looked modern. Guy Ritchie's Snatch put the coat on its characters, and a rather obscure West End garment arrived on the high street. By the 2000s, when Chris was a menswear buyer, he was selling as many covert coats as Chesterfields.

Where Does the Velvet Collar on an Overcoat Come From?

The story goes that English aristocrats began wearing black velvet collars on their coats during the French Revolution, as a gesture of mourning for the French aristocrats who fell to the Terror. On the racecourse the collar later became a place for colour, with owners matching it to their stables. Fawn and brown are the quiet options. Bottle green and burgundy are the confident ones, and a rich purple turns up for those who like to be remembered.

Our advice is to buy the coat without a velvet collar and wear it for a season. When it has aged a little, which covert coats do beautifully, add the collar and give the coat a second life. If you want to go further, set the velvet inside the swelled edge, which is a lovely touch.

How Should a Covert Coat Fit?

Many makers size a covert coat as an overcoat, so if you take a 40 in a suit jacket, a 40 coat should fit elegantly over your suit. If you would rather wear it as a sports jacket over knitwear, go down a size. It looks right with chunky knitwear, corduroys and chukka boots, which is the good country look at its best.

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The Alpine option

What Is a Loden Coat?

Loden is an Austrian cloth, and the loden coat is an Austrian country coat that reached British wardrobes in the nineteenth century. Edward VII, while Prince of Wales, visited family in Germany and came home with several fashions, the Homburg hat among them, and the loden coat travelled the same route. If you enjoy a good hat, our guide to iconic hat styles, including the Homburg, covers the story in detail.

The cloth is felted wool, in the coat Chris shows 85% wool and 15% alpaca, tightly woven and dense. Wool is naturally water resistant, so loden sheds the wet, and it is resilient and comfortable enough to wear all winter. It does the job of British covert cloth in a different accent.

The cut is generous. After decades of tailoring growing smaller, more fitted and more waisted, loden is a proper overcoat, long and roomy in the manner of the coats you see in fashion plates from the golden age of tailoring. There is a full stand collar and a throat tab that buttons up the neck, with a second button hidden underneath if you prefer the look without it, so do not lose it. The underside of the collar is cut in the same cloth, which does the job when you turn it up. The pockets are hand warmers, the buttons are leather football buttons, and the back has a long inverted pleat for movement.

The armhole is open underneath the sleeve, which keeps the weather out and the heat from building under your arm, an old fashioned detail with a good deal of sense. The coat is partly lined, so the cloth does the work, rather like having a blanket cut around you.

Wear it over a suit for a confident change of pace. You used to see a few older men in the West End wearing loden as their winter coat, and in northern Italy, where the Alpine influence is stronger, the occasional loden coat still appears. It is an underused corner of fashion, and Chris would love to see it return.

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The weekend coat

What Is a Raglan Overcoat and Why Choose Donegal Tweed?

A raglan sleeve runs in a single continuous piece from the cuff to the collar, with no seam across the shoulder, which gives an easy and generous drape. It is named for Lord Raglan, and the story goes that after he was wounded at Waterloo his tailor cut a coat with an easier shoulder so that he could dress himself. Whether or not the tale is true, the name stuck, and the raglan has never needed a seam to make its case.

The style suits simple details: a stand collar, a fly front, a detachable throat tab, hand warmer pockets and a button tab at the cuff. Cut in Irish Donegal tweed it becomes a wonderfully easy coat. The most famous Donegal tweeds carry small flecks of colour that reflect the countryside. The coat Chris shows is a houndstooth, and the closer you look, the more colours emerge from it, a joy to a stylist and to anybody else with the patience to stare at a coat.

Donegal tweed, @magee1866

It is the coat for a country walk in corduroys and thick boots, followed by a couple of pints and a Sunday lunch. The underside of the collar is cut in the same tweed, so turning the collar up looks as good as it feels. Tweed overcoats also have a habit of being inherited. When Chris edits a client's wardrobe he often finds a tweed coat that belonged to a grandfather or an uncle, with more character and more story than anything bought last week. A good tweed overcoat is about as close as menswear gets to a modern heirloom, and it only improves with age.

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The military greatcoat

What Is a British Warm Overcoat?

The British warm was developed in the early twentieth century as a military greatcoat, designed to keep out the chill of trench warfare. It is double breasted and high buttoning, with leather buttons, epaulettes, simple straight pockets and two or three buttons on the sleeve, and the cloth is a melton of astonishing weight. A traditional British warm is cut from cloth of 28 to 32oz, which makes it a different animal from the coats most of us wear.

Colour is usually a greyish, beigey putty, the shade most people associate with the style. The modern version Chris shows is a rich English navy in a 27oz melton with dark navy leather buttons, an authentic coat for anyone who needs to be outside in bitter weather and look sharp while doing it. That might mean a job that keeps you out of doors, a bitterly cold New Year's Day at the races or a Manhattan winter when the wind comes straight down the avenue and through your windows. It is also a coat that stays in a family for generations.

As a first overcoat it asks a lot, because it only comes into its own on the coldest days, but both the vintage and the modern versions relax in less formal company, over flannels, corduroys or jeans with a roll neck. Choose a very cold day. The covert coat had Guy Ritchie to thank for its moment. The British warm is still waiting for its film.

Why Do People Call an Overcoat a Crombie?

Crombie began as an Aberdeen cloth mill in the early nineteenth century, famous for heavy, robust overcoatings, and the name grew into a word for the coat itself. In some circles a crombie came to mean a classic Chesterfield, and in the late mod and early skinhead years the coat crossed from traditional dress into street style, worn with pressed trousers, Dr. Martens and a red silk handkerchief in the breast pocket. The cloth became the style.

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The swagger coat

What Is a Polo Coat?

The polo coat appeared in the early twentieth century as outerwear for polo players to wear between chukkas, which is faintly puzzling, since polo is essentially a spring and summer sport. Photographs from the 1930s show tennis players at Wimbledon wearing the same long double breasted coats between sets, with wool mufflers, so the coat was clearly the thing to be seen in. They knew how good they looked, and that future generations would put them on Pinterest.

A polo coat is double breasted with wide lapels and swelled edges, and it carries a few signature details. Post box pockets are patch pockets with a flap on the outside, the cuffs turn back, there is a flap over the chest pocket and a six button front finishes the picture. Nobody wears it to play polo now, though a few dandies surely do. You see it as a city coat or an evening coat, and stylists love it on photo shoots, because it gives a dramatic picture and a real 1930s Hollywood feel.

Classically the cloth is camel hair, sometimes vicuna or cashmere. The coat Chris shows is a chestnut brown in a cloth that turns out to be a duffle coating, an unexpected marriage of a classic design and a classic fabric that works beautifully. It shows how freely cut and cloth can be mixed with a little confidence. With all that swagger it makes a lovely second overcoat.

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The naval original

What Is a Duffle Coat?

The duffle coat has naval and military origins and was designed to be worn in bitter Arctic cold. Every feature plays into that. The large toggles, fastened through loops and traditionally made of horn or wood, were big enough to work with cold or gloved hands. The hood goes over a cap, the cloth is a thick, napped wool, and the cut is roomy enough to wear over layers. The name comes from the Belgian town of Duffel, whose heavy wool cloth gave the coat its name, and the Royal Navy later issued it to crews before it passed into civilian life.

Its most famous wearers make an unlikely pair. General Bernard Montgomery was photographed in one during the Second World War, and Paddington Bear's blue duffle has been seen outside Buckingham Palace, which proves that the coat suits a battlefield and a royal residence equally well.

General Bernard Montgomery | Paddington Bear, Studio Canal

The duffle coat sits at the casual end of the overcoat family, and it looks most at home over a roll neck, corduroys or jeans and chunky knitwear.

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Weight and cloth

How Heavy Should an Overcoat Be?

Overcoat cloth is measured in ounces per yard, and the number tells you more about a coat than the label does. Between 17 and 18oz is a solid, comfortable weight for a modern overcoat, and already heading towards the heavy end. By 20oz you are in properly heavy territory. The British warm sits far above that, at 28 to 32oz, which suits the trenches it was designed for and the commute a little less.

Our camel and navy overcoats use a 520g cloth, roughly 17oz, in a smooth prunelle weave that keeps you warm through the cool months without making you look upholstered. Cloth also shapes character: herringbone and melton for the city, covert twill for the country, felted loden for the Alps and tweed for the weekend. Our complete guide to men's suit fabrics goes further into how different cloths behave.

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Under the coat

What Ties and Accessories Go with an Overcoat?

An overcoat is only ever open for a moment, on the stairs, at the cloakroom or in the lift, and the tie and pocket square beneath it get the briefest of reviews. Give them something worth reviewing. Our handmade silk ties do their best work in the cooler months, and the coat decides which direction to take.

Which Madder Silk Ties Suit Dark Overcoats?

Madder silk is printed on twill and finished with a chalky hand, and its muted tones sit beautifully against charcoal, navy and brown, which makes it the natural partner for most overcoats. The burgundy, bronze and navy repeat madder silk tie, the navy and burgundy medallion madder silk tie and the navy and green medallion madder silk tie are all screen printed in small repeating patterns that sit quietly under a camel or navy coat, and each is handmade in England. The full collection of men's madder silk ties has more to choose from.

Which Stripe Silk Ties Go with Camel and Navy Coats?

A stripe is the easiest tie to put under a camel or navy coat. The copper and Oxford blue stripe silk tie picks up the warmth of camel with its copper, while the blue holds the line against a charcoal or navy suit. The claret and steel grey stripe silk tie is the more sober partner, its steel grey sitting comfortably against navy and its claret lifting a grey coat. Both are handmade in Italy in a relaxed silk with a casual charm.

Which Ties Work with Tweed, Loden and Covert Coats?

Texture suits the heavier cloths. The bottle green knitted wool-cashmere blend tie has a soft, matte surface that sits naturally against tweed, loden and covert cloth, the country end of the overcoat family, and it is finished with a pointed tip, which is uncommon in a knitted tie. The grey shantung silk tie, which Chris wears himself in the video, is woven in Italy with thicker yarns that give it a texture made for casual tailoring.

Which Tie and Pocket Square Suit a Formal City Coat?

A city Chesterfield wants something quieter. The navy and pearl diamond silk twill tie is handmade in England and moves easily between casual and formal, and the navy and ivory pin dot pocket square is fine enough to read as texture from arm's length and restrained enough for a board meeting. It is printed by our Macclesfield printers on pure silk and hand rolled. For more colour, the burgundy and sky blue paisley madder silk pocket square sets small, close paisleys in sky blue across a deep burgundy ground, with a forest green edge. Our guide to ways to wear a pocket square covers the folds.

Can You Wear a Bandana with an Overcoat?

You can, and it does the work of a scarf while showing off in the open collar of the coat. The grey and bronze geometric bandana is a 65cm square in a blend of 70% wool and 30% silk, designed and printed in Britain and hand rolled, and it fills the gap between shirt collar and overcoat lapel with a little warmth and a good deal of colour. Our guide to how to wear a men's silk bandana explains the options.

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Buying your first

Which Overcoat Should You Buy First?

If you wear suits to work, start with a Chesterfield in navy or camel, cut below the knee and roomy enough to go over a jacket. It does the most for the most outfits. A second overcoat can take a stronger character: a covert coat for town and country, or a polo coat for evenings and swagger. The loden and the Donegal raglan belong to the weekend, and the British warm belongs to the coldest days of the year.

Fit starts with what you will wear underneath. Try an overcoat on over a jacket, since that is where it will spend its life, and check that you can move your arms without the jacket bunching beneath. Length matters too: a Chesterfield falls below the knee, while a covert coat is a little shorter and sharper in the waist. Our overcoat sizing guide explains the European cut we use.

Both of our wool overcoats are made to order and arrive in 8 to 10 weeks, so ordering before the first frost beats ordering during it. The full men's overcoats collection is waiting.

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