Coats are trending at Paris fashion week. Could it be something in the air?

By Charlie Gowans-Eglinton, Senior fashion editor
The Telegraph

Paris fashion week might seem an unlikely source of inspiration for a wardrobe grounded in reality. But yesterday, even the least practically-minded of designers delivered stylish, wearable iterations of that most necessary of clothes: the coat.

[post_ads]Perhaps it was something in the air - that something being snow. March it may be, but Spring it most definitely is not. On Thursday evening, in Isabel Marant’s white plastic built-for-purpose tent in the Tuileries garden, mulled wine was served in white paper cups, seconding the warming effects of 1970s geometric printed thick knits and shearling coats, bohemian striped ponchos and blanket coats, and a cocoon-like double breasted speckled mole-grey coat (worn by Amber Valetta) on the catwalk. 

The following morning, while queuing in two degrees (by which point the snow had given way to rain)  for the Loewe show, the focus shifted entirely from potential red carpet dresses and talking-point trends to something-to-keep-us-warm-and-dry, a preoccupation no doubt shared by those currently in Britain, where the beast from the east calls for more layers than the millefeuille I had for pudding last night.

Once through the doors, Spanish brand Loewe’s British creative director Jonathan Anderson rose to the challenge with a butterscotch-brown duffle coat in heavy wool, and leather coats in black and white trimmed with flyaway shearling.

Our next stop, Balmain, isn’t usually a brand to entertain reality at all in its search for glamour, and sure enough, there was a whole pic’n’mix offer of sweetie-wrapper metallic mini-dresses - though even these were paired with black opaque tights. Party frocks aside, the stand out was full-length denim trench coat, panelled with blocks of white.

But it was at Nina Ricci - reportedly the final collection from creative director Guillaume Henry after a three year tenure - that cold snap dressing really came into its own. There was a coat for every occasion and dress code here, from military-red wool coats with frogged fronts to trenches in grey velvet and pink leather and black satin capes for evening. My picks were the quilted satins, in cornflower blue and rose pink, buttoned sharply over black leather boots (as you might for day) or layered over a silk dress (for parties in the colder months).
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In the search for the perfect coat, almost every base was covered - but there were no basic black and navy wool options in sight. So before you invest in another boring-but-classic coat to see you through the cold snap, you might want to reconsider: there are coats of many colours to be had.