2014 – the Year of the Coat

2014 is the year. The year. It’s time. I’m focused. Determined. Excited by the challenge. 2014 is the year I am finally going to find That Winter Coat…

2014 is the year. The year. It’s time. I’m focused. 2014 is the year I am finally going to find That Winter Coat.

It’s also the year that my glasses have to start living on my face instead of my desk, because I really can’t see as well as I used to, no matter how much I pretend I can, and the year I’m going to stop wandering around the house in the dark because I’m too lazy to turn on lights. Plus I’m going to learn to stay on topic while writing. It’s going to be a big year.

So … That Winter Coat. I’ve been trying to do this for the last five years, and there have been coats in that time, but not the one. Now, somehow, it’s become my bar for being a true grown-up.

10 ish years ago, I bought a beautiful grey wool, duffel-style coat that I’ve honestly lived in. It was the most expensive item of clothing I’d purchased and it’s been everywhere with me. Job interviews, movies, cafes and restaurants, it’s been on holidays and shopping trips … it’s even been in the sea. Tourists even took photos. Somewhere on Facebook, there’s a picture of the strange Kiwi girl up to her butt in the sea in the middle of Winter, fully dressed -because it was the middle of winter- throwing driftwood for her dog.

I’ve said that I’ve made mistakes. There was the very red jacket of 5 ish years ago. I’d just had my first child and thought, I’m a new woman. I’ll take a risk. Break out of my comfort zone. But, it turns out, I wasn’t a new woman, I hadn’t changed much at all and I really like my comfort zone.

Then, a couple of years after the very red coat there was the bad decision coat. I think we all have bad decision items, where an impulse buy goes bad or you know you’re making a bad decision but you do it anyway. In my case, it was the latter. I convinced myself that the well known label attached to the jacket would keep it safe from harm. Nope. Within weeks, it was pilling up and within months it was a mess. I sold that one on Trademe and tried to pretend it never happened.

And so, here we are. My confidence is back and I haven’t spent my coat budget already like I did last year. AW14 collections are being released. Seasonal colour trends are showing themselves and the palette is intense and beautiful and my kind of colour. I won’t be convinced to buy black, because I live with a super hairy border collie. I’m finally realising the very distinct difference between loving something on me, and loving something on someone else, so there will be no neutral browns. Plum tones are proving distracting though. It’s a colour, but not too frightening for my skittish black/grey/blue wardrobe.

I’m searching for a classic piece and New Zealand design (it’s a thing for me this year. I’ll talk about it again) that keeps the rain out. I live on the Kapiti Coast, and love being in Wellington. Shower proof is not an option. Downpour and gale proof is where it’s at. Or at least as ‘proof’ as possible.

So, Winter Coat. I have a list of demands and I’m coming to find you. Then we might try taking over the world.

By Simmone Walmsley.

Here is the Thread edit by Megan Robinson of new coats by New Zealand labels out this AW14…

Intro image above: Carlson Subway Cape $699

Below: an elegant navy coat by Shen. Photo Megan Robinson.