Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Knows to bring honey

Either this winter has been mild or my internal thermostat has adjusted itself again and rendered me almost insensible to Sydney's brand of cold. 


To wit: I have slept under cotton quilts with cotton flannel sheets all season, and worn a wool coat only once. 


I've spent the rest of the winter  in a the Banana Republic trench coat I bought in New York eighteen months ago. I'd never owned a trench coat and was a little sceptical of their recurring khaki inclusion on every ten-garments-you-must-own list. 


There was no recognisable gap in my life for a trench coat, or so I thought. I bought it on a New York whim, seduced by the way it had been styled on the store mannequin - with some slouchy blue trousers and a carelessly light pink cotton jumper - and end up wearing just about every day last winter and every day this winter. 


So it was a disaster of middle class proportions when the dry cleaner lost the belt. It doesn't work without the belt. I tried every thing - leather belts, velvet belts, no belts, unbuttoned -  but nothing looked right. 


So I've been wearing other coats but I don't look right. I feel odd in my clothes, odd on the train, odd walking through the park to work. 


I could bear it no longer and at lunch time today I cracked and bought another trench. 


It looks entirely unremarkable, almost identical to my American trench. 
 Except it has a belt. 


The quilts are more interesting, at least at first glance. 

4 comments:

  1. I've gotten less sensitive to cold as I got older. I wonder if that's an age-related thing.

    Coats need belts. Sorry you had to buy a new one, but you had no alternative.

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  2. Kitty!
    I remember Sydney winters being bitter,but now I'm acclimatised to NZ winters.......!!!

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  3. I have what I think must be the exact same trench coat (David Lawrence?), but in dark blue. I've worn it every day this season and it completes any outfit and manages to make me look smart and tidy. Didn't realise how much I'd love it when I bought it.

    And it has been a cold winter. You must be getting tough.

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  4. It could be age, Shy...and I reckon the New York winters would make anyone immune to cold! And you are right about the belt. Trench coasts just don't do their job without one.

    Helga my love, I suspect New Zealand winters are even colder than New York winters. I've heard even your summers are on the nippy side...which of course means you can wear boots all year round. Win!

    Hello Jenny - my new coat is from Sportscraft but I did try on a David Lawrence number - they didn't have it in my size. It is very close to the Sportscraft coat. I like the idea of a navy coat: more outfit options and it won't be relegated to the stained basket if you have a mishap with your coffee. They're amazing garments, trench coats. I didn't realise how much I depended on mine until it was unavailable.

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