In the UK, it feels like we’ve skipped autumn and gone straight into winter. Right up until a couple of weeks ago it was fairly mild and super-sunny. Then last week, it switched abruptly and we’re full pelt into the thick of coat, four-ply knits and hot water bottle weather.
I tend to dress for cold weather from the feet up. (more…)
In London we haven’t had a truly cold snap yet this year but I’m bracing myself. If the threats are true that we’re in for the harshest winter since 1949, then I plan to be thoroughly insulated. (more…)
Like me, Mr DRG likes nothing more than a bit of fantasy online shopping – oh the hours he spends on Mr Porter! So I asked him to make himself useful and compile a men’s edit for me here. I think he’s done a damn good job…
TOP ROW
Leather and stainless steel hip flask, Dunhill
Just the the thing for a gent in need of a little tie-straightener on the long winter nights
Plaid bomber jacket, PS by Paul Smith
Smithy comes up with a great wool bomber that gives a nod to Brando in On The Waterfront – and crucially, there’s no superfluous branding to mess it up
Muirfield 8 piece cap, Lock & Co.
Every autumn I buy a new cap and this year I plumped for a dark grey one of these from Lock & Co, the oldest shop in the UK. What else could you want in a cap?
SECOND ROW
Grey hurling sweater, Inis Meain
An excellent jumper from the Aran Islands that’ll last for years and go with pretty much anything – it’s only a matter of time before one of these arrives for me at DRG Towers
Ilkley black Scotch Grain brogue, Tricker’s
Unlike Crockett & Jones, Tricker’s always take several weeks to break in, but once done are comfortable as anything. No other company nails the proportions and shaping of a country brogue quite as well as Tricker’s do, and like any good quality Northampton shoe, you’ll be returning these to the factory many times for resoling
Coyote-trimmed down-filled Arctic parka, Woolrich
As a lad I was rather taken by the parkas worn by Rock Hudson and Patrick McGoohan in Ice Station Zebra, and this is a fine contemporary take on things. Perfect for a December evening, as DRG herself will attest, having bought a black one last year
Forgive me for boasting but I do know a bit about about dressing for the worst of weathers. For one, I’m a bad-weather-phobe and two, well I’m a Brit duh, we’ve seen a fair few downpours and oh how we love debating them. So here I present my failsafe arsenal of wet-n-wild weatherwear.
The Burberry Trench
Sorry to be a Burberry bore but the beauty of the Burberry trench is that it’s functional to the core yet has as much style as a couture coat. I favour the ultra classic knee-length gabardine version in black for my Disneyrollergirl-goes-to-Mallory-Towers look. This shower-proof trench is truly versatile as it’s hardy enough in a torrential downpour yet not too bulky on a spring – or even summer – day. Best of all this is a wonderful day-to-evening coat. I love the idea of wearing my Burberry trench draped cape-style over the shoulders atop a billowing scarlet ballgown (Stella Tennant at Chatsworth much?) or tightly belted with the collar flipped and sleeves pushed up over a mid-calf prom dress – with vintage Vivier slingbacks of course.
SHOP: Burberry trench coat, £595, Net-a-Porter.com
The Knirps umbrella
OK, I have had a lifetime of £10 Totes brollies which I admit are pretty good; they’re affordable, lightweight and they fold to nothing. But they do eventually go the way of all cheap umbrellas – bent, broken and simply worn out. My last one got to the stage where it developed two leaky holes so in the bin it went. Knirps is a German company and its umbrellas are suitably no-nonense. They’re also indestructable. My Knirps X1 umbrella comes encased in a standard nylon sleeve and a darling little zip-up pochette.
SHOP: Knirps X1 umbrella, £49.95, James Smith & Co
The Woolrich coat
Sometimes when you get the kind of winters that we’ve had, a fashiony coat just doesn’t cut it. Once you’ve added your six sets of thermals, two jumpers, bodywarmer, snood and ten-ply cashmere scarf, the average COS cocoon coat has lost much of its charm (and pretty much all of its shape). When I tried on a Woolrich coat in The Shop At Bluebird last weekend, I instantly knew it was The One. Originally designed for freezing conditions in Alaska these jackets are water-repellent with down and feather padding to keep the heat securely locked in, even at minus temperatures. The pockets are flannel-lined to keep hands warm and the supreme practicality extends to special capacious inside pockets so you can almost live without a bag.
The furry hood is the icing on the cake. Woolrich coats come in many varieties so you can choose whether or not to have fur framing your face but they’re so soft, warm and fuzzy it’s literally like walking around in bed with your head still cosseted in your pillow. I have been attached to my Woolrich to the point that I actually look forward to shitty weather. Can you tell me and mine are still at the honeymoon stage?
SHOP: Woolrich jacket, £615
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl/Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: Vogue, Burberry, James Smith & Sons, Woolrich
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my cookies policy here
CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week
CLICK HERE to buy my book The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman
