Outerwear Options

I've talked in the past about how my preferences in outerwear have evolved over the years. If you accept the notion that the range of what I see men wearing on the T on a typical day is a representative sample, then I would say about 80% of it is disagreeable to me for one reason or another. About half of those people are wearing some sort of black North Face jacket, with that big, ugly logo on the right shoulder.

I've also noticed that the latest trend in down-filled outer garments is that the feather-filled chambers have grown much narrower and more numerous, which has resulted in people walking around in what appear to be rows and rows of brightly-colored links of sausage. This is far more hideous to me than an old-school down parka, which merely made people look puffy.

I do see the occasional wool overcoat, but they are quite a bit less common these days, probably because relatively fewer men nowadays are required to go to work every day in full business attire. Far more common are shorter, uglier, ill-fitting wool car coats. And of course there are the diehard sports fanatics who show their support for one of our local teams via a parka or some other sort of logo-emblazoned jacket, and a few construction workers in Carhartt brown.

I don't wear much vintage clothing these days, but I do tend to be somewhat backward-looking in my clothing choices. I prefer natural fibers and coats with distinct collars. Last fall, a very retro button-front corduroy coat made its appearance in the L.L. Bean Signature offerings. It's based on a design from the Bean archives circa 1963, with upper and lower flapped pockets, button tabs on the sides of the waist, and a bright plaid wool lining. It reminded me a little of an old hunting coat of my father's that I wore for a while when I was in junior high.

I felt it was overpriced at $185, but Bean always does a bunch of markdowns right after Christmas, and the coat went down to $129. I applied a couple of the reward coupons I earn from having a Bean Visa card to bring the price down to $109. With the only color choices being brown or black, I chose black; I'll wear brown pants now and then, but for a piece of outerwear I just don't care for it. The inky black fabric is offset by very shiny buttons.

I made the mistake of ordering the coat in large, which fit well in the shoulders and arms, but ended up being too snug across the chest and around my seat. I've gotten used to wearing things slimmer, but the near-universal style blogger advice to "size down" does not always apply, especially for someone of my height and build. I based my size choice on the L.L. Bean Signature shirts I've purchased, but with the coat I needed a bit more room, so I sent it back to exchange for an XL, which didn't cost me anything because returns are free with the Bean Visa. There's only a couple of inches' difference in the fit, but it's just enough for me.

As of today, a month or so later, the coat is still on sale at the same price, and all sizes seem to be available in both colors. If you are interested, I'd suggest holding on a bit longer to see if Bean takes another markdown.