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8 Best Men’s Overcoat Styles For 2023 (And How To Wear Them)

The poor overcoat – one of the most important garments in the male wardrobe, yet the one that somehow gets overlooked time and time again. This isn’t to say you don’t have one, of course. Rather than, when you need one, it’s bought less with a sense of excitement as of tedium. One needs an overcoat, rather than wants one. It’s that protective layer required between destinations, where you shrug off the winter weather and unveil the clothing you really like.

And yet the overcoat needs to work in ways few other items of clothing do: it needs to stand up to the elements and be able to take repeated soakings; it needs to stand up to repeated wear, since this is one garment that, unlike most others, gets put on daily; and, for that reason, it needs to look more or less right with most of your clothes, smart and casual.

If you’re buying that cerise, fur-trimmed bum-freezer fashion number, good luck to you. For everyone else – as with shoes, which also have to take a lot of abuse – it pays to invest. A few extra quid is well worth it if you’re buying classics such as those listed below.

Buying Considerations

Buying an overcoat is one of the Big Purchases. An investment. Get it wrong and you might as well have spent the money on some winter sun. Get it right, however, and not only will it last years, but during that time, you’ll feel like Al Pacino every time you walk into a bar.

Here’s what to think about as you’re browsing the rails.

When You’ll Wear It

LESTRANGE

The big one, really. If this is part of your professional wardrobe to wear over a suit on the commute, think tailored. Look at crombies, trench coats and maybe oversized belted options.

If it’s for standing around the playground while your kids go crazy, consider a duffel or parka. It’ll be easy to scrub the mud off and plus-size pockets will store snacks, toys, maybe even a hip flask if it’s been one of those weeks.

Material

LESTRANGE

What’s the coat’s function, aside from making you look good? A waterproofed gabardine trench will keep you dry in a squall, but you’ll need to layer some knitwear underneath when the temperature drops.

A padded parka will insulate all day long but you won’t want to be trapped in one on a packed commuter train. Wool is a good middle ground. It’ll soak more rainfall than you’d expect and keep you warm on early-morning dog walks, too.

Colour

Mackintosh

Lots to consider here, not least your skin tone and what the rest of your wardrobe looks like. The staples are grey and navy, both more versatile than black and safer than camel or coffee tones. Not that you have to play it safe these days.

Primary colours are easier to pull off with outerwear (see bright yellow windbreakers). If that’s a bit much, khaki green offers something different without taking a huge gamble, just as it does with your legwear. Or you can add interest with pattern: checks, herringbone and mottled effects disrupt stuffy officewear and predictable streetwear alike.

Length

LESTRANGE

This one is mainly a question of proportion. Tall guys are (usually) best aiming for longer coat styles, the hem landing somewhere on the mid-thigh. This adds a horizontal break to your look.

Shorter men should do the opposite and opt for cropped styles unless you’re wearing a suit, in which case you need something that covers your jacket.

The Covert/Crombie Coat

ASKET

Thank Scottish weaver John Crombie, and a request from the Russian royal family for a coat suitable for wear in the country, for the covert coat. It’s named from the French “couvert” (a shady place or thicket) with its contrast velvet collar, ticket pocket, poacher’s inside pocket, distinctive bands of reinforcing stitching at cuff and hem and created in a smooth, thorn-proof, fawn or charcoal fabric.

This single-breasted, sometimes button-covered covert coat became the template for the Crombie coat – essentially the same design but in a heavier-weight wool. Both coats, for all of their upscale histories, can seem a tad spivvy, a touch Arthur Daly, in much the same way as the Chesterfield (another coat close on the same evolutionary branch of outerwear) can seem overly formal.

But the clean, sharp lines make this style ideal for wear over a suit – which is why it became a favourite of Churchill, Kennedy, Sinatra. Does it also work over a sweatshirt and jeans? Just about. Note: Churchill, Kennedy and Sinatra rarely wore sweatshirts and jeans.

Ape Recommends




The Peacoat

Private White V.C.

Maybe it’s its military origins, but the peacoat always has a touch of machismo about it. Yet it’s about as hardy a coat as you could wish to have. A development of the short, double-breasted reefer jackets designed for sailors of the 19th century Royal Navy in a bid to smarten them up for official presentations, the definitive peacoat is that created for the US Navy in the run-up to the Second World War.

Made of a dense Melton wool, with a collar that, stood up, positively cocooned the head, a broad double-breasted fastening – first with eight and later with six buttons – that kept the Atlantic cold from vital organs, and two deep, corduroy-lined hand-warmer pockets, this peacoat has been copied endlessly. It’s a bonefide icon. What’s better still, get a sufficiently longer cut version and it works as well over tailoring as it does casualwear.

Get the calf-length version with gold buttons and that’s a bridge coat – also of a naval heritage, but hard to pull off down the pub.

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The Duffel Coat

Velasca

It’s hard to look at the duffel coat without thinking of Paddington Bear. Dispel that from your mind and think more of, say, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, leader of the Eighth Army, wartime renegade and a man who loved the style.

The duffel was a garment that didn’t belong to any one service but which came to be associated with the Navy. It supplied duffel coats to sailors and merchant seamen to wear on deck duty, whatever the weather.

A simple, unlined, mid-thigh-length woollen coat, with big patch pockets and a hood, its toggle fastening was said to be easy to fasten while wearing gloves and/or when you could no longer feel your fingers. Indeed, nobody owned their duffel coat: it was a general-purpose item picked up by whoever needed it at the time – rating or officer alike – and left for the next man afterwards.

That’s probably not an arrangement that will work for you. But here’s a coat that works well over casualwear. Unexpectedly perhaps, it also looks good over suiting, particularly in a dark shade, and on a man ready to carry it off.

Ape Recommends




The Car Coat

Brook Taverner

A car coat? Like, a coat designed for wearing in a car? Yes, precisely that. Once upon a time cars were very poorly insulated. Go even further back – to the early 1900s, when the car coat emerged – and they didn’t even have roofs. The car coat provided the solution to otherwise being both very cold and spoiling your “good” clothes underneath, and it’s an elegantly simple one at that.

The car coat is basically a single-breasted dense woollen layer, buttoned up to the neck, with a collar that can be turned up against the wind. It typically has two diagonal front welt pockets and is cut relatively short, to the upper thigh, with a slight A-line flair and without a rear vent, precisely to make it comfortable while seated.

It’s about a stripped back a coat design as one might imagine – practical, functional and easy to wear, which is why it was, in essence, the progenitor of the mac, which is in effect a car coat in a lighter waterproof fabric. The car coat is probably the least complicated of all coat designs, making it easy to wear in any way you choose.

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The Parka

Private White V.C.

Is the parka an overcoat or just a coat? The latter is arguably less versatile when it comes to dressing up. It’s another military garment, of course, so the design itself is impeccable. First issued in 1945 as part of a ‘cold-weather system’ – an unlined hooded outer came with a warm liner – it was finessed in 1948 and again, for the Korean War, in 1951, and then again in 1965.

The most recent iteration is the fishtail version beloved of mods and Liam Gallagher, in a faster-drying cotton/nylon blend fabric, with a detachable fur-trimmed hood. It comes loose fitting but has belts and strings that ensure you and whatever you are wearing below remain protected against the elements.

Therefore, it – and the many variants now on offer: shorter ones, brighter ones, ones for climbing Everest, others more for a country walk – certainly works as a coat. The question is whether the style, undoubtedly good dressed down, still works when you need to look a little more polished. With the right pieces (think smart-casual and business-casual, rather than full-on three-piece), it certainly does.

Ape Recommends




The Double-Breasted Overcoat

Wax London

Like its cropped cousin the pea coat, the double-breasted overcoat has a naval background. On the deck of a ship in the early 20th century, the double-breasted design bestowed an additional layer of protection against the wind and the spray. Officers, gentlemen and gangsters alike took the style onto dry land, where the style’s dramatic proportions spoke to power and elegance.

Characterised by twin rows of buttons at the front and a wide lapel and collar to be popped when the wind blows cold, this is a formal-looking coat. It’s at home over a suit. That’s not to say you can’t subvert it with casual dress but it’s not as versatile as others on this list.

For a modern take, check out Daniel Craig’s Bond sporting a formidable black style with sunglasses in Spectre.

Ape Recommends




The Trench Coat

Hawes and Curtis Trench Coat

Here’s another example of Big Coat Energy that originated on the battlefield. The trench coat famously served in World War I where officers would wear it, funnily enough, in the trenches. Cold, wet, muddy and peppered with bullets and disease, trenches were deeply unpleasant places to be. A good coat – and it really is a good coat – offered some respite.

Then Humphrey Bogart came along. He and others made it the de facto style for heavy-drinking detectives, while Michael Caine gave it some espionage chic in The Ipcress File.

Today the style remains largely unchanged with some of its original functional features – the storm flap on the shoulder, the cuff tighteners – now bringing some stylistic flair as well as weather protection. You can get padded versions if you need extra warmth or colourful and patterned styles if you want to break away from the classic tan.

Ape Recommends




The Mac

Wax London

Strip away all the bells and whistles of a trench coat and what you’re left with is basically a mac. A smart, weatherproof, three-quarter style that’s as versatile as it is practical. (It’s not like you need to advertise your rank, so those epaulettes on the shoulder are purely decorative anyway.)

The Mac also predates the trench. Back in 1824, Scottish chemist Charles Mackintosh worked out how to make cotton water repellent with a rubberised coating. The OG raincoat was born.

It looks much the same today: a clean silhouette with disguised buttons and a poppable collar and throat latch to keep the. chill out. Make sure it’s treated cotton if you want the rain to run off and look out for extra practical details like detachable linings to make it a coat for all seasons.

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The post 8 Best Men’s Overcoat Styles For 2023 (And How To Wear Them) appeared first on Ape to Gentleman.

—————————————-
By: Josh Sims
Title: 8 Best Men’s Overcoat Styles For 2023 (And How To Wear Them)
Sourced From: www.apetogentleman.com/best-overcoat-styles-men/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=best-overcoat-styles-men
Published Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2023 10:00:40 +0000

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New York tech workers are flocking to a coffee shop across from OpenAI’s new office. I checked it out to see why.

The author holds a matcha latte and bagged treat outside La Cabra in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood.The author holds a matcha latte and bagged treat outside La Cabra in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood.

Melia Russell/Business Insider

  • The next Blue Bottle has hit New York's tech scene.
  • La Cabra's popularity has soared since ChatGPT-maker OpenAI put down roots across the street.
  • The Danish coffee chain is famed for its $9 pour-over brews and cardamom buns.

The line to La Cabra stretches onto the sidewalk, a tidy queue of office workers and shoppers sauntering through the warm, muggy embrace of a New York City spring.

Inside, at least twenty patrons hover near the bar like caffeinated moths around a flame, clutching iced matcha lattes and croissants. A barista weaves through the standing-room-only crowd, hoisting a tray of pain suisse aloft.

Welcome to New York's hottest club: the café across from OpenAI's office.

La Cabra, the latest export from Denmark's high-end coffee empire, has inspired a cult following among Manhattan's coffee cognoscenti. Led by founder Esben Piper and head baker Jared Sexton, a Dominique Ansel alum, the sleek, minimalist chain entices crowds with its $9 pour-over brews and cardamom buns worthy of sonnets. Since the ChatGPT-maker moved into SoHo in the fall of last year, the line to get in seems to grow longer each day.

The Puck Building is becoming the red-hot center of Manhattan's tech scene.The Puck Building is becoming the red-hot center of Manhattan's tech scene.

Melia Russell/Business Insider

Nestled caddy corner from the Puck Building, La Cabra finds itself in illustrious company. The red-brick structure is owned by Kushner Companies, a real estate developer founded by Charles Kushner, father of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, and Josh Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital. The outdoor gear retailer REI covers 36,000 square feet over three levels. Above it, employees of Thrive and a smattering of its portfolio companies badge into their offices.

Thrive Capital, with nearly $25 billion in assets under management, has a small staff of about 75 people. Plaid also leases the entire sixth floor, while OpenAI occupies 90,000 square feet of office space at its first New York City outpost.

Together, their proximity to La Cabra has turned the Danish coffee roaster into an unofficial think tank for anyone in the mood for a latte with a side of world domination.

The counter at La Cabra in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood.La Cabra offers limited seating around the counter, where baristas prepare pour-over brews and matcha lattes.

Melia Russell/Business Insider

Amanda Herson, a tech investor at Founder Collective, says she's been buying coffee and cardamom buns for her office since La Cabra opened on Lafayette Street. She goes in the early morning "when there isn't much of a wait." Tech consultant Jason Liu agrees that mornings tend to have lighter traffic. On frequent trips to New York from San Francisco, he holds office hours at the Puck Building and dashes over to La Cabra for a chocolate croissant and iced espresso with milk.

First Round Capital is a five-minute walk from La Cabra, and partner Hayley Barna goes for the pastries and trendspotting. "Honestly, it's tricky to make it a meeting spot because seating isn't reliable," Barna said.

The line at La Cabra spills onto the sidewalk.I went to La Cabra twice and found the line was much shorter on a Thursday morning.

Melia Russell/Business Insider

When I stopped in on a Thursday morning, I took in the scene from a stool at the counter, sipping a cardamom latte from a handleless stoneware cup. With its natural color palette and cabinets inset with panels of rattan, La Cabra feels like a Japanese ryokan meets Ikea. Baristas floated behind the counter wearing the de rigueur Danish uniform of beige shirts with three-quarter sleeves designed by Copenhagen clothier Another Aspect.

The pastry case at La Cabra in Manhattan's Soho.The pastry case at La Cabra.

Melia Russell/Business Insider

First, I dug into a $7 ham-and-cheese croissant baked to a medium brown and speckled with sesame seeds and parsley. It had a crisp, caramelized exterior so that when I bit in, a gust of flakes fell like helicopter seeds, which I picked up and popped into my mouth. The beauty of the laminated spiral gave way to a satisfying buttery crunch with a scant portion of ham. I found it skimping on cheese but recognized that more filling would make the interior soggy.

The ham-and-cheese croissant at La Cabra in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood.The ham-and-cheese croissant at La Cabra.

Melia Russell/Business Insider

I couldn't resist trying the $6 Swedish cardamom bun I'd read about online. This knotted pastry was delightfully unexpected: chewy and dense like a cinnamon roll, yet airy enough to puff back into shape with each bite. The recipe goes heavy on the cardamom, infusing the pastry with a piney warmth and gentle sweetness.

The cardamom buns are known to sell out, though Piper, La Cabra's founder, says the chain makes deliveries from its East Village bakery three times a day to restock the pastry case. To expand its operations, the company has secured a fourth location in Manhattan, Piper told Business Insider exclusively.

The cardamom bun at La Cabra.The cardamom bun at La Cabra.

Melia Russell/Business Insider

As I licked my fingers clean of sugar, I scanned the cafe in search of employee badges or logo apparel, hoping for a glimpse of a startup executive in their natural habitat. In New York, unlike San Francisco, it seems that such overt displays of corporate allegiance are not as prevalent. Here, the tech elite and builders blend into the street milieu, swapping hoodies adorned with company logos for more voguish attire.

Feeling the caffeine buzz kick in, I left knowing that I'd return soon — if not for a meeting, then to try the pain suisse.

Read the original article on Business Insider

——————————————-
By: [email protected] (Melia Russell)
Title: New York tech workers are flocking to a coffee shop across from OpenAI’s new office. I checked it out to see why.
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/la-cabra-coffee-shop-review-openai-new-york-office-2025-3
Published Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2025 09:00:01 +0000

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We scouted 2 popular vacation spots in Mexico as possible retirement destinations, and both left us feeling impressed

La Isla Shopping Mall in Cancún MexicoThere's much more to Cancún, Mexico, than just shops and beaches.

Roberto Machado Noa/Getty Images

  • My husband and I retired to Cuenca, Ecuador, but always wondered what other options were out there.
  • We spent time in Cancún and Playa del Carmen to see why many American expats retire in Mexico.
  • We were pleasantly surprised and impressed by the weather, shops, and more in each place.

In 2010, we left the United States and retired abroad to Cuenca, Ecuador.

Although we're fortunate to enjoy a fabulous retirement life abroad, we've always wondered if there's an even better place for us out there.

So, over a decade later, we set off on an adventure that lasted more than two years to explore other potential retirement spots around the globe to find out.

Our journey started in Mexico, a popular spot for American retirees in part due to its proximity to the US, generally lower cost of living, and its warm weather.

While there, we spent two weeks each in Cancún and Playa del Carmen, two of the country's popular Caribbean vacation spots.

Although we chose tourist-heavy cities, we tried to get a taste of daily life by staying in neighborhoods outside the main vacation and hotel areas.

We were pleasantly surprised by Cancún

Sunset over Cancun buildingsCancún is more than hotels and tourist spots.

WisKay/Getty Images

Located on the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Cancún is a major tourist destination in Mexico. That said, Cancún has a "hotel zone" along the beach that's miles away from the city itself.

Most visitors (like us on an anniversary trip years ago) arrive at the airport, take a shuttle to their hotel, and never leave the vicinity before departing for home.

On this trip, though, we rented an Airbnb in a residential section of downtown to attempt to see what it might be like to live there.

We found downtown Cancún to be quite different from the miles of fancy resorts, boutiques, and eateries in the hotel zone.

As we walked around, we passed numerous modest single-family homes and locally owned shops and restaurants. We liked that the downtown had everything we could need for daily life within walking distance.

In addition, the area had some popular American chains, like Walmart, which had a surprisingly impressive selection of affordable products and produce.

Plus, there's a major international airport just 20 to 30 minutes away from downtown — ideal for American expats who want to visit family back home.

Our apartment was miles from the beach, but an inexpensive bus ride made getting there a snap. However, once we got to the miles of public beaches, we were disappointed to find very few designated access points.

It was harder to enter the beach than we expected, especially since we'd been used to walking from an oceanfront hotel directly onto the sand when we'd stayed in Cancún as tourists. This was definitely a drawback, but not an insurmountable one.

Overall, though, we were pleasantly surprised at how similar downtown Cancún felt to our current neighborhood.

Playa del Carmen seemed to offer the best of both worlds for American expats

Aerial view of water by Playa del CarmenPlaya del Carmen has beaches, businesses, shops, and more.

Arturo Peña Romano Medina/Getty Images

Located about an hour south of Cancún is the coastal town of Playa Del Carmen. Unlike Cancún, Playa del Carmen doesn't have an isolated hotel zone separate from its residential areas.

This city has beaches, the famous 5th Avenue a couple of blocks away, and then local housing and businesses all the way to the major highway that runs from Cancún past Tulum.

I liked that nearby neighborhoods could easily access the beach and popular spots like 5th Avenue. The lively area felt like Mexico's version of Bourbon Street in New Orleans, filled with tourists, vendors, and live music. This was fun, though I worried it could eventually be annoying to navigate while trying to do chores and run errands on a daily basis.

Even so, the area felt overflowing with outstanding food and shopping options.

In addition to local offerings, we found popular American chains like Walmart, Sam's Club, Office Depot, and many familiar chain restaurants in the area that US expats missing home would surely enjoy.

Although Playa del Carmen doesn't have its own international airport, the one in Cancún is only about an hour away.

Overall, we can see why retirees would choose either place

It was exciting to see what else is out there for other Americans looking to retire abroad.

We appreciated how Playa del Carmen and Cancún both felt beautiful and walkable, with fairly easy access to airports, which is great for retirees moving away from family.

We can definitely understand why the warm weather, beaches, and other perks would bring expats to either place.

That said, we also realized the area's generally hotter temperatures weren't quite an ideal fit for us. For now, we still call Cuenca home.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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By: [email protected] (Cynthia Staton,Edd Staton)
Title: We scouted 2 popular vacation spots in Mexico as possible retirement destinations, and both left us feeling impressed
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/popular-american-retirement-destinations-mexico-cancun-playa-del-carmen-2025-3
Published Date: Sun, 09 Mar 2025 14:35:01 +0000

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How To Have The Perfect Day For Yourself

This original article was first published here: How To Have The Perfect Day For Yourself

Do you keep pushing yourself to do more and more, and do you feel guilty when you stop? If so, you’re not alone, but you might be causing yourself some health issues. It’s far better to take some time for yourself and relax than it is to keep going, but knowing that and doing that are two different things.

The fact is that if you never take any time for yourself, you’ll burn out, and that’s going to affect your health and happiness even more. So why not take a perfect day to yourself and relax, have fun, and re-energize? It will help you more than you could know, and you’ll have a good time too. If that sounds like a great idea, here are some things you could do with your day to make it perfect. Read on to find out more.

Wake Up Early

Wake Up Early

If you want a day to relax, the idea of waking up early might sound like a bad idea when sleeping in might be something you don’t normally get to do, but if you wake up early, you can do more with your day, and you won’t feel guilty for wasting any time.

The best thing to do is to go to bed at a reasonable time the night before. In that case, it will be easier to wake up early, so plan ahead and make sure you get a good night’s sleep. Not only will you get more done, but you’ll feel healthy and energized too.

Do Something Fun

Drive a ferrari

You don’t have to do anything at all on your day off when you have your home all to yourself, but if there’s something fun that you do want to do, this is the perfect opportunity to do it. You might want to go and see a movie that none of your friends and family are interested in, or perhaps you want to go for a walk in the woods and enjoy nature in peace and quiet. Maybe you want to rent a luxury car in Montreal and go for a drive in the city, enjoying the fact that you’re doing something just for you that you’ll look back on and feel happy about in years to come.

Whether you do nothing at all or you plan a day of activities, just make sure you’re enjoying what you do and that you’re not getting overwhelmed and stressed, or the good you did by taking some time to yourself will quickly be undone again, and you’ll be back to square one.

Disconnect From Technology

Digital detox

As tempting as it might be to spend time on your day off scrolling through social media or checking emails, try to resist and do anything else instead. Social media can be fun and even good for business, but it can also be bad for people’s mental health, so disconnecting and doing other things is a much better option.

When you’re not constantly distracted by notifications and worrying about missing out on things that other people are doing, you’ll be able to enjoy the present moment much more. When you’re more mindful – which is what enjoying the present moment means – you’ll become less stressed and more relaxed, and your day off will be worthwhile.

Please visit: Men Style Fashion for more articles like this.

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By: Men Style Fashion
Title: How To Have The Perfect Day For Yourself
Sourced From: www.menstylefashion.com/how-to-have-the-perfect-day-for-yourself/
Published Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2023 08:31:33 +0000

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