Winter Coats Part One: The Chesterfield

Of all the winter coat options available to the sartorially minded gentleman, the Chesterfield coat has to be one of the most elegant. Of course, one could don a tail coat or a morning jacket, but neither of these options are viable to the modern man living amongst savages who call "dressing up" putting on an ill fitting blazer from the gap. Of course, you would be hard pressed to find even that these days. From Wikipedia:
 The Chesterfield coat is a long, tailored overcoat. It arose along with the lounge suit as an alternative to the highly shaped coats it replaced, such as the frock overcoat with its heavy waist suppression using a waist seam. The Chesterfield has no horizontal seam or sidebodies, but can still be somewhat shaped using the side seams and darts. It can be single- or double-breasted, and has been popular in a wide variety of fabrics, typically heavier weight tweeds, or charcoal and navy, and even the camel hair classic. It has often been made with a velvet collar. These variations make it extremely versatile, so it can be worn with a city suit or even semi-formal dress, as well as casual sports jackets. It was a staple of smartly dressed men's wardrobes from the 1920s to 1960s, and is still very commonly worn.
   I can't remember where I first saw the Chesterfield, an old magazine or film perhaps, but I knew that I really liked the style and the way the velvet collar popped off the coat, so one of my first orders of business when moving to Chicago, was to acquire one for myself. This proved trickier than I first thought, you see, apparently Chesterfields were popular for women sometime in the mid 80's to early 90's, as I couldn't go into a thrift store without running into a couple of them. Alas, after a couple months of searching, I had come out empty handed. I was starting to think that maybe menswear company's had abandoned the style and that I would have to start hitting up actual antique shops in order to procure one. Then one day at one of my usual stops, I happen to stumble upon this bute:

A men's Chesterfield topcoat in a really beautiful grey wool herringbone weave, and in my size for a mere $15. It looked to be in near mint condition and judging from the tags, might be from the 80's or 90's as well, from Ashforde and Reede, made in England. The quality seems to be top notch and it will definitely keep me warm this winter as it is very heavy. I can't wait to bust it out.

I still have lots of coat styles to discuss, so stay tuned, I haven't even got to the suede double breasted top coat yet. Cheers, and happy thrifting, Ethan.