Bespoke Overcoat Styles: Chesterfield, Polo, Covert and Topcoat

The overcoat is the garment everyone sees before they see the suit, and the one most men never have made. It is also the easiest thing in a wardrobe to get wrong, because a coat has a harder job than a jacket and very little on a shop rail is cut to do it. Early November is the month to choose the cloth if you want the coat for winter evenings and for the trip east in January.

What a coat has to do that a jacket does not

Three things, and a stock coat usually fails at all three. It has to be long enough: a coat that stops above the skirt of your suit jacket leaves the jacket hanging out below, which looks like an accident. It has to have room over a jacket, which is not a larger chest measurement but a shoulder cut wider and a little squarer to sit over the jacket's own shoulder, with enough across the blades to reach for a door handle. And the sleeve has to finish past the jacket cuff, and past the shirt cuff below it, or you spend the winter with half an inch of jacket sleeve at the wrist. That last is the fault we see most often in a coat somebody brings in to show us.

The Chesterfield

The formal town coat. A clean front, no belt, nothing drawing the waist in, cut to fall straight from shoulder to hem. Single-breasted more often than not, frequently with a fly front so the buttons sit hidden behind a flap of cloth, in navy, charcoal or a dark herringbone. The velvet collar is traditional on it and still handsome, in black or deep brown against a charcoal body. If you own one coat and you wear tailoring, this is the coat: it goes over a business suit, over a dinner jacket and over a sweater on a Sunday.

The polo coat

Double-breasted, camel, with patch pockets, turn-back cuffs, a broad Ulster collar you can turn up, and a half belt or full belt at the back. It came off the polo field and has never quite lost the air of it. In camel hair, or a camel-coloured wool that behaves better in the rain, it is the warmest-looking coat here. It is not a quiet garment, which is either the reason to have one or the reason not to, and for most people it is an excellent second coat rather than a first.

The covert coat

Shorter, to just above the knee, in covert cloth: a close, hard-finished twill, usually a greenish fawn, woven to shrug off a hedge. The signature is the rows of stitching at the cuff and the hem, there originally to stop the edges fraying in the field. In this climate the covert is quietly the most practical of the lot. The cloth is firm without being heavy, the length is easy in a car, and the colour sits between a suit and casual clothes without belonging to either.

The single-breasted topcoat

The plain one, and the one we make most often. Three or four buttons, notch lapels, a set-in sleeve, flapped or slanted pockets, knee length, no belt: a Chesterfield with the formality turned down. If you are commissioning a first coat and do not yet know what you will want from a second, start here. There is no detail on it that dates.

Cloth weight, and what makes sense here

This is where most coats go wrong in Los Angeles. A twenty-ounce Ulster cloth is a magnificent thing and it belongs in a city with a real winter. Bought here it is worn twice and then resented, because it is too much coat for a sixty-degree evening by the water.

Thirteen to sixteen ounces is the useful range. At that weight a coat still has the body to hang in a clean line from the shoulder, which is most of what makes a coat look like a coat, and you can wear it from November into March and carry it through an airport in February without suffering. A Shetland or lambswool coating, a cashmere blend, a covert twill or a herringbone will all sit in that range. Colour comes after weight: navy, charcoal and camel cover nearly everything, in that order. The same reasoning governs suiting, in our notes on cloth weight and Super numbers and on what each cloth is like to wear.

Length, against your height and the suit beneath

Start from the jacket. The coat has to cover it, so the hem falls below the jacket's hem, and for almost every suit that puts you at the knee or an inch or two below. Then adjust for height. A tall client can carry a coat to mid-calf and it looks deliberate. On a shorter client the same coat eats the leg and shortens the figure, so we keep it at or just above the knee and keep the cloth on the lighter side of the range. A covert at just above the knee flatters a shorter figure more than anything else we cut.

Half belt, raglan or set-in, and the velvet collar

A half belt is a buttoned strap across the back at the waist. It draws the back in a little and gives the coat shape without a full belt's fuss. It belongs on a polo coat and on country coats, and not on a Chesterfield, which is defined by having nothing at the waist at all.

A set-in sleeve, stitched into a rounded armhole as a suit sleeve is, gives a defined shoulder and sits closest to the tailoring underneath. A raglan runs the sleeve in one piece up to the collar, goes on more easily over a jacket, and is more forgiving across the shoulders and softer in the silhouette. Town coats tend to take the set-in; travel coats take the raglan happily. The velvet collar is a Chesterfield detail, worth having if the coat will see dinners, and out of place on a casual coat.

Why a coat from your own pattern sits differently

A coat on a rail was cut to fit nobody over nothing. Yours is cut over a figure with a jacket allowed for, and the difference shows at the collar and the shoulder: a bespoke collar sits flat against the back of your neck when the coat is buttoned, so no gap opens when you turn your head, and the shoulder carries the weight of the cloth without the armhole dragging. A coat also needs canvas through the chest to hold its shape under a heavy cloth, the construction described in how a jacket is built. Every garment this house makes is full canvas and fully bespoke. The pattern is kept, so a second coat is quicker than the first, and a coat we have made carries a year of complimentary alterations from the day you collect it. Caring for it is the same discipline as a suit, in how to care for a bespoke suit.

What it costs and how long it takes

A bespoke overcoat at Mr James starts at $1,200. Cloth sets the price; the making is the same at every level, and unlimited fittings are included. Four to six weeks in domestic cloth, six to eight in imported Italian or English cloth, which is where those weeks go. For the winter, order in the autumn. The full account of the garment is on our page for custom overcoats in Los Angeles, and the whole price card sits on the bespoke suits Los Angeles page.

Questions we are often asked

What is a Chesterfield coat?

A formal town coat with a clean front, no belt and nothing nipping the waist, cut to fall straight from the shoulder. Usually single-breasted with a fly front hiding the buttons, in navy, charcoal or herringbone, often with a velvet collar.

What is a polo coat?

A double-breasted camel coat with patch pockets, turn-back cuffs, a broad Ulster collar and a half belt or full belt at the back. It came off the polo field and it is the most relaxed and the most noticeable coat on this list.

What length should an overcoat be?

On or just below the knee suits most people. It covers the skirt of a suit jacket, which is the point of a coat, and it still works in a car. Above mid-thigh reads as a jacket. Mid-calf is warmer and more formal and wants some height to carry it.

Can you wear an overcoat over a suit?

That is what a coat is for, and it is why a coat bought to fit over a shirt disappoints. It needs room across the back, a shoulder cut over the jacket's shoulder, and a sleeve that clears the jacket cuff. Wear that jacket when you are measured.

What weight of cloth should an overcoat be in Los Angeles?

Thirteen to sixteen ounces. Enough to hang in a clean line and keep a February evening off you, light enough to wear from November into March. A twenty-ounce Ulster cloth is a fine thing in Chicago and a mistake here, because it stays in the wardrobe.

How much does a bespoke overcoat cost at Mr James?

From $1,200, cut from your own pattern and made by hand in our atelier in Southern Brittany, France. Unlimited fittings and a year of complimentary alterations are included. Four to six weeks in domestic cloth, six to eight in imported.

Should an overcoat have a raglan or a set-in sleeve?

A set-in sleeve gives a defined shoulder and sits closest to the tailoring beneath, which is why town coats take one. A raglan runs to the collar in one piece, goes on more easily over a jacket and looks softer. For a first coat over a suit, set-in.

Come and see us

221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey. By appointment, seven days a week, forty-eight hours' notice, with free parking front and back. The first hour is free and you will meet Robb or Ben; what that hour involves is set out on booking a fitting.

Book a private consultation, or telephone 310-503-3592 and we will find a time. Bring the jacket you expect to wear under the coat.

See also: bespoke overcoats · dressing for the seasons in Los Angeles.