the winter coat

As an LA resident, I own more winter coats than I should. It's sort of bordering on insane, but I am intrigued by the power of a coat because even though you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, the cover matters, and it's your coat. It defines your style, and any editor will tell you that it's the most important buy of the season, because a coat is something you wear day in and day out (in my case, it's more days than you'd think, as it really does get (relatively) chilly in LA).  Every year I like to invest in a new one, while keeping my old ones in rotation, too, just to mix things up. This season's trendiest coats are trimmed with leather and fur, or both. Some feature military accents, contrasting sleeves, vivid color blocking, sleek mannish tailoring, along with countryside-inspired tweed and checks. Here are some of my top picks for the imminent deep freeze: an endlessly versatile zipper-trimmed convertible navy coat by J Brand; a swingy, easy leather-trimmed Porter Grey; an officer overcoat-like Asos (bought it, love the Chloe-inspired quilting); a sleek black leather-sleeved River Island (similar to the one pictured above) or BCBG's version in always-elegant camel; an off-duty fur-trimmed parka by Three Floor, a tweedy cocoon-like Topshop, and, the ultimate, Preen's shearling and color-blocked statement maker (pant, pant!). And some inspiration below to get stylishly warm!