How to find the perfect spring jacket (hint: it’s not a trench coat)
Plus: Lisa solves your fashion dilemmas below
As I’m writing this, it’s nine degrees outside and about four degrees in, modern office air conditioning being a law unto itself. By the time you read this, it could be 20 degrees. Doesn’t matter. If you live in, near, or intend to visit northern Europe at any point in the near future, ie before global warming does its best/worst and turns us into a Mediterranean-adjacent paradise/Siberian hellhole, you will never regret owning a spring jacket. Or a transeasonal jacket. They’re essentially the same thing, just given a different spin by retailers depending on the time of year.
I promise you, this is not just a thing, but a good thing – unlike trench coats, which everyone always says are a perennial spring/transeasonal essential, but don’t suit everyone, cannot be relied on to stave off the rain unless you spend £££, and almost definitely won’t keep you warm. If anyone did the research – and perhaps they will now – 99 per cent of trench coats spend 99 per cent of their life making your wardrobe, rather than you, look classy. A mini one, like the below from Me+Em, might be more useful.
Quilted, £395, Wiggy Kit; Twill, £250, Me+Em
Should you find yourself writing a job spec for the spring/transeasonal jacket, it would look something like this: warm but not too warm, short(ish), lightweight, jumper/cardigan-compatible (you never know how many tens of layers you’ll need in spring) and possibly colourful. If you’ve been mystified by the term dopamine dressing, now is the time to show everyone that you’ve not only grasped the concept but mastered it. On the other hand, if you only ever wear black, or white, or greige, buying an orange jacket won’t suddenly turn you into a colour whizz. It could end up adorning your wardrobe alongside the trench. Also, while pastels are pretty, they’re not mandatory.
A checked jacket (Toast has a lovely one) is fantastically versatile – you can wear it with navy or black without worrying about the perfect match. Come more summery days it’ll look great with white, khaki or something bright. The same goes for cotton quilted jackets, which are stronger than ever this season. Wiggy Kitt’s (above) is reversible.
If you’re wearing lots of high-waisted trousers or skirts, or want it to work with a fitted dress, you may want something quite cropped – waist-length say, especially if you’re small. Thigh-length jackets can be quite truncating, optically.
The cropped tobacco jacket from Hush that I’m wearing in the first picture is rather striking with white or navy and monochrome stripes, but could also open the door to more offbeat combinations like these chartreuse trousers. Sometimes I button a cardigan onto it to make it double-layered. On an 18 degrees day, it’s good with a T-shirt. It’s an excellent little all-rounder jacket – they were also selling it in autumn. See what I mean about transeasonal?
Try these...
Tweed, £89.99, Mango; Double-face wool and silk, £278, Joseph
Recycled wool, £175, & Other Stories; Embroidered, £240, Maksu
Cropped cotton, £98, Boden; Check cotton linen, £245, Toast
Lisa Wears: Wool jacket, £149, Hush; Flared trousers, £325, Reiss; Leather sandals, £265, Soeur. Leather bag, £149, Massimo Dutti; Sunglasses, £135, Jimmy Fairly; Gold-plated hoops, £21, and charm, £41, Mairy; Other jewellery, Lisa’s own
Lisa solves your style dilemmas
Lisa responds to your queries, lending her expertise to help you shop smart. Have a question for her? Submit it here.
