Every autumn I fall in love with this coat, and every winter I forget about it. It’s not made of strong enough stuff to take me through winter as the cold draws in, but for now it’s perfect. As we cling on to the remnants of autumn, I thought it deserved a special mention.

I found this coat four years ago in Australia, at the market in Melbourne. I had completely failed to pack a coat for the Melbourne winter and while it has nothing on what we suffer here in London, it was still a bit chilly. This coat found me just when I needed it! I wore it everyday for the rest of that holiday, and then I brought it home and have worn it every autumn since.

This coat was a bit of a bargain. If I remember correctly, it was around the £15 mark… Because of this, the quality isn’t the best it could be. The buttons are a bit wonky, there are some loose threads, the stitching meanders around and it isn’t lined – but I think that just adds to its charm!

Quite unusually for me, this coat is double breasted. Normally I run a mile from double breasted coats – I just think they look so strange on me when they aren’t buttoned up, they look too big and flap around awkwardly, and buttoned up they just seem a bit fussy. For some reason though, for this coat it works. There’s not too much excess material and it fits nicely done up. One of the things I really love about it is it easily smartens up an outfit, but it can still be worn casually. Win win!

The main attraction that I wanted to chat about was the colour. While not completely crazy, the colour is a fairly unique brown camel, and it tends to make my outfit’s statement whenever I wear it. Even owning this one, I am definitely guilty of looking at other similar coats and just thinking ‘that would never go with anything!’ That couldn’t be further from the truth with this coat.

Believe it or not, I find that I can chuck it over anything! It’s easy to pair with dark colours (like I’ve done here) though I tend to stick to blacks and navys.One of things that really helps with this is the buttons. Because the buttons are black, they instantly tie in the other dark elements to any outfit. I think that this is a great thing to consider when buying a coat that’s a slightly bolder colour. Think about the hardware, the buttons and any other accents rather than obsessing on the bolder-than-usual colour. Generally, the plainer the coat the better as you want the colour to be the statement, but keep an eye out for those details!

What’s your favourite coat for autumn? Do you like to play with colour in your outerwear, or have you always stuck to black?!